The fallen MP and the disappearing act

It has been quite the fall for Sam Hibbins, the former Victorian Greens co-deputy leader, who quit the party after admitting to a consensual affair with a staffer, and then quit parliament a few weeks later. Even though it was consensual, the relationship breached party rules and infuriated Greens MPs and party members.

Now Hibbins’ former colleagues are doing their level best to pretend that he never existed. Gabrielle de Vietri, the state member for Richmond, took a rather practical approach to the matter, by cropping Hibbins out of a photo she used as the cover image for her official Facebook page.

The original photo showed Hibbins leaning against a wall on the far right of the image, but the Facebook page was updated on Monday afternoon to show the same progressive group minus Hibbins. It’s the optics, you see.

The crude cropping also chopped off the end of the high-backed tan moulded chair occupied by Ellen Sandell, but the state Greens leader remained intact.

When contacted by CBD, a Greens spokeswoman said the party had made its position clear on its desire for Hibbins to quit the party and parliament.

Baillieu court fight

Businessman Russell Marsh and lawyer Ian Baillieu, of the famous Melbourne family, used to be neighbours in Williamstown.

Marsh, of the local Customs House Hotel, and Baillieu, brother of former premier Ted, are no longer neighbours.

But the duo ended up in court after Baillieu’s son James, who took increasing responsibility for his father’s affairs as the elder Baillieu dealt with Parkinson’s disease, found that Marsh had invoiced his dad a total of $161,500 over about a year in 2021 for alleged repairs to Ian Baillieu’s home.

James disputed work to that value was done and claimed in a County Court affidavit that Marsh had engaged in deceptive and misleading conduct as well as unconscionable conduct.

James and Ian Baillieu.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Marsh said in his court defence that he was a qualified builder but no longer registered, and that the payments were for repairs Ian had requested and for which he had agreed to pay. Marsh said he was aware his neighbour had Parkinson’s but that Ian was coherent and cogent.

At one stage James applied for a personal safety intervention order against Marsh, on behalf of his father, citing harassment and sham invoices. An interim order was granted but later dropped.

In June this year, Marsh agreed to pay back $70,000 – while denying any wrongdoing. But the matter headed back to court when James, who was his father’s litigation guardian, claimed Marsh missed several payment deadlines.

James then initiated default proceedings. After that, Marsh paid back the $70,000. But James asked a judge to give an order for interest on the late payments – and legal costs for the default proceedings.

In late November Judge Michael Wise ordered Marsh to pay $402.73 in interest and costs of up to $6000.

James Baillieu’s lawyer told us that, to date, Marsh has not paid the costs or interest. When CBD called Marsh to confirm this, he sounded nonplussed and referred our inquiries back to Ian Baillieu.

Smoko under threat

This week, CBD heard from a few mildly alarmed inmates of Parliament House in Canberra worried that Senate President Sue Lines was planning to ban smoking outside two entrances to the upper house chamber.

For the big house’s few remaining durry munchers – including political staffers, maintenance staff and press gallery hacks, the areas outside those entrances are popular places to light up.

They need not be alarmed. Yet. We hear Parliament House’s smoking policy is up for review, a process which will involve consultation with the affected parties – including the press gallery, we’re told. What’s causing a bit of concern is that since the policy was last updated, in 2014, automatic doors have been installed near the chamber, meaning the smoke-free area could be extended.

“The department can confirm that the [Australian Parliament House] Smoking Policy is currently under review,” the ever-helpful Department of Parliamentary Services told us.

But any changes probably won’t be signed off on by the presiding officers – that’s Lines and House Speaker Milton Dick. Plenty of time to quit, or switch to vapes, which despite what Health Minister Mark Butler will tell you, haven’t gone away.

Whatever happened to ...?

At CBD, we often wonder, “Where are they now?” In the case of Andrew Laming, the former Liberal National MP who was forced into “empathy training” by prime minister Scott Morrison in 2021, you will find him heading for the High Court.

Laming has been engaged in a three-year legal battle with the Australian Electoral Commission that is now bound for the top court. In 2021, the AEC began proceedings against the former member for Bowman over Facebook posts made before the 2019 election which lacked a required authorisation statement declaring his political links.

Last year, the Federal Court found that posts on a Facebook page called “Redland Hospital: Let’s fight for fair funding” failed to disclose his name and place of residence, in contravention of electoral laws. The former MP was fined $20,000 following a hearing in which he had briefly represented himself.

The AEC successfully appealed that decision, arguing he had made further contraventions. The full court agreed, doubling his fine to $40,000 in August. Laming’s counter-appeal was simultaneously dismissed.

Last week the nation’s top court agreed to hear Laming’s appeal, potentially in April or May. Both Laming and the AEC declined to comment.

Andrew Laming is headed for the High Court.Credit: Getty Images

This is far from Laming’s only courtroom stoush with a regulator. In 2022, the Inter-Parliamentary Expenses Authority asked Laming to repay $10,360 in taxpayer-funded travel expenses relating to a trip taken in 2019.

After refusing to repay a cent, and accusing the expenditure watchdog of orchestrating a witch-hunt, Laming applied for judicial review of that decision some 15 months later. In March, the Federal Court rejected his challenge over the expenses.

In the meantime, the former backbencher for Bowman unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Redland City Council just outside of Brisbane. A feisty election involved . . . you guessed it, another legal battle, with the Queensland Supreme Court blocking him from using placards falsely linking his independent rival to the Greens.

Laming was disendorsed by the Queensland LNP in 2021 after being accused of trolling two female constituents online. He was forced to apologise for the behaviour and undertake counselling, but later withdrew that apology.

In a tell-all tome written after the end of his political career, Laming accused Morrison of making him a scapegoat for the Morrison government’s trouble with female voters. Since moving on, he’s generated nearly enough courtroom intrigue for a sequel.

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