Batman by-election: Greens clear Alex Bhathal of bully claim

A complaint against Greens candidate Alex Bhathal was referred to a party committee which has no mandate.

Batman by-election Greens candidate Alex Bhathal. Picture: Aaron Francis.

A misconduct complaint against Greens Batman by-election candidate Alex Bhathal was referred to a party committee that has no investigative mandate and is prohibited from making adverse findings of fact.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale, who has spent the past two days campaigning alongside Ms Bhathal in the Labor-held electorate in Melbourne’s north, yesterday said the complaint was “considered very carefully’’ and the allegations not substantiated.

The Australian can reveal that the party’s three-person Endorsement Review Committee which handled the complaint did not question the 18 complainants and had no authority to determine whether Ms Bhathal had engaged, as alleged, in branch stacking and intimidation, victimisation and bullying of party members.

Labor’s candidate for Batman, former ACTU president Ged Kearney, sought to exploit suspicions of a Greens whitewash.

“I think perhaps it’s just time to tell the story and let everybody know what happened,’’ Ms Kearney said.

“The people of Batman deserve to know. I think they deserve transparency and they want accountability from the people that are running for office.’’

The complaint against Ms Bhathal, a 101-page document that calls for her to be dumped as the Batman candidate and expelled from the party, was lodged with the Greens’ state executive on January 15.

The complainants requested that the allegations be dealt with under a section of the Australian Greens Victoria constitution that covers the censure, suspension and expulsion of party members.

The constitution sets out a clear and involved process requiring a 28-day notice period for the subject of a complaint, a formal meeting of the state council to consider the matter and, if required, the establishment of a special working group to further investigate any allegations raised.

This did not happen in the case of Ms Bhathal, a popular local social worker who has made five previous attempts to win Batman for the Greens and end a century of Labor representation.

The complaint against her was instead referred to the ERC, a committee that under Australian Greens Victoria by-laws can convene within eight hours of the subject of a complaint receiving notice.

It is not a disciplinary body but tasked with making a political judgment about candidacy.

The ERC’s terms of reference are “to determine whether in all the circumstances, there are clear and compelling reasons why it is in the interests of the party to cancel a candidate’s endorsement”.

The by-laws go on to state: “It is not necessary that any allegation or suggestion in relation to any conduct by the candidate be proven for the ERC to make any decision.

“The ERC has no brief to make any adverse determinative findings of fact against the candidate in respect of that alleged or suggested conduct,’’ they read.

The by-laws also give the federal parliamentary leader of the Greens, in this instance Senator Di Natale, the “right to confer’’ with the ERC and oblige the ERC to “have regard to her or his advice”.

Senator Di Natale did not answer questions about whether he had intervened in Ms Bhathal’s case. He strongly endorsed her candidacy after The Australian yesterday revealed details of the complaint by current and former members of the Darebin branch. The Australian is not suggesting the allegations are true, only that they have been made.

“The complaints were considered very carefully by the Victorian Greens and what they have resolved to do is to back Alex Bhathal as their candidate for Batman,’’ Senator Di Natale said. “She is well known, she is well loved in this community.”

Ms Bhathal denied that she was a bully or that she stacked the Darebin branch. “I am not that kind of person and I know the community will understand that.”

Senator Di Natale described Ms Bhathal’s detractors as a small group of Greens members unhappy with the result of the Batman preselection.