Tasmanian ALP expels former powerbroker Tim Jacobson over Fabiano Cangelosi support

The sudden expulsion of a former Tasmanian ALP powerbroker and union stalwart for ‘disloyalty’ has shocked some members and prompted claims of double-standards.

HACSU chief Tim Jacobson peaks to the media outside Parliament House in Hobart on Wednesday May 1, 2019.

A former Labor powerbroker and senior unionist of almost 30 years has been expelled from the party for disloyalty, after backing an independent candidate, outraging some members.

Tim Jacobson, until recently one of the most powerful people in the Tasmanian ALP and a stalwart of the influential Health and Community Services Union, was on Tuesday thrown out of the party.

The expulsion followed the left-winger’s blatant support, via a series of Facebook posts, for independent candidate Fabiano Cangelosi in the May state upper house elections. Tim Jacobson's facebook profile showing support for Fabiano Cangelosi.

Tim Jacobson's Facebook profile showing support for Fabiano Cangelosi. These are the posts that got the former party stalwart chucked out of the ALP. Picture: Facebook

Mr Jacobson, 60, last year retired as the head of the state’s largest union, and was for many years one of the ALP’s most powerful figures, controlling much of the dominant left faction.

Supporting non-Labor candidates running against a party-­endorsed candidate is a breach of party rules.

However, some party and union members are furious, given no such fate has befallen the state’s chief unionist, Jessica Munday, who publicly endorsed an independent running against Labor at the March state election.

“Jess Munday did a very similar thing and nothing happened to her – it seems some in the party, or at least the parliamentary Labor Party, had the axe out for Tim,” said one source.

Mr Jacobson’s long service to the party and the union movement should have been taken into account, another source said.

Those supporting the decision of the party’s disciplinary body, however, said Mr Jacobson’s posts were “blatant”, even extending to a photograph of his ballot paper with Mr Cangelosi as No 1.

Tim Jacobson's ballot posted to facebook showing he voted Fabiano Cangelosi no 1, above Labor. These are the posts that got the former party stalwart chucked out of the ALP. Picture: Facebook

Another post described Mr Cangelosi, who ran against the Labor candidate for Elwick, Tessa McLaughlin, as “a true leader of the people”.

Mr Jacobson, who did not respond to requests for comment, was no fan of the parliamentary Labor Party, once describing them as “sycophantic electoral opportunists” lacking “moral fibre”.

Some parliamentary Labor Party members, in turn, privately accused him of factional overreach, and seeking too much influence over party positions and policies. Having disaffiliated the HACSU from the party in 2021 in protest at its direction, Mr Jacobson lost influence.

Ms Munday, as head of Unions Tasmania, appears too powerful a figure to face a similar fate to Mr Jacobson, despite allowing independent David O’Byrne to erect an election poster in her front garden during the March state election campaign.

Mr O’Byrne, an exiled former Labor leader, successfully ran as an independent in the seat of Franklin against an ALP ticket including now leader Dean Winter. (Tasmania has multi-member electorates.)

Some in the party were disgusted at Ms Munday’s actions, saying they undermined Labor’s central message that voters should back the party rather than independents and minor parties to change the government.