Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Motions
Ombudsman referral
Motions
Ombudsman referral
Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (15:54): I am very pleased to be able to stand and move motion 744 in my name. It is an important motion that the Liberals and Nationals are putting into the Parliament to debate, because of what has gone on in relation to the absolute debacle around the VCE.
Georgie CROZIER: Mr Davis calls it a fiasco. I actually think it is much worse than that, Mr Davis. It is compromising a system, and it is causing an immense amount of distress for so many students, their parents, teachers and school communities. It is an absolute shambles, and it is another example of how incompetent this government is. I want to speak to my motion. I move:
That, pursuant to section 16 of the Ombudsman Act 1973, this house refers the following matters to the Ombudsman for investigation and report:
(1) the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s (VCAA) admission of a significant error, which led to thousands of Victorian certificate of education (VCE) students gaining access to sample exam cover sheets containing nearly identical questions and case studies to those in their final exams;
(2) the impact of this error on the integrity of the VCE examination process;
(3) the adequacy of the VCAA’s response, which included minor alterations to compromised exams and replacement of instruction booklets, while allegedly failing to fully address the integrity issues and potential disadvantage caused to other students;
(4) a review of the role and accountability of executive staff at the VCAA for the systemic errors; and
(5) a complete review of the systems, processes, and resources used for the VCE examinations, given the evidence of a pattern of systemic failure over at least three years.
As I said, this latest debacle is adding to the litany of systemic problems and failures overseen by Jacinta Allan and her Labor government, whether that is the corruption that is permeating through our state, through a whole range of organisations, like the Big Build – we know what is going on, it is rotten to the core; the crippling government debt that is saddling these students that we are talking about today and future generations of young people and their families with an insurmountable debt to pay off; or the health crisis, the crime crisis or the housing crisis. Well, now we have seen how extensive the crisis in education is.
This is an issue that goes to the heart, as the motion states, of the integrity of the VCE examination process; the adequacy of the VCAA’s response; the review of the role and accountability of those that are working in the VCAA for the systemic errors; and the review of the systems, processes and resources, given there have been systemic failures over the last three years. That is the point that the motion – the heart of the motion – goes to. What we have got is just more cover-ups by Labor, who refuse to acknowledge the extent of this very serious problem.
After three years of critical failures by the VCAA during the VCE examination period, a truly independent, thorough and credible investigation is required. Only last year it was said:
These stuff-ups should not have occurred in the first place … We have to ensure this won’t be repeated next year.
That was the Minister for Education in November 2023. Well, guess what, Minister, the stuff-ups have occurred again for the third year, and you still hold your job. Why? You should have been sacked by the Premier if she had any guts and any authority over you and the rest of her gaggle of MPs that are standing behind this systemic failure that has caused so much heartache and concern for tens of thousands of students and the school community and the parents. We need full transparency and accountability to ensure that the integrity of the Victorian certificate of education examinations going forward is reinstated, because there is no integrity under the current leadership of the minister and the Allan Labor government. When you have got three years in a row when these systemic failures have happened, when you have got investigation after investigation and the issue still occurs, it is not working. The system is failing, and you have just got cover-ups by the government. This is a very important issue that is causing, as I said, so much uncertainty for tens of thousands of students because they have been impacted by this, those school communities, those principals and their teaching cohort and of course the broader community. Regardless of whether a student took an exam or whether they did not, their confidence in the assessment process has been completely undermined. Why wouldn’t it be when this is not a once-off, when you have got the minister saying, ‘Don’t worry; all is in hand’?
This is the third time it has happened, so that is why the confidence has been eroded. That is why it is so important that the Ombudsman looks into this, not another Mickey Mouse internal government review that will give the answers the government want. No, we need a proper investigation into this. Going back, following the 2022 exam period Deloitte was engaged to review errors in specialist mathematics exams. Following the 2023 exam period, Dr John Bennett led an independent review panel to scrutinise issues in that year’s exam period, which included an error in the chemistry exam paper and students being handed the incorrect Chinese language exam papers. It is clear that, despite these two reviews that have taken place, the major and systemic failings of the VCAA have continued to let Victorian students down. They could not be more let down by the most grossly incompetent government that this state has ever had.
