NSW Labor crisis so great Albanese may need to call in administrators

The crisis in NSW Labor is so great it might be time Anthony Albanese called in administrators.

The troubles in the NSW Labor Party, which has engulfed Sam Dastyari, left, and now Kaila Murnain, right, is so great that it might be time for Anthony Albanese to call in the administrators.

The crisis in the NSW Labor Party is so great that it might be time that Anthony Albanese called in the administrators.

What has unfolded at ICAC is the tale of a party branch run by kids who clearly never learned about consequences, and who were ill-equipped to run the biggest branch of one of the two biggest political parties in the land.

Put there by svengalis who wanted to retain their own influence, the likes of Sam Dastyari (appointed at 26), Kaila Murnain (at 29) and Jamie Clements have all miserably failed the party.

Now, the person being pumped up by many as the new broom to serve as general secretary next is Dastyari’s groomsman, union official Bob Nanva.

Nanva supporters say he is “not like the rest of the crew” - but who can be convinced after what has played out at ICAC?

The fact that “Dasher” Dastyari still had a say in party matters having already quit the federal frontbench in disgrace over a China donations scandal says it all.

“Albo” has so far been silent amid the scandal. Yesterday, his spokesman said he had no comment at this time. How? It’s his Labor party branch. He’s the federal leader.

It is now time that Albanese condemns those involved (uncomfortable given Dastyari and Murnain backed him into the top job even though he was from the Labor Left) just as Jodi McKay has.

But what is also clearly needed is a proper restructure of NSW Labor; not just another review which finds for keeping the car the same but changing a couple of tyres. The branch requires national intervention. It’s one strike too many.

Dastyari rang me yesterday and said it was clear he was put into the job of general secretary “too young” and it should have occurred when he was 40 and he should have been in parliament at 50.

Actually, it’s clear he should have been nowhere near positions of power in either institution.

It’s true what they say in Labor - that the Liberals hid their own hundreds of thousands of illegal donations through organisations like the Free Enterprise Foundation and a couple of their MPs copped cash in a Bentley - all exposed at ICAC in 2014.

But one of the amazing things about this inquiry is that it was one year after the ICAC hearings into the Libs that the cash in the Aldi bag incident occurred.

Labor head officials knew that you could be busted for that sort of thing, yet they still allowed it. As if it was something that always happened.

And, at the very same time they were copping $100,000 in an Aldi bag from a man linked with the Chinese government, they were telling NSW voters not to vote for Mike Baird, because he was going to sell the electricity networks to the Chinese.