At a press conference on Thursday,Andrews said nothing inappropriate had occurred at the private event,which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also attended. The barbecue was held before Albanese flew out to the in Western Australia.
Premier Daniel Andrews said his meeting with the prime minister at the Portsea compound belonging to billionaire Lindsay Fox was a private social gathering.
“I deal with many,many people and I deal with everybody appropriately,” Andrews said.
“It was a barbecue,” he repeated several times when questioned about the event. “And I’ll boldly predict that it won’t be the only barbecue I go to this summer.
“I know there’s a whole lot of people out there looking to get an interview with the steps from the beach house[]. And now they can look for an interview from the gas bottle.”
Andrews,who arrived at the barbecue by car,told reporters he had nothing to declare and that he wouldn’t elaborate on his movements because of security concerns.
Lindsay Fox with Daniel Andrews in June at the site of the Paula Fox Melanoma and Cancer Centre in Melbourne.Luis Enrique Ascui
Earlier on Thursday,The Age revealed Albanese had flown to the Portsea property in Lindsay Fox’s private helicopter after official engagements in Victoria.
Albanese travelled to Geelong on Saturday for a morning meeting and. Just before noon,he boarded Fox’s helicopter for the 10-minute flight to the trucking magnate’s compound on the clifftops of Portsea.
The prime minister took time out for a swim on Point King Beach. After the nearly six-hour visit,he returned to Avalon Airport after 6pm on Fox’s helicopter.
Andrews’ comments echo those made by Albanese during a press conference in Queensland on Wednesday where he told Channel Nine:“I have private meetings all the time. And I have private meetings which are private meetings.”
Deputy federal opposition leader Sussan Ley has since criticised the prime minister for attending the event.
“While communities in WA were trying to escape rising floodwaters,the prime minister was boarding a private helicopter to attend a barbecue with a billionaire,” she said in a statement.
“As opposition leader during the pandemic,Anthony Albanese was very fond of saying a prime minister had only two jobs[the COVID vaccination rollout and the management of international quarantine]. Flying in on helicopters for luxury barbecues to the neglect of a national crisis was never one of the jobs that Anthony Albanese mentioned.”
Albanese spent most of Monday morning in Fitzroy Crossing,the area in the Kimberley worst affected by the deluge.
The prime minister toured the area with WA Premier Mark McGowan and senator Pat Dodson and announced an assistance package for flood-affected communities.
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