Tuesday, 15 October 2024

Business of the house

Program

Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Ambulance Services) (12:12): It has been a very busy September break for many members of this side of the house. Of course we have been out in our communities, working hard to represent the people of Victoria.

The SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the House, you need to move the government business program.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: I move:

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 17 October 2024:

Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Pill Testing) Bill 2024

Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment Bill 2024

Building Legislation Amendment and Other Matters Bill 2024.

I am so excited to get up and talk about the hard work of members on this side of the house over the last few weeks out and about in our communities, representing their needs, listening to the concerns of ordinary Victorians and making sure that we represent those concerns back here in this place. That would be in stark contrast to what a lot of those on the other side have been doing and the way in which they have spent at least the last three or four weeks.

However, I did want to talk in particular about the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Pill Testing) Bill 2024. On this side of the house we are very, very proud to take a health-led response, a harm minimisation response, when it comes to addressing the impacts of drug use in our community. I would say this: I doubt that there is a person in this place who does not know someone who has been affected by drugs in their life and the impact that has had on their families, and I am talking about all of the drugs, including the most prevalent: alcohol. We know that drug abuse is real and we know that harm caused by drugs is real, and we need to take a health-led approach to this because these are peoples’ lives at stake.

We need to do all we can to support people in addressing the challenges that they may face in relation to the abuse of drugs, and this bill is an important part of our government’s commitment to that harm minimisation and health-led approach. It is so important that this pill-testing bill gets through this Parliament this week, because we know that festival season is almost upon us and we want to ensure that we deliver on the commitment that we made to the people of Victoria – a very well-received commitment, I might add – to a drug-checking trial as well as a raft of harm minimisation steps. This includes introducing 24/7 access to naloxone dispensing machines, a crucial aspect of the government’s harm reduction strategy when it comes to opioid dependency. Our government has committed to providing naloxone dispensing machines across Victoria. This is a really, really important bill, and it is one that only a Labor government would have the courage to introduce, because we are not afraid to stand up for what is important. We are not afraid to stand up to those that want to put their heads in the sand and pretend that drug harms are not happening in our communities. Everyone on this side is very keen to contribute, because this is life-changing and life-saving.

We will also be debating the Building Legislation Amendment and Other Matters Bill 2024. Our government is developing a suite of reforms to Victoria’s building system to ensure that Victorians can build, renovate or buy a home with the confidence that they will get what they pay for: an affordable, safe and comfortable home.

A bit of a theme, I must say, in the bills today is that they build towards delivering on the government’s Gas Substitution Roadmap. The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment Bill ‍2024 is part of our government’s commitment to continuing on the energy transition pathway. We know, and we have been very clear, despite what those on the other side might say, that gas will play a part in this, so it is important that in the context of declining gas supply the government provides a legislative framework to allow for offshore storage.

Finally, we very much look forward to the SEC amendments returning from the Council, because it of course was an election commitment that our government made that it would bring back the SEC. I can tell you, we all remember out there in November 2022 how popular this was with the people of Victoria, many of whom remember the SEC of old. They remember the great jobs that it created and the opportunities for so many young Victorians, and of course they also remember the privatisation agenda of the Kennett government. Some people say Jeff Kennett keeps making his presence felt in this state. This is a great government business program, and I commend it to the house.

James NEWBURY (Brighton) (12:18): The coalition will be opposing the government business program. We are deeply concerned. A number of times over this term the coalition has sought to take bills into consideration in detail. We made a request to the government on its pill-testing bill and the government provided 15 minutes when it would take questions on that bill – 15 minutes. Can you believe it? It is little wonder that the coalition sought to take this bill into consideration in detail. What is even more concerning is that not only did we have only 15 minutes to put a raft of questions but the government took those questions on notice, and despite that bill being debated today, in fact shortly, guess what, how many of those questions have been answered? Zero. The government has failed to deliver the promised answers on any of those questions before the bill is debated. Shame on the government. Those are genuine questions from the community, and it is not unreasonable.

