15 June 2020: Revelations of industrial scale branch stacking and threats result in ALP Federal Executive intervention into the Victorian ALP and resignation of state minister and power broker Adem Somyurek.
ALP national president Wayne Swan said that Steve Bracks (former state premier) and Jenny Macklin (former federal cabinet minister) “will provide the national executive with recommendations on how the Victorian branch should be restructured and reconstituted so that the branch membership comprises genuine, consenting, self-funding party members”.
Victorian Premier Andrews wrote to ALP national secretary Paul Erickson calling for profound reform of the branch, and asking for its members’ voting rights to be suspended.
Premier Andrews said: “I have no confidence in the integrity of any voting rolls that are produced for any internal elections in the Victorian branch … we must suspend those elections and begin a long and critical process of validating each and every member of the Labor party in Victoria as genuine, consenting and self-funded”.
All state officials and staff will have to report to Bracks and Macklin, who are appointed until January 31 next year (2021).
All committees are suspended and all voting rights are suspended until 2023 following these ‘Industrial scale branch stacking’ revelations. Bracks and Macklin are requested to produce their recommendations by 1 November this year, with the federal implementation process ongoing to 2023.
Open Labor has relaunched this website to promote dialogue and debate. It’s time to bring democracy into our Party. It’s time to get those recommendations streamlined, 1 November 2020.
Related reading
Operation Watts IBAC enquiry into branch stacking practices – by Open Labor, 19 Oct 2021
Labor’s branch-stacking scandal – an opportunity for reinvention – by James Button, The Guardian, 21 June 2020
Secret tapes reveal industrial scale stackathon – by Nick McKenzie, Sumeyya Ilanbey and Joel Tozer, The Age, 15 June 2020
The Faceless Man – 60 Minutes – by Nick McKenzie (Part 1 of 5) 15 June 2020
Adem Somyurek quits Victorian Labor Party after 60 Minutes airs allegations of branch stacking, offensive language, ABC News, 15 June 2020
The rise and rise and fall of Adem Somyurek – by Guy Rundle, Jacobin, 20 June 2020
Labor in turmoil as it plans a branch-stacking allegation response – by Jane Norman & Stephen Dziedzic, The Age, 16 June 2020
Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin installed to run crisis-ridden Victorian ALP – by Michelle Grattan The Conversation, 16 June 2020
Party review will return power to ‘true believers’: Andrews – by Michael Fowler, The Age, 17 June 2020
Somyurek scandal provides a chance to clean up the ALP – by Race Mathews, The Age, 18 June 2020
Victoria Labor corruption inquiry: what the Ibac hearings will mean for Daniel Andrews’ government – by Nino Bucci, The Guardian, 10 Oct 2021
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