A Victorian Greens Candidate Has Been Stood Down Amid Rape Allegations

With just a day to go before the Victorian State Election, the Greens are in turmoil after standing down a candidate in an inner-city seat after allegations of rape surfaced yesterday.

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Dominic Phillips, who is the Greens candidate in the seat of Sandringham, was formally stood down on Thursday after party leader Samantha Ratnam received an email from an unidentified woman accusing Phillips of raping her.

The story, conveniently enough, was initially broken by the Herald Sun, who got access to not only the original accusation email, but also one sent by Ratnam privately in response.

Initially the party declined to name Phillips, stating that “due process” must be afforded and that the party was conducting an internal investigation.

However, Ratnam named Phillips as the candidate in question this morning while appearing on ABC Radio; a move she made in order to avoid rumourmongering running rampant on social media, and in order to preserve voter confidence in the party with mere hours to go until polls officially open.

It is really important that voters have confidence in who they are voting for.

We are seeing a lot of social media where the name is being discussed it is important that we have no ambiguity. It is important voters have confidence when they go to the ballot box.

This is a very very serious matter and we have tried to have a fair and balanced approach for all concerned. 

A statement issued by a Greens spokesperson yesterday confirmed the party had ordered the then-unidentified candidate to cease all campaigning. However given that the election is tomorrow, Phillips’ name will remain on ballot papers. It’s unclear what this means for any votes potentially cast for him in the division of Sandringham, or whether information will be distributed to voters at polling stations.

The woman accusing Phillips of rape has requested the party not publicly identify her. It is not known at this stage whether or not a police report has been filed.

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