Marlene Kairouz set to face ALP branch-stacking charges
Former cabinet minister Marlene Kairouz will likely be charged under party rules by Labor’s internal disputes tribunal with a string of branch-stacking offences and faces the threat of expulsion from the party.
The party’s interim administrators, Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin, told Ms Kairouz in a letter she will face the internal disputes tribunal after evidence emerged that she was involved in the branch-stacking scandal that ultimately ended her career.
Former cabinet minister Marlene Kairouz. Credit:Nine
A senior Labor source close to the party’s internal investigation confirmed that “very good evidence” emerged of Ms Kairouz’s alleged involvement in branch-stacking activities inside the party.
She would likely be charged under party rules in coming days but had not yet been notified by the party’s administrators, the source said.
Ms Kairouz said on Twitter: “I have not received any correspondence from @BracksSteve & Jenny Macklin about matters in this article. Either someone is being mischievous or this is a predetermined outcome. I have not engaged in branch stacking & no evidence has been put to me”.
If found guilty, Ms Kairouz would be the most high-profile scalp of the Labor Party’s internal review following an investigation by The Age and 60 Minutes that implicated her, and two other cabinet ministers, in “industrial-scale” branch-stacking.
Ms Kairouz has been contacted for comment.
More to come
Sumeyya is a state political reporter for The Age.
Annika is state political editor for The Age.