Prominent Sydney barrister Cameron Murphy has knocked back an approach from Labor to run for the key marginal seat of Parramatta, as branch members demand the party allow a rank and file ballot go ahead.
Amid preselection turmoil for the Liberal party in NSW, Labor is yet to secure candidates in just two key seats – the western Sydney seat of Parramatta and the Wollongong seat of Cunningham.
While Cunningham will go to a rank and file ballot on 19 February, the process for endorsing a candidate in Parramatta remains unresolved, with the dominant socialist left faction considering overriding the local branches that are controlled by the soft, or “Ferguson” left.
Murphy, the son of former high court justice and Whitlam government attorney general Lionel Murphy, is understood to have been approached by Albanese’s left faction, but he was unable to run because of family reasons.
The ongoing threat of federal intervention in the seat is fuelling frustration among branch members, with the seat’s federal electoral committee (FEC) passing two separate motions calling for a rank and file ballot after the sitting MP Julie Owens’ resignation.
The secretary of the Parramatta FEC, James Shaw, has written to Albanese and the NSW general secretary, Bob Nanva, demanding a rank and file ballot.
In letters sent to Nanva and Albanese – first in October last year, and again this week – Shaw advised that members had passed a motion saying that branch members “strongly feel that we need a grassroots candidate with a profile in the community.”
“The FEC needs to set a timetable for fundraising and campaigning. Furthermore we note that the seat of Parramatta is crucial for Labor to win government.”
The letter also said branch members “express disappointment” that earlier correspondence requesting a ballot was not responded to.
Shaw told Guardian Australia that branch members felt that a local candidate was needed, and that there were up to 40 booths in the seat that would require the resources of the branch.
“Branch members will be extremely disheartened if we are not afforded our democratic right to determine the candidate,” he said.
“We need a candidate who has grassroots connections to our area and who is answerable to party members and the Parramatta community.”
Support from the Ferguson left, which is named after powerbroker Laurie Ferguson, is understood to be split between Granville state Labor MP Julia Finn, and Durga Owen, who ran for the state seat of Seven Hills at the last state election.
The federal executive are considering installing Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union legal director, Abha Devasia, but branch members are concerned that she does not live in the seat is largely unknown in the community.
It has been reported that Albanese had earlier approached the former state MP David Borger for the seat, but he knocked back the approach.
Liverpool city councillor Charishma Kaliyanda has also been named as a possible candidate, but she is understood to have told local members she would not be nominating.
The diverse western Sydney seat has been in Labor hands since 2004, and is held by a 3.5% margin.
In her valedictory speech to parliament, Owens said branch members were best placed to choose her successor and they took the role “very seriously”.
“They’ve been out there for years getting to know who in their ranks knows how to work, who is consistent, who is honest, who volunteers, who genuinely cares about the community, who has flaws that would negatively impact on their job, they staff the booths, they do it all and they know the branch members, they know each other very, very well.
“They are well placed to make a decision about who will represent Labor in the forthcoming election.”
But party figures say that the seat carries baggage linked to historical branch stacking, pointing to the findings of an internal inquiry completed by Evan Moorhead in 2020 which recommended a two-year pause on rank and file ballots.
The Moorhead report found seven party officials had engaged in “unworthy conduct” by engaging in branch stacking with membership books routinely falsified.
It is understood the left faction is now considering whether it is worth bearing the consequences of a backlash from the local branches in order to install a preferred candidate, or whether to allow the preselection to go ahead to ensure the branch members are kept on board.
