Former union leader Jennifer Marriott sues Jeffrey O’Donnell over alleged assault at party meeting
Labor’s commitment to women’s safety faces a Victorian Supreme Court test as a union leader alleges the party protected a man who threatened her at branch meeting.
Jacinta Allan and high-profile Victorian Labor MP Luba Grigorovitch are among ALP figures being accused of turning a blind eye to violence against women within their own ranks, as a union leader and veteran party member takes civil action in the Supreme Court, alleging she was assaulted at a branch meeting.
Former Municipal & Utilities Workers Union president Jennifer Marriott has accused Ms Grigorovitch of publicly siding with her alleged attacker, after the MP was last month photographed in conversation with him and Deputy Premier Ben Carroll on the steps of state parliament, on the same day the case was mentioned in court.
Ms Marriott was secretary of Ms Grigorovitch’s western suburban Kororoit branch of the ALP in October 2023 when she alleges fellow branch member Jeffrey O’Donnell became agitated after receiving only one vote in a branch executive election, and physically attacked her – allegations Mr O’Donnell denies.
In court documents, Ms Marriott, 54, alleges Mr O’Donnell assaulted her at the meeting held at the Caroline Springs La Porchetta restaurant on October 11, 2023, “by approaching (her) aggressively, standing over her, and raising his clenched fist in a threatening manner to her whilst pushing his head towards her face … in the presence of other party members”.
The Australian does not suggest the allegations are true, only that they have been made.
Ms Marriott’s statement of claim, lodged with the Supreme Court before a directions hearing due on December 12, accuses Ms Grigorovitch – who was overseas during the alleged assault – of having knowledge of Mr O’Donnell “habitually heckling other party members during meetings”, and calling another female member of the party a “f..king c …” and a “f..king rat at a sufficiently loud volume to be heard by other party members” at another branch meeting.
Along with Mr O’Donnell, Ms Marriott is suing Ms Grigorovitch and former Victorian ALP acting state secretary Cameron Petrie, now a senior adviser to Anthony Albanese, accusing Ms Grigorovitch and Mr Petrie of failing in their duty of care to protect Ms Marriott from Mr O’Donnell.
While Ms Allan is not among those being sued, Ms Marriott wrote to the Premier in December 2024, seeking to draw her attention to Mr O’Donnell’s alleged conduct, and what Ms Marriott views as the failure of key ALP figures to take action against him.
Ms Marriott wrote that she was seeking the assistance of Ms Allan “as a key political figure addressing violence against women in Victoria”, having “tried every process available to myself as a long-term member of the ALP to resolve the matter”.
“I am sending this directly to the Premier as this has had an enormous detrimental effect on my health, wellbeing and life,” Ms Marriott said in the email.
She told The Australian she was “shocked” to receive no response.
“To not even receive a reply to say ‘the Premier has received your correspondence’, from a political leader and a party who claim to be on the side of women, it made it clear that they place no value on me as someone that’s been a member of the party since 2005,” Ms Marriott said.
“They have all these words about supporting women and how women should be treated and setting an example on gendered violence, but never once has anyone said, ‘How are you feeling?’ or ‘That shouldn’t have happened’.
“From a political party that puts itself on a pedestal for making women feel valued and equal, I’ve felt absolutely no support, and in fact the exact opposite.”
Ms Marriott said she viewed Ms Grigorovitch’s handling of the situation as a personal betrayal, having previously regarded the former Rail, Tram and Bus Union secretary as a friend.
She signed Ms Grigorovitch’s nomination form when she ran for election in 2022, and attended her lavish January 2023 wedding to Ben Gray – the owner of Australia’s largest private equity firm and son of former Tasmanian Liberal premier Robin Gray – with whom Ms Grigorovitch is expecting twin boys early in 2026.
