Original article by Shannon Deery, Mitch Clarke, Kieran Rooney, Rhiannon Tuffield
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 10-Feb-22

Victoria’s upper house has passed Adem Somyurek’s motion to have Labor’s ‘Red Shirts’ scandal referred to the state’s Ombudsman for further investigation. The motion was passed after Labor MP Kaushaliya Vaghela joined the Opposition and the 12 crossbenchers in voting for a new probe into the $388,000 taxpayer rort. Vaghela is the first Labor MP to ‘cross the floor’ since the party won office in 2014; she is a close ally of Somyurek, and could be expelled by Labor. She says branch-stacking is endemic within Labor, and an investigation into the Socialist Left faction of Premier Daniel Andrews and other groups is needed.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, VICTORIA. OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Original article by Rachel Baxendale
The Australian – Page: 2 : 9-Feb-22

The Victorian Opposition will support Adem Somyurek’s motion to have Labor’s ‘Red Shirts’ scandal referred to the state’s Ombudsman for further investigation. The motion will also require the support of at least eight crossbenchers. Amongst other things, Somyurek wants the Ombudsman to investigate the role of Premier Daniel Andrews in "designing, propagating and facilitating" the misuse of taxpayers’ funds when he was opposition leader in 2014. Somyurek, who has admitted to being involved in the rort, was expelled by Labor in 2021 following a branch-stacking scandal.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF VICTORIA, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, VICTORIA. OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN