NSW Labor MP Julia Finn has stood aside from shadow cabinet after she was referenced in a report into branch stacking in western Sydney, but she maintains her innocence.
The report suggests seven party members engaged in unworthy conduct, and evidence had been found that meeting records were falsified at several branches, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Finn was alleged to have breached party rules, but no action was recommended against her following an investigation by former Queensland Labor secretary Evan Moorhead.
The Granville MP and opposition spokeswoman for consumer protection and carers rejected any wrongdoing on Friday, when she announced she would stand aside from shadow cabinet.
Finn said she had asked NSW Labor’s internal tribunal to “urgently consider matters raised about me in an anonymous dossier and in the Moorhead independent review.”
She said the Moorhead report had found no wrongdoing.
NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay accepted Finn’s explanation regarding a reference in the report, which was handed down in March, but has not been made public.
“Julia Finn maintains she has not breached any rules, and she is entitled to have her name cleared,” McKay said in a statement on Friday.
“Her decision today to stand aside, and her request to have the matter fully examined by Labor’s Independent Appeals Tribunal as soon as possible, gives her an opportunity to do this.”
Finn in a previous statement said the investigation considered an ALP branch meeting in 2014, before she became an MP.
She had passed on her apologies as she was unlikely to make the meeting because of her schedule but was “pleasantly surprised” to arrive before it finished and signed the attendance book.
Seven people have been charged by Labor over the “unworthy conduct” allegations and will front the party tribunal.
“With COVID-19 restrictions easing, the tribunal will expedite hearings against seven party members whom the Moorhead inquiry found had cases to answer. Their party memberships have been suspended,” McKay said.
“I note the NSW Labor Party adopted the report’s recommendations in full when it was handed down in March.”
