{"id":741752,"date":"2026-06-17T06:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T06:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741752\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T06:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T06:10:09","slug":"enraged-union-boss-defends-naming-and-shaming-victorian-labor-mps-who-had-zero-conversations-with-voters-victorian-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741752\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Enraged\u2019 union boss defends naming and shaming Victorian Labor MPs who had \u2018zero conversations\u2019 with voters | Victorian politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head of Victoria\u2019s powerful Trades Hall Council has defended naming and shaming 23 state Labor MPs and candidates for having \u201czero conversations\u201d with their constituents in the past two weeks, saying they all need to \u201cwork their ass off\u201d to stop One Nation\u2019s rise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Luke Hilakari wrote to MPs and candidates on Tuesday morning warning if they \u201cdon\u2019t give a shit about winning\u201d, they shouldn\u2019t expect support from the union movement during the November election campaign.<\/p>\n

As One Nation\u2019s popularity grows, Hilakari said the union movement was planning its \u201cbiggest election campaign ever\u201d and wanted to identify which MPs and candidates were actively campaigning in order to decide where to focus its efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was frankly enraged to learn that 23 MPs or candidates have had ZERO conversations with voters in the last fortnight,\u201d Hilakari wrote in the email, which had the subject line, \u201cComplacent MPs should not expect any support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those named include ministers Steve Dimopoulos, Sonya Kilkenny, Nick Staikos, Ros Spence and Natalie Suleyman, backbenchers and candidates in marginal seats.<\/p>\n

How many conversations did Labor MPs and candidates have with constituents?<\/a><\/p>\n

The data, reported fortnightly by Labor party<\/a> headquarters since mid-2025, also showed that the premier knocked on 86 doors and spoke with 32 constituents, while the deputy premier, Ben Carroll, knocked on 35 and had 11 conversations with voters.<\/p>\n

Sarah McKenzie, who is seeking to reclaim the seat of Richmond from the Greens, had 270 conversations with constituents \u2013 more than any other candidate. She was followed by Sydenham candidate Uros Rasic, who had 180 conversations, and Clarinda MP Meng Heang Tak, spoke to 159 voters.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

Hilakari said if the MPs didn\u2019t lift voter contact in the next fortnight he would recommended to his executive council that \u201cno campaigning action happens in their seat\u201d. He said if he were a member of the Labor party\u2019s administrative committee, he would also recommended stripping candidates of marginal seat support if they are eligible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have thousands of union members ready to give up time with their families, attending street stalls, knocking on doors and making phone calls after work, because they understand just how disastrous a One Nation-Coalition government would be for the pay, conditions and quality of life of working Victorians,\u201d Hilkari said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have every right to expect the same commitment from you. The message is simple, start campaigning or start packing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The premier, Jacinta Allan<\/a>, on Wednesday defended the Labor team, saying the data was not the only way to measure community engagement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s forums, there\u2019s meetings, there\u2019s community events, there\u2019s the mobile office work. Not all of that necessarily gets captured in that data set but it is all about community engagement,\u201d the premier told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know from my Labor team, the Labor team that I am proud to lead, that everyone is working incredibly hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kilkenny, who had zero conversations with voters in the past fortnight, said all Labor MPs were \u201cfocused on Victorians\u201d and this could be demonstrated in several ways, including through her work as attorney general.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that\u2019s through phone banking, whether that\u2019s through door knocking, whether that\u2019s attending community events, meeting constituents, holding mobile offices, or drafting new laws like we are introducing today,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hilakari told Guardian Australia on Wednesday he had heard from more than a dozen Labor MPs who were pleased with his intervention and \u201cfrustrated by those who are dragging their heels\u201d. He said a \u201csmall handful\u201d of the 23 named had contacted him and said his concerns could have been raised \u201cmore quietly\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are beyond that time. Quiet conversations have been had, they have not been listened to, and we are five months away from an election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery MP should be working their ass off right now to make sure that Pauline Hanson and One Nation doesn\u2019t become the majority party in the state of Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent polls have shown One Nation gain ground in Victoria while Labor\u2019s primary vote has slipped into the low 20s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of Victoria\u2019s powerful Trades Hall Council has defended naming and shaming 23 state Labor MPs and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-741752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}