Somyurek ALP expulsion ‘an ugly story’ for Vic Labor

Sky News Chief Anchor Kieran Gilbert says the sacking of Labor MP Adem Samyurek is “an ugly story for the Labor Party in Victoria”. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced he had sacked Mr Samyurek without hesitation on Monday after secret recordings were made public in which the MP could be heard making explicit comments about a fellow minister. Mr Samyurek is also being referred to Victoria Police and IBAC for corruption allegations. Mr Gilbert told Sky News Mr Andrews had brought the disgraced MP back about 18 months ago after he was forced to resign from Cabinet in 2015 due to bullying allegations. “(Andrews) thought that he was a changed man, well obviously quite clearly from last night’s story that’s not the case,” he said. “The fact that it was happening in the first place under the nose of his leadership of the Victorian Labor Party - fine he didn’t know about the stacking but he’s the leader of the party, he’s got to own that as well in the sense that this is a big hit for the brand of the ALP. “More broadly and federally this individual is a member of the National Executive, the powerful National Executive of the ALP so there are federal implications here too in terms of what, if any, links there were to federal MPs, to any favours that might be owed and that sort of thing. “I think there’s a long way to go, not just through the IBAC and Victoria Police investigations but the political reverberations will continue for some time to come.” Image: News Corp Australia Via news.com.au — Australia’s #1 news site https://www.news.com.au