Greens senator Lidia Thorpe's staff were so alarmed about her dating a former president of an outlaw motorcycle gang, they took the matter to the office of party leader Adam Bandt and an independent parliamentary authority.
Her staff were particularly worried because, at the time, Senator Thorpe was sitting on the joint parliamentary law enforcement committee, which was receiving confidential briefings about bikie gangs and organised crime.
Senator Thorpe has confirmed to the ABC she "briefly dated" the ex-president of the Rebels in Victoria, Dean Martin.
"We met through Blak activism and briefly dated in early 2021," she told the ABC.
"We remain friends and have collaborated on our shared interests advocating for the rights of First Nations peoples."
But their friendship troubled Senator Thorpe's staff, who learned of the relationship almost 18 months ago.
Dean Martin has no criminal convictions but had a 25-year-plus association with the Rebels. He stepped down as Victorian chapter president in 2018 after his brother Shane Martin — the father of AFL star Dustin Martin — was deported to New Zealand over links to the Rebels and Shane's criminal history.
When Senator Thorpe's staff learned of her relationship with Dean Martin, they urged her to disclose it to Mr Bandt, fearing the revelation could damage the party, the senator — or both.
Despite her staff's urging, Senator Thorpe did not tell Mr Bandt about her relationship with Mr Martin, the Greens leader saying he "wasn't aware of who Mr Martin was, or that he and Senator Thorpe were known to each other" until the ABC asked questions.
Shortly after the ABC revealed Senator Thorpe's previous relationship, Mr Bandt announced he had asked her for her resignation as deputy senate leader and that she had agreed to resign. Both have said the failure to disclose the relationship was an error in judgement.
Three eminent experts on integrity — barristers Bret Walker SC, Geoffrey Watson SC and former NSW Supreme Court Justice Anthony Whealy KC — have separately told the ABC that Senator Thorpe's failure to disclose her involvement with Mr Martin was of concern.
"The fact that members of the Senator's staff recognised the risk shows just how serious it was; the fact that those concerns were rebuffed is a concern — if all was well it would have been passed straight to Mr Bandt who could deal with it transparently," Mr Watson, a former ICAC senior counsel said.
At the time, Senator Thorpe was part of the law enforcement committee that was taking evidence about outlaw motorcycle gangs for an inquiry into the impact of illicit drugs being traded online — she ceased being a member in April this year.
One of her staff reported concerns to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, an independent authority established to review serious incidents in parliamentary workplaces.
Her staff feared that Senator Thorpe's relationship with Mr Martin would create perceptions of a conflict of interest.
Senator Thorpe acknowledged she did not advise Mr Bandt of her relationship with Mr Martin, but insisted that confidential committee documents on how the AFP monitors outlaw motorcycle gangs were "treated in confidence".
She said Mr Martin's history with the Rebels was a "past connection".
"Obviously, I'm concerned about the criminal activities of outlaw motorcycle clubs in general. But when we met, Mr Martin was no longer involved with that world," Senator Thorpe told the ABC.
Anthony Whealy, chair of The Centre for Public Integrity, told the ABC Senator Thorpe's relationship with Mr Martin "posed at the very least a perception of serious conflict and should have been avoided".
"To address this perception of conflict, and indeed the possibility of actual conflict, Ms Thorpe should have disclosed her relationship to the committee, Mr Bandt and possibly to the AFP.
"Prudence and caution would suggest that if Ms Thorpe wished to continue a relationship of any kind with Mr Martin, she should have resigned from the committee."
Mr Watson said, "perceptions of conflict of interest diminish confidence in government".
"There are questions about the matter; those questions need answers."
Bret Walker said there were "serious questions of procedure and safeguards".
"Parliamentary oversight is absolutely vital for integrity and democracy but the price of effective oversight is to have an appropriate measure of secrecy," Mr Walker said.
"I understand there is absolutely no suggestion of a breach of secrecy raised by this story but prior disclosure and continued consideration of a personal connection, relevant to risk assessment, that anybody involved in parliamentary oversight may have from time to time, is a fundamental consideration in assessing and responding to risks when information is shared — it's an elementary aspect of any approach to security clearance.
"There are for good reasons special consideration for elected members of parliament, but that tends to make prior disclosure and continuing discussion of such connections all the more important."