On top of this, the minister has been complicit in an attempt to cover up the VCAA stuff-ups – his words; he calls them stuff-ups. It is more than that; it is actually a gross mishandling in every way of what is going on. The VCAA advised the minister about the error on 14 October. That was last month. That was six weeks ago. It was weeks before the first exam was due to sit too. Instead of ensuring that each compromised exam was completely rewritten, the minister was more concerned with hiding the bungle and keeping it from becoming public. That is the cover-up. That is the extent that this government will go to.
Let us look at the timeline here around that 14 October date that I spoke about when the minister first became aware. If you look back at the timeline, on 5 October some teachers noticed embedded exam questions in cover sheets. On 10 October the VCAA became aware of embedded material in cover sheets and sent notice to schools telling them new cover sheets had been issued. On 12 October, just two days later, the VCAA clarified that it had become aware of the inclusion of embedded exam questions and case studies in cover sheets, and then two days later the minister became aware of the issue but claims he had been assured questions were being rewritten. A week later, on 21 October, there was the first consignment of exams delivered to schools. On 29 October the exams started. On 1 November the second consignment of exams was delivered to schools. On 13 November the minister was then briefed for the first time in a high level of detail. Why the hell did he not ask for that weeks before, knowing that this was the third year in a row that these debacles were going on?
This is just a minister who is complicit in the cover-up and who has just failed at every single level. On 14 November it was revealed that half the marks in the business management exam were accessible through the cover sheet, and Kylie White, the head of the VCAA, admitted that questions were included on exam cover sheets but denied exams were compromised. How wrong she was. Then just four days later she falls on her sword and resigns, and then Minister Ben Carroll admits to 56 exams being compromised – 56 exams being compromised – on 18 November. It is now 27 November. I mean, what the hell has he been doing? This all started on 5 October, so this is just an absolute timeline of degradation and cover-up and just hopeless administration by a hopelessly incompetent minister. It should not have been just Kylie White that resigned. It should have been that Ben Carroll resigned, or the Premier should have indeed sacked him. He should have been sacked. She is too weak, she is too afraid of causing further disruption and dislocation amongst her backbench and her unhappy campers and she is too compromised in the cover-ups that she has also been responsible for as minister, and now Premier, in a whole range of areas – that litany that I spoke about earlier.
Since that time, it is very clear that the minister has been continuing to hide the truth. He has refused to release the full list of exams compromised up until today – even that. The list is there, but it does not go to looking at the details that it needs to. That is despite marking taking place. Really, it is about students. Ms Bath, you are a former teacher. Mrs Hermans, you have worked in the education sector. As a former teacher you understand the importance of this. Unfortunately, those opposite, who do not have this experience, do not understand the importance of that integrity in exams and how their being compromised affects the confidence of students – the full integrity of the marking process. The students need to have that full transparency as to which of their exams and which questions have been compromised.
The students of course now face the real prospect that they might have marks docked from their exams if the assessors at the VCAA suspect they may have had access to the compromised material. So why are the students being punished for the government’s incompetence? This is totally unfair and totally wrong, and it shows the extent of what the government will do to save their own hides while the most important time of students’ secondary school life is being shattered. That, to go to Ms Bath’s comment earlier – her interjection about confidence – is so, so important. This cannot happen again. The impacts are just way too significant.
I want to read in some of what has been said. I am going to quote from the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals and their president Colin Axup:
Principals and staff and schools have been dealing with the fallout without support or clear direction from the VCAA …
On 17 November a VCAA staff member said:
All exams staff have been told to stick to the story of sample content when they have been asked to work 18-hour days rewriting content …
There is one (person) who has almost killed herself trying to fix this whilst high-level leaders were going home.
