Tuesday, 18 June 2024
Business of the house
Program
Program
That, under standing order 94(2), the orders of the day, government business, relating to the following bills be considered and completed by 5 pm on 20 June 2024:
Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Bill 2024
Justice Legislation Amendment (Integrity, Defamation and Other Matters) Bill 2024.
It is a privilege again to stand in this place on what is of course the last week before a much-anticipated winter break. Before I talk to the government business program for this final week I take the opportunity on my feet to acknowledge those that got up to speak on the condolence motion for the Honourable Lou Lieberman MP. Lou Lieberman was a member of Parliament for it felt like forever when I was a young person growing up in Wodonga, coming from a Labor family of course. I did share the member for Benambra’s glee in the fact that he did knock off a Nat, but on this side of the place we also anticipate the impending retirement of the member for Benambra, and we will see what may well happen up there. But Lou Lieberman was a man who was well respected and highly regarded by everyone in that community of Benambra, including Labor-voting people such as my parents and grandparents.
We are of course debating a very important bill today, the Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Bill 2024. We are proud to be introducing this landmark legislation. The Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Bill 2024 implements a key commitment of the Labor government in its response to IBAC and the Victorian Ombudsman’s Operation Watts special report. The government supported all 21 recommendations and made three additional commitments to addressing parliamentary workplace standards. I am not going to detail the bill here because that would not be appropriate, except to say that the process for the development of the bill, I think it is agreed across the chamber, has been a good one. There has been a lot of consultation, including with the opposition. It is an important bill to get right, and I know that a lot of work has gone into ensuring that we, through this bill, meet the expectations of the Victorian community in terms of the standards of behaviour that are set by this house that we all agree to abide by and, importantly, that we ensure protections are in place for our staff in relation to the behaviours of those of us that hold power in this place. That, I am sure, will be an interesting debate.
We will also be debating the Justice Legislation Amendment (Integrity, Defamation and Other Matters) Bill 2024. Our government is enormously proud of our ongoing commitment to delivering a strong community and women’s safety agenda, and we are the leading state in the nation when it comes to the prevention of family violence and the focus on women’s safety. I think everyone is well aware that we have implemented all 227 recommendations from the royal commission, and I mention all of that because of course the bill that is to be debated includes two reforms targeting women’s safety – complete defence from defamation over reports made to police and extending digitally recorded evidence in family violence – and the bill seeks to make a number of other amendments.
Finally, there is ample time for everyone in this place to get up on their feet and talk about the way in which the Allan Labor government budget 2024–25 is delivering for the people of Victoria and in fact delivering an $8.8 billion investment into hospitals – a record investment – as part of a $13 billion overarching investment into our healthcare system. Again, the budget take-note motion is one that those on the other side make a lot of noise about, whether they will have an opportunity to speak on the budget or not. Well, that opportunity is now, so we look forward to you all getting up in this place and delivering on that budget and being cognisant of course of the many benefits it delivers to the people of Victoria.
James NEWBURY (Brighton) (13:52): I will start on a positive note by just letting members know that this is an important week. Around the building there has been an important show of bipartisanship in relation to Footy for Climate being in the building. The Minister for Environment and I as shadow have brought in Footy for Climate, an important organisation which is part of the AFL, to talk about climate. It is a bipartisan event. I want to give a shout-out to Tom Campbell from Footy for Climate and Stephanie McKew from Environmental Leadership Australia, and also the CEO of the AFL Andrew Dillon will be here tomorrow evening for an event, which will be fantastic. Members will be able to hold both the women’s and men’s premiership cups and have photos with a number of significant footy players if they are interested.
