IBAC: Daniel Andrews backs ‘active member of the Labor Party’

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has defended his former electorate officer turned MP Lee Tarlamis from allegations of involvement in branch-stacking.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has defended his former electorate officer turned MP Lee Tarlamis from allegations of involvement in branch-stacking, saying “he knows the difference between his work and being an active member of the Labor Party”.

Mr Tarlamis worked as an electorate officer across the offices of several key MPs aligned with Mr Andrews’ Socialist Left faction of the ALP between 1996 and 2010, including those of Mr Andrews and former special minister of state Gavin Jennings.

He was elected to the upper house for the South Eastern Metropolitan district overlapping Mr Andrews’ seat of Mulgrave in 2010, and worked as a ministerial adviser to Mr Jennings after losing office in 2014, before returning to parliament to replace Mr Jennings when he retired last year.

Deposed Labor powerbroker Adem Somyurek this week accused Mr Andrews of involvement in branch-stacking in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with Mr Somyurek and senior figures from other Labor factions also pointing to Mr Tarlamis’s alleged role.

Mr Andrews on Thursday rejected the suggestion, saying Mr Tarlamis had been involved in “constituent matters” and “running campaigns” while working across his office and those of other MPs.

“He’s an active member of the Labor Party, but as an active member of the Labor Party, he knows the difference between his work and being an active member of the Labor Party,” Mr Andrews said.

For the third day running, Mr Andrews refused to rule out having engaged in branch-stacking himself, citing the ongoing investigation by anti-corruption watchdog IBAC.

“I’m not getting into a debate or a discussion about matters that are before the commission,” he said.

Asked whether he was saying his potential role as a branch-stacker was before the commission, Mr Andrews said: “No, I think that the subject matter, and claims made by others who are, I think, very directly participating in the commission, I’m not getting into a debate with them.”

Asked why he couldn’t simply answer that no, he had not been involved in branch stacking, Mr Andrews told The Australian: “Well, you can make all the assumptions you like. I’ve answered those questions.”