More than 20 federal Labor MPs in Victoria won’t be preselected for their seats in the next federal election until a judge rules on the nomination process.
Preselection opened on Tuesday for 21 electorates the party considers safe, and for the new seat of Hawke in Melbourne’s west.
Nominations closed on Friday morning and despite all sitting MPs facing no challenge to their candidacy, a Victorian supreme court judge has barred the ALP from officially declaring their preselection, AAP reports.
Three candidates were nominated to represent Hawke and a ballot to choose the candidate was due to be held on Friday afternoon.
But ALP affiliated unions have been granted an ongoing injunction until at least late May, after arguing that the process under which preselection was to occur was invalid.
The Victorian branch of the Labor party has been under the control of the party’s national executive since June last year, after allegations of branch stacking were raised against former state government minister Adem Somyurek. He denies the claims.
Representatives from 11 unions are taking part in the action, led by the Health Services Union secretary, Diana Asmar. They’ve taken aim at the speed of the preselection process.
Their barrister, Ron Merkel QC, said a two to three-day nomination period was “unprecedented”.
“It’s no surprise whatsoever that there are no other nominations in the 21 seats because the process people have to go through has been short-circuited,” he said.
Potential nominees require the support of 10 party members and a nomination period of less than three days did not allow people the time to gather support, he said.
But Peter Willis SC, who is representing members of the national executive including federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese, said the process was conventional and unremarkable.
He had requested that a previous injunction, put in place after an urgent hearing on Thursday night, be lifted to allow current MPs to campaign as candidates in the next federal election.
A snap election as early as September is not out of the question, he said. Willis also argued if they lost the case, the preselection process could be redone.
But Justice Ginnane said that could be an unwieldy process, the effects of which were difficult to contemplate at this stage.
“It is appropriate that the declaration of the preselected candidates, or the election of a preselected candidate in the seat of Hawke, not occur until the conclusion of the hearing and probably its determination,” he said.
A full hearing on the issue is due to begin on 27 May.
