Press Club denies Greens exclusion

This article was originally published on 12 November 2014.

The Melbourne Press Club has denied a claim that Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber was excluded from the recent election debate on transport policy issues between State Transport Minister Terry Mulder and Shadow Minister Jill Hennessy.

Press Club CEO Mark Baker said the Club was disappointed that Mr Barber failed to take up an invitation to attend the lunch at Crown and take an active role in the discussions.

“We wanted the Greens to attend and extended a special invitation for Mr Barber and his colleagues to attend and participate prominently in the discussion. There was no response to our invitation,” Baker said.

“The Melbourne Press Club does not takes sides in politics. We are a scrupulously independent forum and always will be.”

He said it was regrettable the Greens had chosen to email and tweet members with a false claim that the party had been excluded from the debate and the insinuation that Mr Barber had been forced to stage an alternative event to be heard.

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