Victorian MPs spotted partying in Bali nightclub amid bushfire crisis
A video has emerged of Victorian Labor MPs partying at a Bali nightclub while bushfires in the state escalated.
Health minister Jenny Mikakos was filmed dancing with backbenchers Steve Dimopolous, Nick Staikos and Jackson Taylor in Seminyak’s Motel Mexicola on December 28, one day before the evacuation of East Gippsland was ordered.
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said the health minister should have been at work when bushfires ravaged the region.
“We had massive pressure on our country hospitals, we had people being injured... The health minister should have been on deck,” he said.
Mikakos defended her actions, saying she returned to Melbourne as soon as she could and tried unsuccessfully to get an earlier flight from December 29.
“I was being briefed by my department and my office the whole time I was overseas, and was very prepared to cut my leave short and be back on duty,” she said.
“Effectively what the Liberal Party is saying today is that Scott Morrison should not have been in Hawaii.”
The MPs returned from their privately funded holiday on January 2. A state of disaster was declared in the state on the same day.
Premier Daniel Andrews backed his MPs, saying it is “appropriate that Ministers have some leave”.
“I’m happy to stand beside an outstanding health minister. This is not a story,” Andrews told reporters.
Fellow holidaymaker and Bentleigh MP Staikos said of the video, “The biggest revelation is that I’m a bad dancer and I’m just glad they didn’t get footage of Footloose.”