In fact it is a longstanding tradition not only of this place but of parliaments that a bill briefing is provided. I raised my concerns with you, Speaker, about the tradition, the strong tradition of this place, that a bill briefing is provided and that post that briefing outstanding questions – genuine questions – that have been put by the community are answered in a timely and reasonable way. Yet this bill is about to be debated and we have seen nothing. That is very, very concerning. I am sure, Speaker, you would share my concerns that that is still left outstanding. And 15 minutes – you can imagine how little opportunity there is to put genuine questions. I mean, the government just got up and spoke about this bill and a health-led response and the fact that they are further legalising drugs effectively, but there are genuine questions that were raised in that process and I know a number of members on our side of the chamber have questions that are still left outstanding.

The coalition will be opposing the government business program, because you cannot run a Parliament this way. It is shameful, just as shameful as it was for the government to deny leave on the anniversary of 7 October. How shameful. Even the federal government managed to provide leave.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Speaker, the government business program is a narrow debate. I ask that you bring the Manager of Opposition Business back to the government business program.

The SPEAKER: Member for Brighton, I will allow in passing other matters that have happened before the government business program, but I do ask you to speak to the government business program.

James NEWBURY: I would have thought that the government business program would afford time to deal with important matters, as did the federal Parliament. That was not provided here. This week I will note for the first time the government business program notification did not include an opportunity for any members to speak on the budget. That was not noted, as has been the case in recent weeks. It should be recorded that the Council has now provided every member an opportunity to speak on the budget. As of this week there are no members in the Council that have not been provided that opportunity. In our place the government business program has not provided an opportunity for roughly a third of this chamber to speak on this budget, and we understand why of course. The fact that a third of the members of this place have not been afforded an opportunity to speak on the budget bills speaks to what the government actually think of their own budget, because the government members are not being provided an opportunity and the coalition members are not being provided an opportunity, and again I note that Council members have all been provided an opportunity to do so.

The coalition will be opposing the government’s business program for their shameful behaviour when it comes to bill briefings, trying to ram through a bill without providing proper detail and scrutiny, and we would call for much better management of the process.

Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (12:23): It is always the greatest pleasure to follow the member for Brighton, and I will pick up just where he left off. When we are talking about shameful behaviour I do not know about us on this side of the house, but surely there has been some shameful behaviour by those opposite over the past couple of weeks. I fear I digress, and I will come back to the government business program, but before I do I just want to make a quick, small note, if you will indulge me. I am very pleased to be able to welcome back one of our favourite members, a very, very hardworking member, the member for Mulgrave. It is wonderful to see you here, member for Mulgrave, and we have missed you. It is wonderful to have you sitting here.

It is great to be back here on my feet in Parliament after having that very short break. I know that on this side of the house we have been getting on and doing what we have been voted in time and time again to do, and that is to get on and do the job and deliver for all Victorians. We have been hitting the pavement hard out there, listening to what Victorians have to say, what is important to them and what they want to see us doing more of, and I have to say that the conversations on the streets have translated to the bills that have come before this house today, this week, that form part of the government business program. There is no shame in that, member for Brighton. There is no shame in listening to your community and bringing back their ideas and what they want to see going forward in this state, bringing them to this place and turning them into legislation.

We have got three bills before the house this week which will deliver on commitments that we made to the Victorian community. We have got the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Pill Testing) Bill 2024. I do have to say I am someone that strongly, strongly believes that people should not be taking drugs. That is a message that I talk even now to my children about – an 11-year-old and a newly minted 14-year-old as of Sunday.

James Newbury interjected.

Sarah CONNOLLY: Member for Brighton, these are the words that are coming from people ‍–

The SPEAKER: Through the Chair, member for Laverton.

Sarah CONNOLLY: Through you, Speaker, these are the words that people are saying on the street. They do not want people to take drugs, but what we do know is that we have young people at festivals that have taken drugs and they have died. The deaths of these young people, every single one of them, were preventable. They made bad decisions during what they thought would be one of the funnest, greatest times in their lives, and I know, as I stand here and I welcome speaking on this bill, that this will save lives. God forbid that one of my children makes that split-second decision to take a pill at a concert like that and they die from it and their death could have been prevented if they had had that pill tested. That gives these kids the option. Do any of us here in this place believe in taking drugs? We do not.

