VICTORIA’S branch of the Australian Labor Party denies a caucus exists within Hobsons Bay City Council.
State secretary Stephen Newnham last week made this clear to the Municipal Electoral Tribunal sitting in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
Mr Newnham was giving evidence to the tribunal in defence of Hobsons Bay City councillor Mary Ann Lindsay, who is alleged to have duped residents into voting for her in last year’s council elections.
Noel Allsop, who ran alongside Cr Lindsay in the Altona North Ward in the November elections, has insisted Cr Lindsay misled and deceived voters because she did not disclose her ALP membership in a candidate statement posted to residents living in the ward.
The hearing continues today and a decision is expected to be announced at a later date.
Mr Newnham, who was elected state secretary earlier this year, said in a witness statement tendered to the tribunal that to his knowledge “there is no municipal caucus in Hobsons Bay City Council, and there has not been one in my term as secretary”.
He also said the ALP did not select any supported or endorsed candidates in the 2004 elections, evidence that could be crucial in the tribunal’s findings as to whether Cr Lindsay did or did not not breach any part of the Local Government Act.
Cr Lindsay has told the tribunal that although candidates ran as community Labor members they acted as independent councillors once elected and not as Labor members.
She also testified that at no time during the election did she ever conceal her ALP membership.
Hobsons Bay councillor Carl Marsich, who is also Cr Lindsay’s partner, is expected to testify today along with an expert witness called by Mr Allsop’s legal team.
The legal team has also subpoenaed minutes from an ALP Altona branch meeting that took place in December last year.
Under the heading Council Wrap, the minutes stated “four Labor members were elected to council”, naming councillors Lindsay, Marsich, Renee Caruana and Bill Baarini.
Members from Hobsons Bay Community First, which first made the application to the tribunal, also testified at the hearing.
Tony Briffa and Hans Paas claim a caucus is in place at Hobsons Bay City Council, with Labor councillors caucusing as late as last Tuesday night’s council meeting.
A division of the Council was called at the meeting after councillors debated whether a policy of installing memorial plaques should be reviewed.
Councillors Baarini, Caruana, Lindsay and Marsich voted for the review while Councillors Angela Altair, Leigh Hardinge and Peter Hemphill voted against.
Mr Allsop’s legal team could have a hard time proving their case after the tribunal threw out a similar case last week.
Aichah Bahouche contested the Moreland City Council election, held during the same time as the Hobsons Bay election.
Mrs Bahouche contested the election because polling booths had run out of ballot papers and claimed there was inaccurate counting of votes, inaccurate and deceptive howtovote cards and a conflict of interest by a scrutineer.
