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Greens decry Labor’s ‘sexist’ attack advertisement in Richmond
By Bianca Hall
The Greens have accused Labor of running a “sexist attack” ad criticising Richmond candidate Gabrielle de Vietri’s use of a ratepayer-funded nanny while she was mayor of the City of Yarra.
Councillors are entitled to claim for carer expenses under Local Government Act provisions introduced by the Labor government.
A still image from the Labor advertisement targeting The Greens.
Labor launched its 30-second advertisement on Thursday night, airing on app-enabled smart TVs in the Richmond district.
“Greens candidate for Richmond Gabrielle de Vietri has asked for your vote before,” the advertisement says.
“She charged ratepayers $7000 to pay for a nanny, and she left the council in such a state of disarray an independent monitor had to be appointed to oversee its governance, and make sure it acted in the community’s interest. Don’t risk her again.”
The Greens candidate’s posters have been defaced with an image of a Herald Sun twitter post.
It also references the state government’s appointment of an independent monitor to the council before ending with the line: “Don’t risk her again.”
Separately, posters and a Herald Sun tweet about its report on the nanny claims, including an allegation she was “out of touch” for claiming the entitlement. Those tweet images are not authorised, which is an offence under the Electoral Act.
A Labor spokeswoman said: “these signs were neither authorised nor distributed by the Labor campaign – any suggestion to the contrary is false”.
But de Vietri said the attacks on her using the entitlement to nannying services was sexist.
“Labor claims to care about gender equality in the workplace, and then runs ads attacking a woman for being a parent and using childcare entitlements that the Labor government themselves legislated,” she said.
Gabrielle de Vietri, outside her Smith Street campaign office.Credit: Justin McManus
“It’s sexist and it’s hypocritical. I expect this kind of simplistic misogyny from the conservative side, but Labor piling in on attack ads is baiting a gender conflict where all women lose.”
De Vietri said she used nannies found through a nannying website, who had registered ABNs, and put the claim through the council in the proper manner. She claimed $6961 for childcare for her school-aged child, including during lockdown.
Richmond is held by Labor’s Richard Wynne, who is retiring from the seat he has held for 23 years. De Vietri is the favourite to win the seat, which Labor holds by 5.8 per cent.
Both the Greens and Labor are pouring more resources into this than any other seat this campaign. Premier Daniel Andrews launched Labor candidate Lauren O’Dwyer’s campaign, and visited Richmond on Thursday to announce $400,000 for the Victoria Street Luna Festival.
Referring to the other claims in the Labor attack ad, de Vietri said: “From July this year, after almost two years of free outdoor dining, businesses were required to begin paying fees between $5 and $13 per day to operate in a carpark so that ratepayers would not perpetually subsidise a handful of businesses which have public space to extend their business in.”
She accused the Labor government of appointing a monitor to Yarra to “undermine the Greens in the state election”.
Separately, the Victorian Electoral Commission on Friday drew the order of candidates appearing on ballots for the seat.
The Animal Justice Party’s Lis Viggers drew the coveted top spot, while Victorian Socialists’ Roz Ward took the second spot, and independent Meca Ho took the third.
Reason’s Jeremy Cowen will be number four, de Vietri number five, and the Liberals’ Lucas Moon number six. Family First’s Markus Freiverts will be seven, while Labor’s O’Dwyer took the final spot.
At the 2018 election, 217,592 people – representing 5.8 per cent of voters – in Victoria voted informally.
This story is part of our in-depth local coverage of the key seats of Melton, Hawthorn and Richmond at the November state election. The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.