The Labor party’s federal president, Wayne Swan, has urged his colleagues to desist from tit-for-tat leaks in the wake of Victoria’s branch-stacking scandal.
After derogatory text messages were leaked as part of the escalating fallout from the Adem Somyurek imbroglio, and with senior figures bracing for more damaging material to come, Swan told Guardian Australia acts of revenge “whether in politics or in human relationships” were “entirely counterproductive”.
Swan said Labor people “overwhelmingly understand the need for what we have done, and the way forward is to take our energy and enthusiasm and use it productively not negatively”.
The national executive this week authorised an extraordinary intervention into the state branch, appointing party veterans Steve Bracks and the former federal minister Jenny Macklin as administrators, and suspending all voting rights until at least 2023 while an audit of the membership is conducted.
That move followed sensational allegations broadcast by the Nine Network on Sunday night that the rightwing state powerbroker Somyurek orchestrated the payment of party memberships in a mass branch-stacking operation in Victoria.
That led to Somyurek’s sacking from a state government ministry, and he resigned as a member of the Labor party before his inevitable expulsion by the national executive.
Some of the footage broadcast by Nine was shot inside the office of the federal backbencher Anthony Byrne, a former close associate of Somyurek. Following those events, extracts of text messages Byrne allegedly sent to Somyurek then appeared in two newspapers.
In some texts, Byrne allegedly labelled a New South Wales powerbroker a “crooked, corrupt fuck”, allegedly described a female Labor figure as a “ratfucker”, and allegedly threatened to “dynamite” the left faction’s recruitment attempts, according to the Australian. The Age – which alleged Byrne had also labelled a female MP a “drunk” – reported that the texts were released by Somyurek as apparent political payback.
The former powerbroker kept up the pressure on Thursday, telling the Nine Network in Melbourne Byrne “taught me everything I know about branch work” and professing concern about the federal MP’s mental health. Byrne declined to respond on Thursday evening.
The ALP is bracing for more revenge leaking as the right faction ruptures and realigns. As well as the key protagonists turning on one another as Victoria’s anti-corruption commission embarks on an investigation, the suspension of voting rights for three years has created a significant stink in the Victorian right, and also with some trade unions, who feel disenfranchised by the impending cleanup.
Bracks has already attempted to calm the internal tensions, saying it should be possible to conduct an audit of the membership “reasonably quickly”, allowing the party’s federal executive to then determine whether to restore voting rights before 2023.
Swan also acknowledged the internal unrest, and held out the prospect of restoring democracy to the Victorian branch as soon as practicable. “Insofar as people may feel that hardworking party members have had their rights taken away, it’s not the intention of the national executive or the administrators to run the party as some form of centralised dictatorship.
“Our intention is not to deny people their rights for anything other than as short a period as we possibly can. But until we see the results of what has been recommended to us by the administrators it isn’t possible to put a timetable on that,” he said.
Swan said reform of party culture was necessary “to continue to ensure we elect Labor governments”.
“The Victorian party, ever since the federal intervention of the late 1960s and early 1970s, has been the most successful branch in the country. From to time, even successful operations need to be finetuned and perhaps restructured a little. All members of the party across the country are proud of what the Andrews government has been able to achieve over time, and about what the Bracks government did, but we need to get these structures right.”
He said over the longer term, the Labor party needed to recruit new members, and engage people in policy battles rather than power plays. “Irrespective of what has gone on in Victoria, we need to find new ways to enthuse and involve our branch members and get them more involved in the battle of ideas.
“That’s a problem the party has across the board, not just in Victoria. Like all voluntary organisations we’ve had a challenge for some time of lifting membership. It’s possible to do it in fits and spurts, but we’ve got to make sure it is sustainable over time, which means we’ve got to put more time into looking after our most valuable asset, which is people.
“I’m sure everyone shares the same hope that we can get better practices across the board – less confrontation and more debate about ideas.”
With the political focus in Canberra trained on Byrne, and with the prime minister declaring it was up to the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, whether Byrne remained on parliament’s intelligence committee, fellow members of that committee either kept their heads down or offered praise for his contribution.
Kristina Keneally, Labor’s deputy Senate leader and a committee member, said through a spokesperson that she “agrees with Andrew Hastie and Anthony Albanese that Anthony Byrne makes an important contribution as deputy chair”.
She was referring to comments from Hastie, the Liberal chair, who described Byrne as a friend and “a great servant of our country in the committee”.
“When I say loyal I mean loyal to the national interest in a bipartisan fashion,” Hastie told Sky News. “He loves his country and he’s done a very good job of helping us come to bipartisan positions on a lot of the legislation that passes through the committee. I value him.”
The Liberal MP Tim Wilson, also a committee member, declined to comment except to say: “First rule of PJCIS: Don’t talk about PJCIS.”
The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, was seen walking with Byrne to a an intelligence committee briefing on Thursday morning, in what Guardian Australia understands was a show of support.
