If MP is right, CEO should lose job

And it seems neither side wants to flinch first in the long-running internal Labor feud.

The ugly fight between Cr Nuatali Nelmes, backed by her six Labor councillor colleagues, and Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery has been on public display since last year when the two sides clashed over plans to privatise the council's inland pools.

The frost turned palpable in July when the Newcastle Herald revealed a nasty letter-to-the-editor campaign linked to City of Newcastle chief executive Jeremy Bath which targeted Ms Hornery and fellow Hunter Labor MPs Sharon Claydon and Tim Crakanthorp, community groups and residents, all the while defending the council.

The misleading letters, authored under the name of Scott Neylon, a close friend of Mr Bath's who has lived overseas for decades, are the latest weapon in the war raging within local Labor party ranks.

It seems the latest issues between Cr Nelmes and Ms Hornery, and their camps, have brought long-running tensions and differences within the party to the surface.

Both sides have had plenty to say. They traded more barbs this week after Ms Hornery used parliamentary privilege to name Mr Bath as the author of the letters and call for his sacking.

If Ms Hornery is right, a claim Mr Bath denies, he should be sacked.

It is not OK for a chief executive being paid $550,000 a year of ratepayers' money, or, for that matter, anyone, to write misleading letters attacking their critics while hiding behind someone else's name.

To do so would be cowardly, bizarre and far from good governance.

The idea of a public servant being paid almost as much as the prime minister to pen "derogatory" letters to the editor under a fake name in an effort to sway public opinion and score political points is unacceptable, not to mention desperate.

At a time when Ms Hornery and Cr Nelmes agree on nothing, I think we can all agree they should agree on this.

Residents and ratepayers want effective government, which means an effective political unit able to assess their needs and wishes. Instead they've got duelling that has reached the tenor of a cockfight.

Could anything more enrage those huge swathes of the population who consistently throw their support heavily behind the party at the ballot box, strengthening the region's reputation as largely safe Labor territory at all levels of government?

Voters want transparency, good governance and fierce advocates for their communities, not political infighting.

There seems a crucial issue for the investigator looking into any links between Mr Bath and the misleading smear campaign, if only the council-set terms of reference would allow it.

Was Mr Neylon, who has lived in Japan for decades, in the country, and, even more importantly, inside the Sydney headquarters of ClubsNSW, where Mr Bath was working as media relations manager, in April 2011?

Was Mr Neylon sending pro-pokies comments to former premier Bob Carr's blog at that time using the IP address assigned to the powerful lobby group?

Simple questions that are not difficult to test but remain unanswered.

The root of the dispute between Ms Hornery and Cr Nelmes has been widely interpreted by party insiders as the result of deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen's desire to inherit the Wallsend seat.

But it also appears to be a war of personalities and a battle of wills.

Amid the mess we may never know the full motives of either camp, but there is no doubt that saving face and reputation are high up the list.

On the surface, the women share commonalities. Both are members of the left faction of Labor - Cr Nelmes hard left and Ms Hornery soft left - and both have proven track records when it comes to the ballot box. But of late they are only defined by their differences.

Cr Nelmes won the 2021 mayoral vote 60-40 over independent John Church as Labor unexpectedly retained its six ward councillors. She is in her 40s, and appears to have big career and political ambitions.

Despite concerns among some that she may lack pre-selection support in the branches to move into state or federal politics, few rivals appear to offer the same prominence and electoral appeal.

She's the most obvious ready-made candidate if the property scandal surrounding Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp results in him leaving politics.

Ms Hornery's track record as a grassroots politician is impressive. She prides herself on having support from the people, rather than the party or political elite, and has held Wallsend for 16 years.

You couldn't buy her margin, which stands at 32 per cent, meaning she won more than 82 per cent of Wallsend's two-party preferred vote at last year's election.

After such a long tenure, there's no doubt she's fighting to protect her legacy and would love to eventually hand Wallsend to a candidate she endorses. At 61, it's unclear if Ms Hornery will nominate for another term, but, if she does, it's almost impossible to see her losing.

Observers must be left asking about the corrosion of public faith in the region's Labor brand due to the airing of the dirty laundry.

With pre-selection for next year's local government election looming, increased division among branch members is the last thing Cr Nelmes' bloc of loyal Newcastle councillors needs.

Warring camps could spark a comprehensive repudiation of the status quo, with Labor councillors facing contested pre-selection early next year.

That could pose a ruinous risk to Cr Nelmes' grip on the council.

All elections matter, but this one comes at an inflection point for Labor in the Hunter, after Premier Chris Minns sacked Mr Crakanthorp from cabinet in September for failing to adequately declare some of his extended family's properties in his ministerial disclosures.

Such a consequential time demands stability, not a party increasingly divided by internal struggles, no matter what the level of government.

Some would say it is a challenge for the person who has the most to lose.

Maybe it's time to bury the hatchet, even if it is only for a show of unity.

It's a dirty job, but perhaps it's time for senior party officials to intervene and mediate a truce.

They say you get the government you deserve. Labor voters must be scratching their heads wondering what the hell they did to deserve this train wreck.