By Samantha Hutchinson and Adam Carey
High-profile Labor MP Philip Dalidakis has resigned from Victoria's Parliament, effective immediately, in a move that could dash the Andrews government's hopes of this week passing contentious firefighting reforms.
The upper house member and former trade and investment minister visited Governor Linda Dessau to submit his resignation shortly after midday on Monday, before travelling to Victorian government offices at One Treasury Place to notify Premier Daniel Andrews.
Former minister Philip Dalidakis is quitting politics.Credit: Jesse Marlow
He has taken up a senior role at Australia Post.
Mr Dalidakis' departure comes at a critical time, leaving the Andrews government down a vote in the Legislative Council as it tries to pass its amended Fire Services Bill through the chamber.
Without Mr Dalidakis' vote, the government needs the support of four of 11 crossbench MPs this week.
They could also delay the bill for a second time until Mr Dalidakis' position is filled and parliament returns in August.
Labor's long-running attempts to reform Victoria's fire services and convert the Country Fire Authority into a volunteer-only operation have been tortured, involving the resignation of a minister and a string of senior figures in the fire services.
Last year's bid to pass the laws failed at the last hurdle when two Liberal MPs rushed back to parliament for the final vote after being granted a pair on religious grounds to mark Good Friday.
Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien this week ruled out granting any pairs to the government.
Mr Dalidakis, 43, is expected to take the role of executive general manager of corporate services, which has been held by acting executives since Chris Blake left the postal carrier in December to join former chief executive Ahmed Fahour at lender Latitude Financial.
Mr Dalidakis did not return The Age’s calls or requests for comment on Monday.
But in a statement on Facebook, he said his position as an MP had too often forced him to put work ahead of family.
"In my inaugural speech, I said I would place my children first and in turn that would make me a better legislator but in hindsight I didn’t," he wrote.
"I allowed my work to dictate my life. I missed moments I’ll never get back, parliamentary sitting dates saw me miss events that meant apologies became the norm and not the exception."
Premier Daniel Andrews released a brief statement on Monday thanking Mr Dalidakis for his service.
His shock departure from Parliament comes six months after he emerged as one of two ministers to be dropped from the frontbench to make way for more women, following a reshuffle targeting equal numbers of women and men in cabinet.
Prior to the reshuffle, Mr Dalidakis held the trade and investment, innovation and digital economy and small business ministries.
It is understood his contract at Australia Post begins on July 1.
Mr Dalidakis entered Parliament in 2014 as the upper house representative for the southern metropolitan division.
Before that, he was a senior state parliament staffer, the chief executive of the state’s peak forestry group, and deputy chief of staff to former senator and communications minister Stephen Conroy.