Daniel Andrews named in branch stacking probe - Sky News Australia

A Victorian Labor powerbroker has sensationally claimed Premier Daniel Andrews was involved in a factional branch stacking war in the late 1990s.

Adem Somyurek has told Victoria’s corruption watchdog Premier Daniel Andrews was involved in branch stacking operations in the late 1990s, and that he ignored warnings about the infamous red shirts rort in 2014.

The Independent Broadbased Anti-corruption Commission heard a bombshell new testimony from Mr Somyurek on Monday where he outlined a bitter factional feud in Melbourne’s sprawling southeast.

Mr Somyurek said “branch stacking was rife” throughout the Labor Party across factional lines in the late-1990s which centred around the federal division of Holt – the seat of fellow factional boss Anthony Byrne.

“I can talk about what I’ve seen in the southeast and it was the left and the right going at it hammer and tongs,” he said.

“You had Anthony Byrne as the chief recruiter on the right and I think Daniel Andrews was organising on the left.”

Mr Somyurek said foreign minister Gareth Evans was planning on retiring from Parliament at the 1999 election, which left factional rivals battling over the to-be-vacant seat of Holt which was eventually won by Mr Byrne.

“It was clear that he was going to leave which created instability which meant that (branch) stacking happened because he was expected to leave,” he said.

Mr Somyurek said that a “peace accord” was struck in about 2001 between himself and Mr Andrews to avoid the “toxic culture” of the Holt pre-selection.

“The discussions around all that with Mr Andrews and I, was we didn’t want to go back to the toxic culture of Holt. There were really bad things that happened ... During the Holt preselection,” he said.

“There was government largesse, council largesse, being used for factions to win votes over. Mr Andrews was realistic to understand that and so was I.

“After the peace accord… numbers certainly dropped off, there were more than 1,000 members in Holt by the time we got to 2019 that was reduced to about 200 members.”

Mr Somyurek, who was forced to resign from the ministry following allegations of branch stacking which were levelled during a 60 Minutes program last year, said he also flagged the existence of the now infamous red shirts scandal with Mr Andrews ahead of the 2014 election.

The ALP had to pay back more than $388,000 in taxpayer’s money after the Victorian Ombudsman investigated allegations the party used office staffers to work in the 2014 election campaign which later became known as the red shirts rort.

Mr Somyurek told IBAC that he asked the Premier about the scheme and whether Mr Andrews – who was the opposition leader at the time – was aware.

He said Mr Andrews responded with “words to the effect of ... Do you want to win the election or not?”.

Mr Andrews denied any wrongdoing in relation to the rampant branch stacking allegations following IBAC public hearings in October.

“I follow the party's rules, and I behave appropriately," Mr Andrews said.

"If you go and ask Cath (his wife) and the kids, they'll tell you I've had no time to do much else other than my parliamentary and my ministerial duties.

"I've got a job to do. I dedicate myself to that job, every waking hour."

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2021-11-08 06:55:13Z
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_YW1w

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