Parliamentary integrity
Dr RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (14:06): My question is to the Leader of the Government. When announcing, along with the Premier, the government’s response to IBAC’s report on Operation Watts, you suggested that by agreeing to implement IBAC’s recommendations the government was committing to the largest overhaul of the integrity system in the country. But the reality is that Victoria needs a significant overhaul because we lag so far behind other jurisdictions, like New South Wales and Queensland, which are well ahead of Victoria in integrity laws and regulations. For example, they have legislated enforceable codes of conduct for lobbyists and banned political donations from property developers and the gambling industry. Will the government now introduce strong lobbying laws, like New South Wales and Queensland, along with its other planned measures, or will Victoria remain a national laggard in this area too?
Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (14:07): I thank Dr Ratnam for her question and her reference to the IBAC report on Operation Watts, which was tabled a couple weeks ago, and the commitment from the Victorian government to support the implementation of all 21 recommendations relating to integrity and ethical conduct of MPs, ministers and respective staff. You have swayed a little bit from issues in relation to those direct recommendations and gone into some of the political donation commentary that you have actually been progressing today. I am not the relevant minister for donations; that would be Minister Pearson in his capacity as government services minister. In relation to the issues that you have raised, I have got carriage of progressing a lot of the recommendations from Watts, and I will be having conversations with members of this chamber about their views in relation to that. As we indicated, although government has accepted all the recommendations, there is an acknowledgement that a lot of those recommendations are a matter for the Parliament and cross-party collaboration and the like. So we will be progressing a range of measures underpinned by the recommendations of Operation Watts.
Dr RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (14:08): Just in response to my original question, while I did reference banning political donations and donations from the gambling industry, I was talking more broadly about integrity reforms, including legislated and enforceable codes of conduct like in New South Wales and Queensland, so I was talking about expanding and deepening the integrity reforms that have been promised in Victoria and asking whether you can go further. By way of supplementary, this government loves to remind everyone about ‘lobster with a mobster’, but what the Victorian public really needs to know about is who is paying or being paid to access government decision-makers. New South Wales and Queensland ministers must publish their diaries disclosing who they are meeting with when carrying out their duties. This integrity measure does not even need legislation. Will the government commit to making ministerial diaries public?
Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (14:09): I thank Dr Ratnam for her question. I get asked a lot about my diary in this place. We often get asked about when we are meeting who, and I think we have been reasonably forthcoming in explaining that we meet with a range of stakeholders as ministers. But in relation to the specifics of your question, I am certainly not in a position to make a government policy announcement in relation to that matter. It is certainly not something that has been a policy that we believe needed to be advanced at this point of time. But as I have indicated, there are a range of measures that we will be looking at in the near future and long term in relation to integrity, public perception and public confidence in relation to integrity of MPs and their staff.