SEXIST tactics by ALP members in the preselection for the federal seat of Gellibrand have been slammed by retiring MP Nicola Roxon.
In a campaign mired in mudslinging and dirty tricks, Tim Watts won Monday night’s primary local poll with 126 votes, ahead of Kimberley Kitching with 105, Katie Hall with 87, Daniel McKinnon with 42 and Julia Mason with four.
Yesterday, the four candidates who polled behind Mr Watts withdrew their nominations ahead of last night’s central panel meeting.
Ms Roxon, who backed Ms Hall, her ex-staffer to take over Australia’s second-safest Labor seat, lashed out at her own party over a ‘dirt sheet’ sent to local members making claims about Ms Hall’s sexual past and honesty.
Ms Roxon emailed party members, slamming the “malicious, nasty and false” materials.
Ms Hall said whoever sent out the letter was “a creep”.
“There were some disgraceful tactics in an otherwise strong contest,” she said. “They were wrong and personally hurtful, but I’m proud that I ran such a positive campaign. I have no idea who did it, but whoever did it is a bit of a creep, to be frank.”
Ms Kitching, the closest rival of Mr Watts, wrote to party members on Monday strenuously denying involvement in the smears. “I have made it clear from the start — in word and deed — that I want a female to replace Nicola Roxon,” she said.
Ms Kitching, the Health Services Union’s Victorian branch manager backed by Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten, was expected to top the vote count after winning support from Turkish and Lebanese voting blocs. Mr Kitching’s husband Andrew Landeryou accused a group within Labor for reneging on an “iron-clad commitment” to his wife.
The Weekly understands that a bloc linked to Hakki Suleyman and his daughter, Natalie, switched allegiance from Ms Kitching.
“Why this reneging happened is a mystery that will perhaps be best explained by the next round of state preselections . . . ,” Mr Landeryou wrote in his blog.
Ms Suleyman, a former Brimbank mayor, is thought to be interested in preselection for the upper house Western Metropolitan seat at next year’s state election.
Mr Watts, 31, is a Telstra executive with close ties to ALP heavyweight Stephen Conroy. He is almost certain to be elected to parliament.
Mr Watts told the Weekly he intended to move with his family from Fitzroy to Footscray before the September 14 election.
“An Abbott government would be a real threat to the quality of education in the west, a threat to the harmony of multiculturalism in the west and a threat to jobs and job security.”
The local vote was endorsed at last night’s meeting of the 100-member central selection panel.
