The Labor party’s head office spent weeks shopping for a celebrity candidate in a bid to railroad a local rank and file ballot in the federal seat of Parramatta, before moving to install former Kevin Rudd adviser Andrew Charlton in the seat.
The party has now confirmed its national executive will not hold a local preselection to replace retiring MP Julie Owens in the seat, and will instead hold a rapid-fire four-day nomination process before a candidate is chosen by the national executive.