Thorpe confronted after confidential documents arrive
Senator Thorpe's staff say they learned separately that she was dating Mr Martin when she disclosed the relationship to one of them in May last year. The other was told a month later, in June 2021.
In August 2021 during a remote sitting of parliament, one of the staffers decided to confront Senator Thorpe about the relationship.
Confidential law enforcement committee briefing documents had arrived at the Senator's Melbourne office, detailing how the AFP monitors outlaw motorcycle gangs.
This staffer said Senator Thorpe had come into the office after Question Time that day and told the staffer she had just been with Mr Martin in the park across the road.
The staffer perceived a risk in Senator Thorpe receiving confidential information while being in an undisclosed relationship with Mr Martin, with whom she had been with just hours earlier.
In a work diary entry dated August 25 last year, the staffer wrote of the confrontation with Senator Thorpe: "My advice to Senator is that she must speak to leader's office, that she is at extreme risk of being extorted, particularly if someone finds out".
The entry continues: "Senator (has been) advised that the risks are catastrophic and that she would have to resign. I advised that it was absolutely necessary that I record the fact that I have given her this advice, and that ultimately it was up to her to take it or not.
"She has chosen not to take it … I highlighted the huge, real, risk. She assured me the relationship was no longer underway."
The staffer says Senator Thorpe said she and Mr Martin were using encrypted communications app Signal, "[that] they clear their conversations once a week, that they never meet at their respective homes … and that she was being really careful".
Senator Thorpe acknowledged to the ABC that one of her staff "did raise how my friendship may be perceived by others who were not aware of our shared interest in advocacy for First Nations peoples".
Unconvinced that the concerns about the relationship had been addressed, this staffer was alarmed when in February this year Senator Thorpe appeared in her electorate office with Mr Martin, where the staffer says the pair spoke privately in a room for 15 minutes before leaving again.
Senator Thorpe said this was a scheduled meeting "to discuss issues related to deportation of First Nations people including his brother [Shane]", who had died in New Zealand at the end of last year.
The ABC does not suggest Senator Thorpe shared confidential information with anyone unauthorised to receive it, nor does the ABC suggest Mr Martin has any continuing association with outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Staffers say Greens failed to address concerns
The ABC has spoken separately to two former staffers of Senator Thorpe on the condition of anonymity. They have both signed statutory declarations to assert the truth of their statements.
The former staffers told the ABC they were perturbed by the Greens' handling of their concerns, after one took the matter to Mr Bandt's chief of staff Damien Lawson.
"At that meeting with Mr Lawson he told me, 'Do you mind if we don't tell Adam?", the staffer wrote in a statutory declaration.
Through a spokesperson, Mr Lawson denied that he told the staffer not to raise the issue with Mr Bandt, and said he understood that the staffer was going to return to Senator Thorpe with their concerns.
"Mr Lawson subsequently understood that this had happened and the concerns had been addressed," a spokesperson said.
After raising the matter with Mr Bandt's office in October 2021, and making a formal complaint about wider concerns about the office in June, the staffer complained to the PWSS in August this year.
While Mr Bandt did not know of Senator Thorpe's relationship with Mr Martin until the ABC's inquiries, at least one Greens politician was aware: WA Senator Dorinda Cox.
"I understand they dated for a short time and they are friends," Senator Cox told the ABC.
In an email to one of the Thorpe staffers, the PWSS said it had referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police.
Thorpe's office being reviewed
Earlier this month, Mr Bandt defended his party's complaints process after Indigenous elder Geraldine Atkinson made a formal complaint accusing Senator Thorpe of verbally abusing her at a meeting in 2021.
Mr Bandt said he took steps to address the complaint at the time.
Following the staff complaint, Mr Bandt said the Department of Finance was reviewing Senator Thorpe's office, and that it would be inappropriate to pre-empt the findings.
He said his office had expressed regret to the complainant about concerns formally raised, and has supported the review process that has since arisen.
The staffers say they are speaking out because they believe the Greens leadership has not followed its own rules for handling complaints against senators, and that the party must hold itself to a higher standard.
One told the ABC: "The thing with being holier than thou is that you have to live your values, there's no option for you but to do the right thing."
