MEDIA RELEASE – 23 October 2019
Andrew George, Director of Doogue + George confirms that Mr. Setka has not been expelled from the ALP today. The ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Executive meeting to consider the charges brought by Mark Dreyfus under the Victorian Rules was to take place this Friday 25 October.
Any decision as to penalty, if the charges were proven would be a matter for that meeting. Any assertion that Mr. Setka was expelled from the ALP is wrong.
Mr. Setka wanted a short adjournment of the meeting as he is Adelaide at a ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ conference this Friday, but the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Executive refused. Given that decision it is our view that the ALP was not intending to provide him with procedural fairness.
We can confirm that after discussions with lawyers for the ALP there has been an agreement that Mr. Setka will withdraw his application to the Court of Appeal. It was our advice that once the ALP agreed to deal with Mr. Setka under the Victorian Rules then pursuing the appeal was inappropriate. This is because the ALP was now acting under the Victorian Rules as Mr. Setka has always argued they should.
After careful consideration Mr. Setka made the decision to resign from the Australian Labor Party for reasons outlined in his media release earlier today.
