(Thesis on unions-ALP relationship)
Dirt flies in Gellibrand preselection - SMH
Former attorney-general Nicola Roxon has lashed out at ''misogyny'' within Labor ranks, after the release of an anonymous dirt sheet attacking a candidate in the preselection battle for the safe seat of Gellibrand.
Covered also in the Australian
Unions mount court challenge to donation laws - National TimesA SCANDAL sheet making defamatory claims about a candidate's sexual history and honesty while working for the Health Services Union has poisoned Labor's attempts to run an orderly preselection ballot for the federal seat of Gellibrand.
The laws, introduced by the O'Farrell government in 2011, ban donations from anyone other than individuals on the electoral roll and restrict what individual unions affiliated to a political party can spend on campaigns.
They also prohibit the payment of affiliation fees such as those paid by unions to Labor and restrict the ability of Unions NSW and business or environment groups from receiving money from member organisations to run political advertising.
US embassy explains ALP pre-selections - Cable 25 February 2009
In Australia, nominations for state and federal parliamentary seats are called "pre-selections." Meetings are held at the district branches of each party and the members choose a candidate. Because this is a small-scale, parochial exercise, ALP pre-selections are controlled by those who can bring the most local ALP members to a meeting. The factions, and the unions which back each faction, can always ensure that enough members turn up to a branch meeting to determine the outcome (sometimes known as "branch stacking"). For this reason, even though the unions are now less than 20 percent of the workforce in Australia, they retain a disproportionate share of political power within the ALP.
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