Thursday, 8 February 2024
Bills
Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2023
Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2023
Council’s amendments
The DEPUTY SPEAKER (16:46): I have received a message from the Legislative Council agreeing to the Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2023 with amendments.
Ordered that amendments be taken into consideration immediately.
Message from Council relating to following amendments considered:
1. Clause 1, page 3, line 5, omit “unauthorised”.
2. Insert the following New Clause to follow clause 57 –
‘57A Other authorised access to, use of or disclosure of police information
After section 231(1)(a) of the Victoria Police Act 2013 insert –
“(ab) the disclosure to the IBAC of police information that relates to the conduct of a member of Victoria Police personnel or a systemic issue within Victoria Police;”.’.
That the amendments be agreed to.
The Allan Labor government has a proud record of listening to victims, survivors and advocates, and the house amendments moved by Minister Erdogan in the other place are a clear example of that record. The Victorian community rightly holds Victoria Police to the highest standards of integrity. We know that the vast majority of Victoria Police members uphold these standards, and we thank them for their work. But there are rare circumstances and situations where police engage in acts of misconduct, and we must ensure there is no doubt that any misconduct disclosure is lawful and appropriately protected. These amendments will provide the necessary clarity to the existing legislative protections for all Victoria Police employees. I commend the amendments to the house.
I can say in my engagement with constituents and people who consider themselves in the past to have been victims of misconduct, some of those who have also been employees or members of Victoria Police, they have taken me through examples of where they perhaps feel they have not been treated justly or have not had confidence that they have been dealt with in a way that takes a quarantining and a careful engagement of looking out and protecting victim-survivors and their advocates. I have had many discussions which have brought a lot of this work together in the Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2023, particularly how these amendments listed here further affirm and give confidence to victim-survivors that the government has heard their concerns.
We are very confident that in broad terms the legislation that has been before both the other place and our house goes a long way to addressing the concerns that have been raised previously, but these further house amendments give some, I hope, further clarity around the work of IBAC and whistleblower protections and the like. I take the view that everything that we have sought to do in relation to this legislation has been to pick up on the concerns of victim-survivors, particularly those and their advocates who either are members of or have family members in Victoria Police or who feel an engagement they have had with Victoria Police has been hurtful or harmful, and where that is the case they need to have greater confidence that the integrity measures that are in place protect them and allow an opportunity to call out misconduct and bad behaviour and that those disclosures are lawful and appropriately protected. If we do not have that in place, we risk matters of misconduct not coming to light and we risk victim-survivors and advocates being further diminished or further damaged instead of bringing matters to account. This is not just to hold Victoria Police to account where we need to but also to make sure that we are looking out for those victim-survivors and advocates so that they feel they can make their matters known in a protected way but also in a respected way. I am confident and the government is confident that these house amendments provide that opportunity and give further affirmation to the broad context of the legislation that is before the house.
In commending the amendments to the house I say again that these amendments add to the more significant work that substantiates the broad piece of work that this legislation brings to the house but also at the core of it is about providing support to victim-survivors and advocates who have raised concerns in the past, and we want to give them the confidence they can continue to do that in the future. We know that everyone at Victoria Police, in the hard work that they do, need to be held to the highest standards. They do not shy away from that. This legislation also has the support of Victoria Police and of course the Police Association Victoria, and I think that gives confidence to victim-survivors and their advocates. That is a further good reason why we should give every support to these amendments, and I commend them to the house.
Michael O’BRIEN (Malvern) (16:52): I am pleased to rise to support the amendments that were made in the other place to the Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2023. I am pleased to hear the Minister for Police encouraging and supporting this increased ability to provide information to IBAC. I know the minister is a big fan of IBAC. He has made that clear in the past. It is great to see the police minister getting behind IBAC to give them more access to information to root out corruption.
This is a very serious matter because police rightly have a great deal of power under the law in this state, but with power comes responsibility. With power must come accountability, and when police power is misused, when it is abused, where we see serious misconduct and where we see systemic misconduct and corruption it must be exposed. It is understandable that the brave men and women of Victoria Police do regard themselves as a family. It is often hard to speak up against the family, but there are times where that is necessary. Where people see the wrong thing happening or where people in the force see serious misconduct or corruption, they do have a need to speak up and an obligation to speak up, and it is appropriate that those people be protected by the law.
We have seen instances in the past where police information has not been disclosed properly. One that comes to mind is the photographs of Dani Laidley being interviewed. That was an appalling breach of Dani Laidley’s personal privacy, and that information should never have been put out in the public domain. I commend Victoria Police for taking that issue seriously. But I have also seen instances where Victoria Police have pursued members, allegedly, for releasing protected information and have chased people, hounded them out of the job, hounded them through court and failed in the end.
I think particularly of Sergeant Michael Lamb, who I think was treated appallingly by Victoria Police – pursuing him through the courts, and no charge was ever proven. But it would have stopped Victoria Police from hounding him out of the job and chasing him through the courts, despite the fact that that all failed in the end. What this says is that there is a need for clarity around the circumstances in which police officers are able to disclose protected information. I cannot think of anything more important than a police officer who witnesses serious misconduct, who witnesses corruption, being able to know that they can bring that information to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission without having the weight of the world brought down on them in the circumstances. This amendment, which provides for the disclosure to IBAC of police information that relates to the conduct of a member of Victoria Police personnel or a systemic issue within Victoria Police where that information in that category is authorised, I believe is very important.
We want to send a message to Victoria Police that we greatly respect the work they do. It is why we provide them with resources. It is why we provide them with significant powers. But we also want to say to those men and women of Victoria Police: if you see something, say something – speak up. You have the right to bring information to IBAC, and you will be protected if you do so. For those reasons the Liberals and Nationals support the house amendment that was made in the other place, and we wish the bill a speedy passage.
Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (16:56): I would like to put on record that the Greens will be supporting these amendments. We are happy to see these amendments pass and come before this place. They are amendments that were proposed by the Greens in the Legislative Council and then adopted as house amendments, so I would also like to thank the government for their cooperation in passing these Greens amendments. A number of current and former police employees had suggested these amendments, alongside us, to provide clarity and certainty for police employees wishing to make a lawful disclosure to IBAC. So if a police employee wants to be a whistleblower because they have seen something happen that is not right, they want to make sure that they would have the confidence that their disclosures would be protected before they make that disclosure. It takes a lot of courage to be a whistleblower, particularly for those that are within institutions of power like the police. It is important that we ensure police officers and employees know that they will not breach their police duties by disclosing to IBAC at the time of disclosure and that we make sure that they know that they can be protected if they are coming forward with information about improper conduct that needs to come before IBAC. The amendments will promote more transparency and accountability by helping current police raise concerns about culture or systemic issues inside the police, such as racism or practices having potential adverse impacts on particularly vulnerable groups, which may or may not be protected disclosure. I commend these amendments and appreciate the government’s cooperation in supporting these Greens amendments.
Motion agreed to.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: A message will now be sent to the Legislative Council informing them of the house’s decision.