WAGGA-based Democratic Labour Party (DLP) federal president Paul Funnell has rejected claims he was embroiled in a leadership showdown.
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A party powerbroker sought an urgent injunction in the Victorian Supreme Court last week in a bid to stop a planned state conference on Saturday.
The DLP Victorian state secretary John Mulholland appeared before Justice Tim Ginnane on July 17, demanding the conference at Scoresby not go ahead.
Mr Mulholland believed the conference would be used by Mr Funnell to dump him as state secretary.
He also questioned Mr Funnell's position as the party's federal president and told the court the party had in effect two federal executives - one in Victoria and one in NSW.
"I refute everything he said there," Mr Funnell told The Daily Advertiser on Thursday.
"I have been validated as president by the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Victoria."
The conference went ahead, with the party's existing executive dissolved and a new one installed.
The change was made according to the constitution, Mr Funnell said.
"John Mulholland is still a member of the DLP," he said.
However, Mr Mulholland is no longer state president.
"I convened a state conference at the (request) of two other states," Mr Funnell said.
"I don't have the authority to sack him, I just convened a conference.
"Mr Mulholland has been included all the way along."
Mr Funnell said it was his intention to stand down as federal president at the end of the year, but stressed it wasn't as a result of the recent showdown.
- with The Age
