Branch stacker Anthony Byrne quits key security role

Veteran Labor MP Anthony Byrne has quit as the deputy chair of the parliamentary intelligence and security committee after admitting to branch stacking and misusing parliamentary staff.

Labor MP Anthony Byrne. Picture: AAP

Veteran Labor MP Anthony Byrne has quit as the deputy chair of the parliamentary intelligence and security committee after admitting to branch stacking and misusing parliamentary staff.

The federal MP for the seat of Holt caved into pressure over his role after telling The Australian on Wednesday that he intended to remain in the post until a report was finalised on corruption hearings in Victoria.

Mr Byrne on Monday told Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission he had engaged in branch stacking and hiring taxpayer-funded staff who never turned up to work ­because they were engaged in Labor political work.

Mr Byrne will be replaced as Labor’s most senior member on the committee – which overseas national security agencies and legislation – by NSW Left faction senator Jenny McAllister.

Victorian Right MP Peter Khalil, a national security adviser to the Rudd government, will now join the committee given the resignation of Mr Byrne.

Mr Byrne said the work of the committee was “crucial to Australia’s national security and its integrity should never be ­questioned”.

“I have always put the work of this bipartisan committee first and have always served in its best interests,” Mr Byrne said.

“I would like to thank my colleagues on the committee for the work we have done to protect Australia’s national security.

“I will continue to fully co-­operate with the IBAC inquiry and will not be making further comment while proceedings are under way,” he added.

The chair of the committee, Liberal senator James Paterson, said on Thursday that Mr Byrne had given “very good service” over the past 15 years.

“Certainly in my dealings with him, I’ve always found him very driven by Australia’s national security and able to work with the government in a very constructive and bipartisan way, and I’m grateful for that,” Senator Paterson told Sky News.

There are Labor MPs who also believe Mr Byrne’s future in the party is untenable, with some ­arguing that Anthony Albanese should force him out of the party and onto the crossbench.

Mr Byrne has been preselected to run as Labor’s candidate for the outer Melbourne seat of Holt at the next election.

On Wednesday, Mr Byrne said he would delay a decision on his political ­career until the final report from IBAC was made public, which is unlikely to happen until next year. “I will await the findings of the IBAC report before determining my political future,” Mr Byrne said.

Before Mr Byrne’s resignation from the committee on Thursday, the Opposition Leader said he would await the findings from IBAC before deciding whether ­action needed to be taken against the Holt MP.

“There are proceedings under way with IBAC. They’re independent. They’re quasi-judicial proceedings. And it’s important that IBAC be allowed to do its work,” Mr Albanese said.

Independent senator Rex Patrick said Mr Albanese should kick Mr Byrne out of Labor, declaring the issue was undermining the ­opposition’s prosecution on the government’s integrity problems.

Senator Patrick also said Mr Byrne’s misuse of parliamentary staff should be investigated by the Department of Finance.

“It is a test for Albo,” Senator Patrick said. “If you let this misconduct go once then it is highly likely you will let it go again. And then you find yourself in the same position Scott Morrison is in.”

Warringah MP Zali Steggall said both major parties needed to “raise their standards and require the resignation of MPs that bring the parliament and our democratic systems into disrepute”.