NSW Labor has been accused of "gross hypocrisy" and "abandoning its core values" over the party's decision to drop an investigation into a series of bullying complaints lodged by Newcastle members.
One of the people who brought the bullying allegations said the party's new complaints handling policy was like "putting lipstick on a pig", given that it had been "completely ignored".
"They have a policy to make it look like they are compliant," the person said. "We are meeting the requirements like we were told to do, but we have no intention of following through."
Another person who raised bullying claims said it was clear from the documents submitted to Labor head office at the start of February that saw seven people charged "en masse" under the party's rules with a range of offences that people were "being watched".
The person said they had "never seen conduct like this before".
"People were being monitored, they were seriously watching everything people were doing online," the person said. "And they were watching people they saw as critics in the context of the preselection. I actually don't like to think about it."
Another Labor member called for people to stop bickering and focus on supporting Labor's preselected candidates leading up to the election.
"We should all be supporting the party and the people the members chose to represent us as candidates," he said. "All the rest of this nonsense shouldn't be discussed. A decision has been made and we need to move on."
Another senior Newcastle Labor member not authorised to speak on party matters said news of the backflip on the planned investigation was the "straw that broke the camel's back" for several members he had spoken to this week.
He said there were "diehard", "rusted on" Labor supporters who planned to vote against the party at the September local government election because they were "fed up to the back teeth" with the lack of accountability.
"The party has processes and systems that should be followed, but who does head office answer to?" he said.
"It seems the answer to that is nobody. There is a deep divide in Labor in Newcastle and this latest revelation just tells everyone that they can behave however they like up here without scrutiny."
Long-running rift
Two "de-escalation" meetings were held in Newcastle earlier this year in an attempt to heal the rift that has been raging between lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes, and her Labor councillors and loyalists, and Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery and her supporters.
But members said the strategy had little impact and the last-minute about-face on the bullying investigation had deepened the divide.
This included bringing charges against seven people, described as "supporting" Ms Hornery, over three days in February under the party's laws, with offences ranging from disloyalty, defamation and not meeting party standards to be a candidate.
The charges were submitted by Wallsend branch president David Norris, however, it is alleged that one of the charges submitted by Mr Norris had Cr Liz Adamczyk's electronic signature on it.
Further, two of the charges submitted under Mr Norris's name had screenshots of online content provided as evidence where Cr Adamczyk's Facebook page, email account or Microsoft Word account can be seen open in the tabs section at the top of the computer screen.
After six of the charged members complained that they had been falsely accused as part of a campaign to bully them, Labor's external complaints manager, Sydney-based lawyer Brad Baker, of Griffin Legal, recommended a full investigation.
However, after initially indicating that the matter would be investigated, Mr Baker said he had been told by NSW Labor's general secretary Dominic Ofner that the investigation would not proceed.
"By way of an update, the secretary has advised me that all the charges that were made against the charged individuals have been withdrawn and commitments have been made not to bring forth charges in the same manner ...," Mr Baker wrote on July 8.
"Based on the information outlined above, the secretary has determined that an investigation is no longer required to resolve this matter."
Party has 'abandoned core values'
Several of the people who brought the bullying claims agreed to speak to the Herald this week on the condition of anonymity, fearing expulsion from the party.
One said Labor's decision to scrap the investigation into claims the party's laws were used as a weapon against political rivals during the preselection process for Newcastle council earlier this year was "unbelievable".
They described the lack of care for the party's own processes and its members as "stunning" and accused head office of "gross hypocrisy".
The member said the way the complaints were dealt with meant Labor had abandoned "its core values" and they feared the party had "lost its way".
"After this I don't think any members can be confident that their complaints will be addressed adequately by the complaints handling mechanism," they said.
"I believe the party has a real problem with bullying, especially here in Newcastle, and they haven't as yet addressed it. Despite all the talk, they clearly don't want to address it."
One of the charged people said they could not understand why they were not made aware of Cr Adamczyk's involvement in the charges.
"Councillor Adamczyk sought to distance herself from the charges by not doing the charging herself ...," they said.
"Now ... she seeks to claim there was no intention to attack rivals in the party. If she thought that, why didn't she sign the charges?"
Cr Adamczyk, who will lead Labor's ward-four ticket at the election, defended her actions this week.
"I have always engaged with party processes appropriately and maintained the confidentiality of those processes," she said.
"Falsified allegations are now being raised as smear seemingly for political gain. I'm focused on representing the people of my ward on Newcastle council."
She previously said raising concerns through confidential internal party processes was not bullying, but she did not answer the Herald's questions about why she did not put her name on the charges.
Commitment to 'driving cultural change'
The ALP has recently grappled with a broader debate over allegations of bullying in the Federal and NSW parliaments.
The conflict led to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese tasking the ALP national executive in 2021 with conducting an extensive review of the party's sexual harassment and bullying processes.
Newcastle Federal MP Sharon Claydon served as chair of the national working group and previously described the scope of the review as "enormous".
She said the new policies were designed to "cover not just people like myself, elected officials of the Labor party, and paid staff, but also unpaid staff, people who are in our campaigns, people who are contracted to do work for the Labor party, at our branch meetings, at formal and informal events".
In response to the latest controversy, Ms Claydon said the complaints handling process must be followed.
"Like all members, I expect the state and territory branches of the Australian Labor Party to be handling complaints in accordance with the ALP's complaints handling policy," she said.
"Complaints must always be treated with confidentiality and our codes of conduct and associated policies are an important part of our commitment to driving cultural changes."
Ms Hornery joined her this week in the call.
"Bullying and harassment of any kind have no place in our party and any reasonable accusations should be investigated appropriately," she said.
NSW Labor did not answer the Herald's questions, but previously said all complaints are confidential and handled by an independent complaints manager.
Mr Norris said he was unable to comment due to party rules.
