Victorian Labor leader Daniel Andrews under siege over dictaphone scandal

VICTORIAN Labor leader Daniel Andrews’ leadership authority is under siege over his failure to deal with a dirty tricks campaign.

VICTORIAN Labor leader Daniel Andrews’s leadership auth­ority is under siege over his failure to deal with his office’s involvement in a dirty tricks campaign.

Senior Labor figures are demanding he sack one or more members of his staff over their ­alleged involvement in the seizure of a Fairfax Media reporter’s dictaphone. The dictaphone contained a series of unauthorised recordings of key Victorian political figures, one of which was leaked to Liberal MPs.

Mr Andrews is refusing to accept any responsibility for the way the recording was intercepted by Labor and the role played by his office. But Labor figures have thrown their weight behind the party’s head office, which insisted the recording never be released.

Mr Andrews faces an incredulous shadow cabinet today over his handling of the issue, which threatens to derail the ALP’s run to the November 29 election.

Multiple Labor sources said a sacking or sackings were needed to deal with the scandal.

“It’s obvious what needs to be done,” a source said.

Behind the scenes, a bitter war has erupted between Labor and The Age newspaper over the recording of Victorian political figures.

The dictaphone was lost by a reporter at the ALP state conference in May. It was then found by a security guard and remained in the party’s lost property for days.

A party member then listened to the device, discovering a ­recording of former Liberal premier Ted Baillieu.

That recording was then extracted from the dictaphone but, under legal advice, party headquarters opted against releasing it.

The allegation is that Mr ­Andrews’s office — or someone close to it — leaked it to Liberal members to hide the fact that it was picked up by Labor.

The scandal has ignited a factional battle in which party headquarters appears set to be backed over Mr Andrews.

This almost certainly means he will be forced to deal with the crisis himself. It is being seen as the biggest challenge of Mr ­Andrews’s term as leader.

Mr Andrews has consistently denied wrongdoing by his staff, as have his most senior advisers.

The row comes after The Weekend Australian revealed a separate recording had been made of Victorian Liberal director Damien Mantach discussing fundraising and measures to fight the election. That recording was made by a member of the Victorian Liberal party.

It included an admission that the party exploited legal loopholes to hide the identity of many donors.

He also stripped control of the campaign from locals in south-eastern Melbourne electorates.