Prahran Greens MP Sam Hibbins resigns from party after confessing to affair with staffer

Victorian Greens MP for Prahran Sam Hibbins, who is married, has stepped down after admitting he breached partyroom rules when he had an affair with one of his staffers.

A senior Greens MP has been forced to resign from the party following a complaint over an affair with one of his staffers.

Married dad-of-two Sam Hibbins, who represents Prahran, has admitted to having a “consensual relationship” with one of his staff members, forcing him to hand in his resignation.

Greens Leader Ellen Sandell issued a scathing statement on Friday, describing the allegations as “serious and concerning” as she called for Mr Hibbins to also be stripped of his Greens membership.

The Prahran MP — who will now sit on the crossbench — took to social media to confess to the relationship on Friday morning, apologising for the “error of judgment”.

“I’ve had a consensual relationship with a staff member from my office,” he said.

“I recognise this was a significant error of judgment and understand the distress this has caused.”

The Victorian Greens had already stripped Mr Hibbins from the MPs page on their website on Friday morning. Picture: Paul Loughnan

Mr Hibbins said the relationship had “ended some time ago” but noted that he had breached party room rules.

The Victorian Greens had already stripped Mr Hibbins from the MPs section of their website on Friday morning.

“I accept the consequences of my decisions that affect my personal and professional lives,” he said.

“I am working to make amends to the most important people in my life, my family and our community.”

Mr Hibbins is the third Victorian MP in 18 months to be exiled to the crossbench over inappropriate behaviour towards currentor former female staff members.

Mr Hibbins confessed to the relationship on Friday. Picture: Carmelo Bazzano

Last year, Ringwood MP Will Fowles was forced out of the Labor Party following sexual assault allegations, while South Barwon MP Darren Cheeseman was also tossed from government over claims of “persistent and inappropriate behaviour”.

Mr Fowles has always denied the allegations.

Ms Sandell said she had received information from Parliamentary Services on Tuesday “detailing serious and concerning allegations” regarding Mr Hibbins behaving “inappropriately towards a staff member over a period of time”.

“This behaviour was a clear breach of our Greens guidelines and rules for MPs, I and my Greens MPs acted immediately to suspend the member for Prahran that evening and remove all his roles and responsibilities,” she said.

“Pressed for further information on why she alleged the matter was serious, Ms Sandell said she was not able to share any further details.”

Greens leader Ellen Sandell said she acted immediately on the matter. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Ms Sandell said the woman involved had asked for her identity to be kept private.

“Women do not deserve to have their lives dragged through the media because of the behaviour of men,” she said.

‘I want to say very clearly that I am angry. Everyone, especially women, deserve respect and safety in their workplace.

“The Member for Prahran has completely lost my trust, and the trust of his colleagues, and he will never be welcomed back to our Party Room.”

It’s understood that the incident has not been reported to Victoria Police.

Ms Sandell said the decision to suspend Mr Hibbins on Tuesday was not immediately made public because she wanted to meet with the staff member first.

“Tuesday 5pm I was made aware of the allegations, I needed to speak to the member for Prahran. I then held a party room meeting at 7pm where the decision was made to suspend him,” she said.

“She (the woman involved) contacted me on Wednesday, the earliest she was able to meet with me was on Thursday.”

She said none of the Greens MPs or supervising senior staff knew about the incident prior to Tuesday.

The Greens leader said the MP had previously been the subject of a complaint a number of years ago “shortly after he was elected”.

“It was taken seriously as any behavioural incidents should be by an organisation – the person withdrew their report and asked for no action from Party Room in relation to it,” she said.

“Regardless, we take the behaviour of our MPs extremely seriously.”

Originally published as Prahran Greens MP Sam Hibbins resigns from party after confessing to affair with staffer