No action to be taken against Dustin Halse, MP accused of Spring St sex scandal

The Labor MP accused of having sex in his parliamentary office will not be punished after he was sensationally named on Monday.

Acting Premier James Merlino has lashed accusations of a cover-up after a Labor MP at the centre of scandalous sex allegations was unmasked on Monday.

Dustin Halse was named as the government politician accused of having sex in his parliamentary office.

On Tuesday, Mr Merlino said he had spoken privately with Mr Halse and expressed his views on the matter.

But he said no further action would be taken.

The Herald Sun exclusively revealed in May that an MP was being investigated over an accusation he had sex in his parliamentary office and alleged incidents which raised flags about a pattern of inappropriate behaviour.

Acting Premier James Merlino says no action will be taken. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Paul Jeffers

Mr Merlino said allegations of a cover-up by his party were “ridiculous”.

“That is completely and utterly false,” he said. “That’s just a ridiculous statement.”

The matter was referred to the parliament’s presiding officers.

A spokesperson for Colin Brooks, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, told the Herald Sun no complaint had been received about any MP engaging in sexual activity in their office.

“The Speaker has previously had concerns (separate to the above matter) raised with him about the behaviour of an MP, but in that case no complainant came forward and no substantiation was provided despite numerous requests,” he said.

O’BRIEN SLAMS ALLEGED ROMP AS ‘INAPPROPRIATE’

Opposition leader Michael O’Brien hit out at the Labor government on Tuesday morning, calling for urgent answers on how the MP would be dealt with over the “inappropriate” behaviour.

He said a public apology from Mr Halse was needed “at the very least”, but said he thought sanctions should also be considered.

“It’s clearly inappropriate behaviour,” Mr O’Brien said.

“What people do in private is a matter for them but there’s a time and place, and Parliament is not the place.

“We’re sent here to work for Victorians, we’re sent here to serve the public, not to look after ourselves.”

When asked if it was appropriate for his party to use parliamentary privileges to name the person, Mr O’Brien fired back at reporters: “We don’t believe in cover ups, do you?

“The Labor party has tried to cover this up, and that’s very unfortunate.

“It would’ve been better off if the government had dealt with this itself when the allegations were first made public on the front page of a newspaper.”

Despite the investigation, Mr O’Brien confirmed he hadn’t asked all of his MPs whether they had used their office for sex in the past.

“I’ve got to say, I just find this one of the least romantic places that I ever go to but maybe I’ve just got a different world view,” he said.

“I think people know the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do, and everyone should recognise what has happened here is the wrong thing to do.”

HOW MP WAS NAMED

Under parliamentary privilege at Victoria’s Public Accounts and Estimates Account Committee, Mr Halse was on Monday revealed to be the politician subject to the internal probe.

Holding a copy of the Herald Sun from May, Brighton MP James Newbury said the parliamentary speaker’s office had confirmed an “investigation into the Member for Ringwood bonking in his office”.

Other Labor MPs on the committee attempted to shutdown questions about the allegations, shouting “this is a workplace”.

“Indeed, that’s my point,” Mr Newbury shot back.

Reports of sex in Mr Halse’s parliamentary office were first flagged with the Premier’s private office in December.

But the issue was escalated after another report emerged when parliament returned from its summer break.

Internal inquiries were made amid crisis talks that Mr Halse was accused of displaying a worrying pattern of behaviour.

James Newbury made claims under parliamentary privilege. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

The Premier’s office later refered allegations about his conduct to Speaker Colin Brooks, who then launched investigation.

When the issue was first raised, Mr Merlino was critical of Mr Halse’s behaviour, even though he had not been named at the time.

He said it was “absolutely not” appropriate.

“The conduct was inappropriate,” Mr Merlino said. “It doesn’t reflect community values.”

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten slammed Liberal MP James Newbury after he used parliamentary privilege to name the Labor MP at the centre of a sex romp investigation.

Ms Patten said Mr Newbury had “dropped to a new low” by publicly identifying Ringwood MP Dustin Halse, arguing it had the potential to “conflate” the conversation around consensual sex.

“It actually makes me angry,” she said outside parliament on Tuesday morning.

“When we start conflating consensual sex between two adults, we start blurring the lines and scandalising consenting sex, which makes it more difficult for sexual harassment cases, more difficult for us to have the conversations about inappropriate behaviour.

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten slammed Liberal MP James Newbury for using parliamentary privilege to name the Labor MP at the centre of a sex romp investigation.

“It’s the same thing when we start talking about sex work, people lead it to sex trafficking, when we talk about legal adult films, people start talking about child pornography, that type of conflation and that type of scandalisation is a very new low for this parliament.

“It’s also going to just make it more difficult for people to come forward, when they have legitimately experienced sexual harassment or inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.”

Ms Patten said she “certainly wasn’t aware” of inappropriate behaviour occurring within the four walls of parliament.

“I am aware of the need for us to have good avenues for people to make complaints and that is not just in this parliament but that that is in all parliaments around Australia that we do need some form of independent process,” she said.

When asked if it was appropriate for MPs to use their office for sex, Ms Patten laughed: “Can I say that when I was first elected here, my partner and I were pretty happy, pretty excited, we may have got a little bit amorous … let’s say we were happy … and there was a sofa.”

When asked about Ms Patten’s revelations, Mr Merlino said he believed there were broader issues around culture and behaviour in parliament.

No action will be taken against Dustin Halse in the wake of sex allegations. Picture: Josie Hayden

“No workplace is immune and the parliament is no different to anywhere else, and we expect appropriate behaviour in our workplace.”

There have also been concerns among female Spring St MPs and staff that a toxic culture around the Victorian parliament was not being addressed.

Senior politicians have previously told the Herald Sun that there is no proper process to deal with complaints, which deterred people from coming forward.

Under the current system, concerns are supposed to be flagged with either the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly or President of the Legislative Council, who are both politicians.

Mr Brooks is considering a radical plan to introduce an independent watchdog to investigate inappropriate behaviour in the wake of the scandal.

A spokesperson for Mr Brooks told the Herald Sun no complaint had been received about any MP engaging in sexual activity in their office.

“The Speaker has previously had concerns (separate to the above matter) raised with him about the behaviour of an MP, but in that case no complainant came forward and no substantiation was provided despite numerous requests,” he said.