NSW MP Tania Mihailuk has resigned from the Labor Party, declaring it's "not ready to govern" and hasn't "cleaned up its act" after historical corrupt conduct.
The member for Bankstown said she could not sit by after the NSW Labor "machine" endorsed Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour last weekend to run on the Upper House ticket.
Last month, Ms Mihailuk was sacked from the shadow cabinet by Labor leader Chris Minns after using a late-night speech to launch an attack on her own party over the expected pre-selection of Mr Asfour.
Using parliamentary privilege, she linked him to jailed former Labor minister Eddie Obeid, and accused him of furthering the interests of developers during town planning for Bankstown.
Mr Asfour rejected all assertions, describing them as "outrageous and unsubstantiated", and went on to be officially endorsed by the party to run at the March 2023 election.
He told the ABC he referred Ms Mihailuk's claims to the anti-corruption watchdog himself, as he was not going to allow such allegations to be "thrown around".
During a private members statement in the Lower House today, Ms Mihailuk said since Mr Asfour had now been endorsed to run, she had no choice but to resign.
"Clearly, the NSW Labor party has not cleaned up its act, it's not ready to govern and as a consequence I will now be resigning from the Labor Party," she said.
"Our party has been plagued by the Obeid factor for way too long."
Ms Mihailuk's accusations centre around height and floor space ratio approvals for The Bellevue Venue in Bankstown.
The venue is owned by Red Pepper Property and she said the company's current and former shareholders include Mr Obeid, his son Paul and his son in law.
"One must question what exactly is so special about the Bellevue site other than the identities of its owners and their special relationship with Asfour," Ms Mihailuk said.
Last month, Ms Mihailuk said she had raised concerns about Mr Asfour to the party but Mr Minns later told the media he had never heard them before.
Today, she told the Lower House that she learnt about her sacking from the media.
She claimed Mr Minns told her to think about a "proposal" that she stay in shadow cabinet on the condition she didn't raise any further matters under parliamentary privilege.
"The next morning I received a phone call from 2GB producers asking if I'd like to respond on radio, given I had just been sacked from shadow cabinet."
A spokesperson for Mr Minns disputed that version of events, saying Ms Mihailuk was told she could stay a member of shadow cabinet if she took allegations of impropriety to the police or ICAC rather than use parliamentary privilege.
"In the end, Ms Mihailuk was not prepared to do that."
In August, anonymous complaints of Ms Mihailuk bullying staff were published in a newspaper, all of which she rejected as falsities to harm her preselection.
