The High Court on Thursday rejected an application by the HWU and a handful of other unions for special leave for the court to hear the appeal.
Barristers Bret Walker SC and Peter Willis SC – acting for federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese and the national executive – argued in written submissions the request for an appeal should be refused because the key arguments raised by the unions had been rejected by lower courts.
“There are insufficient prospects for success;the case raises no questions of public importance or principle,nor is there any purported error of judicial method,” the submission said.
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Counsel for the unions disputed this,arguing in their submission that the question of whether the federal branch of the ALP was empowered to take over and control preselection processes of the Victorian branch is “one bearing directly on the choice to be made by electors in Victorian seats in the forthcoming election”.
They also argued the matter had broader ramifications for other political parties where the federal branch “might likewise seek to take over and control preselections by state branches”.
Since May last year,the party’s national executive has preselected more than 20 candidates for Victorian federal seats. It finalised three more preselections on Tuesday,including former state bureaucrat Jana Stewart as the replacement for Senator Kitching - a move that further angered the late senator’s supporters.