Coalition and Labor will unite to throw out Geoff Shaw

REBEL Victorian independent Geoff Shaw faces being thrown out of the Victorian parliament next week under moves by the Coalition and Labor.

Premier Denis Napthine practises his dance moves with students at Wedderburn College in Victoria yesterday. Picture: David Geraghty

REBEL Victorian independent Geoff Shaw faces being thrown out of the Victorian parliament next week under moves by the Coalition and Labor to suspend or expel him over the misuse of his government car and petrol card.

The Napthine government was last night trying to lock in the vote of disgruntled former Speaker Ken Smith, who had pledged to back Labor in finding Mr Shaw in contempt of parliament.

Mr Smith told The Australian soon after Mr Shaw withdrew his support from the government this week that he had no intention of backing away from his demand that the maverick MP be severely punished over the rorting.

This means that any Coalition sanction of Mr Shaw would have to match or come close to matching Labor’s demand that the Frankston MP be expelled from parliament. Mr Smith also wants Mr Shaw to be found in contempt of parliament.

The Australian understands that all options are being investigated by the government although a temporary suspension through the winter break was being actively considered to stave off a by-election before the ­November 29 election.

The Labor Party caucus will meet today to debate the issue amid concerns that the precedent of expulsion for breaking car ­allowance rules could expose former union leaders turned MPs at risk of a similar sanction in the event of adverse findings in the royal commission into union governance and corruption.

When told by The Australian on Tuesday night that Mr Shaw had withdrawn his support for the government, Mr Smith said he would not back down from his position on the privileges committee report. “My position is still as strong as it was,’’ he said.

The government has 44 seats including the Speaker, Labor has 43 and Mr Shaw is the sole independent. Labor leader Daniel Andrews yesterday again left open the option of backing a no-confidence motion in the government, but rounded on Mr Shaw, declaring that he should be expelled from the parliament.

Under this expulsion scenario, he said a by-election could be held as early as July 12 or July 19; a Labor win would lead to a ­deadlocked parliament of 44 ­Coalition and 44 Labor.

This could then involve the ­intervention of the Governor.

“I’m not prepared to have Geoff Shaw run our parliament and our state. It’s time to act on Geoff Shaw,’’ Mr Andrews said.

Labor late yesterday referred to the anti-corruption commission claims that Mr Shaw had previously demanded to Premier Denis Napthine that a judicial ­appointment be made. Mr Shaw has reportedly denied making an approach about any judicial appointment, a claim rejected by Dr Napthine.

Dr Napthine firmly denied Mr Shaw’s account of their Tuesday conversation and said people should “judge Mr Shaw on his track record” to decide who was telling the truth. “I will swear by the fact that over the time that we’ve been having meetings this year he has clearly made requests for judicial appointments,” Dr Napthine told The Australian.

Nick Economou, a political scientist from Monash University, said the most likely outcome ­appeared to be that the government would move to suspend Mr Shaw, probably next week.

“It’s not a constitutional crisis at the moment — it’s a political crisis,’’ he said. The government will almost certainly be able to pre-empt Labor’s expulsion move when parliament returns next week. The government will be under pressure to suspend rather then expel Mr Shaw, given the majority Coalition report of the privileges committee inquiry into his government car use found that Mr Shaw should not be found in contempt of parliament.

Police fraud charges were dropped but Mr Shaw was criticised in two reports for allowing staff to use his government car for his then hardware business.

Dr Napthine said he did not want to rush into any sanctions against Mr Shaw for fear that it could end up in the High Court. “He is a wrongdoer, he has rorted the system and he needs to be held to account for that,’’ he said.

Mr Shaw told The Australian this week that both sides of politics were pursuing him outside his Frankston electorate office.

Additional reporting Rick Wallace