Parramatta sits on much lower margin of 3.5 per cent,compared to Fowler which has a safe 14 per cent margin. It has been held by Labor’s Julie Owens for 18 years.
The Parramatta process has so angered branch members that they wrote to Mr Albanese and Labor’s national executive earlier this month,expressing “no confidence” in it.
The Sydney Morning Herald has seen the letter,which criticises the “lack of transparency and unnecessary delay” and calls for a rank-and-file preselection to be conducted immediately.
But neither Mr Albanese nor the federal executive responded to the branch members’ correspondence.
“These decisions are made by three or four people in a restaurant,” said James Shaw,the president of the Parramatta Federal Electorate Committee,which represents the branches in the electorate.
“This is how we got[former state Labor politician] Ian Macdonald. We have factional leaders negotiating over who our candidate is rather than grassroots membership.”
Outgoing member Julie Owens is a member of the “soft left” also known as the “Ferguson left” after former MP Laurie Ferguson.
The soft left are bitter rivals to Mr Albanese’s sub-faction,the “hard left” or socialist left,aligned with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.
“I think Anthony,when he was in his 20s,was of that political ideology,” Mr Shaw said.
“He has changed his ideology – I mean,we had a more progressive agenda under Bill Shorten – but tribally he’s remained within the AMWU group.”
Due to a historical alleged branch-stacking scandal,local pre-selections had been paused in Parramatta for two years,although members say that two years expired in February.
“They can’t use that as an excuse ad infinitum to deny us our democratic rights,” Mr Shaw said.
“They[the federal leadership] think local candidates are no good and theirs are better.
“But it’s never a meritorious process,it’s about putting people up who are their friends and allies.”
One disgruntled local Labor figure said the party had missed an opportunity to introduce more diversity of background into caucus.
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“The blind spot the Labor leadership has around this,we use that term to forgive what I perceive as structural racism,” the local said.
The person said it sent a message to multicultural communities:“You can build our roads,you can teach our children,you can work in our hospitals,but you cannot be decision-makers.”
Another local Labor leader who asked not to be named said the dispute was about “centuries-old hatreds” within Labor.
“Charlton is someone that Labor should be getting into Parliament,but the fit is way off for Parramatta.
“This is not a safe seat,it is an important marginal that has been in the Labor column for 18 years,through the efforts of locals. There is considerable anger about it.”
Potential candidate Durga Owen said Parramatta branch members should have a say in their next member of parliament.
“The best way to do that is through a rank and file pre-selection,” Owen said.
Owen,whose Tamil refugee family settled in Parramatta in 1995,said that “when you walk around Parramatta and see the people on the streets,it’s only one of us who can truly represent us in parliament”.
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Owen said she previously ran for the state seat of Seven Hills “because I hadn’t seen a woman like me on an election poster”.
But Charlton had made great contributions to the party and “if he’s successful in the pre-selection he would make a good member”,she said.
Corporate Communications specialist Alan Mascarenhas,the vice-president of the Parramatta branch,said he had been approached by many constituents to be a consensus candidate.
“Labor has options – we have a range of diverse candidates,who can speak authentically to this multicultural area.”
Mr Charlton did not respond to requests for comment.
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