Victorian Labor’s top officials subpoenaed over dispute with United Firefighters Union

Victorian Labor’s top officials have been subpoenaed to attend court over dispute with the United Firefighters Union.

UFU member Geoff Barker is suing Victorian Labor and the ALP over allegations the party did not follow proper process. Picture: AAP

Victorian Labor’s top officials will be pulled away from the party’s state election campaign after being subpoenaed to attend court on Thursday, where a legal dispute between the party and the United Firefighters Union over a coveted upper house slot will be contested.

In a sign that simmering tensions with the militant firefighters union could be on course to derail a second Labor election campaign, Victorian Secretary Sam Rae has been named as a defendant and six officials have been subpoenaed to give evidence in Thursday’s Supreme Court hearing.

UFU member Geoff Barker is suing Victorian Labor and the ALP over allegations the party did not follow proper process when it vacated the Eastern Victoria upper house seat and preselected high profile Brunswick MP Jane Garrett to fill the slot.

The case represents the latest eruption of tension between the party and the UFU, and caps off more than two years of hostility which started in 2016 when Ms Garrett as Emergency Services Minister refused to back a pay deal she said gave the union too much power.

A senior party sources confirmed Assistant State Secretary and Field Campaign Director Stephen Donnelly had been subpoenaed to attend court on Thursday, alongside Vice President Raff Ciccone and Socialist Left secretary Matthew Hilakari.

Assistant State Secretary Kosmos Samaras is also understood to be named on a list of party officials to be subpoenaed, as is official Michael De Bruyn.

Mr Rae did not return multiple calls from The Australian. The Australian has attempted to contact all of the subpoenaed officials.

Other party officials refused to comment on the subpoenas or the potential impact of taking officials away from the campaign trail just six weeks out from the November 24 poll.

More privately, senior MPs told The Australian they were nervous hostilities with the UFU were becoming more volatile.

“And it means that our officials are now focused on the court case rather than the election. And who knows what it’s going to do and how much attention it’s going to take away from the stuff that matters.”

Frankston firefighter and UFU member Geoff Barker filed launched legal action against Victorian Labor in early October to challenge Ms Garrett’s preselection, which he says he wanted to contest but missed the nomination deadline by seven minutes.

Mr Barker is attempting to have Ms Garrett’s endorsement thrown out, and argues that party officers didn’t follow the correct process when they declared the former member Daniel Mulino “unviable” to throw the seat open.

Prior to the preselection, rising star Mr Mulino was hand-picked by ALP Leader Bill Shorten to take on the newly created Federal seat of Fraser in Melbourne’s inner west, in a promotion.

The party officers who have been called to give evidence in court are understood to have attended the committee meeting at which Mr Mulino’s seat of Eastern Victoria was thrown open, and Ms Garrett was endorsed.