Wednesday, 31 May 2023

Bills

Public Administration and Planning Legislation Amendment (Control of Lobbyists) Bill 2023

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of David Davis:

That the bill be now read a second time.

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (11:54): I rise to contribute to the debate today on the Public Administration and Planning Legislation Amendment (Control of Lobbyists) Bill 2023. To be clear from the outset, this bill is an attempt by the opposition to score political points off the recommendations of IBAC’s Operation Clara report. These are findings which the government has publicly said it is deeply concerned about.

The report makes important recommendations to strengthen provisions relating to conflicts of interest that arise for people who are registered lobbyists under the appointment and remuneration guidelines, the lobbyists’ code of conduct as well as the code of conduct for directors. These findings were brought about by a failure to declare a conflict of interest and failure to comply with a requirement to register a lobbying client. These findings are deeply concerning. It has been said by my colleagues, and I will reiterate this in my contribution, that the government has already announced that it supports in principle the recommendations of IBAC’s Operation Clara report.

Public trust and confidence in our institutions is vitally important for our state and for our democracy. Public trust rests on transparency. The Public Administration Act 2004, which this bill seeks to amend, has the following purposes relating to public trust and accountability:

provide a framework for good governance in the Victorian public sector and in public administration generally in Victoria;

establish the Victorian Public Sector Commission.

The act does include reference to conflicts of interest, and I note that this is a legislated public sector value. We need to ensure in public life, which includes Parliament, and on our essential boards of public bodies that this is occurring. To summarise these duties, the act provides:

A director of a public entity must at all times in the exercise of the functions of his or her office act –

(a) honestly …

(b) in good faith in the best interests of the public entity …

(c) with integrity; and

(d) in a financially responsible manner; and

(e) with a reasonable degree of care, diligence and skill …

All members of government boards are required to do this.

In Victoria there are more than 32,000 board members serving on over 3400 public entity boards. Many of these are volunteers, and a lot of them are in regional and rural Victoria – 77 per cent live in rural and regional areas of Victoria. I will take a moment here to give special thanks to those board members in Eastern Victoria who take the time out of their personal and professional lives to contribute to the administration of our state for the betterment of the community. These members of public sector boards tackle the state’s challenges, like coastal erosion and like mental health and wellbeing, and I for one thank these volunteers for the time they give to Victoria and our community.

Overwhelmingly, both paid and volunteer board members do the right thing, and this is something to be celebrated in our communities. It should be noted that keeping things public has been a huge focus on this side of the chamber. When we talk about integrity in these institutions, where is the integrity of selling off state assets to be run by corporations for profit? How has that played out in terms of public trust and confidence? The public comprehensively voted for the public administration of essential services in Victoria like electricity. Again I will make the point in this chamber that, as an electrician from regional Victoria, I am very excited to see the return of the SEC and the positive benefits it will bring to our great state, particularly in Eastern Victoria. People want essential services to be run by the public sector – 59,000 jobs – to guarantee the upkeep of infrastructure, low prices that do not gouge for profit and that local values are maintained, including employment benefits rather than benefits going overseas.

Other public entities cover not only essential services like hospitals, schools, public land and planning, as was the focus of Operation Clara, but also all kinds of public functions, tackling real issues in the community, like Homes Victoria and their effort to make the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in the state’s history with the $5.3 billion big build. These priority areas of public administration in our state are overseen by prominent people, local people, diverse people and people recruited through proper channels.

In reference to the terrific role that local people take on to support their community, I will take a moment to mention the exceptional work of the board of Bairnsdale regional hospital and its chair Chris Barry, who I have been in contact with several times since coming into the Council. Chris advocates for his local community and the hospital, and even met me after hours on a weeknight to show me around and discuss their plans for redevelopment.

Business interrupted pursuant to sessional orders.