Corruption goes deeper than a few bad apples
The Age
Friday June 5, 2009
JUST when it seemed that the Brumby Government was poised to sweep away the factional warlords named in the Ombudsman's report on Brimbank Council, an internal ALP document has drawn attention to the pervasiveness of the branch-stacking that gives the faction bosses their power. Last week Eric Dearricott, secretary of the tiny independents faction, attended ALP headquarters for "deadline renewal day" - the final day for payment of dues by rank-and-file members - and took notes on what he saw. His report tells of an array of practices that flout party rules designed to prevent branch stacking. It demonstrates that rules alone achieve nothing if the culture of the institution undermines them.There were far more dubious renewals than straightforwardones, Mr Dearricott wrote, with "hundreds of payments" being made "contrary to the letter and/or intent" of rules and resolutions laying down the requirements for bulk renewal of memberships. Under the rules, party members are supposed to pay their dues either directly to ALP headquarters or to an executive member of their local branch, who can then submit payments in bulk. Yet Mr Dearricott saw bulk renewals lodged by people who were not executive branch members, "with no evidence that they were even representing branch members". That such practices brazenly continue after the damaging revelations in the Ombudsman's report indicates that Labor's problem cannot be solved by exclusion of a few individuals.ALP state secretary Stephen Newnham dismissed Mr Dearricott's report as a PR exercise designed to damage the party. Such a reaction simply vindicates Mr Dearricott: it is not his report, but the corrupt practices he has documented, that are damaging the party.
© 2009 The Age
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