Daniel Andrews deflects on Andrew Giles’s guests spots

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has repeatedly refused to criticise Labor’s use of Immigration Minister Andrew Giles as the guest of honour at a string of fundraisers.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles. Picture: Arsineh Houspian.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has repeatedly refused to criticise Labor’s use of federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles as the guest of honour at a string of fundraisers for his campaign, saying the issue is a “matter for the party”.

The Australian revealed this week that Indian Australian migration agents paid $1000 to the Victorian ALP to buy access to Mr Giles at a private dinner, during which they raised concerns about visa policies.

The October 2 event, attended by fewer than a dozen people, was held to raise cash to bankroll the re-election of Victorian ­Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio, and is one of five recent multicultural community fundraisers at which Mr Giles has been the star attraction.

Mr Andrews and Mr Giles posed for photographs alongside one another as they headlined a separate “South eastern multicultural gala dinner” on September 24, with a brochure for the event promoting them as the night’s “special guests”.

Asked if it was appropriate for a federal immigration minister to be used as a drawcard for fundraisers in aid of his election campaign, Mr Andrews said: “Well is he? I’m not certain that he is. That’s a matter for the party.”

Asked whether he was comfortable with the arrangement that is helping to bankroll his campaign, Mr Andrews said: “I’m not here as a spokesperson for the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party.”

An organiser of the October 2 fundraisers was controversial member of Mr Andrews’ and Ms D’Ambrosio’s Socialist Left faction, Jasvinder Sidhu, who is suspended from holding any ALP office until 2027 after Labor’s disputes tribunal found that he had committed two breaches of ALP Victorian Branch Rules.

Asked if it was appropriate that Mr Sidhu was now playing a key role in organising Labor fundraisers, Mr Andrews again maintained: “That’s a matter for the Labor Party.”

Asked if it was appropriate for his ministers to be attending fundraisers organised by Mr Sidhu, Mr Andrews said: “I’m not certain that that individual is organising anything, but in any event, what I can say ... is that ministers behave appropriately.”

Mr Giles – the minister responsible for visa policies – appeared at Tamil community fundraising events on October 16 and Sunday night.

He had also appeared at an event in Tarneit, in Melbourne’s western suburbs on August 5.

Last week, Mr Andrews repeatedly deflected when asked why the only Indian-born member of Victorian parliament – Labor MP turned crossbencher Kaushaliya Vaghela – did not receive an invitation to his taxpayer-funded Diwali celebration.

Members of Victoria’s Indian community accused Mr Andrews of “hijacking” the religious event he hosted at Melbourne’s showgrounds on October 24, after more than 15 ALP MPs and candidates for the election attended.