A Victorian Labor MP who broke party rules to pass a motion that will investigate serious corruption within the party may soon be kicked out.
Upper house MP Kaushaliya Vaghela on Wednesday sensationally crossed the floor to vote in favour of a motion to investigate the infamous Red Shirts scandal for a second time, which was carried 19 votes to 17.
It is against party rules to vote against the party’s position.
If Ms Kaushaliya does not resign by her own accord, she will likely be thrown out of the party.
The motion, introduced by rogue former Labor MP Adem Somyurek, requested the Ombudsman investigate the role Premier Daniel Andrews had in “designing, propagating and facilitating” the scandal while he was opposition leader in 2014.
It was initially investigated by the Ombudsman in 2018 but did not progress to any criminal charges or referral to the state’s anti-corruption watchdog.
Ms Vaghela was initially part of Mr Somyurek’s Moderate Labor faction before he was kicked out of the party for branch stacking in 2020.
Following the vote, Ms Vaghela posted a statement on social media, telling her followers branch stacking was “endemic” in the Australian Labor Party.
“I understand it has been for decades, therefore what happened at IBAC was a grave injustice because it was discriminatory,” she said.
“I was a former staff member for the socialist left faction, so I know all about their branch stacking activities and their electorate officers being used for factional purposes.
“If branch stacking and factional operatives working in electorate officers is corrupt, then the socialist left and all the other factions must be investigated.”
Late last year, Ms Vaghela was not re-endorsed for this year’s election.
Mr Somyurek was dumped from the Labor Party in 2020 following revelations he was involved in party branch stacking, with some adamant his latest stunt was a last-ditch efforxjmtzywt at revenge.
He is still being investigated by IBAC over his role in branch stacking and denies his motion is revenge.
Introducing his motion to parliament on Wednesday, Mr Somyurek claimed the red shirts scandal was designed by Premier Daniel Andrews ahead of the 2014 election, which centred around Labor’s misuse of $388,000 in taxpayer funds.
“We were desperate to win,” he said.
“(Daniel Andrews) did something well beyond what he should’ve – he crossed the line, he designed this system.
“He told me personally that you’ve got to take part in this process whether you want to win or not.”
The successful motion will give the Ombudsman and IBAC powers to expand their terms of reference and include all factions in the Labor Party.
