Defiant Tim Smith casts doubts over Matthew Guy’s public statements

A powerful Liberal Party committee is considering expanding its search for candidates to replace Tim Smith after an extraordinary press conference in which the Kew MP repeatedly refused to say whether Opposition Leader Matthew Guy had told him to stand down at the next election.

Speaking outside Parliament House on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Smith, who crashed his car while drunk at the weekend, said he needed more time before deciding whether to recontest his plum seat in Melbourne’s east.

Opposition MP Tim Smith faces the media after crashing his car on Saturday night and recording an alcohol reading of more than twice the legal limit.Credit: Justin McManus

“Is this error of judgment that I’ve made, this enormously terrible thing I’ve done, this selfish act I’ve done, is that worthy of losing my entire career?” Mr Smith asked.

He also kept the door open to a return to the frontbench and refused to rule out a career in federal politics as he defied his leader and cast doubts over Mr Guy’s “unequivocal” position that he should not stand at next year’s state election.

Mr Smith has been calling Kew branch members since Tuesday, seeking their support for preselection. Nominations opened on Friday and were due to close on November 12, but the Liberal Party’s administrative committee is considering extending the closing date.

Two members of the committee told The Age that Mr Smith’s crash would be raised at a meeting scheduled for Saturday.

Mr Guy was blunt on Tuesday, saying he “made it very clear to Tim that he wouldn’t find his way onto the frontbench of any parliamentary Liberal Party that I lead”.

“And I made it clear that I didn’t want him to nominate at the next election, and that I didn’t believe he should nominate for the seat of Kew.”

Mr Smith refused at least 50 times in the hour-long press conference on Wednesday to clarify his conversation with Mr Guy, repeatedly saying he had merely been asked to reflect on his future, despite the Opposition Leader publicly calling on him not to run for preselection in coming weeks.

Senior Victorian Liberals have confirmed that federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is leading a group of federal Liberal MPs, including Michael Sukkar, Alan Tudge and Greg Hunt, backing Mr Smith in defiance of Mr Guy’s insistence that he has no future in state politics.

And on Wednesday the former shadow attorney-general, who is well known for calling on others to resign, declared he would take some time out for “reflection” and refused to rule out contesting the election.

“I’m reflecting on my position, I know how angry Matthew is, I know how much I’ve let him down, and I’m taking soundings among my branch members,” said Mr Smith, who at one point in the press conference claimed that “recollections” about his conversation with Mr Guy might differ.

“Matthew and I had an array of different discussions, preselection nomination is due in a couple of weeks, I’m going to take those weeks to reflect.”

Following Wednesday’s press conference, Mr Guy’s office reiterated his stance that the Opposition Leader had told Mr Smith that he didn’t want him to nominate at the next election.

Tim Smith was grilled for an hour on Wednesday. Credit: Justn McManus

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have spoken to several Liberal MPs who believe Mr Guy is unwilling to remove Mr Smith from the Parliamentary Liberal Party and would stop a vote if initiated by another MP. Instead, Mr Guy is counting on the Liberal Party’s administrative committee to not endorse his nomination should he win preselection.

Mr Smith is under growing pressure after his crash on Saturday night, in which he clipped a parked car, flattened a stop sign, ploughed into the wall outside an eight-year-old child’s bedroom and then blew more than 2½ times the legal alcohol limit.

He vowed on Wednesday to stop drinking alcohol while in public life and said he was not mentally unwell but was “an idiot”.

He also told journalists that none of his parliamentary colleagues had told him he should not recontest the next election, saying he had received support from federal Liberals, state Liberals and members of the Kew branch.

When asked if Mr Frydenberg and Mr Sukkar were supportive of him staying in Parliament, Mr Smith said they were his friends. Others in the Victorian party were less happy with the federal Liberals’ intervention.

“None of these people sit in the party room, they have no business involving themselves in State Parliament issues, and they have no business undermining the state Opposition Leader,” one senior Liberal said.

“These are the federal MPs who are first to scream when anyone challenges their authority – this is world-class hypocrisy and for what? It’s like these federal MPs don’t want the Liberal Party to win in Victoria. They went to war for Matthew and now they’re just undermining him.”

Asked if he would consider a career in federal Parliament if he was forced to walk away from state politics, Mr Smith said: “Let’s just get through the next two weeks.”

The Age also spoke to two frontbench MPs who confirmed they had also told him to withdraw his nomination from the Kew preselection.

“There is no way he didn’t get that message; I told him to pull out,” one shadow minister told The Age.