I thought I would start on that positive note before saying the coalition will not be supporting the government on the government business program, and I can hear the shock from their side. The government and I had a discussion about providing an opportunity for the Shadow Attorney-General to debate one of the bills in consideration in detail, the Justice Legislation Amendment (Integrity, Defamation and Other Matters) Bill 2024. It did not surprise me to hear that the government did not feel that the ministers were capable of debating him and giving him that opportunity, so no time has been provided. He is an outstanding Shadow Attorney who will make a fantastic Attorney, so I can understand why the government was fearful of allowing him that opportunity. On that basis, and on the basis that we have not had the opportunity to properly scrutinise many bills in that way – once this term with one particular bill, and one of the Nats often says to me that in their time they have only seen it happen twice in this place – it would be good if the government felt that their ministers were able to take bills into consideration, which unfortunately they cannot. In the last sitting week the government on the Thursday thought they would pull a little stunt and bring on a motion, which did end up quite lame in terms of their attempt to play politics and waste the Parliament’s time, and I hope that this week we do not see any stunts from the government on motions.
I would note the Leader of the House spoke about the budget bills and the take-note motion on the budget. I can assure the Leader of the House that our members want to speak on these issues, and I would say that when the take-note motion was moved the government took the unprecedented step of stopping anyone who had spoken on the original bills from speaking on the take-note motion. So I would say to the government: you would have our support entirely in allowing every member who spoke on the original bills to speak again, because we all have so much to say. I put that ball in the government’s court and ask them to consider revising that order so that anyone who did speak on the budget bills can speak a second time on the take-note motion, because historically that is what has always happened. We all assumed that would be the case, and unfortunately that has not been the case.
So I just reiterate for the Leader of the House and the Premier that if the government was serious about providing every member the opportunity, they would amend that motion, which prohibits us – people like me – from speaking a second time. I would love to speak about the budget a second time, but unfortunately I am gagged from doing so, and I know that many members –
Members interjecting.
James NEWBURY: That is right – gagged government members. The government members agree with me. It is a gag, I know, and I know I have been speaking up on the government members’ behalf to find all of you more time to speak on the budget, because the Leader of the House was not going to provide it. So I am very glad that government members have thanked me for providing them more time this week to speak on the budget. I put that ball in their court to provide all of us an opportunity – some of us a second time – to speak on it, but because of those reasons, we will not be supporting the government business program. They should have allowed the Shadow Attorney-General an opportunity to take it into consideration.
Ella GEORGE (Lara) (13:57): It is a pleasure to rise today to speak on the government business program, and what a business program it is. It was refreshing to hear the member for Brighton start on a positive note, and I for one hope we see that positivity continue throughout the week.
Of course we have heard this morning from many members in this place tributes to Lou Lieberman MP, former member for Benambra, and I too wish to share my condolences with his family. I never had the opportunity to meet him, but it was incredibly moving to hear the many tributes this morning from the Premier, the Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the Nationals and of course the member for Benambra. It is certain that he has had a remarkable impact on this state and on his community, and I offer my condolences to the family of Lou Lieberman MP.
We have a number of pieces of legislation on the government business program this week. Later today I believe we will be commencing debate on the Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Bill 2024, an important piece of legislation, and I note that the manager of government business in the house noted that this was an integral election commitment that the Allan Labor government made. This is a great piece of legislation that looks to modernise our Parliament and our workplace, because we know that every worker deserves to feel safe and protected in their workplace, and this legislation will do everything to strengthen our workplace and ensure that every person is protected. As I said, it is a commitment of this Labor government, and we follow through on our commitments.
Later during the week will also be debating the Justice Legislation Amendment (Integrity, Defamation and Other Matters) Bill 2024, again delivering important reforms that will support the effective operation of Victoria’s justice system and integrity systems. Having previously worked in the criminal justice system prior to become a member in this place, having worked in magistrates’ courts, I understand the importance of effective justice systems, and part of that is being able to appropriately share data, insights and learnings across courts and other elements of the justice system. This legislation will enable exactly that, with greater data sharing between courts and Victoria’s chief statistician – incredibly important work to be doing.
We will also be returning to the take-note motion on the budget papers. I for one do not feel gagged about my opportunity to have my say about the state budget this year and the incredible outcomes for my community of Lara. I have got 15 minutes to speak on the budget take-note motion, and I will be using every single minute.
Business interrupted under sessional orders.