Country Labor members to also pay for Victorian branch stacking

Candidates to represent the party for all seats in the next Victorian and federal elections expected to be held in 2022 - including Indi, Benambra and Ovens Valley - will be selected by Labor's National Executive.

Indi's most recent Labor candidate Eric Kerr said the big step to combat branch-stacking was disappointing for country branches far removed from it all, but had to happen.

"Us members in the regions are the ones furthest from the sparring and political game-playing that happens in the cities ...We're all pretty humble," he said.

"It metropolitan centres it's more of a power game, which is sadly what politics can become, whereas in the regions out here it is more about survival.

"We have to engage in politics which is actually meaningful."

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He said it was important to use the time until voting rights are reinstated in 2023 to reflect and create a fairer system.

"Local voices will still be heard for us in the country so it shouldn't affect us too much," Mr Kerr said.

"I don't think anyone is happy about what's happened or what will happen as a result of it, but the most important thing is dealing with any form of corruption when they happen."

The measures come after an expose revealed by The Age and 60 Minutes alleged former Labor powerbroker Adem Somyurek handed over cash and used parliamentary employees to create fake branch members and amass political influence.

Labor's Wodonga branch president Mark Tait, who was the party's Benambra candidate at the last Victorian election, also rejected the suggestion that North East members were being punished for misdeeds in Melbourne.

"I don't think we're getting penalised, I think the party needed to have a look at the whole process," Mr Tait said.

"It's like if you're a member of any group or club if something goes wrong you need to reassess."

However, Mr Tait conceded some supporters may review their membership, given they will not have a say in choosing election candidates until 2023.

"I would have liked to still see branches have preselection processes," he said.

The Wodonga branch has about 30 members a figure which has been steady and Mr Tait says there is not the scope for stacking.

"I think people know each other more in the country in your branch and you know who's who," he said.

The lack of Labor preselection contests for strongly conservative seats such as Benambra also mitigates branch stacking.

Mr Tait was asked by head office to stand in the 2018 poll and was the only nominee to be Benambra's Labor candidate.

Labor's Wangaratta branch president Lauren McCully described the Melbourne branch-stacking revelations as "deplorable".

She said the party had never put up with branch-stacking and although the introduction of administrators will take pre-selection voting rights away from members, she backed it as the right decision.

"I don't think you can put a distinction between metro and country because it could happen anywhere.

"It's not something you can isolate to one specific area. I'm not saying it's happened up here, not that I am aware of," she said.

"It's about ensuring that it's weeded out, that we have members who are actual members and not been put there for a specific reason.

"I understand why they need to do it.

"It's unfortunate that's happened, but they have to do it to ensure the integrity of our voters' role."

Both she and Mr Kerr said the issues faced this week were not confined to the Labor Party and happened in other political parties as well.

"No political party is immune to this," Mrs McCully said.

Benalla native and Northern Victorian MP Jaclyn Symes faced questions in Victorian Parliament this week as leader of the government in the upper house.

She denied any knowledge of branch-stacking in the party until Sunday, when she started getting messages and turned on 60 Minutes.

"When it comes to branch stacking it is something that I do not actually understand how you do it. As a country member I try and attend branch meetings as often as possible," Ms Symes said.

"In country Victoria there are about five to 10 members per branch and we welcome new members, and I will say that we do not often get a lot of new members coming to our branch meetings.

"A lot of them are the true believers who have been generational Labor supporters who like to hear from their local members."

Wangaratta-based MP from Derryn Hinch's Justice Party Tania Maxwell has supported a referral of allegations to the Ombusdman, saying she hoped it would bring full transparency to the alleged misconduct.

"Being a Member of Parliament is not about building personal power and empires, it's to represent and selflessly advance the views of others," she said.

"These are incredibly serious and wide-ranging allegations and matters that go straight to the heart of Victorian democracy."