Former Victorian Labor staffer Jeffrey O’Donnell involved in altercation at Kororoit branch meeting

Controversial former Victorian Labor staffer Jeffrey O’Donnell — already facing civil legal action over an alleged assault — has been involved in an altercation with an elderly man at a branch meeting in Melbourne’s west.

An ex-Victorian Labor staffer who allegedly once assaulted a party secretary has been involved in a brawl with another man at a branch meeting in Melbourne’s west.

Jeffrey O’Donnell - who is already facing civil legal action over another alleged assault - went head to head with a Labor Party member aged in his 70s in an assault at the party’s Kororoit Branch meeting about 8pm on Tuesday.

In an audio recording obtained by the Herald Sun, the two men can be heard hurling abuse at one another before witnesses intervened in the heated exchange.

“If I want to leave, I’ll go and do whatever I want to do. It’s got nothing to do with you, and mind your own f****** business,” the man could be heard saying.

“You’re going to break my legs, are you?” Mr O’Donnell replied.

“I’ll break your f****** neck,” the man said.

“Come on, go for it,” one of the men could then be heard yelling, before noise erupted in the meeting room.

Kororoit MP Luba Grigorovitch helped break up the altercation. Picture: Alex Coppel.

“Get out of here,” a man then yelled.

“He started it. He started it, bastard that he is.”

It is understood that Kororoit MP Luba Grigorovitch and another bystander were among those forced to break up the ugly confrontation, which unfolded as the meeting at the Burnside Children’s and Community Centre came to an end.

A female voice could also be heard speaking to Mr O’Donnell after he was pulled away from the confrontation.

It is unclear whether the voice was that of Ms Grigorovitch.

It is understood that tensions between the two men have spanned several years.

One attendee, who witnessed the incident and has since spoken to the victim, told the Herald Sun the man in his 70s was assaulted but not seriously hurt during the alleged incident.

“He’s a really nice guy … I don’t understand it,” the attendee, speaking anonymously, said.

But Mr O’Donnell, who is also aged in his 70s and uses a walking frame, told the Herald Sun he was the victim in the alleged assault, claiming he suffered a punch to the stomach and received threats that he would be killed.

He said the ordeal took place after he spoke on a no-confidence motion that he had moved against branch secretary Phillip Zada. The motion was voted down.

“Another member became aggressive and said: “close the f***ing meeting”,” Mr O’Donnell said.

“As I got up to leave, he had a go at me, I fronted up to him and he threatened to break my back.

“I wasn’t standing down so he punched me in the stomach.

“He kept on saying he was going to kill me.

“Luba (Grigorovitch) pulled me back and pulled me out of the room.”

A Victorian Labor spokesman said the party had been made aware of Tuesday’s incident.

“Inquiries are being made with branch members who attended the meeting,” he said.

The meeting was held at the Burnside Children's and Community Centre. Picture: Supplied

Ms Grigorovitch told the Herald Sun that the incident, which is now being investigated by the party’s head office, was diffused quickly.

“Branch meetings are a place where members share ideas and values and discuss ways to improve the community,” she said.

“This occurred until an incident at the end of the meeting.

“Tempers flared, but the incident was diffused quickly.

“I have spoken to the ALP Secretary this morning and he has informed me that he has made enquiries with members in attendance and will put in place measures to address this issue.”

Another meeting attendee said both men were at fault.

“It was just two grumpy old men having a spat at a branch meeting,” they said.

“I’ve been to a number of meetings — this is not normal behaviour.

“It’s completely unacceptable. We want the branch to operate as a functioning body that is there to discuss Labor values.”

Tuesday’s alleged incident comes after Kororoit Creek Branch secretary Jennifer Marriott last year launched legal action against the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party and Mr O’Donnell for allegedly assaulting her, “habitually heckling” Labor members and calling a female member a “f***ing c***” at party meetings.

In a civil writ filed with the Supreme Court in October, Ms Marriott said the Labor Party should have known that Mr O’Donnell, who was once also charged over a taxpayer-funded election fraud, “had a propensity to behave erratically and threateningly towards other members of the party” before he allegedly assaulted her at a Labor meeting at a Caroline Springs La Porchetta in 2023.

Ms Marriott, who became aware of the incident by several concerned party members who witnessed the ordeal, claimed the man attempted to leave the venue after Mr O’Donnell had interrupted the meeting several times.

“One of the members, they had enough and got up to leave, and he (Mr O’Donnell) actually blocked his way from leaving the venue,” Ms Marriott said.

“It got really aggressive and it turned into a fist fight kind of thing.”

Ms Marriott said her pleas for Premier Jacinta Allan to intervene, seen by the Herald Sun, had been ignored.

Kororoit Creek Branch secretary Jennifer Marriott is suing Jeffrey O’Donnell. Picture: Supplied

Arnold Thomas and Becker managing partner Lee Flanagan, who is representing Ms Marriott, said he was “disappointed” to hear that there had been another alleged assault involving Mr O’Donnell.

“We have previously alleged that the Party failed to take sufficient steps to discipline or remove Mr O’Donnell from the Labor Party,” he said.

“Had there been appropriate action taken following the earlier allegations, further complaints of abuse could have been avoided.

“Given these failures, we allege that the party has breached its duty of care to protect its members.”

But Mr O’Donnell said the claims against him were “vicious attacks” that stemmed back to divisions in the party that reached boiling point during Labor’s branch stacking scandal several years ago.

Tuesday’s alleged ordeal is the latest in a string of controversies for Mr O’Donnell.

In 2020, he was spared jail over the ALP printing rorts scandal.

He admitted that he had lied to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission to help cover up the fraud, where parliament was billed for fake printing invoices and the money instead used to pay for ALP branch stacking.

Mr O’Donnell was handed a community corrections order after he faced up to 25 years behind bars for conspiring to pervert the course of justice by liaising with others about evidence he would give IBAC as it probed the scandal.

Ms Marriott’s matter is ongoing.

Originally published as Former Victorian Labor staffer Jeffrey O’Donnell involved in altercation at Kororoit branch meeting