Coalition demands government formally investigate Fowles allegation
By Broede Carmody and Annika Smethurst
Victoria’s top public servant has been asked to investigate the assault allegation made against Ringwood MP Will Fowles and publicly report on his findings.
The leader of the opposition in the upper house, Georgie Crozier, and manager of opposition business James Newbury issued the request to Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Jeremi Moule on Wednesday.
Ringwood MP Will Fowles has resigned from the parliamentary Labor Party.Credit: Facebook
Fowles was asked to resign from the parliamentary Labor Party last week after he was accused of a “serious assault”. He strenuously denies the allegation. No complaint has been made to Victoria Police, and neither the Labor Party nor the parliament is currently investigating the allegation.
“Victorian government employees must be safe at work,” the Liberals’ letter reads.
“As head of Victoria’s public service, including employees in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, we request that you commence an investigation into this matter and that there be a public report.”
The development could, in the absence of a formal police investigation, provide the pathway Fowles is seeking to clear his name following his Saturday night resignation from the parliamentary Labor Party.
The Ringwood MP has strenuously denied the allegation, which was made to the premier’s office on Thursday, and in a statement issued on Sunday suggested his resignation would be temporary.
“I will fully co-operate with any process or inquiries,” Fowles said. “I will not be making further comment until such time as I am cleared.”
The premier’s office referred the matter to Victoria Police on Saturday. But as of Wednesday afternoon, the agency had still not received a formal complaint from the alleged victim.
Premier Daniel Andrews on Monday insisted his office handled the complaint “impeccably”.
“Any alleged victim, witnesses, all of that is a matter for Victoria Police, as it should be,” the premier said. “Our job is simply to refer those matters on, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”
Andrews has so far declined to say whether the alleged incident occurred inside Parliament House. A complaint has not been made to the Speaker’s office, meaning Fowles is unlikely to face a ban from entering the parliamentary precinct now that he has been booted to the crossbench.
Last year, the Speaker and president of the Legislative Council banned Liberal backbencher Neale Burgess from entering parliament after multiple allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards Victorian parliament staff.
Burgess denied the allegations, which were investigated by the Department of Parliamentary Services. The department’s report was never publicly released, and Burgess is no longer a member of parliament.
The Victorian Labor Party has also not received a complaint relating to Fowles and therefore will not investigate the alleged assault.
The opposition’s letter comes as the Coalition prepares to steer this week’s hearings examining the conduct of last year’s state election. Fowles is the chair of parliament’s electoral matters committee, which is responsible for Thursday and Friday’s hearings. His expected absence means upper house Liberal MP Evan Mulholland will oversee the grilling of Labor’s outgoing state secretary.
The Ringwood MP’s car was spotted at a property in central Victoria this week, where he has been laying low amid media coverage of the alleged assault.
Fowles was not at parliament for Wednesday’s swearing-in of Victoria’s new governor, Margaret Gardner, and he has scrubbed all mention from his website of a town hall event that was due to take place at Whitehorse Civic Centre on Wednesday evening.
The exiled Labor MP smashed a hole through a door at a Canberra hotel in July 2019 following an altercation with staff over access to his luggage. He later took leave to seek treatment for drug and alcohol issues.
At the time, the premier said Fowles had his “full support”, but colleagues also informed the MP that no more serious incidents would be tolerated.
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