Common sense is key but there’s no grog in my office, says Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese says there is no alcohol in his office after his chief of staff Tim Gartrell established the rule ‘a long time ago’, as pressure builds on the Nationals over two drink-related incidents.

Anthony Albanese in Perth on Monday. Picture: AAP

Anthony Albanese says there is no alcohol in his office after his chief of staff, Tim Gartrell, established the rule “a long time ago”, as pressure builds on the Nationals party over two grog-related incidents. 

Responding to questions about whether Parliament House has an alcohol problem and whether it should be banned, the Prime Minister said common sense should apply.

“There is no alcohol in my office,” he said. “Tim Gartrell put that in place a long time ago as my chief of staff. I think that there are events in Parliament House (and) a bit of common sense should apply.

“People are adults and they should behave responsibly like any adult should.”

The comments come as Nationals leader David Littleproud on Monday defended Perin Davey and Barnaby Joyce following separate drink-related incidents, telling people to “calm down … As a party leader, my responsibility is to make sure if there are incidents we make (supports) available. But I think we just need to take a cold shower on this. Perin Davey has admitted she had a couple of drinks but she was not drunk,” he told Sky News.

“If you look at the full 12 minutes of questioning that Perin put in at that Senate estimates, she was fully coherent in terms of the questioning that she put forward. It was a long day and I think we all slur our words from time to time. And I think this is a bit of an overreach. I have every confidence in Perin and her ability.”

Senator Davey has admitted to having two glasses of red before a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday but insisted she was not drunk.

“I don’t think I was drunk,” Senator Davey said on Sky. “I wouldn’t say I was under the weather. I stumbled over my words. If you want to pick on people who stumble over their words, there are plenty of Labor MPs (who do so).”

Senator Davey could be seen in footage of the hearing stumbling through a statement about the arts in which she thanked attendees for giving evidence.

The incident comes after party colleague Mr Joyce was filmed lying on a Canberra footpath on February 7 late at night, with him blaming the event on mixing alcohol with medication.