Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Chris Eccles resigns

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has responded after his right hand man made the shock decision to stand down over crucial phone records.

Premier Daniel Andrews says his right hand man Chris Eccles “made the right choice” by resigning.

Mr Eccles, the Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, resigned effective immediately on Monday morning over bombshell phone records.

They revealed he had spoken to former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton for two minutes during a crucial six-minute window being probed by the hotel quarantine inquiry.

Mr Eccles confirmed his resignation in a statement just before 10am.

Mr Andrews addressed the media two hours later and said it was “very sad” Mr Eccles’s 35 years of public service had ended in the way it had.

The Premier said Mr Eccles offered his resignation almost immediately once he had reviewed his phone records.

“I believe that he has made the right choice,” Mr Andrews said.

“He made a decision that his position was untenable.”

In a statement released earlier on Monday, Mr Andrews had acknowledged Mr Eccles’s decades of public service across governments in three states and the Commonwealth.

“(I) thank him for the significant contribution he has made to Victoria. I wish him all the very best,” he said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said Chris Eccles made the right choice. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

“Until last night, I had understood that Mr Eccles did not know if he had telephoned Mr Ashton at that time. That matter is now beyond doubt.

“Mr Eccles made a pretty binary statement and it turned out that was not the case and as soon as he became aware of that I think he’s done the right thing.”

Mr Eccles is the second high-profile resignation for the State Government in recent weeks after former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos quit politics.

In announcing his decision to stand down, Mr Eccles said phone records confirmed he had called Mr Ashton at 1.17pm on March 27 – a minute after receiving a text message from the Victorian Police Chief Commissioner asking about whether police would be guarding international arrivals for 14 days upon their return.

He had previously told the hotel inquiry he could not recall if he phoned Mr Ashton.

“Following a request by the Board of Inquiry on Saturday October 10, 2020, I requested detailed telephone records from my telecommunications carrier,” Mr Eccles said.

“These records show I called Mr Ashton at 1.17pm and that I spoke with him for just over two minutes.”

But Mr Eccles maintained that his telephone records did not in “any way” mean that he, or anyone else at the Department of Premier and Cabinet made the decision that private security be used in the hotel quarantine program.

“I am absolutely certain I did not convey to Mr Ashton any decision regarding the use of private security as I was unaware any such decision had been made, and I most certainly had not made such a decision myself,” Mr Eccles said.

Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Chris Eccles has quit.

Before texting Mr Eccles, Mr Ashton had already sent a message to Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw at 1.12pm asking “why wouldn’t AFP Guard people at the hotel”.

At 1.22pm, Mr Ashton texted Mr Kershaw saying that “ADF will do passenger transfer and private security will be used” and the hotel inquiry is probing who had told him that information during the six-minute window.

Mr Eccles said he had made the decision to resign as he believed remaining in the position would be a “significant distraction to the ongoing work of the Victorian public sector and the citizens of our state” as COVID-19 restrictions start to ease.

Mr Eccles also said he stood by “with clarity” the evidence he provided the under cross examination and in the department’s closing submissions to the inquiry.

“With the heightened level of focus on this issue, I do not want a focus on me to in any way undermine the extraordinary work of the public sector as it continues to respond to unprecedented challenges of 2020,” Mr Eccles said.

Mr Eccles acknowledged in his statement that he told the inquiry he did not recall phoning Mr Ashton.

“At the time I gave evidence I did not have in my possession my full telephone records,” he said.

“It is now evident I did.”

Mr Eccles said the Board of Inquiry had not requested access to his telephone records before October 10 and they had previously not been in his possession.

State Opposition leader Michael O’Brien said all roads now led to Mr Andrews.

He told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell that it was absolutely right for Mr Eccles to resign give he gave “misleading evidence” to the inquiry.

“If the Health Minister didn’t make it, and the head of Premier’s department didn’t make it, there’s only one person who could have made it and that’s Daniel Andrews,” he said.

“Every career is being laid to waste in an effort to try and protect this Premier.”

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