Police called in ALP preselection brawl
By Shane Bentley
NEWCASTLE — Police have been asked to investigate allegations of fraud after an ALP preselection battle for the federal seat of Newcastle. The sitting member, Allan Morris, called the police in on April 30 in order to "protect the ALP and its standing in the community".
The two contenders are Morris, who is non-aligned but broadly supported by the ALP left, and Lyn Holmes, supported by the right. Supporters of each candidate have been trying to get their opponent's supporters declared ineligible to vote by the state credentials committee.
ALP members are ineligible if they have been in the party for less than a year or have not attended three branch meetings in 12 months. Supporters of Holmes assert that signatures of some members differed from meeting to meeting in the attendance book and that there had been delays in "ruling off" the book. (This would enable members who didn't attend the meeting to sign as if they had.) They have argued that the entire membership of Morris's branch is therefore ineligible.
Giles Martin, president of Newcastle ALP branch, has denied the allegations, saying he has always been "scrupulous" in observing party rules. Meanwhile, the secretary of the recently reformed Carrington branch, Arthur Wade, has attacked attempts to disqualify 36 members of his branch.
Although left parties have traditionally rejected interference in internal party affairs by the police and other state institutions, in this case it is the ALP right protesting the police investigation and left-wingers, such as sitting state member Bryce Gaudry, who are supporting the call.
The trade unions have split along ALP factional lines, with the left-dominated Trades Hall supporting Morris and the Centre Unity group of unions supporting Holmes.
The results of this dispute will also affect the coming ALP preselection for local government positions. Right-wing Lord Mayor John McNaughton and most of his team lost the preselection vote last year for the next Newcastle council elections. The recent proposal to change the city's ward boundaries is likely to mean there will be new preselections, and McNaughton and other right candidates may be in a better position to contest the preselection again.