Tuesday, 20 September 2022

Privileges committees

Review of the Ongoing Resolution on the Parliamentary Integrity Adviser

Ms SHING (Eastern Victoria—Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Equality) (09:56): Pursuant to standing order 23.29, I lay on the table a joint report of the Assembly and Council privileges committees on the Review of the Ongoing Resolution on the Parliamentary Integrity Adviser, including an appendix, and I move:

That the report be published.

Motion agreed to.

Ms SHING: I move:

That the Council take note of the report.

In doing so, I want to acknowledge the work of members of the privileges committees across both houses as we have contemplated the role of the parliamentary integrity adviser since the resolution in 2019 which established that particular role and the terms upon which it would operate. We have seen in the course of the appointment of Mr Ray Purdey to that role a range of functions being undertaken as they have extended to providing advice and assistance to members in an individual and indeed group context and also making sure that roles and ethical considerations are well understood for new members coming to this place in a way that is distinct and separate from the general information and indeed the avalanche of detail that we are confronted with when we are first elected. The resolution as it was put in 2019 provided for a range of functions and duties to be undertaken by the parliamentary integrity adviser, and this indeed was the subject of joint privileges committees’ analysis in the course of the requirement that this takes place every year following a report to the committees by Mr Purdey.

You will note that this report contains three recommendations around the ongoing resolution on the parliamentary integrity adviser including as they relate to general training on integrity and ethics for new and current members on a regular and agreed basis in a writing of formats, including in person by way of written materials and online. This is a specific reference to the circumstances which prevailed in the course of the pandemic. Also, that the parliamentary integrity adviser should prepare a written resource that members can access in much the same way as the Members Guide thus to give a steady and available source of information to members rather than having to seek discrete advice from the parliamentary integrity adviser.

The second recommendation relates to a requirement for the parliamentary integrity adviser to conduct a set minimum number of hours in the course of undertaking their role and that implementation of training take place within the reporting period. The final recommendation goes to a consideration of future changes that may be warranted in light of the findings and recommendations set out in the Operation Watts report and the considerations and matters raised by the Victorian Ombudsman and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission in that context.

I want to commend the members of both committees for the work that has gone into the oversight of the appointment of the parliamentary integrity adviser and the management and analysis of the functions as undertaken following his appointment. In particular in the other place I note the contribution of Minister Pakula, the outgoing minister, and indeed member who has worked assiduously to be part of this joint Privileges Committee work. I also want to thank colleagues in this place for that work in really undertaking a detailed and careful consideration of the facts and the matters at hand.

Finally, I want to thank the secretariat. There is an enormous volume of work that needs to be undertaken behind the scenes. I wish to commend Mr Richard Willis, someone who sits at the table here quietly and assiduously but does an awful lot of work behind the scenes; Dr Vaughn Koops in the Legislative Assembly—

Mr Gepp interjected.

Ms SHING: I will take up that interjection, Mr Gepp—he is indeed a star; Ms Juliana Duan, the chamber procedure officer in the Legislative Council; and Ms Stefanie Tardif in the Legislative Assembly. We are so lucky to have such skilled, accessible and indeed interested members of the secretariat, and to that end I do wish to extend my thanks. I hope that members of the joint committees will indulge me in speaking on behalf of all members in gratitude for that contribution over the course of the parliamentary integrity adviser inquiries and indeed the matters contemplated by the Privileges Committees of both houses in the course of this Parliament. Thank you to everybody involved.

Motion agreed to.