George Seitz (politician)

George Seitz
Born	29 September 1941 Novi Slankamen, Vojvodina, Serbia
Died	5 June 2015 (aged 73)

George Seitz (29 September 1941 – 5 June 2015) was an Australian Labor Party politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly in Victoria.

Seitz migrated to Australia with his family in 1956, and became a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in 1971. In 1982, he was elected to represent the Keilor district. He served as Labor's whip while the party was in Opposition during the 1990s.

On 13 May 2006, The Age newspaper in Melbourne published two articles alleging Seitz had been involved in branch stacking 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 faction leader Bill Shorten to run for Federal Parliament (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 past the usual retirement age of 65. Former Victorian Premier John Cain 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."^[1] Seitz has denied The Age's allegations. He died in 2015.^[2]

References

1. Bachelard, Michael (13 May 2006). "Man behind Labor's vote-buying scam". The Age.
2. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/labor-powerbroker-george-seitz-dies-20150605-ghhzmr.html