George Seitz is a Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 Member of the Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

 in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Seitz migrated to Australia with his family in 1956, and became a member of the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 (ALP) in 1971. In 1982, he was elected to represent the Keilor

Keilor, Victoria

Keilor is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 18 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Brimbank and Hume...

 district. He served as Labor's whip while the party was in Opposition

Opposition (parliamentary)

Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration or the cabinet rather than the state...

 during the 1990s.

On 13 May 2006, The Age

The Age

The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...

newspaper in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 published two articles alleging Seitz had been involved in branch stacking

Branch stacking

Branch stacking is the act of recruiting members for a branch of a political party for the principal purpose of influencing the outcome of internal preselections of candidates for public office...

 within his electorate, using the proceeds of community bingo games and a rental apartment to pay for memberships to the Labor Party. It was alleged that Seitz used his influence within the ALP to secure 2007 pre-selection for prominent Labor Right

Labor Right

The Labor Right, or Labor Unity in some State branches, or Centre Unity in NSW, is the organised faction of the Australian Labor Party that tends to be more economically liberal and socially conservative than Labor Left....

 faction leader Bill Shorten

Bill Shorten

William Richard "Bill" Shorten is an Australian politician, the Member for Maribyrnong in the Australian Parliament, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Superannuation and Financial Services. He was the Parliamentary Secretary for Disability and Children's Services in the Rudd/Gillard Government...

 to run for Federal Parliament

Parliament of Australia

The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...

 (Seitz is a member of the Labor Unity faction, within Labor Right), and in return a Shorten-led party administrative committee allowed Seitz to continue serving in Victorian Parliament

Parliament of Victoria

The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of The Queen, represented by the Governor of Victoria; the Legislative Council ; and the Legislative Assembly...

 past the usual retirement age of 65. Former Victorian Premier

Premiers of Victoria

The Premier of Victoria is the leader of the government in the Australian state of Victoria. The Premier is appointed by the Governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Legislative Assembly....

 John Cain

John Cain II

John Cain , Australian Labor Party politician, was the 41st Premier of Victoria, holding office from 1982 to 1990.-Biography:...

said of Seitz, "His parliamentary career is eminently forgettable. I think the most I can say is that he was a backbench warrior who was out there in the local electorate doing a lot of branch-stacking and enjoying it." Seitz has denied The Age's allegations.