Branch stacking

Branch stacking is a term used in Australian politics to describe the act of recruiting or signing up members for a local branch of a political party for the principal purpose of influencing the outcome of internal preselections of candidates for public office, or to inordinately influence policy of the party. Allegations of such practices have become controversial in Australia after several inquiries or contests which received mainstream media attention, and most political parties now have clauses in their constitutions which allow "head office" intervention to resolve alleged stacking, or other allegations of fraud, with penalties for those who engage in it. Branch stacking itself is legal under Australian law, being internal party matters, but some activities like providing false information to the Australian Electoral Commission, such as numbers of members, can be prosecuted as fraud.

There are a number of ways that branch stacking may influence the way in which decisions are made within political parties. For example, a party faction may sign up a large number of members in the party who belong to the faction or agree to vote in the manner instructed by faction leaders. Branch stacking is more frequently alleged in the Australian Labor Party, where the factions are more institutionalised, but can take place in all parties. In the ALP, besides membership stacking, another technique is to take advantage of the favoured position of unions within the party, especially the significant vote they have at ALP State and national conferences, which in turn determines party policy and elects internal office holders and membership of committees. The committees may in turn determine preselections for party candidates at elections. The number of members in a union determines the number of delegates to the conferences to which it is entitled. This offers an opportunity for stacking to take place at the union level, which then flows through to other organs of the ALP. Another avenue of stacking is the Young Labor wing of the ALP, which also sends delegates to ALP conferences, and is entitled to a seat on the ALP National Executive.

Party factions and the so-called "numbers men" try to work within the rules (and sometimes outside the rules) to advance their causes and reward their supporters. Some have labelled the faction leaders and numbers men as the faceless men of the Labor party, who have also been accused of being driving forces for the election of party leaders and cabinet ministers and the removal of prime ministers. When all factions are playing the system, it is not possible to tell the true views of party members on particular issues. The Hawke-Wran review of the ALP in 2002 claimed branch stacking, largely driven by factions seeking to expand their influence, had a "cancerous" effect on the party and a "deadening" effect on branch activity, as many of the recruited members have no commitment to the party.

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