Long-serving Labor man Colin Markham has called for a purging of the party’s Illawarra branches amid signs of ongoing branch stacking.
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Prompted by the resignation of Noreen Hay, the former MP wrote to Labor’s head office calling for “a full and thorough review of the records of branches in the Illawarra” before the party allows its members to choose a new candidate.
"The situation can no longer be ignored,” he wrote to general secretary Kaila Murnain in a letter obtained by the Mercury. “For too long, our party in the Illawarra has been maligned by those who seek to manipulate records and our brand has suffered as a result."
“In my mind, [a review] must happen before the conduct of any future preselections… as we can have no faith in the legitimacy of the membership and records of branches in the region.”
So far, three people have declared they will run for Labor preselection ahead of a byelection later this year: UOW manager Paul Scully, lawyer Deb Langton and nurse John Rumble.
All three have voiced their support for a rank and file vote.
However, on Tuesday Mr Markham said he was worried a vote could disadvantage “fair dinkum” party members, as it had “been brought to my attention that branch stacking is happening”.
He said the party was “running out of time” to run a review, “clean out” branches and find a candidate before the byelection.
“I don’t know first hand, but I have been told that it has been happening,” he said, saying it was “similar” to what had happened in the Mount Keira branch ahead of the party’s 2014 preselection.
The last rank and file vote, where Ms Hay was returned as the Labor candidate ahead of the 2015 election, was dogged by reports of doctored branch minutes and dodgy attendance books, including records of one meeting in which members discussed the fall of Liberal premier Barry O’Farrell eight days before his demise.
There were also reports of a number of branch members claiming to live at addresses when they did not, followed by Australian Federal Police raids on Ms Hay’s Wollongong office.
Senior staffer Susan Grenehalgh is now before the courts, facing five charges relating to alleged electoral fraud.
In his letter, Mr Markham said the “person before the courts is also secretary of a large ALP branch in the region”.
“If [head office] can guarantee a rank and file preselection will be totally above board and [by] people who are genuine in their membership of the party, then yes,” he said when asked if he supported a rank and file vote.
“But if things are out of control and haven’t been addressed, then maybe [a head office-selected candidate is] what’s needed.”
He told Ms Murnain the party must “stop this rot [or] run the risk that we will lose the privilege of representing Wollongong in the NSW parliament”.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
