Adem Somyurek attempted to play down his role in Labor’s branch-stacking scandal,despite the damning findings.Credit:Paul Jeffers
When asked on Wednesday what steps he took to investigate the rumours he had heard,Andrews refused to answer the question. Media have been reporting on branch stacking inside the Labor Party during the tenure of Andrews’ leadership,including a2018 ABC investigation that detailed Somyurek’s branch stacking operation. The premier’s office refused to comment at the time as it was a matter for the party.
On Wednesday,the premier said he could not change what had happened in the past,and that he “was wrong” to call Somyurek a “good friend” who was “a better man than he’s ever been” when he promoted him back into cabinet after the 2018 election. Somyurek was sacked from the ministry in 2015 over allegations he bullied his staff.
“As soon as we became aware of this unprecedented,shameful,disgraceful behaviour[in 2020] we took action,” Andrews said.
The report casts a shadow over the Andrews government’s response to the red shirts rort and calls out Victorian politicians forrefusing to act on the ombudsman’s 2018 recommendation to ban MPs from directing staff to perform party-political activity.
Catalogue of Unethical Behaviour by Andrew Dyson.Credit:Andrew Dyson
In a statement to Labor members,Victorian ALP president Susie Byers said the party took the investigation’s findings seriously.
“As a branch,we have made great progress towards a better party,” Byers said.
The integrity agencies acknowledged the work by the Victorian Labor Party to address the endemic practice of branch stacking since June 2020,but said it was too early to assess whether those changes would eliminate the practice and associated integrity risks.
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