In a dramatic escalation of tensions between Mr Smith and Mr Guy – who are close friends – the Opposition Leader’s office texted journalists during the press conference disputing the MP’s public statements, saying Mr Guy had unequivocally told him he should not contest next year’s election.

The public fray between the pair is threatening to cause further instability in the party and has drawn the ire of colleagues.

Tim Smith arrived at Parliament House for his press conference with his electorate officer, Caroline Inge. Credit: Justin McManus

“He has questioned Matthew’s word – and this comes on top of his Saturday night transgression,” one senior Liberal told The Age.

“He has put himself before all of us, before the party, and that is unacceptable. Today, he overstepped any sense of sympathy people may have. Tim Smith wasn’t elected because he was Tim Smith – no one even knew who he was. He was elected because of the Liberal Party, and he needs to put the brand of the party ahead of himself.“

On Wednesday, Mr Smith said he had spoken to 50 out of the 300 members of the Kew branch who had expressed their support. One branch member told The Age a “not small, but similarly not a majority” of members would be supporting Mr Smith.

“If he thinks he has a redemption story or a political nous that the Victorian Parliament [would] miss if he goes, he is kidding himself,” one branch member said.

Tim Smith was grilled for an hour by journalists. Credit: Justin McManus

“He skewered the leader while at the same [time] overseeing a train wreck of a press conference. It wasn’t a master stroke of media management … his castle was made up of fairy floss, a few drops of rain have fallen, and it’s all gone to shit.”

“A lot of admin members are talking and simply think it’s unacceptable,” one committee member told The Age.

Asked whether he could challenge such a decision, Mr Smith said that question was “in the realms of hypotheticals.

“There’s so many things that could happen here that I can’t give you an answer on that.”

After issuing a statement on Sunday morning in which he said he was at a dinner with friends before the car collision, Mr Smith on Wednesday revealed he was at a private function in Kooyong for a few hours on Saturday. He said he had not eaten all day, that he had a “few glasses of wine”, and towards the end of the day he had something to eat.

Initially, Mr Smith told radio station 3AW he had “a couple” of wines, but later said “a few”. At Wednesday’s press conference he then said: “Over a period of time, I had quite a few glasses of wine.”

But he insisted he believed he was safe to drive and was shocked to record a blood alcohol reading of 0.131, 2.5 times the legal limit of 0.05.

Mr Smith admitted he had altered an earlier draft of his statement he released on Sunday night to remove any reference to his car crash and that he had recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.131.

Mr Smith’s car being towed from the crash site on Saturday night.Credit: Olivia and Charlotte Neish

Several Liberal sources have told The Age Mr Smith was at an event hosted by a high-profile QC, which began at 1pm. The Kew MP would not disclose the details of his movements of the day, saying it would be disrespectful to a private citizen.

After he left the event, Mr Smith took an indirect route home to Kew. He said he saw a car brake in front of him, and in his attempt to swerve, he crashed his five-week-old Jaguar on the corner of Power and Denham streets in Hawthorn.

He said he was reversing the car away from the wall of the house because it was stuck and any suggestion he was trying to flee the scene is “absolutely nonsense”. He called his electorate officer, Caroline Inge – who is also the Liberal Party’s federal vice-president – to attend the scene because she lived nearby, and spoke to his GP.

Mr Smith said Ms Inge apologised to the Hawthorn family on his behalf on Saturday evening, and on Sunday morning, instead of saying sorry to the family in person, he apologised over the phone.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is leading a group of federal MPs who are backing Tim Smith in defiance of Opposition Leader Matthew Guy. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“I hit the fence and I apologised profusely,” Mr Smith said. “There was both a written and verbal offer to pay for the damage, I will be doing so, and I have apologised.”

Mr Smith, who has long acted as an attack dog for the opposition, has a reputation for his repeated calls for others in public life to resign.

Last year he has said former deputy chief health officer Dr Annaliese Van Diemen should resign for a post on Twitter in which she compared COVID-19 to British explorer James Cook. He also said many city businesses wanted lord mayor Sally Capp to resign for declaring her support for the Victorian state budget.

Mr Smith in 2019 said the people of Burwood deserved better than Labor MP Will Fowles, who he said was not up to being a member of Parliament, when he made public his mental health and drug battles after kicking a door in an altercation with hotel staff.

He said the same of Treasurer Tim Pallas in 2019 after reports he owned shares in Transurban, the giant toll road operator set to benefit from the West Gate Tunnel.

But on Wednesday, the 38-year-old career politician said: “All of us in life genuinely deserve a second chance … let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

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