The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, says he had no idea that one of his senior advisers reportedly stepped in to prevent the former emergency services minister Jane Garrett from allegedly being bullied by the United Firefighters Union secretary, Peter Marshall.
In a statement issued on Tuesday evening Garrett, who is the MP for Brunswick, said she would be making a formal complaint about alleged “distressing conduct” towards her by Marshall. Marshall has denied bullying Garrett when she was a minister, including allegedly saying he wanted to bury an axe into her head.
In her statement, Garrett also said that an adviser to the premier stepped in to try to protect her in 2015 by making an arrangement with Marshall not to contact her during the September school holidays.
On Wednesday Andrews said the first he had heard of his adviser allegedly stepping in to help Garrett was when he read about her statement on Tuesday evening.
He also said he was not aware of whether Garrett had yet made an official complaint about the alleged bullying, or where she intended to make the complaint. However, he said it should be taken seriously and investigated properly.
“Any complaint made by anyone, and this complaint … should be dealt with and it will be my expectation that it will be dealt with properly,” he told reporters.
“Every complaint, no matter the circumstances, is surely entitled to a process that doesn’t involve the premier of the day running a commentary over the top of it. If a complaint is made, then that complainant – Jane Garrett in this case – is entitled to a fair and proper process and me trampling all over it is probably not a really good way to deliver a good process and therefore a good outcome.”
Marshall has described Garrett’s allegations as “without basis”.
In June Garrett resigned from her cabinet position after refusing to back Andrews in an industrial relations dispute between Country Fire Authority volunteers and the United Firefighters Union, which represents career firefighters.
Garrett believed the proposed enterprise agreement would deliver too much power to the union. The Country Fire Authority board was subsequently sacked for also refusing to endorse the deal.
In a caucus meeting on Tuesday morning Garrett was named as the alleged source of leaked sensitive documents and damaging information about Andrews provided to the media, including allegations that Andrews made an inappropriate comment about a former Liberal MP suffering from cancer. Andrews has denied making the comments and Garrett has denied being the source of the stories.
On Wednesday morning the treasurer, Tim Pallas, told reporters Garrett should “think about” resigning from her position as MP “if she’s not contributing to the cause that she was elected to”.
However, Andrews said he was sure Garrett was committed to doing the work required of her as Brunswick MP.
“It’s up to the voters to determine things beyond 2018,” he said.
Speaking to ABC radio 774 in Melbourne on Wednesday, the police minister, Lisa Neville, denied there was in-party “squabbling”. The meeting revealed “solid support behind the premier and the government”, she said.
“Everyone was united, apart from a few, and I’m not going to mislead,” she said. “There are a couple of disaffected people in the caucus. But people united behind the premier and the government and they’re getting on with what they’re doing.”
Garrett also revealed on Tuesday evening that she had been subpoenaed to appear at a supreme court hearing into the legality of the Country Fire Authority’s enterprise bargaining agreement and that she would therefore be making no further comment about that dispute. Andrews said he was not aware of any other ministers or staff being subpoenaed.
