A Change of Guard

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Thursday 18 July 2013

Cambodian MP's approval boost as union battles for Crean seat [A battle of sort for a seat in an Australian parliament]

Mr. Hong Lim at Labor Cares Forum
  • From: The Australian
  • July 18, 2013 
LABOR'S most influential MP in the Cambodian community has dramatically intervened in the preselection battle for the federal seat of Hotham, openly backing the National Union of Workers candidate.
Cambodian-born state ALP member Hong Lim has written to party members in the southeastern Melbourne electorate urging them to support local councillor Geoff Lake.
Mr Lim's decision is significant because the local ballot for former federal leader Simon Crean's seat will rely heavily on up to 250 Cambodian and Vietnamese votes.
It comes as the Victorian Right edges closer to imploding, with discussions under way to realign the party, possibly including the marginalised NUW, in a new power-sharing arrangement, sources said.
Mr Lake's supporters privately believe they can count on the majority of the Cambodian votes while the right-wing Labor Unity candidate Rosemary Barker appears to have secured the majority of the Vietnamese votes. Labor insiders estimate there are up to 150 members of Cambodian descent, and about 100 Vietnamese voters. There are about 500 eligible ALP voters in the local ballot.
The battle for Hotham is one part of a three-part showdown in Victorian Labor that threatens to reshape the Victorian Right.
The party is brawling over Hotham and the No 3 spot on the Senate ticket and serious consideration has been given to transforming the Right's arrangements.
Mr Lim, who is overseas, has written to party members directly lobbying for Mr Lake. "Geoff Lake is a big supporter of the Cambodian community locally," he wrote.
"It is very important that you attend the election centre and vote for Geoff Lake."
Mr Lim is known as one of the most important numbers men in southeastern Melbourne, which embraces a diverse ethnic mix.
Described by his enemies as an ethnic warlord, he is a member of the Right but aligned with the group of state MPs associated with the increasingly powerful shop assistants union and the Health Services Union. His parents died under Pol Pot's regime.
Mr Lim praised Mr Lake's support for councillors Youhorn Chea and Meng Heang Tak at least year's Greater Dandenong council elections and declared that Mr Lake "understands the needs of our Cambodian community".

However, Ms Barker is effectively the endorsed Labor Unity candidate for the ballot and enjoys the backing of the Socialist Left.
The preselection will be made up of an equal share of the local ballot and the central panel. The NUW is increasingly confident Mr Lake can win but Ms Barker would secure a majority of votes on the central panel, sources predicted.
Mr Lake accused right federal MP Michael Danby yesterday of lobbying against him in the Israeli community. Mr Danby did not respond to The Australian. Mr Lake said suggestions he was anti-Israel were "a complete fabrication".

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