- Exclusive
- National
- Animal Justice Party
The Animal Justice Party hired a former greyhound lobbyist, sparking a factional fight
The appointment of a former greyhound racing lobbyist to a high-ranking position within the Animal Justice Party has become a flashpoint in a bitter internal conflict over the party’s future, with two rival factions pitted in an escalating battle for control.
Canberra political insider and lobbyist Kel Watt, who spearheaded a campaign for the greyhound racing industry in the ACT in 2017, was in October appointed the Animal Justice Party’s (AJP) national elections manager, a role responsible for organising preference deals and providing strategic oversight. But after outrage from delegates, he was forced to step down in April.
Animal Justice Party figures (clockwise from top left): Bruce Poon, Louise Pfeiffer, Angel Aleksov, Emma Hurst, Georgie Purcell and Kel Watt.Credit: Marija Ercegovac
The party’s national president, Louise Pfeiffer, also lost a vote of no confidence on April 26, and the motion stated the party’s board had “failed to adhere to the party’s constitution, bylaws and values”.
The party declared the result of the vote not legally enforceable. Pfeiffer declined on behalf of the board to comment about internal party matters, and said: “My role and that of the board is to continue to professionalise the AJP and make it a serious and successful political party that protects animals, people and the planet.”
The tension articulated by Pfeiffer – between the party’s activist roots and internal pressure to “professionalise” – has dogged other political movements such as the Australian Greens, who grew out of a protest base but gradually became a professional organisation and garnered more political power.
Though still a minor party, the Animal Justice Party’s primary vote has steadily grown on a state and local level, especially in NSW.
‘We are all on the same side and have a much bigger enemy in those that would seek to destroy us so that animals do not have a voice in parliament.’
Email sent to party delegates by Victorian MP Georgie Purcell and NSW MP Emma Hurst
Internal party documents, legal letters and court files obtained by this masthead paint a picture of a party on the precipice of descending into factionalism.
One faction, forming around long-time board member and party veteran Bruce Poon and connected to the party’s activist roots, sits in contrast to a professionalised faction associated with Pfeiffer.
As pressure mounted before Watt’s resignation and the no-confidence vote, the party’s most senior elected leaders, Victorian state MP Georgie Purcell and NSW state MP Emma Hurst, had begged for calm. In an email to party delegates on April 8, they said: “We are all on the same side and have a much bigger enemy in those that would seek to destroy us so that animals do not have a voice in parliament.”
In an April 24 letter, sent the day after the board was told that the media were asking questions about party tensions, the board admitted that “sentiment toward Kel within the party remains divided” and that letters of concern from party members “caused unrest and disunity within our party”.
Louise Pfeiffer, the national president of the Animal Justice Party.Credit: LinkedIn
“With the best interests of the party in mind, Kel has made the decision to step down from the national elections manager role,” the board wrote.
Watt, who says on his website that he employs the “dark arts of spin doctoring” to help clients, previously stood as a Labor candidate for the federal seat of Canberra and was a prominent voice advocating on behalf of the greyhound racing industry in the ACT in 2017.
Watt said his work for the Canberra Greyhound Club was focused on lobbying for transition support for 200 casual, part-time and full-time workers whose jobs had been thrown into doubt after a sudden policy change banning the sport in the ACT, and that his business was conducted with the highest ethical standards.
He has partly blamed tensions in the party on Poon, and said his “rolling tantrum since 2021 has needlessly damaged the AJP and been an unfortunate distraction for an otherwise united, intelligent, educated and politically savvy new generation of leaders”.
Political consultant Kel Watt was the Animal Justice Party’s national elections manager.
Poon rejected this categorisation, and said he had “provided my fulsome assistance to the board and party”.
Some party sources, who did not want to be named as they did not have authority to speak publicly about internal matters, said Watt’s history had been weaponised by people who are uncomfortable with the direction of the party under this “new generation”.
Melbourne barrister Angel Aleksov, a former party board member, defended Watt.
“I saw [Watt joining the party] as a huge win for the AJP – former greyhound lobbyist defects and joins the AJP!” Aleksov told this masthead. “Some people ... dislike Kel and wanted to banish him.”
Bruce Poon, the president of the Animal Justice Foundation and a board member of the Animal Justice Party.
Tensions became public in April when the board, according to legal documents, suspended and considered expelling Poon over concerns he had a conflict of interest. The origin of the legal battle is distilled in an internal legal brief written by Aleksov in March and obtained by this masthead.
While praising Poon’s contribution, Aleksov wrote Poon had a conflict of interest in managing donations to the animal rights cause as president of the Animal Justice Foundation (AJF), which can disperse funds to organisations and political causes, and not exclusively to the Animal Justice Party. To date, the fund hasn’t donated any money to the party.
In a legal letter sent to the party, Poon rejected a conflict of interest, and said the party “cannot demand AJF to exercise its discretion or power in their favour”.
Poon took the board to the Supreme Court, which ordered the board to reinstate Poon. The board consented to the order, and Poon stayed.
A week after the no-confidence vote, Aleksov, who has represented various animal rights groups, resigned from the board.
The dispute between Poon and Aleksov escalated further last week.
In a letter sent on May 2 to representatives of Poon, Aleksov’s lawyers said that during a meeting between the two men three days earlier in Flagstaff Gardens in central Melbourne, Poon told Aleksov to resign from the board or face a barrage of complaints to regulators.
“This is untrue. I made no threats whatsoever,” Poon said in response.
‘It is easy to throw grenades, and hard to clean the mess.’
Former board member Angel Aleksov on factionalism within the party
Aleksov cautioned the party against its slide into factionalism in a lengthy internal email sent on April 9.
“The board is being accused of all sorts of things in its handling of this disrespectful grouping of delegates,” he wrote. “It is easy to throw grenades, and hard to clean the mess.
“We are at a crossroads. These are big issues. Please choose carefully.”
Purcell and Hurst, the party’s only MPs, declined to comment on internal issues, except to say they “find the recent turmoil disheartening” and that they were using internal party mechanisms to deal with it.
In June, delegates, who have a say in the party’s policies and direction, will face a new election.
“Our party has never had factions, but it seems it does now – between the people who are trying to hold on to power and those who want them to go,” a party insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.
As another political insider put it: “They’re at a vegan fork in the road – they either fix their issues or go down the gurgler.”
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.