00:00The Victorian Liberal Party State Director Stuart Smith has resigned following comments
00:06he made in a private staff group chat where he made a mockery of the party's Women's
00:10Council and also made disparaging comments about senior Liberal MP Bev MacArthur.
00:15In a statement issued this morning, he says that he's apologised and regrets making those
00:19comments.
00:20He says that he wants to be, he doesn't want to be a distraction for the Liberal Party
00:24ahead of next year's state election.
00:27As for Ms MacArthur, she was approached by reporters at Victoria's Parliament House
00:31this morning.
00:32Here's a little bit of what she had to say.
00:34Oh, well, totally unacceptable.
00:36Trashing of women is just not acceptable in this world.
00:40Not in the political world, not in the corporate world, not in the public sector.
00:45Opposition leader Brad Batten has also issued a statement.
00:48He says that Mr Smith's resignation was the right thing to do and that his comments were
00:52unacceptable and do not reflect the standards of professionalism, integrity and integrity
00:57inclusion that we all expect of each other.
01:00Senior Liberal figures will gather in Melbourne for the party's state conference this weekend
01:04and it's expected a few big discussions to be had before then.
01:08Sermon James
01:12Lee
01:13Vaughn
