‘Reprimand him’: Pressure on Allan to act on Labor secretary chief after meme backfires

The Coalition is demanding accountability after Victoria’s ALP state secretary Steve Staikos approved a gutter-level meme targeting Peter Dutton and his wife.

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The Coalition has called for Victoria’s ALP state secretary Steve Staikos to face consequences in his role of approving a highly personal social media meme targeting Peter Dutton and his wife.

The Australian understands that senior Labor chiefs, embarrassed by the bipartisan storm of protest over the attack, will review the Victorian government’s social media strategy early next week.

On Friday, the Victorian Labor Party refused to shed light on any actions they will take to address the ‘gutter politics’ meme that flung them into chaos over the new year, leading to calls for Anthony Albanese and Premier Jacinta Allan to be more transparent in the lead up to the state and federal elections.

The meme was scrubbed from the state government’s social media accounts after the Prime Minister was forced to intervene on Monday night following various attempts to contact him, but the damage had already been done.

In what has become known as a grubby political smear attack by Labor, the “egregious” meme backfired in Labor’s face after the Victorian leadership initially declined to comment when approached by The Australian.

Victorian ALP secretary Steve Staikos. Picture: Penny Stephens

The state and federal government found itself amid a crisis of its own making, with the Coalition now demanding action against Mr Staikos - who is understood to have approved the post.

Opposition Home Affairs spokesman James Paterson told The Australian if Labor was sincere, Mr Staikos needed to face consequences.

“If Anthony Albanese and Jacinta Allan are sincere that this attack on Peter Dutton’s family is really out of bounds, what will be the consequences for Victorian Labor state secretary Steve Staikos,” Mr Paterson said.

“He not only approved the post, he even publicly defended it before it was finally taken down.”

“The premier hasn’t even bothered to speak to him about it, let alone reprimand him for this egregious conduct,” he said.

“Maybe that’s because they secretly approve of these tactics and plan more personal smears against Peter Dutton and Brad Battin in the lead up to the federal and state elections.”

Mr Staikos, who was a long-serving councillor and former four-term Mayor of Kingston, declined to comment when approached by The Australian on Friday.

The state government also declined to comment when asked if Premier Allan would be speaking with Mr Staikos.

They were also asked if they would like to issue a public apology for Mr Dutton and his wife, to which they did not respond.

On Thursday, Ms Allan engaged in a fiery exchange with a reporter from The Australian when asked about the delayed timing of her condemnation of the meme.

The reporter asked why the Premier had initially declined to comment and then took a full day to criticise the post.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling.

“That’s incorrect. That claim that you just made is incorrect. So you might want to rephrase that,” Ms Allan said.

She also said she was “sure” the ALP’s Victorian branch will review its processes to ensure the smear attack“doesn’t happen again”.

The Australian has confirmed Ms Allan’s office told this masthead at about 2pm on Monday that Ms Allan would not be commenting and said it was a matter for ALP headquarters. The same answer was provided to the Herald Sun.

New Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin has questioned Ms Allan’s leadership, saying he doesn’t know why it was so difficult for her to call it out immediately.

“Premier Allan has failed a test of leadership by refusing to immediately condemn this shameful attack on Peter Dutton’s family,” Mr Battin told The Australian.

“Grubby personal attacks like this have no place in public discourse. Why was it so hard for Premier Allan to call it out,” he asked.

With Labor’s polling share falling sharply in Victoria ahead of next year’s federal election, the Victorian ALP manipulated a five-year-old newspaper report on the Duttons to attack them.

The post went up about 11am on Monday under the heading “We all know that one couple” and a secondary line stating “Justifying dating your new partner to your friends who don’t like him” above a 2019 newspaper photo quoting Ms Dutton saying of her husband: ‘‘He is not a monster.’’