Families of dead Victorian ALP members to lodge complaint

Family members of two dead men whose signatures were forged by the ALP branch associated with Andrews government minister Lily D’Ambrosio say they intend to formally complain to the party.

Victorian minister Lily D’Ambrosio. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Family members of two dead men whose signatures were forged by the ALP branch associated with Andrews government minister Lily D’Ambrosio say they intend to formally complain to the party and request that Victorian Labor Party monitor John Thwaites ­investigate.

Mr Thwaites – a widely respected Victorian Labor Party elder who had no factional allegiance when he served as deputy premier to Steve Bracks between 1999 and 2007 – has indicated he is already considering how to respond to the allegations, first revealed by The Australian this week.

The possibility of an investigation comes as Ms D’Ambrosio on Wednesday insisted that questions over the conduct of the Lalor South branch, which met in her ­office until 2019, were a “matter for the party”.

Veteran Labor Right figure Garth Head, meanwhile, ridiculed claims from Ms D’Ambrosio and Daniel Andrews that there is “no comparison” between the Climate Action Minister’s situation and those of Adem Somyurek and three of his allies, who lost their ministries and ultimately their parliamentary careers as a result of a branch-stacking scandal exposed in 2020.

The Australian revealed on Monday that Antonio Donato and Celestino Nigro, who died in 2017 aged 82 and 77 respectively, had been signed up as members of the Lalor South ALP branch and had their memberships renewed in 2018 and 2019.

Membership renewal requires payment of membership fees, and the signing of a form, meaning someone forged their signatures.

In Donato’s case, it is believed this had been taking place for some years prior to his death, given he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2012.

Both men, and their widows, who are still alive, had been signed up to the party in 2007, according to party records. It is not clear any of them ever paid fees or signed forms.

On Wednesday, both Donato’s son Tom and Nigro’s daughter Mary confirmed to The Australian that their families intend to complain to Mr Thwaites.

It is understood they may request copies of forged renewal forms, and ask Mr Thwaites to investigate what involvement, if any, Ms D’Ambrosio or her staff had in any branch-stacking.

Labor Party rules governing Mr Thwaites’s appointment say his role includes responsibility to “investigate branch-stacking”, meaning he does not require a formal complaint to look into the matter.

Asked on Wednesday whether he was likely to launch an investigation, Mr Thwaites said he was “looking at the material and assessing the appropriate response”.

A Labor Party source told The Australian they were confident Mr Thwaites would act. “He is too decent not to act, and he takes his role as party monitor very seriously,” the source said.

Victorian minister Lily D’Ambrosio. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Paul Jeffers

Ms D’Ambrosio was questioned on her way into parliament regarding revelations that nine people who were long-term members of the Lalor South branch before they were struck off by an internal ALP probe say they cannot recall ever paying for their memberships, and that some of them recall being introduced to the party by Ms D’Ambrosio.

“Well, in terms of paying membership fees, I mean, that’s a matter for the Labor Party, so I would suggest you direct that question to them,” the minister said.

The Victorian Labor Party has not responded to repeated questions from The Australian.

“I’m not sure what you’re implying, by me signing people up,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.

“I’ve always … the party is a very strong volunteer organisation, full of people who are really committed to changing things for the better for their local community.

“I’m a proud Labor Party member myself, for more than 40 years, and I’ve been a volunteer for many, many years before I became an MP.

“So I’m always happy to encourage people to join the Labor Party because it is a proud movement of people who want change and want good outcomes for the community.”

Asked whether she would cooperate with any investigation, Ms D’Ambrosio said she did not “deal with hypotheticals”.

Labor Right figure Garth Head — a party member for more than 50 years — said it was “laughable” for the Premier to claim that there was “no comparison” between Ms D’Ambrosio and the four former ministers who lost their parliamentary careers over 2020 branch stacking allegations.

Mr Head said: “The reality is that Lily D’Ambrosio’s power base was built on the (Italian Federation of Migrant Workers and Families)’s historic connection, which was the basis of branch-stacking in Melbourne’s north 40 years ago, and they’ve never stopped stacking.”

He said both IBAC’s Operation Watts inquiry and the Bracks-Macklin internal Labor investigation into branch-stacking — sparked by allegations against Mr Somyurek and his faction in 2020 — had failed to expose misconduct in Ms D’Ambrosio and Daniel Andrews’s Socialist Left faction.

“IBAC’s inquiry was a disappointment,” Mr Head said.

“It failed to examine the fact that branch-stacking is endemic to the Labor Party and has been for well over 40 years.

“IBAC ignored the systemic branch-stacking of the Left.

“There needs to be a Labor Party truth and reconciliation body set up so we can get to the bottom of all the branch-stacking, because there are still problems within the Victorian branch.”