Wednesday, 30 October 2024

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Government performance

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:02): My question is to the Premier. According to IBAC’s recent perceptions-of-corruption survey, 30 per cent of Victorian public servants agree that corruption is a problem in the Victorian government, double the figure of 2016. Why does the Premier preside over an increasingly corrupt government?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:03): I resoundingly reject the claim – the false, baseless, untrustworthy claim – that has been put forward by an untrustworthy, disgraced Leader of the Opposition. And it is not just me who says this about the Leader of the Opposition.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker: relevance.

The SPEAKER: The Premier rejected the claim at the outset. I cannot tell the Premier how to answer the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: Indeed I am answering the question directly. The question was put to me, and I am absolutely entitled to reject the false, baseless, untrustworthy claims made by a fraudster, an untrustworthy Leader of the Opposition. Again, it is not me who says this.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: I do not stand on my feet for no reason. I ask members to come to order.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier’s nasty imputations are a breach of standing order 118.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, there is no point of order, and quite frankly we are all sick of the sexist tropes from the member for Brighton when it comes to his references to the Premier.

The SPEAKER: If there are offensive words made in the chamber directed at a member, that member can ask for a withdrawal. A withdrawal has not been requested.

James Newbury: Speaker, I raised standing order 118, and that has not been dealt with.

The SPEAKER: I ask the Premier to be very careful about imputations on members of Parliament.

Jacinta ALLAN: I would just remind the house that it is not this side of government that has been in court testifying against the Leader of the Opposition. His own colleagues find the Leader of the Opposition deeply untrustworthy.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Nepean is warned. The member for Eureka is warned.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier can come back to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I was asked about the public service. Over the 25 years I have worked with Victorian public servants, I have found those public servants to be overwhelmingly of good character – good people who deliver good services for our community. I will not have –

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the Premier is addressing a question I did not ask. This is about what public servants think of her corrupt government.

Jacinta ALLAN: On the point of order, Speaker, I was asked about the Victorian public service. I will not have the Leader of the Opposition trash the Victorian public service, who deliver good services for our community.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! This is not a very good start to question time. Members will be removed without warning. The Premier was being relevant.

Jacinta ALLAN: I say this in the context of being proud to have worked with many public servants. There was a time when a Premier sacked the Auditor-General because he did not like the advice that that Auditor-General was giving to his government of the day – the same former Premier who is bankrolling the Leader of the Opposition’s court case.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the House is warned, and I was not going to warn members.

Peter Walsh: On a point of order, Speaker, on the issue of relevance, I ask you to bring the Premier back to answering the question around the perceptions of corruption by IBAC in this state and ask the Premier not to criticise an independent body of the Parliament like she is.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, the Premier was very clear at the outset that she rejects the premise of the question. It is hard for anyone in this place to hear the Premier’s answer because of the constant interruptions from those on the other side of the house.

The SPEAKER: I ask the Premier to come back to the question. The Premier was being relevant to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: As the Speaker has indicated, I was being relevant to the question, because I rejected at the outset the premise of the question and I am telling the Leader of the Opposition why. As I said, I am proud to work with a strong public service, unlike some who, when they were perhaps the Deputy Premier, interfered with the office of the Chief Commissioner of Police that resulted in an Ombudsman’s investigation into the former Minister for Water. We all remember the office of living it up, the bottles of Perrier in the office of living it up.

Members interjecting.

Jacinta ALLAN: You think it is a joke.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, for the fourth time I ask you to draw the Premier back to the question.

The SPEAKER: I think the Premier answered the question at the outset.

Jacinta ALLAN: There is plenty more evidence. The former Minister for Planning – well, wasn’t that a saga that goes on and on and on?

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier can answer the question as she chooses. She answered the question at the outset.

Jacinta ALLAN: These may be inconvenient truths and facts.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, you do have the power to direct the Premier not to attack the opposition. The Premier is desperately trying to deflect, but can the Premier be drawn back to the question?

Jacinta ALLAN: On the point of order, Speaker, to be clear, I was asked a question about perceptions of integrity in government. I was providing the Leader of the Opposition with examples of a failure of integrity from his former Liberal–National colleagues when they were in government.

James Newbury: Further to the point of order, Speaker, page 155, Rulings from the Chair, rulings from Speakers Coghill, Delzoppo, Maddigan and Brooks all found that attacks on the opposition are inappropriate.

Ben Carroll: On the point of order, Speaker, again Rulings from the Chair, page 155, ‘Discussion of former government permitted’:

… it is permissible to talk about something that the former government did.

Speaker Smith.

The SPEAKER: On the point of order, the Premier was not attacking the current opposition. The Premier answered the question at the outset, and the Premier can answer as the Premier wishes now.

Jacinta ALLAN: I reiterate that I am proud to work with a strong public sector where we do not sack independent officers because we do not agree with them. We do not do dodgy planning decisions to feather our own nests. We certainly –

Members interjecting.

Jacinta ALLAN: And I think the behaviour of the opposition leader speaks for itself and his own personal integrity.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:13): The Premier once said that it is critical that all Victorians:

… have confidence that public officials … conduct themselves, and use public funds, with the highest degree of integrity and accountability.

Since then the Premier has (1) enabled CFMEU misconduct on taxpayer-funded worksites, (2) repeatedly failed to appear in front of parliamentary committees and (3) presided over an increasingly corrupt government. How can any Victorian believe that the Premier has the highest degree of integrity and accountability?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:14): Again I resoundingly reject the baseless, false allegation put by a baseless fraudster of a Leader of the Opposition. This is baseless at its worst, and as we are seeing, these baseless claims once again demonstrate that you cannot trust a single thing that the Leader of the Opposition says. You cannot trust a single thing the Leader of the Opposition says. And it is not me who makes these claims. The member for Rowville had a bit to say about being double-crossed by the Leader of the Opposition.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, this question went to the Premier’s own comments.

The SPEAKER: The Premier answered the question at the outset.

Jacinta ALLAN: There have been a lot of comments made about the complete lack of trustworthiness and integrity of the Leader of the Opposition by his own colleagues. I reiterate: I am proud to work with a strong public service here in Victoria.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the member is debating the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier answered the question at the outset. The Premier has concluded her answer.