‘I am angry’: Greens leader says co-deputy never welcome back after staffer affair revelation

Victorian Greens co-deputy leader Sam Hibbins has stood down from the party room after admitting to having a consensual relationship with a staffer, and the Greens leader has declared he will never be welcomed back to the fold.

In a statement on Friday morning, Hibbins said the short relationship ended “some time ago” but admitted it had breached party rules.

Victorian Greens co-deputy Sam Hibbins.

“I accept the consequences of my decisions that affect my personal and professional lives,” the Prahran MP said in the statement.

Hibbins is married and has two children.

“I am working to make amends to the most important people in my life, my family and our community. We are human and we make mistakes,” he said.

“I’ve always worked hard to advance the Greens’ cause, and know this is a distraction from my work and the work of the Greens, but I remain committed to serving my electorate of Prahran.”

Hibbins, who was one of the first Greens politicians elected to the Victorian lower house, will continue to sit on the crossbench. He said he left the party room with “goodwill” towards his colleagues.

He also gave up his Greens membership on Friday morning.

Greens leader Ellen Sandell said on Friday that she learned of Hibbins’ affair on Tuesday evening.

“I am angry,” Sandell said. “It is too often that women are the ones picking up the pieces. The premier’s had to do it. I’m doing it here today.”

Greens leader Ellen Sandell on Friday.Credit: Eddie Jim

The Greens leader said she convened a 7pm party room meeting on Tuesday after being contacted by the Department of Parliamentary Services. At that meeting, Hibbins was suspended from the parliamentary party and stripped of his co-deputy title and portfolios.

Sandell said the media were not informed until Friday because the earliest the staffer could meet with her was Thursday.

She stopped short of calling on him to resign from parliament altogether, but said she believed his behaviour didn’t meet “the expectations that people would expect from a member of parliament”.

“Unfortunately, that’s not a decision that I get to make. I’ve taken every action within my power. He will never be welcome back as a member of our party room.”

Victorian Greens MP Sam Hibbins outside the St Kilda Town Hall voting centre in November 2022.Credit: AAP

Hibbins will sit on the crossbench alongside South Barwon MP Darren Cheeseman, who was kicked out of the Labor caucus in April.

Another former Labor MP, member for Ringwood Will Fowles, resigned from the parliamentary Labor Party in 2023 after an assault allegation against a former staffer, which he denied. In January, police closed an investigation into the alleged assault and did not lay any charges.

In his statement on Friday, Hibbins said he recognised he made a significant error of judgment.

“At a time when life is so difficult for so many, when people are struggling and are already disengaged from politics, I know something like this will shake people’s trust in politicians and politics even further,” he said.

“The important thing is making amends and focusing on what really matters. For me, it’s my beautiful family.”

Hibbins became the Greens’ deputy leader, alongside first-term upper house MP Sarah Mansfield, in April after former leader Samantha Ratnam announced she was quitting state politics to run for the federal seat of Wills.

In a since deleted social media post, Hibbins wished his “amazing, beautiful” wife a happy 40th birthday on social media in March. He also thanked her in his maiden speech when they were at the time engaged.

“She has been an amazing support, without which support I would not be here today,” he told parliament in 2015.

Since winning the seat of Prahran from the Liberals at the November 2014 election, Hibbins has campaigned for grocery price caps and railed against privatisation.

The Allan government promised in 2023 to introduce a new independent commissioner to investigate complaints made against MPs. It followed recommendations from Operation Watts and by then-sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins, who investigated the working environment in federal parliamentary offices.

In April, The Age reported the state government would miss its June deadline for the integrity commissioner to start in the role, with that timeframe now expected to be pushed back to 2025.

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