Greens candidate ‘hypocrite’ over advertising claims

A Greens candidate in a marginal inner-Melbourne seat has been lashed for using her career to promote her business.

An add for Local Organic Delivery run by Steph Hodgins-May, Greens candidate for Macnamara, and partner Ogy Simic.

A Greens candidate in a marginal inner-Melbourne seat has been branded a hypocrite by both Labor and Liberal politicians over her controversial start-up delivery business, amid growing outrage that she and her partner are using their political careers to promote their personal venture.

Steph Hodgins-May, the Greens candidate for Macnamara, and partner Ogy Simic, a Greens councillor, have drawn condemnation for advertising their business Local Organic Delivery within Greens material promoting Mr Simic’s unsuccessful campaign at last November’s Victorian state election.

The Australian has seen photographs of seven separate letterboxes in Melbourne’s Middle Park where an advertisement for Local Organic Delivery was folded inside a Greens pamphlet for Mr Simic.

The revelations come after Ms Hodgins-May was also criticised for co-founding the venture with Panayioti Koutlakis, the former Victorian CEO of now-defunct food delivery company Foodora, which has been accused of mistreating and underpaying workers under “18th century working conditions”.

Foodora is currently in the middle of a Federal Court battle after the Fair Work Ombudsman took legal action over alleged underpaying and incorrect classification of its employees — which allegedly occurred while Mr Koutlakis was CEO.

It comes after another case where a former Foodora driver was awarded $15,559 when the Fair Work Commission decided that he had been unfairly dismissed after going to the media with complaints about progressive cuts to pay rates and for organising a WhatsApp group with fellow workers.

In February 2017, after the alleged misconduct began and while Mr Koutlakis was still with Foodora, Local Organic Delivery launched, with Mr Koutlakis, Ms Hodgins-May and Mr Simic as founders.

Ms Hodgins-May defended the promotion of Local Organic Delivery within Greens material promoting her partner, and told The Australian she was “running for parliament to put people back at the heart of decision making and get big money out of politics.”

Regarding Mr Koutlakis, Ms Hodgins-May told The Australian his role was limited to “providing digital marketing advice in the early days of the business”.

However in company registration documents seen by The Australian, Mr Koutlakis is listed as a current director, as are Ms Hodgins-May and Mr Simic.

Ms Hodgins-May said Mr Koutlakis “is associated with the business in name only and has nothing to do with the day-to-day affairs.”

A spokesman for the Greens told The Australian the party had been made aware of the advertisements within party material, but that “the Victorian Greens do not have any power to direct the actions of small businesses”.

James Patterson, Liberal senator for Victoria, told The Australian: “the Greens are the first to lecture others about integrity, but yet again show their hypocrisy by mixing politics and business when it suits them.”

Mark Dreyfus, the Shadow attorney-general, told The Australian that if true, the allegations Ms Hodgins-May used her and her partner’s political careers to further their personal business interests was “entirely unacceptable.”

“They have lost sight of any policy goals they used to have.” Mr Dreyfus said of the Greens.

The Transport Workers Union has accused Foodora of introducing “eighteenth century working conditions” to Australia.

Retiring Labor MP Michael Danby won Macnamara last election — then named Melbourne Ports — by 1.4 per cent, and it is considered to be a three horse race between Labor, Greens and Liberal candidates.