IBAC: inside a Labor corruption scandal

A federal Labor MP admits branch stacking, hiring ghost staff and being aware of rigged ballots, triggering a fourth ministerial scalp.

Anthony Byrne has laid bare what he alleges is the ­decades-long factional rorting of preselections and internal party ballots in Victoria.

A veteran federal Labor MP has admitted branch stacking, hiring ghost staff and being aware of rigged party ballots during an anti-corruption hearing that has ­left Anthony Albanese facing a political scandal and triggered a fourth state ministerial resignation in Victoria.

Labor’s Anthony Byrne has laid bare what he alleges is the ­decades-long factional rorting of preselections and internal party ballots in Victoria, forcing his former colleague, state Child Protection Minister Luke Donnellan, to quit the cabinet.

Mr Byrne, the 22-year member for Holt and deputy chair of the powerful parliamentary committee on intelligence and security, may be forced out of Labor after admitting systemic breaking of party rules.

The scandal causes serious problems for federal Labor in its strongest state leading into the next election, with five weeks of corruption hearings to come.

Mr Byrne has admitted to hiring staff who never turned up to work, paying for party memberships in breach of rules and being aware of the rigging of ballots.

Senior Victorian Labor figures believe Mr Byrne faces possible expulsion over the revelations at Monday’s Independent Broadbased Anticorruption Commission hearing, also raising the possibility of an unwanted by-election.

Asked by counsel assisting Chris Carr SC whether he had been involved in branch stacking, Mr Byrne said: “I certainly have.”

Adem Somyurek. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

IBAC heard that Mr Byrne, his former close friend and state minister Adem Somyurek and Mr Donnellan paid thousands of dollar to renew party memberships on behalf of others. The inquiry heard electoral and ministerial offices could be regarded as “a currency to be deployed at the will of the (moderate) faction” and that two men were hired by Mr Byrne who never bothered to turn up to work.

Mr Byrne claimed Mr Somyurek was taking over the ALP, driven by “the sole objective of power and power alone” and that he had felt no option but to agree with the powerbroker’s demands.

“Branch stacking was wrong, branch stacking was corrupt and branch stacking rips the soul out of the Labor Party and the community,” he said.

Mr Byrne added: “I thought the party was completely out of control. I saw and heard things I just didn’t think I’d ever see in a modern Labor Party.”

Multiple sources told The Australian that for more than two decades Mr Byrne had been a major factional operative in Melbourne’s southeast, having used the backing of the right-wing shop assistants’ union to enter federal parliament in 1999. Mr Somyurek denies Mr Byrne’s claims.

Mr Somyurek tweeted: “I issue a challenge to Byrne to say what he said today whilst he is not under the protection of privilege.”

Victorian Premier Daniel ­Andrews is a former party assistant state secretary whose seat of Mulgrave is in southeast Melbourne but held by the Socialist Left faction, which has been at war for years with the Right faction.

Mr Byrne alleged that if members voted off their own bat for the candidates they wanted, the factions would ask them to ask head office for their ballot to be reissued.

 

The reissued ballots would then be re-completed with the preferred candidate supported, signed off and submitted to head office as the member’s vote. When counsel assisting asked Mr Byrne if it was correct that about 40 per cent of the ballots ­issued in his electorate of Holt had to be reissued, the federal MP said: “I wasn’t aware it was such a huge figure.”

The other tactic to boost votes was members signing envelopes containing blank ballot papers. These would be collected by ministerial and electorate staff during work hours and weekends. The ballots would be completed and submitted to Labor’s head office.

IBAC’s Operation Watts is holding public hearings into allegations of corrupt conduct involving Victorian public officers, including members of parliament, with many private hearings ­already conducted. Mr Andrews won’t say if he has been interviewed. Mr Andrews is reportedly part of a separate IBAC investigation into the firefighters’ union and its dealings with the Labor government.

Operation Watts is a joint investigation by IBAC and the Victorian Ombudsman into branch stacking, misuse of parliamentary staff for political purposes and whether public money granted to community associations by the government has been misused to fund party political activities.

Luke Donnellan. Picture: Luis Ascui

Branch stacking occurs when party members use underhanded means to attract new members, which bolsters influence over preselections, internal ballots and the selection of party leaders.

The inquiry was shown a text message from Mr Byrne to Mr Somyurek asking him to send over his staffer Adam Sullivan to complete ballot papers.

“We have 210 ballot papers that need to be filled out today from what I‘ve just heard,” Mr Byrne texted. “I think we need Sullivan to come to my office to complete otherwise they won’t be done. “Then papers need to go to head office … Can you authorise Sullivan to come here so he can assist others to fill out papers. Thanks.”

The inquiry heard the text was undated but it is believed to have been sent during the delegate elections for the 2018 national conference. Mr Byrne said he believed the message would have been in reference to filling out ballot papers already signed. “If you’re saying that somebody else filling in that ballot paper is forgery than that’s forgery,” he said.

Mr Donnellan, announcing his resignation from cabinet, said: “I accept that I have previously breached party rules while a minister. But let me be very clear: I never misused public funds or resources in any way. And this has absolutely nothing to do with my staff. However, I don’t believe it is possible or appropriate to maintain my ministerial responsibilities given these rule breaches.”

Mr Andrews said of Mr Donnellan: “He has been a passionate advocate for vulnerable kids, people with disability and older Victorians and he leaves a legacy of reform of which he can be proud.”

Mr Byrne told IBAC Mr Somyurek planted two advisers – including party identity Hakki Suleyman – to work in his office.

He said they never turned up for work but were still paid by the taxpayer. He said Mr Somyurek told him Mr Suleyman had to work in a federal office because he had an adverse finding against him and was barred from working for the Victorian parliament.

He also said aspiring Labor politician Steve Michelson paid $5000 to factional heavyweights after being “led to understand” he would gain preselection for the federal seat held by federal frontbencher Mark Dreyfus when he retired. Mr Michelson refuted Mr Byrne’s testimony and said he had never paid for anyone’s membership other than his own or participated in branch stacking.