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.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (16:50): I rise to speak on this bill, and I would like to thank Mr Davis for his spearheading of this bill and his spearheading of integrity in this state. Some things the government does not seem too keen to shine a light on are issues around corruption in this state. This bill would make an enormous difference in lifting the standards of public governance. The Labor Party has allowed a culture of favouritism, backroom deals and corruption to engulf their government. We saw from the Operation Clara report tabled in the Parliament in February this year that the lobbying behaviour in Victoria has begun to take a cavalier disregard for requirements and rules for both the lobbyists register and directors’ duties to make open and honest declarations. Let us revisit what Operation Clara actually found:

… former Victorian government –

Labor –

minister, Theo Theophanous, improperly lobbied in favour of the proposal on behalf of AEC, including by misusing his position as a member of the board of the Metropolitan Planning Authority (which later became the Victorian Planning Authority). He failed to declare a conflict of interest and to comply with a requirement to register a lobbying client. In lieu of direct payment for his lobbying, he obtained benefits from AEC and its associates in the form of donations to his daughter’s campaign for election to the Victorian Parliament.

I am proud to represent the good people of Northcote in this place as a member for Northern Metropolitan Region, and I am proud that we always have a diverse selection of candidates for our inner-city electorates. Unfortunately we already knew the dirty tricks that the Labor Party were playing in the seat of Northcote, particularly trying to deceive Liberal voters in the seat of Northcote. We saw that by the Labor Party. We had that plastered across the media as well – about people handing out fake how-to-vote-Liberal cards – but we did not think the Labor Party would stoop so low as to shamefully use ex-Labor ministers to use their influence over planning policy to buy the government another term in the seat. Doing this kind of thing is really beyond the pale. Kat Theophanous, who I quite like, has clearly got a long and successful career ahead of her on the Labor front bench if she is willing to turn a blind eye to all of this.

This bill ensures all the recommendations of the Operation Clara report are adopted in full and entrenched in legislation:

… obvious weaknesses exposed in Victoria’s planning system through poor Victorian Planning Authority governance relating to multimillion-dollar planning decisions will be addressed. Corrupt and unwelcome influences on critical planning decisions will be diminished.

And yet we saw reported in the Age last month that the Premier has taken the opposite conclusion to Operation Clara. Rather than reflect on the corruption from the state government authorities on planning decisions, they are looking instead to grab more power – set on a bid to override councils and cut them out of planning decisions entirely.

We are seeing IBAC report after IBAC report condemning this government. You have got the Premier calling the former commissioner of IBAC Mr Redlich some ‘bloke who used to run an agency’. That is not the way we should speak about eminent people in this state that used to run an authority that is charged with looking into corruption. And when they do call out corruption we should take that advice, not only as an educational opportunity, as the Premier liked to describe it. We should take that advice, own up, come to this place and adopt the recommendations they are putting forward. What Mr Davis has helpfully done is put in a bill operationalising what IBAC is saying that this place needs to do, which is a good thing.

The Premier, through this bill, wants to frame himself as a solution, but I think he is in fact the problem. He thinks that everybody is beneath him, and now we see him snubbing the highly respected Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass. He pushes her away as he pushes everyone who dares criticise him and his actions. Anyone that points out that he is presiding over a corrupt government is cast aside. The Premier’s values are in question. As I said, he was arrogant enough to call Operation Daintree an ‘educational report’. As the Ombudsman said, this was not an educational report, it was a damning report about misconduct of ministerial advisers and ministerial responsibilities for those advisers. That came after the Premier’s characterisation of the concerns raised while in office as ‘someone who used to do a job who has written a letter that apparently says a whole bunch of stuff’. Apparently he still has not read that letter from Mr Redlich, even though it is widely available.

I think the house does need to support this bill. We need to come together. I was quite impressed by Dr Tim Read’s comments on this issue. They were also particularly animated about what they had seen in the electorate of Northcote both during the election and of course in this report. I think it is up to us as sensible, mature, elected representatives to come together, and when we get a report like this that has such damning findings, then it is up to us to act on it, and people put us here to act on it. So clearly the Premier needs a reality check. He cannot be trusted to act with integrity on his own. That is why I urge all here to support this bill.

David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (16:57): I rise to make a contribution to the Public Administration and Planning Legislation Amendment (Control of Lobbyists) Bill 2023. This bill aims to implement the recommendations of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission’s special report on Operation Clara. The special report stresses the need for reforms to the regulation of lobbying in Victoria and makes recommendations to bring Victoria into line with other jurisdictions.

The report recommendations include amendments to various non-statutory codes of conduct to ensure that a lobbyist is ineligible for appointment to any public entity with functions relevant to the director’s lobbying activities; to ensure that individuals seeking nominations to a public entity board register any lobbying activities that have taken place within a specific period; to prohibit public entity board directors from engaging in lobbying activities on any matter that relates to the functions of that public entity; and to require that public entity board directors comply with integrity requirements, including conflict-of-interest provisions, in relation to representations they have made prior to their appointment.

We understand also that the government has given in-principle support to the recommendations of the report and has already commenced work to strengthen the framework around lobbyists. We look forward to seeing the outcome of the government’s work. I am pleased in that context that all roads appear to be leading to reform.

In broad terms Legalise Cannabis Victoria is supportive of any measure that advances Victoria’s integrity system and strengthens our political institutions. As legislators and public office holders we need to ensure public administration is conducted in a manner that is transparent and supports the interests of the people of Victoria, who we have all been elected to serve. We are supportive of any steps towards enhanced integrity, so we will support this bill, noting that the reform it intends to achieve will ultimately be achieved via a different government-led vehicle.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (16:59): I am pleased to rise and indicate that a number of speakers have contributed to this debate from all sides of the house. I thank those on this side of the house that have supported the bill. I think this is a very sensible, practical bill. I thank Mr Ettershank and Ms Ratnam for their support of the bill as well.

This is a process that we are embarked upon at the moment where a series of bills come forward to the house to strengthen our integrity regime, effectively under the guidance of IBAC as it brings reports to the Parliament, reports that lay out deficiencies and weaknesses in our integrity regime.

The Operation Clara report is such an occasion. It lays out rampant, clear weaknesses in our integrity regime, weaknesses in the lobbyists register and weaknesses in the planning legislation, and following IBAC’s report this bill seeks to put into place those protections that are needed. This bill does not claim to do everything. It claims to respond specifically to the four recommendations made by IBAC in Operation Clara and to put them into operation. I urge all those in the chamber to support this bill. We believe it is an important bill, and we would look forward to its passage.

Council divided on motion:

Ayes (22): Matthew Bach, Gaelle Broad, Katherine Copsey, Georgie Crozier, David Davis, Moira Deeming, David Ettershank, Ann-Marie Hermans, David Limbrick, Wendy Lovell, Trung Luu, Sarah Mansfield, Bev McArthur, Joe McCracken, Nicholas McGowan, Evan Mulholland, Rachel Payne, Aiv Puglielli, Georgie Purcell, Samantha Ratnam, Adem Somyurek, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell

Noes (13): Ryan Batchelor, John Berger, Lizzie Blandthorn, Jacinta Ermacora, Michael Galea, Shaun Leane, Tom McIntosh, Harriet Shing, Ingrid Stitt, Jaclyn Symes, Lee Tarlamis, Gayle Tierney, Sheena Watt

Motion agreed to.

Read second time.

Third reading

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (17:08): I move, by leave:

That the bill be now read a third time.

Motion agreed to.

Read third time.

The PRESIDENT: Pursuant to standing order 14.25, the bill will be transmitted to the Assembly with a message requesting their agreement.