Members interjecting.

Sarah CONNOLLY: I am not speaking for the Greens party, who very rarely spend a waking second here in this chamber. They only work four days a week; you would think that Tuesdays would be one of their days off. But the reality is that parents are worried about their kids, and kids make stupid decisions – dumb decisions, split-second decisions. I am raising an 11-year-old and a 14-year-old. They have very little understanding of the consequences of these things, and the consequences can be absolutely horrific. Any parent that we can prevent losing a child through their making a dumb decision at a festival or concert – which I know on this side of the house, and I am sure that side of the house, people went to many times as children, many times as young people – this bill is about them.

This is about bringing it forward and having an adult, mature conversation about introducing something that is a trial that could potentially save lives and save lives this coming summer, because what we do know is that with Victoria’s fabulous music industry we have many, many festivals coming up and we do not want to see the tragedies that we have seen in the past, including the past summer. People do not need to die at these festivals, and that is what this bill is about. It is a sensible, realistic, mature conversation, and if those opposite would wake up to themselves and think about someone else besides themselves or besides who is going to be sitting in that chair as Leader of the Opposition –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker: relevance.

The SPEAKER: I ask the member for Laverton to come back to the government business program.

Sarah CONNOLLY: I look forward to speaking on these bills as part of the government business program this week.

Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (12:28): Obviously we on this side of the house are in full support of the member for Brighton in opposing the government business program this week. There has been much discussion around the pill-testing bill. This is one about which there has been a lot of passion, and there is a lot of thought and evidence being discussed on this side of the house around what it will lead to and harm minimisation. The bill briefing was conducted at 4 pm on Thursday – the earliest time we could possibly get a bill briefing. Many, many questions were asked during that briefing that still have not been answered. Honestly, how are we supposed to have robust debate on a topic that is so important? As the stepmother of two teenagers, and as a festivalgoer myself in my youth, I understand – never having taken drugs, because I was too scared of the implications from my parents and from the police and all those kinds of things.

I understand full well the practical implications on the ground of such things as in those circumstances and how to actually have real effect on harm minimisation in this space, but I was part of a bill briefing at 4 pm on Thursday for a bill to be debated in the house on the next sitting day, with questions outstanding. We also sought to have this bill taken into consideration in detail and were denied that opportunity. However, the WorkSafe bill was allowed to be taken into consideration in detail. So why on earth with a bill such as this, which is essentially life and death at the end of the day, would we not enable consideration in detail in something so important as this? Then, when we oppose the government business program this week, we get moans from the other side of the house like we are being difficult. No, we are actually here to do our job and debate this in detail.

There is the Building Legislation Amendment and Other Matters Bill 2024 as well. I was part of that bill briefing, and might I say, while I am going on this one, through the member for Narracan, again, because of his practical knowledge in this space with regard to building, with regard to plumbing and with regard to renovations and the practical implications on the ground, it was uncovered that there could be actually crimes committed should this bill pass. For the most part, while going through this omnibus bill, there are a lot of decent things in there, but in there by stealth is a gas ban which could have owner-builders, owners and the plumbers doing those upgrades committing a crime because of how this legislation is written.

Martin Cameron interjected.

Jade BENHAM: Poor old plumbers. The member for Morwell also understands the practical implications of bills like this and what would happen on the ground if you were going to upgrade a gas pipe from 20 mil to 30 mil should you need it because the gas stove or gas cooktop that you were using is not made anymore. Of course those taking those bill briefings had no idea what the member for Narracan and member for Morwell were talking about, but these are the implications. This is why taking these bills into consideration in detail is so vitally important, so that we can understand what happens when bills pass through this place and the government forgets all about them and they go on and then all of a sudden we have people unknowingly committing crimes on the ground. It is just ridiculous. So of course we are going to oppose the government business program. The government has left us no choice but to do so. We have to speak up; that is our job.

