Sydney Labor preselection fight puts sitting minister Chanthivong at risk of a rank-and-file defeat

New South Wales Labor is considering rolling a sitting minister while also blocking the rise of his main rival, leaving a preselection fight in the south-west Sydney seat of Macquarie Fields in deadlock. The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Saturday (14 November) that Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong faces a revolt from local branches, and it is widely known he would lose a rank-and-file ballot, yet neither Premier Chris Minns nor party head office has intervened.

Branch membership surged in five years; stacking claims unproven

Chanthivong's main rival is Masood Chowdhury, deputy mayor of Campbelltown Council and president of the largest branch in the electorate. Chanthivong and branch members have repeatedly complained that Chowdhury's branch recruited members to sway the preselection. The Ingleburn-Macquarie Fields branch had 152 members in more than 30 years of operation, but 149 people have signed up in the past five years, including 86 in the past two years, most of them concessional members paying a discounted rate. There is, however, no evidence that Chowdhury recruited the members himself. Head office took possession of the branch's books in October 2023 and audited new members for months; Chanthivong was later advised what evidence would be needed to trigger an intervention, but that evidence never surfaced. Chowdhury denies stacking, saying the branch never exceeded the cap of five new members per meeting and that the party investigated a year and a half ago and “couldn't find anything”.

Head office caught between two options as Minns has hand-picked candidates before

Sources said there is growing unwillingness to save Chanthivong through a referral to the party's national executive. As fair trading and corrections minister he alienated key stakeholders, including the union movement, and even if he survives preselection he will not be a minister if the Minns government is re-elected in March. At the same time, the party has no appetite to open the door for Chowdhury; installing a third candidate through a national executive referral would break the convention of not rolling sitting ministers and risk angering locals backing Chowdhury. Minns has previously made “captain's calls” to install candidates in seats such as Winston Hills, Wallsend and Wyong, but has not done so here.

Federal MP says Chanthivong unlikely to win preselection

Mike Freelander, the federal MP for Macarthur, said the situation in the branch meant Chanthivong was unlikely to win preselection, describing him as “a longtime friend of mine” and saying he hoped the premier would support him, but that he was “not sure what is going on”. Chanthivong declined to comment. A NSW Labor spokesperson said the party had significantly strengthened its anti-branch-stacking rules over the past five years and taken decisive action where stacking was established; any new allegations or evidence should be referred through the party's proper process, and the improper disclosure of membership lists breached party rules and its code of conduct, with party officers to consider further action.

(File photo: Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Image: Shutterstock.)