Victorian IBAC will look into branch stacking

Victoria’s corruption watchdog has launched an investigation into ‘serious allegations of corrupt conduct’ in the state’s Labor Party.

Victorian MP Adem Somyurek. Picture: AAP

Victoria’s corruption watchdog has launched an investigation into “serious allegations of corrupt conduct” in the state’s Labor Party, as trade union bosses consider legal action against Premier Daniel­ Andrews’s decision to suspend­ voting rights for party members and hand the administration of the ALP’s state branch to national executive.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission’s confirmation of an investigation on Wednesday follows revelations this week that disgraced ALP powerbroke­r Adem Somyurek engaged­ in systematic branch stacking and used abusive, sexist and homophobic language to refer to colleagues.

The revelations on the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes program led to Mr Somyurek’s sacking from the Andrews cabinet and expulsion­ from the party on Monday, and the subsequent resignation from the ministry of his factional allies Robin Scott and Marlene Kairouz.

“IBAC’s Operation Fortescue will examine a range of matters concerning allegations of branch stacking, and other matters aired recently in media reports, and other related complaints made to IBAC,” the watchdog confirmed.

An opposition motion to refer the issue to the Victorian Ombudsman also passed the state’s upper house on Wednesday, despite­ the government using its numbers to refuse the oppositio­n leave to debate a similar motion in the lower house.

The government’s reluctance to have the matter referred to the Ombudsman despite having referred it to IBAC and Victoria Police is particularly controversial in light of the Redshirts scandal, which saw Victoria Police last year opt not to lay charges despite Labor paying back $388,000 of taxpayer funds the Ombudsman found had been misused to employ staff engaged in party activities.

Meanwhile, an alliance of unions­ factionally linked to what was Mr Somyurek’s Labor grouping is understood to be examining legal avenues in the event that the national executive intervention sees their voting rights suspended until 2023, along with those of rank-and-file party members.

Mr Andrews indicated the “problem” was “in the rank and file part of the party” and reaffirmed the ALP’s “completely appropriate” partnership with the union movement, but stopped short of guaranteeing union voting rights.

Union leaders argued their alliance­ was “about industrial issues­ ­and much bigger than Adem”, and that they still held a majority of the 300 votes held by union delegates in the Victorian ALP, while others in the Som­yurek camp accused Mr Andrews and federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese of a “hostile factional takeover” and “power grab”.

The previously unaligned Electrical Trades Union meanwhile moved to affiliate itself with Mr Andrews’s Socialist Left faction, as members of non-Somyurek factions sought to highlight the fallen powerbroker’s role in securing numbers for former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten.

In Canberra, the Morrison government­ used question time to pressure the Opposition Leader over the scandal, with Attorney-­General Christian Porter expressing concern over footage of Mr Somyurek which was filmed in the office of his former ally, federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne.

Mr Porter condemned Mr ­Albanese for not speaking to Mr Byrne over his role on the surveillance of Mr Somyurek.

On Wednesday, Mr Albanese was asked several times if he had spoken to Mr Byrne about the ­alleged bugging of his office and he said he could not do so because of ongoing investigations into Mr Somyurek.

The Australian understands party powerbrokers will move to negotiate a new stability agreement between the factions.