Of course we have the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment Bill 2024. He is not here at the moment, but the member for Gippsland East is very keen to speak about anything regarding offshore petroleum and things like that. Honestly, the pill-testing bill and the Building Legislation Amendment and Other Matters Bill are things that we absolutely should be spending time on, and, you know what, if we have to sit here until all hours of the night getting things right, then that is our job, and we owe it to the people of Victoria.

Ella GEORGE (Lara) (12:33): It is a pleasure to rise today to support the Allan Labor government’s government business program this week. It is great to be back in this place following the September break, and it is even better to be welcoming back the member for Mulgrave. It is so wonderful to see you sitting over there in your seat. Welcome back. It is wonderful to have you.

It has been a very busy break from the house for those of us on this side of the house, as my colleagues have mentioned. I have been speaking with my colleagues and hearing how they have been busy visiting local schools, sporting clubs, community groups and businesses. Like me, they have been using this time in their electorates to advocate and fight for their local communities. This is in stark contrast to those opposite, who have been busy fighting amongst themselves in their party room and advocating for themselves in the courtroom. Today’s government business program is another jam-packed program. It is disappointing to see that the opposition is not supporting the government business program. I am impressed, however, that they have come together in unity, completely undivided in opposing the government business program this week.

As the Leader of the House said in her contribution, we are getting on with the legislation that is important to Victorians and delivering on our commitments. This week we are debating the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Pill Testing) Bill 2024, an incredibly important bill. As the Leader of the House said in her contribution, this is all about our government’s harm minimisation approach. This important piece of legislation establishes the legal framework for Victoria’s trial pill-testing service. Once passed, the bill will give the express legal authority for both mobile and fixed-site services to operate in Victoria and support the government’s commitment to introducing secure naloxone vending machines in key areas of need. This is incredibly important legislation as we are heading into the festival season. This bill will save lives, and I am so proud to be a member of a government committed to harm minimisation and saving lives of Victorians.

This week we are also debating the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment Bill ‍2024. This bill makes key amendments to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2010 to clarify that offshore underground gas storage is permitted in Victoria. This means that gas can be stored offshore and then injected into the system during periods of high demand. This is exactly what Victoria has been doing for many years onshore. This bill will establish a consistent regulatory regime to make sure offshore gas storage is done safely and effectively. It is something that is so important as we move, in Victoria, away from our reliance on gas and fossil fuels and towards clean, green renewable energy.

Of course, rounding out the week, we have the Building Legislation Amendment and Other Matters Bill 2024. This, importantly, will enable the implementation of key components of the Gas Substitution Roadmap, a landmark piece of work in Victoria which maps out how our state will move away from gas and coal-fired fuels, leading us into a future of clean, green renewable energy. It will make important clarifications to the scope of building activities that may be required under a building order and protect consumers by ensuring they do not lose their right to bring legal proceedings in relation to building or plumbing work due to delays in their matters being transferred from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to a court.

It is a jam-packed week. These three bills are very diverse. They all have very different impacts on Victorians and very different impacts on our lives in Victoria, but to me what they all speak to is our commitment to building a better, fairer and stronger state in Victoria – a state that supports our future in terms of our transition away from gas and a state that supports reducing harm for our youngest Victorians who are getting out and about and enjoying festivals and makes sure that those Victorians are safe too. I look forward to making a further contribution over the course of the debate this week. I commend the government business program to the house.

Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (12:38): I also rise to oppose the government business program this week and support the Manager of Opposition Business and my colleagues in opposing this government business program. I do so because whilst Victoria burns, we have got a government here that has a program that mucks around with a few bits and pieces. We have got people without homes over their heads, we have got children on the streets that are running amok and we have got towns that are being held to ransom by people and the police have not got the rules to be able to assist the community with their own safety. Right out in South-West Coast, where we are normally pretty safe, we have got issues that we have not seen before. Instead of the government actually looking at the issues of crises – like the health system, the education system and the housing crisis that is going on – we have got a government business program that will not even allow the opposition to scrutinise and debate properly.

