Asfour is a Labor candidate on the party’s upper house ticket for the March election,along with other newcomers including Dubbo barrister Stephen Lawrence and Cessnock nurse Emily Suvaal.
Mihailuk,the MP for Bankstown,warned it would be a disastrous outcome for the party if Asfour remained on the ticket,and said it left her no option but to launch an attack on her own party.
She told parliament there were “significant discrepancies in planning controls” in Canterbury-Bankstown council’s 2021 Bankstown City Centre master plan that had left “valuable land” as “virtually worthless” for ratepayers.
“This must be investigated,” Mihailuk said,adding she had tried to raise concerns with ALP bosses,including disgraced former general secretary Jamie Clements and current secretary Bob Nanva.
“Candidacy for such a privileged position you would expect warrants comprehensive scrutiny,particularly because Labor’s recent ICAC woes,and well-documented ICAC findings against former ministers,which marred the last NSW Labor government,” Mihailuk told parliament.
Sources with knowledge of a conversation between Minns and Mihailuk said it was made clear that she could not stay in the shadow cabinet if she used parliamentary privilege to attack colleagues. The pair will meet again,as early as Friday,to have further discussions.
Minns’ office was contacted for comment. Minns said on Wednesday he planned to meet with Mihailuk that afternoon to discuss why she decided to air the allegations in parliament. He also said Asfour had referred the allegations to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).