Thursday, 4 May 2023

Ministerial responsibilities

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): My question is to the Deputy Premier. Why was there a need for the government to keep the Deputy Premier’s precincts and land coordination portfolio secret, even to the extent that it was described by an anonymous cabinet colleague as a Morrisonesque move?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Eureka can leave the chamber for 1 hour.

Member for Eureka withdrew from chamber.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery) (14:09): In answering the Leader of the Opposition’s question I am going to reject outright the allegation that there has been some secret kept on this matter. I am going to ask the Leader of the Opposition to allow me to explain why his question is just flat out wrong. I appreciate the Leader of the Opposition has been a bit distracted in the lead-up to question time today. He was very focused on 2 o’clock today for reasons other than question time – very different reasons.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for South Barwon can leave the chamber for 1 hour.

Member for South Barwon withdrew from chamber.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on standing order 58 on relevance, Victorians deserve to know why the Deputy Premier kept the portfolio secret. It is an important question and the Deputy Premier should answer that important question.

The SPEAKER: A point of order is not an opportunity to repeat the question, Manager of Opposition Business. The Deputy Premier had strayed somewhat from the answer, and I do ask her to come back to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: In providing information to the house about this coordination role, as the Minister for Planning has outlined, there is important policy work to be done across transport, across planning, across housing, across local government, across regional development, across suburban development. Indeed there is a lot of deep work that needs to be done to support more Victorians to be able to have access to an affordable house. That is exactly the coordination work through machinery-of-government changes that was publicised to the entire public service. Fifty thousand Victorians who work in the public service received an email about these changes when the machinery-of-government changes came into effect on 1 January.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Sandringham can leave the chamber for 1 hour.

Member for Sandringham withdrew from chamber.

Jacinta ALLAN: Such a secret was kept that we created the new Department of Transport and Planning, such a secret entire department, which I am proud to work in with the roads minister, the public transport minister, the planning minister and our parliamentary secretary – who was obviously naughty yesterday and is not in the chamber – for transport. We work together collectively on these really important issues around land use, planning and how we can support more Victorians to have a home. The reason why we need to do this is because as of a couple of weeks ago, whether you count Melton in or out or not – we count Melton very much as in – Melbourne is now bigger than Sydney. By the late 2050s Melbourne will be a city of 9 million people. We need to take action now to make sure that there are more houses for people to live in. We are building the transport connections people rely on, not scrapping the Suburban Rail Loop like those opposite took to the last election, and making sure that the work is done in a coordinated way.

We know the Leader of the Opposition is worried about terrorists in his own team; that is what he is focused on. We are not focused on titles, we are focused on doing the hard work, the policy work, the coordination work that Victorians expect from the government, particularly on the issues of housing and planning.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Gippsland South can leave the chamber for 1 hour.

Member for Gippsland South withdrew from chamber.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:13): Is the purpose of this secret portfolio to compulsorily acquire homes and forcibly take away the rights of local residents for development centred around transport infrastructure projects?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery) (14:14): The answer to that question is just a flat out no. Those opposite, because they did not do anything with the precious gift they had during their four years in government, clearly have no idea – no idea – about the very clear requirements that go around land acquisition, that go around planning, that go around delivery –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Deputy Premier knows not to debate the question. This was an important question about a portfolio that was kept secret from the Victorian people.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Premier was being relevant to the supplementary question. I ask the Deputy Premier to come back to answering the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: That is why – as the Minister for Planning has already identified to the house and as I did to the substantive question that was asked – we will continue to work on this significant priority area of reform for government. I think that is what Victorians expect of us: to work together on priority areas that are important to them and that they see their government working collectively to do this hard work. You might be more interested in the bickering on your team; we are more interested in getting the work done.

The SPEAKER: Order! Can I remind members not to use the word ‘you’ – it is reflecting on the Chair.