Ms Mihailuk, who won the seat in 2011 as a member of the Labor Party, told NSW Parliament last week that she could not sit idly by in silence while the NSW Labor machine at Sussex Street actively endorsed Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour as a candidate for the 2023 election.
Last month – and again last week – Ms Mihailuk told parliament of her concerns about Mr Asfour’s links to corrupt former Minister Eddie Obeid, which the Mayor has vehemently denied, and labelled them as “gutless and a slur on his good reputation and standing in the community”.
She was dumped from Labor’s shadow cabinet after raising those concerns under parliamentary privilege.
Mayor Asfour challenged Ms Mihailuk to “repeat those outrageous and unsubstantiated claims outside the parliament”.
Ms Mihailuk said the “party has been plagued by the Obeid factor for way too long”.
“Clearly, the NSW Labor Party has not cleaned up its act and it is not ready to govern,” she said.
“In my inaugural speech, I made an earnest and unequivocal commitment to represent the best interests of my community and NSW. I cannot, and will not, be bought or silenced, not even for my seat.
“People expect and deserve no less.
“I will continue to serve the interests of the people of the broader Bankstown community. I am disappointed that Labor has not learnt from Nathan Rees’ warning that “NSW Labor must never again allow a small cabal of self-interested individuals to control the fate of a great party”.
A Labor spokesperson says pre-selection for the seat of Bankstown hasn’t opened and it “will be a matter for the Party Office to determine when they open nominations”.
Labor Leader Chris Minns said he wasn’t shocked by Ms Mihailuk’s resignation, after she made the “unsubstantiated corruption allegations using parliamentary privilege”.
“If she stayed in the Shadow Cabinet, for example, implicitly, we would have been endorsing her suggestion that a member of local government was corrupt when we don’t have any information and none has ever been provided.
“She has been told by me that if she’s got evidence, she must produce it. She’s refused to do that,” he said.
Mr Minns says he’s got the team that’s ready for government and it will now be up to the voters.
Fights on as Independent
A MONTH after she was dumped from the Labor Party’s shadow cabinet, State MP for Bankstown, Tania Mihailuk, has resigned from the party but will continue to fight for the community and stand as an Independent at the State Election in March.