A Victoria Police spokeswoman said Mr Smith recorded an evidentiary breath test reading of 0.131, seeing his license automatically suspended. He was fined for drunk driving.

“Emergency services were called to reports a car had collided into another vehicle on Power Street before crashing into a fence about 8.55pm,” said the spokeswoman.

“The driver of the vehicle, a 38-year-old Kew man, tested positive for alcohol and was taken to a police station where he returned an evidentiary breath test reading of 0.131

“The man had his licence immediately suspended and will receive an infringement notice for exceed prescribed concentration of alcohol.”

One of the Victorian opposition's few effective operators - now completely stuffed - and it's of his own stupid doing.

Nowadays there's no excuse for driving on the grog, even less so when you are were the shadow attorney general.

Just glad there was no one in the front yard of the house you pranged into.

Victoria Police said Mr Smith – a key ally of opposition leader Matthew Guy – had his license suspended after the accident near Power St in Hawthorn just before 9pm on Saturday.

His car then crashed into the fence of a house, knocking over a stop sign.

Mr Smith, formerly shadow attorney-general after a recent reshuffle, said he made a “serious error of judgement” and he’d tendered his resignation from the shadow cabinet.

“After dinner with friends I believed I was under the legal limit to drive home,” he said.

“This was not the case.

“I was breath-tested and returned a positive reading.

“I have been fined under the Road Safety Act and my licence has been suspended for 12 months.

“I apologise to my constituents, my colleagues, my family and the people of Victoria who expect their elected representatives to uphold the highest standards of behaviour.”

Mr Smith has been a fierce critic of the Andrews Labor government’s handling of the pandemic, making him a polarising figure in Victoria.