There are three pieces of legislation that the government has introduced for this week. I will start with the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Pill Testing) Bill 2024. Whilst there are elements of concern, clearly, that we want to address around drug and alcohol use in our community, we need to do this with a considered view. We need to do this with consideration of all the risks and the benefits, and the last thing we need is unintended consequences. That is the point of debating in this house and getting legislation right. It is incredibly disappointing that the government have forbidden the opposition the opportunity to actually go into consideration in detail on this bill and, clause by clause, analyse the implications of the bill.

From what I can read in the bill, there are some real gaps around the analysing of the drugs and being able to advise the person who is having the drugs analysed in a way that makes sure they understand the risks. That is actually not going to be able to take place. In the situation where a young person hands over a drug, they will not be told that the testing does not have the right sensitivity needed to be able to give them the safe parameters that they are looking for. In fact it will not be able to test for certain chemicals at all. Nitazenes – the new synthetic opioids – will not be tested for at all. The children who will be advised about these drugs will not even be told that they are waiving their rights for civil and legal liabilities. I am very concerned, as someone who has some knowledge of pharmacology, that these issues are not being discussed here in the Parliament so we can work out why these anomalies have not been addressed in the bill. It is, to me, a very dangerous piece of legislation.

If we were able to analyse it, there would be able to be improvements, and we do know that people want to see improvements in drugs and alcohol progressing in such a way that they do not do the harm that we are seeing throughout our communities, which is certainly leaving towns like Warrnambool and Portland in a real position at the moment with people on the street and people not getting the help they need. But, unfortunately, the government are not getting down to where they really made their promises around addressing the mental health issues in our community and are taking away the ability for the police to help people when they are intoxicated by managing them in the way they had. The move-on laws and the drunk-in-a-public-place laws – all those tools that the police had – have been removed and they cannot do the job they need to do. Instead here we are debating a ‘Let’s do something rather than do nothing’ approach when we need things like drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres funded. Another thing that Warrnambool and South-West Coast need more than ever before is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation residential centre. It has been called for by the community, and the government are ignoring the pleas of South-West Coast when everybody else has received one.

I have not even started on the two other bills: the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment Bill 2024 and the Building Legislation Amendment and Other Matters Bill 2024. Here is an opportunity for the government to make some decent changes to housing. We have got a housing crisis, and there is one role for the planning department, and that is to build houses. Yet what we are seeing is a housing crisis in Victoria and instead of moving some good legislation that the building legislation amendment bill has in it the government have wrapped up gas into this bill, taking away choice for people to be able to use gas to heat their homes. We all know that gas is a sensible transition into renewables, and every expert in the field has advised the government to address it.

Assembly divided on motion:

Ayes (48): Juliana Addison, Jacinta Allan, Colin Brooks, Josh Bull, Ben Carroll, Darren Cheeseman, Sarah Connolly, Chris Couzens, Lily D’Ambrosio, Daniela De Martino, Steve Dimopoulos, Paul Edbrooke, Eden Foster, Matt Fregon, Ella George, Luba Grigorovitch, Bronwyn Halfpenny, Katie Hall, Paul Hamer, Mathew Hilakari, Melissa Horne, Natalie Hutchins, Lauren Kathage, Sonya Kilkenny, Nathan Lambert, Gary Maas, Alison Marchant, Steve McGhie, Paul Mercurio, John Mullahy, Tim Pallas, Danny Pearson, Pauline Richards, Tim Richardson, Michaela Settle, Ros Spence, Nick Staikos, Meng Heang Tak, Jackson Taylor, Nina Taylor, Kat Theophanous, Mary-Anne Thomas, Emma Vulin, Iwan Walters, Vicki Ward, Dylan Wight, Gabrielle Williams, Belinda Wilson

Noes (24): Brad Battin, Jade Benham, Roma Britnell, Tim Bull, Martin Cameron, Chris Crewther, Wayne Farnham, Sam Groth, David Hodgett, Emma Kealy, Tim McCurdy, Cindy McLeish, James Newbury, Danny O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, John Pesutto, Richard Riordan, Brad Rowswell, David Southwick, Bill Tilley, Bridget Vallence, Peter Walsh, Kim Wells, Nicole Werner

Motion agreed to.