Known for a direct and gutsy approach to politics, Ms Grigorovitch, 40, has often courted controversy, generating headlines for her support of disgraced former CFMEU boss John Setka, and choosing to live in a South Yarra penthouse with Mr Gray (with regular visits to their $30m Sorrento mansion) – 30 kilometres from her western suburbs electorate.
In her statement of claim, Ms Marriott alleges Ms Grigorovitch was warned in February 2023 that Mr O’Donnell was “targeting party members in a hostile manner at meetings”, and told by another party member that Mr O’Donnell was a “standover man and a thug and had a propensity to be violent”.
The document argues Ms Grigorovitch is liable for a failure to “take reasonable care to protect (Ms Marriott) from foreseeable injury while she was attending party meetings” because she continued to allow Mr O’Donnell to attend “when it was known, or ought to have been known, that he had a propensity to behave erratically and threateningly towards other party members and therefore posed a risk to their welfare”.
Ms Marriott says she became even more upset on October 30 this year, when photographs emerged on social media of Ms Grigorovitch and Education Minister Mr Carroll in conversation with Mr O’Donnell on the steps of parliament, following a rally held by autistic children’s advocacy organisation Equality for Autism.
The case was mentioned in the Supreme Court on the same day.
“To have someone who was a friend, and also a supporter of me as a woman in the party, offering public support to the person who did the offending, despite knowing what happened to me, is just appalling,” Ms Marriott said.
She alleges Mr Petrie is liable for failing to discipline and/or adequately sanction Mr O’Donnell for his alleged conduct, despite upholding many of Ms Marriott’s allegations in an internal ALP investigation.
In a February 2024 letter responding to her complaint, Mr Petrie found Ms Marriott’s allegation that Mr O’Donnell had “bullied and harassed” her at the October 11 meeting was “partly substantiated”, and that his conduct “fell outside the standards” set out in the Victorian ALP’s code of conduct.
“I acknowledge that Mr O’Donnell’s conduct adversely impacted your ability, and the ability of others, to participate in the branch meeting in a manner free from harassment,” Mr Petrie wrote. “Further, Mr O’Donnell’s conduct created a hostile and unwelcoming environment and was distressing to you.”
In a sanction Ms Marriott has described as “utterly inadequate and unacceptable”, Mr Petrie issued Mr O’Donnell with a formal warning, asking that when attending ALP gatherings and events in future, Mr O’Donnell “treat all members with dignity, fairness and respect”, and “refrain from engaging in aggressive or intimidating behaviour”.
The Victorian ALP has engaged Holding Redlich to defend Ms Grigorovitch and Mr Petrie, at considerable expense. Ms Marriott is being represented by Arnold, Thomas & Becker practice manager Gavin Kotnik, who is acting on a no win, no fee basis.
She initially sought to sue the ALP’s Victorian branch, before amending her case for legal reasons to instead name Ms Grigorovitch and Mr Petrie as defendants, alongside Mr O’Donnell.
Ms Marriott is seeking compensation for injury, loss and damage, arguing the psychological impacts of Mr O’Donnell’s alleged assault and its handing by the ALP have compromised her ability to engage in employment and earn an income.
In a statement, Ms Grigorovitch said: “I am aware that a local branch member has joined me to legal proceedings she commenced in 2024. I understand she originally named the ALP as a defendant but withdrew that claim because it was legally hopeless.
“Likewise, her claims now made against me and a party official are baseless, without legal merit, and will be defended.”
The Australian understands Mr O’Donnell, who declined to comment, denies the allegations.
Neither the Premier’s office nor Mr Petrie responded to requests for comment.
Mr O’Donnell – an ALP member for 25 years and long-term volunteer in the office of former upper house MP Khalil Eideh – made headlines in April after a separate branch meeting clash saw him involved in a brawl and heated exchange with another man at the Burnside Children’s and Community Centre.
Not long after that event, Mr O’Donnell resigned from the party. In 2020, Mr O’Donnell was handed a community corrections order after facing up to 25 years in jail, having admitted he had lied to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission to help cover up a printing rorts scandal.