A veteran VCE teacher on 17 November, it is reported, said:
… from my perspective the issue is they could have contained it by being open and honest. They tried to hide it which is the major problem.
A senior VCE teacher in leadership at a major government school on 14 November said:
If a school did this they would fail a VCE audit and be told to change their practices.
Students who have bent over backwards to do their best now find their peers may have had access to substantial material in the final exam. It is mind-blowing – how is this even possible?
A VCE teacher in a government school said that the VCAA:
… should be held to account and must ensure students are not worse off.
They did it and then they covered it up. The only changes they made were to the names in the case studies which gave the kids who saw this a massive advantage …
Another student said no student ‘will ever trust the VCAA again’:
It’s a massive breach of trust. The VCAA are the ones always on the moral high ground. I’d rather they apologised as I’d have more respect for them if they did …
For VCE students who’ve put in countless hours prepping for their final exams, finding out that the exam material was compromised feels incredibly unfair and disrupts the whole merit-based system we rely on.”
The suggestion from VCAA that this leak has ‘no adverse impact’ is, frankly, dismissive and fails to acknowledge the stress and disruption this breach has caused. For students who sat the exam honestly, the value of their hard work feels undermined …
There are so many more comments like this from students, principals and teachers who are absolutely devastated. Here is one from Ashleigh Martin from Caulfield Grammar, in my electorate:
It is profoundly disappointing that this breach has introduced unnecessary stress and uncertainty during what is already a challenging time …
Martin said students deserved an environment of fairness after their exams, “free from disruptions that may undermine their confidence”.
There is no-one that has got confidence in the system, because this is not a one-off issue. This is a repeated occurrence – the third year in a row, as I have said – and that is not good enough. I say again, the minister should have resigned when Kylie White went, and the Premier, if he would not resign, should have sacked him. She would not do that. He wants her job. They are all tossing and turning, just like the crossbench are tossing and turning over this – not you, Acting President Bourman – and how disappointing it is that the AEU have got to certain members of the crossbench to lobby them. The unions are running this state. This is another example of how the unions are running this state. And when we have had crossbench members tell the opposition –
A member interjected.
Georgie CROZIER: Yes, that is right, the AEU. Well, where have they been? They have been silent on this issue. What a disgrace. They have said nothing, yet they are lobbying the members of the crossbench, the progressive crossbench, who are voting with the government to block this important investigation to be done by the Ombudsman. They should hang their heads in shame, because the young people that have sat the exams today deserve to have this thoroughly investigated by somebody other than the government themselves. It is unbelievable, what is going on in this state, when time after time you have unions, whether it is the AEU, whether it is the CFMEU, dictating to the government and to their patsies on the crossbench.
Georgie CROZIER: Well, you are, Mr Ettershank. You should be supporting this motion if you believe in transparency. You always bang on about it. This is about transparency and accountability. Let us get to the truth of what has gone on for these students that have suffered this year and for the students that have suffered in the previous two years. And let us not even think about the lockdown, when students in lockdown had to suffer because of wrong government policy decisions. We on this side of the house were arguing that they should be going to school. Oh, no, there was the union again in the government’s ear. I tell you they are running this state; that is very evident. Those people, the crossbench, along with the government, need to take a good, long, hard look at themselves and understand that this is a reasonable motion, it is a fair motion and it is a motion that is needed, because the Ombudsman is an independent authority designed for exactly this review. Students this year deserve it. Students next year deserve to have a proper review. The parents, the teachers and the school communities deserve to have a proper review. But no, it looks like those progressive crossbenchers are going to side with the government and knock this out. I urge them to change their minds, look at what is going on here and support this important motion.
Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (16:14): I am pleased to rise to speak on the motion which seeks to make a parliamentary referral under section 16 of the Ombudsman Act 1973 to investigate the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s handling of the recent exams. I think there are fundamentally serious questions that need to be addressed in the course of this debate. The first matter I want to raise and come to is the question of what has happened and whether it is something that we think is acceptable here in the state of Victoria. The answer to that is no, it is not. Mistakes being made on the VCE exams are unacceptable. It is a stuff-up. It is not something that we as members of Parliament, hardworking people who work in the public service, people who work in our schools, parents or students should expect to happen in what for many of these young people are some of the most significant moments that have occurred in their short lives to date – these VCE exams being the culmination of years and years of hard work in our education system. To have the kinds of mistakes that were made by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority in the delivery of these exams this year is unacceptable. We understand the concern, and action is being taken to fix it.
The central contention, though, in the motion today is not whether the conduct was acceptable. It is not. It is not whether the mistakes were okay. They are not. The question is: what is the best way to address it? What is the best way to make sure that the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority does not let this happen again? There are two courses that we can embark upon and that are presented for consideration. We have the course of action that the Deputy Premier, the Minister for Education, has been very clear on and set out in his response, which is that there is going to be a systematic review, a root-and-branch review of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. There is going to be a process that has the sort of transparency that you would absolutely want from that process. The review will be conducted in the way that you would expect it to be done with that transparency, with engagement from the experts, with the people who were affected, with plans to fix it going into the future and with the report and the process to be independent and for that report to be publicly released. In addition, there will be the installation of an independent monitor to oversee the process for next year’s exams so that families, students and schools have confidence that in 2025 the exam process will not have these mistakes repeated. That is what the minister has already announced. The action that he has initiated as the best way to deal with this issue is to get the answers that we need and to make sure that it does not happen again.
The alternative that the opposition is proposing, which is within the remit of this chamber to embark upon – under section 16 of the Ombudsman Act – is for a different process. It is to require the Ombudsman – not to give the Ombudsman the option – to commence an investigation into these matters. There are a couple of things that are worth noting here. The Ombudsman has the power if she deems it appropriate and she deems it necessary under her own motion powers in the Ombudsman Act to investigate any instance of government administration. Those exist; they are not disputed. They are not affected by what this chamber does here today. She could do that if she so chose. That is her decision – an independent decision of an independent officer of the Parliament. What we have here is an alternative course that would require the Ombudsman to undertake this action and in doing so would further constrain the Ombudsman’s ability to deliver on the range of other issues and priorities that the Ombudsman has. We know that parliamentary referrals have to be done above all other business that comes before the Ombudsman. The terms of the act require the Ombudsman to stop doing other things and focus on and prioritise what the Parliament asks them to do. So the question here today is: do we want to divert the Ombudsman’s resources away from dealing with other matters and duplicate, replicate, obfuscate – who knows? – an already announced, independent process that the minister has initiated? We do not need two processes running; we just need the one the minister has already initiated.
The other point, which the Ombudsman herself makes in her latest annual report, tabled in the Parliament just a couple of weeks ago, is that referrals from the Parliament do divert resources away from other investigations; they do impact on the timeliness of investigations. In the annual report their performance measure is to close 80 per cent of investigations within 12 months of completion. In the last financial year, as reported in this year’s annual report tabled in the Parliament two weeks ago, so before this motion was moved – their performance target is 80 per cent – it was 37 per cent for the closing of investigations within 12 months –
Georgie Crozier: Give her some more resources.
Ryan BATCHELOR: I will come to that point, Mr Crozier – because of one referral from the Parliament. So far this year we have already got two on foot, and this would add a third, which would mean that other activities, based on the Ombudsman’s advice that she has given to this Parliament, would affect the timeliness of other investigations that the Ombudsman deems to be important and necessary, including, one would expect, the priority – the dedicated investigations team that the Ombudsman set up, for example, to investigate matters in the prison and youth justice system.
We also know from the evidence that the Ombudsman gave publicly a couple of weeks ago to the Integrity and Oversight Committee that, although the Ombudsman bills the Parliament, effectively through the seeking of a Treasurer’s advance, to cover the costs of referrals of these investigations, the impact in terms of diversion of staff resources, the impact in terms of lags in recruitment and the impact on the expertise that they have available to them to complete their work is affected by these referrals. So we have got to think: do we want the Ombudsman’s work focused on this issue and the two other referrals that the Parliament has already made, in June, or do we want a process to get to the bottom of the problem – the independent review established by the government – that is public, transparent?
