By Sumeyya Ilanbey and Ashleigh McMillan
Victorian Liberals are demanding that Coalition MP and leadership aspirant Tim Smith resign from State Parliament after he crashed his car into a house while driving at more than twice the legal blood-alcohol limit.
The Member for Kew resigned as shadow attorney-general on Sunday afternoon and released a statement saying he had made a “serious error of judgment” after his vehicle hit a car and then the wall of a Hawthorn home where there were children inside.
Tim Smith has resigned from the shadow cabinet after crashing into another car while driving at more than twice the legal blood-alcohol limit.
”After dinner with friends, I believed I was under the legal limit to drive home,” he said. “This was not the case.
“I apologise to my constituents, my colleagues, my family and the people of Victoria who expect their elected representatives to uphold the highest standards of behaviour. Today, I tendered my resignation from the shadow cabinet to the Leader of the Opposition, which he has accepted.”
Mr Smith, 38, has been served with an infringement notice and had his licence suspended for 12 months. Victoria Police said the investigation was ongoing.
His position as the member for the safe Liberal seat of Kew is now under threat; Liberal members are furious with him.
Full statement from Tim Smith
Last night I made a serious error of judgment.
After dinner with friends I believed I was under the legal limit to drive home.
This was not the case.
I was breath-tested and returned a positive reading.
I have been fined under the Road Safety Act and my licence has been suspended for 12 months.
I apologise to my constituents, my colleagues, my family and the people of Victoria who expect their elected representatives to uphold the highest standards of behaviour.
Today I tendered my resignation from the shadow cabinet to the Leader of the Opposition, which he has accepted.
Four Liberal Party sources told The Age they believed Mr Smith would either not recontest preselection, which opened on Friday and will end on November 12, or would lose the support of key backers including federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
Under internal Liberal Party rules, candidates could be knocked back during the preselection process if convicted of drink-driving offences.
“I think he should be pressured to step down if Matthew Guy had any leadership,” one source said, commenting on the condition of anonymity.
“He needs to step up or the government will crucify him and he won’t be able to say anything about law enforcement.”
In a statement on Sunday afternoon, Mr Guy said he remained “exceedingly angry and disappointed with Tim Smith’s actions, and have conveyed my thoughts to him in no uncertain terms”.
Frontbench MP Matthew Bach has been appointed shadow attorney-general, while deputy Liberal leader David Southwick will take on the finance portfolio.
“These changes will ensure the recovery of lives and livelihoods remains front and centre, as Victoria rebuilds after 18 months in and out of harsh COVID lockdowns,” Mr Guy said.
Emergency services were called to reports a car had hit another vehicle before crashing into a fence at a Hawthorn property about 9pm on Saturday.
“The driver of the vehicle, a 38-year-old Kew man, tested positive for alcohol and was taken to a police station where he returned an evidentiary breath test reading of 0.131,” Victoria Police said in a statement.
“The man had his licence immediately suspended and will receive an infringement notice for exceed prescribed concentration of alcohol. No one was injured in the incident.”
The Age has confirmed that the plaster on the inside wall of the home had cracked where the car made impact.
At the scene, a fence was ripped apart in the crash, and there were tyre marks on the nature strip and footpath. Broken auto parts left were being picked up by interested Hawthorn locals on Sunday afternoon.
Neighbours told The Age they had heard two loud bangs that woke them up. They saw a Jaguar had hit a smaller vehicle.
“He was really revving the crap out of it to try and reverse it away from the wall,” said a witness, who asked not to be identified.
A knocked-down stop sign at the crash scene.Credit: Luis Ascui
“He continued to get in and out and get in and out and move it, spinning the wheels ... it was just weird.
“He was lucky no one was killed, and he was lucky he wasn’t killed. The car was a complete write-off.”
Several Liberal sources told The Age federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was furious with the Kew MP.
“[Mr Frydenberg] and Matthew [Guy] have kept Tim by their side when many people have urged them to cut him loose,” said one Liberal, who did not want to be named.
“He’s always been a liability and now it’s been exposed as such for all to see. Without Josh’s backing, I don’t think he could survive as an MP. Kew is a seat for future premiers, not disgraced backbenchers.”
Mr Smith is one of Mr Guy’s closest confidants and was instrumental in his return to the leadership in September.
He is one of the Coalition’s most-recognised parliamentarians. In 2019, Mr Smith repeatedly called for the resignation of Labor MP Will Fowles, who kicked in a door at a Canberra hotel and later opened up about his mental health battles, including drug and alcohol abuse.
He has attracted national attention over the past two years with his outbursts against Premier Daniel Andrews, calling him a “schmuck”, “dictator” and “friendless loser”. In a profile piece last year, he told The Age he was simply doing his job as an opposition frontbencher: confronting the government.
The crash scene.
In July 2018, Mr Guy put pressure on former Liberal upper house MP Simon Ramsay to resign from state politics after having been caught drink-driving. He had blown a reading of 0.19 per cent – almost four times over the legal limit of .05 – shortly after being intercepted by police in Barwon Heads.
Mr Guy said he was angry when Mr Ramsay phoned him to tell him about being caught drink-driving and had “asked him to reflect upon his future”. “He has acknowledged he has done the wrong thing, he’s paid a very high price for it, and frankly so he should,” Mr Guy said of Mr Ramsay at the time.
Several Liberal members, including MPs, are questioning whether Mr Guy will put the same pressure on Mr Smith as he did on Mr Ramsay, and say it is only fair the same standards apply.
In 2005, Liberal MP Andrew Olexander was fined $500 and lost his licence after admitting falling asleep while drunk driving and crashing. Mr Olexander resigned as opposition spokesman for arts, consumer affairs and youth affairs after he crashed his government car into four parked vehicles on Beach Street in Port Melbourne early on July 11, 2004.
Liberal MP Louise Staley was convicted of drink-driving charges more than 20 years ago and holds a frontbench position. However, her circumstances are not entirely comparable with Mr Smith’s, given her conviction relates to a time pre-dating her entry into Parliament.
A Victorian government spokeswoman said: “The specifics of this incident are a matter for Victoria Police and the Liberal Party.”
With Annika Smethurst
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clarification
An earlier version of this story stated that Mr Smith was likely to appear in court and that this may lead to a conviction being recorded against him. Victoria Police have since advised that the investigation is finalised.