Andrews will ‘get his way’ on push to extend national control of ALP
Labor’s national executive is expected to grant Premier Daniel Andrews’ wish for the federal body to preselect candidates for vacant upper and lower house seats ahead of the state election, bypassing Victorian members.
It comes just days after the Victorian premier wrote to the national executive requesting voting rights not be returned to Victorian members until after the state poll, claiming it would give Labor “the best possible chance of success”.
Premier Daniel Andrews and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Melbourne during the federal election campaign.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
While the request will need to be officially ticked off by the full national executive, one senior member, speaking to The Age on the condition of anonymity, said, “Dan will get his way”.
Twenty-eight out of 88 lower house electorates do not have an endorsed Labor candidate, meaning the national body will be asked to approve candidates for the remaining spots – more than 30 per cent of Legislative Assembly seats – which include Berwick, Morwell, Melbourne and Brunswick.
Federal Labor’s control over the Victorian branch was the subject of an unsuccessful legal challenge which failed after the High Court dismissed a request for an appeal.
Labor MPs believe the number of vacant seats will grow, as election day nears, with several high-profile state MPs expected to announce their retirement ahead of the November 26 poll.
Long-serving ministers Martin Pakula, 53, and Lisa Neville, 58, have both nominated for preselection but several Labor sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss internal party matters, told The Age the pair may not recontest.
On Friday, Pakula, who intends to shift to the South Eastern Metropolitan upper house spot after his lower house seat of Keysborough was abolished, told The Age his intention was to contest the upcoming election.
Speculation is also rife that two other ministers who have been endorsed, Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio, 57, and the 62-year-old Treasurer Tim Pallas – who suffered an 11 per cent swing to his primary at the last election – may also walk away from politics in November.
Any additional resignations between now and November would further increase the power of the federal body, which took control of the Victorian branch in 2020 after The Age and 60 Minutes exposed industrial-scale branch stacking which ended the ministerial careers of former frontbenchers Luke Donnellan, Robin Scott and Marlene Kairouz.
The former ministers were disendorsed at a meeting of Labor’s national executive late last year after being linked to former Labor powerbroker Adem Somyurek, who quit the party before it moved to expel him following the allegations of branch stacking.
If any MPs walk away from state politics before June 30, their departure would trigger a byelection. However, any MPs who quit after that date would be able to leave their seats vacant until the election.
Departing MPs who stick around until the election will be rewarded with a slightly bigger payout than those who leave early, but party insiders fear the extra cash might not be enough to entice Kairouz to stay in parliament until election day.
A byelection before the November state election would prove an important electoral test for the government particularly in outer-suburban areas, where Labor faced swings against it at last month’s federal election. Kairouz is MP for Kororoit in Melbourne’s west.
Speculation about more ministerial departures comes after several other senior long-serving Labor MPs – including former attorney-general Jill Hennessy, planning minister Richard Wynne, parliamentary secretary Danielle Green and former sports minister John Eren – announced their intention to retire at the next election.
Labor MPs believe any additional ministerial retirements would put pressure on Premier Andrews to consider a pre-election reshuffle and present a fresh team to the electorate.
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