THE POLL BLUDGER
Victorian Legislative Assembly Election 2006

DERRIMUT
Labor 27.3%

Derrimut covers western suburbs beyond Footscray, from St Albans south to Sunshine West. The seat was recreated at the 2002 election with the abolition of Sunshine and Melton, after earlier existing between 1985 to 1992. The present electorate and its earlier relations have always been unassailably safe for Labor. The inaugural member for the reconstituted seat was Uruguayan-born Telmo Languiller (right), who entered parliament in 1999 as the member for Sunshine after a preselection coup against the sitting member, Kirner government Agriculture Minister Ian Baker. This was the culmination of a decline in Baker's fortunes that began with his challenge to John Brumby's leadership in May 1994, for which the support of the Socialist Left was first given (though Baker was in the Right) and then withdrawn on the day of the spill. This cost him his position as Shadow Treasurer and he subsequently lost control of local branches to Languiller and the Theophanous brothers, who formed their own Labor Renewal Alliance sub-faction after being expelled from the Socialist Left in 1996. Languiller had previously been an electorate officer to Deputy Prime Minister and Socialist Left figurehead Brian Howe, and was henceforth chief-of-staff to Andrew Theophanous (who was ultimately imprisoned for immigration fraud in 2002). Baker attempted to hold his seat as an independent in 1999, but failed to trouble Languiller with a modest 14.2 per cent of the vote. Now firmly aligned with Labor Unity, Languiller was promoted to parliamentary secretary for community services after the 2002 election.

In 2005 Languiller was at the centre of a party investigation into allegations of branch stacking within the federal division of Gorton. Statutory declarations emerged alleging irregularities in party records exaggerating the level of activity in Right-controlled branches, and accusing Languiller of paying money into a man's bank account so he could pay for party memberships at head office. The Sunday Herald-Sun reported that allegations were "understood to be based on evidence supplied by Nelson Tornesi, an uncle of Mr Languiller, after a falling out within the family" (Languiller was granted an intervention order against Tornesi in November 2004, after claiming he had threatened to kill him and his electorate officer). The report's recommendation that charges of party rule breaches be considered against Languiller was rebuffed by the Right-controlled administrative committee, prompting Independents faction leader Eric Dearricott to bring charges against him on his own initiative. These were withdrawn the following month after an apparent deal between the warring factions.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain