Tasmanian Labor Party state president Ben McGregor removed from role

Tasmania’s Labor Party state president has been removed from the role, while the party’s state conference has been cancelled just weeks before it was due to be staged. LATEST >>

TASMANIAN Labor state president Ben McGregor says he is “distressed” by a decision of the party’s national executive to remove him from the role.

Mr McGregor had only resumed as president on September 24, after saying he had been cleared of sexual harassment allegations following an investigation.

But following that, Labor state sectetary Stuart Benson said the complaint had actually been withdrawn and said it was time for Mr McGregor to quit as president.

On Tuesday, Mr McGregor said in a statement he learned the national executive had passed a motion amending Tasmanian branch rules, and then removed him as president.

“This is very distressing and disappointing for me,’’ he said.

“I have worked hard for the party for many years, striving to give a voice to grassroots members.”

Mr McGregor said the cancellation of the conference was also regrettable.

“It will also be very disappointing to ALP members across Tasmania who had been deeply involved in preparing policy for the conference and organising travel to attend,’’ he said.

“We get few opportunities as members to have a say in the policy the party takes to an election and it is disappointing that this opportunity has been taken away this year, in the lead up to an important federal election in 2022.”

EARLIER:

TASMANIAN Labor’s state conference, only weeks away from its scheduled date, has been postponed and will not be staged until after the next federal election.

A letter was sent to party members from Labor state secretary Stuart Benson on Tuesday afternoon informing them of the news.

It came after the national executive met and decided the event — scheduled for October 30-31 at Blundstone Arena — would not take place.

“This is a critically important election and our number one priority at this time must be working to elect a Federal Labor Government by re-electing Labor members in Franklin and Lyons, regaining Bass and Braddon, and supporting a strong Labor campaign in Clark,’’ Mr Benson wrote.

“We also have an opportunity to defeat Senator Eric Abetz by winning a third Senate position.”

The federal election is due to be held next year but a date for the poll is unclear.

Tasmanian ALP state secretary Stuart Benson. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Labor party rank and file member Mel Best said she was disapppointed the event would not go ahead, especially in a state election year.

“A lot of rank and file members believe that it’s avoiding facing up to some of those more controversial decisions that have been made, and to avoid being answerable to rank and file members,’’ she said.

“I think we were all expecting some fireworks because of those things that happened.”

After Labor lost the state election in May, party leader Rebecca White stepped aside as leader, and was replaced by David O’Byrne.

However, Ms White returned as leader after an allegation was aired about Mr O’Byrne’s behaviour towards a female colleague when he was a union leader more than a decade ago.

Then, Labor Huon MLC Bastian Seidel announced he would quit after only about one year in parliament, saying he could no longer work in the party’s “toxic environment”.

During the election campaign, eventual Franklin MP Dean Winter’s bid to be preselected was thwarted, before being overturned by the national executive.

More recently, the Health and Community Services Union announced it had disafilliated from Labor, saying it planned to campaign for stronger poker machine laws.

Political analyst Richard Herr said he believed at a federal level, Labor saw significant vulnerabilities on the Coalition government, particularly around the handling of Covid-19.

Prof Herr said a Tasmanian conference could be seen as an opportunity to gain leverage at a federal level, but speculated the move could be “embarassment avoidance” given Labor’s woes in the state.

“I think it’s more likely that the don’t see any real message they can sell at a state level regarding Commonwealth politics that would drown out the problems at the state level,’’ he said.

Mr Benson went on to say he understood the deferral of the conference would be disappointing to those who had worked on motions and platforms for the event.

“I would like to thank all branches and platform chairs who submitted motions and worked on the draft platforms,’’ he wrote.

“Policy motions will be emailed to relevant shadow ministers and platform chairs for the consideration of policy development.

“Branches will have an opportunity to submit, if relevant, the same motions or new motions for our next state conference once details are confirmed after the next federal election.

“The new platform chairs will continue to meet over coming months to build on the work already done to ensure we have strong and relevant platforms for our next state conference.”

Mr Benson said ballots of state conference delegates would continue for positions where more nominations were received, but would now be held via online and postal voting.

Ballots will be issued on Monday next week and voting will close at 5pm on October 29.

Refunds will be made to members who had already made payment for the conference.

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