Ryan BATCHELOR: We know, though – Ms Crozier, by interjection, has made reference to what has happened in previous years – that in previous years there were some issues uncovered with a couple of the exams.
Georgie Crozier: Stuff-ups.
Ryan BATCHELOR: Stuff-ups, mistakes – unacceptable, however you want to characterise them. An independent process was put in place. Those exams this year are not affected by mistakes. We have confidence that the independent review process that the minister has announced is going to deliver the certainty that families and students are looking for by next year. We do not have any guarantees that the Ombudsman’s process will be concluded by next year, and we do not have any guarantees that it will get to the heart of these issues. The government’s independent review process is going to deliver a transparent, open and released review; there is going to be independent oversight of next year’s processes. It is a much better path to follow if we want to support our students next year than the politicised games the opposition is playing today.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! Ms Bath, without assistance from her own side.
Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (16:25): I thank Ms Crozier for her interjections. They were actually very apposite to this very important discussion. Yes, I am probably one of the few people in this place who have –
Georgie Crozier: Marked exams.
Melina BATH: facilitated students. I have not marked exams in a formal capacity, but I have certainly spent a number of years preparing students all the way through secondary college but also preparing students in years 11 and 12 for VCE exams. I see overwhelmingly the dedication that they show from the early days in year 11, with their concerns about what exams look like and how they will perform, to their growing confidence towards that last year in October – the confidence that they have that they are prepared and ready for those exams. I want to commend all VCE teachers for the work they do – above and beyond, as we say, but it is so true – to really amplify, coordinate, support, encourage and capacity-build their students to meet these exams and meet them head-on with confidence that it is a stepping stone. It is the ability to progress wherever that may be – into the TAFE sector, into a university degree, into a job or into a career. These exams are very important. For thousands upon thousands of students, that confidence that has been instilled in them – encouraged and through their own hard work, with parents and supporters sitting at home and encouraging them and making life as focused as they can to meet these goals – over the last three years has been ripped away. That passion and confidence that students have I can only imagine is in disarray at the moment.
I heard Mr Batchelor before trying to weave his way out of why we should be sending this to the Ombudsman, who is there to investigate government and public service misdemeanours, corruption – whatever you want to call it – impropriety and lack of ability. I feel like Mr Batchelor in his contribution was wanting the government to put a cap on integrity: ‘We can’t give this task to the Ombudsman because she’s overworked.’ Well, she is overworked because we are in a state that has over the last 10 years stripped away integrity and stripped away what I think would have been a very decent public service. They have bloated it with friends of friends of friends, and those that are underneath and getting orders are feeling so frustrated with this.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! Minister, if you are going to interject, it has to be from your place.
Melina BATH: They are so, so frustrated.
Georgie Crozier: The Ombudsman is going to politicise the public service. I rest my case. The former Ombudsman, not this one.
Melina BATH: That is right. We very much appreciate the Ombudsman and the role of the Ombudsman, and that is why we want to see this go to this investigation. For three whole years we have seen ‘stuff-ups’, to quote the Minister for Education, in this system. We want to see a further level of accountability. We want that confidence to be reinstated in our schools, in our principals and in the system.
Very sadly, we know that in the state of Victoria we are not turning out students into the pathways of maths. We know that there has been a decline over the last 20 years of people adopting a career in maths, and this has not only an outcome focus but an economic impact as well by not creating those fantastic mathematicians that can go into so many different spheres of work – technology, engineering and so many more. We have seen the government obfuscate. To pick up Mr Batchelor’s point before, if this was year one and there was a stuff-up, then yes, an internal investigation – root and branch, as they like to say, but we cannot say that here, apparently – should have been the investigation. But this is the third year.
Michael Galea: On a point of order, Acting President, my understanding is that it was quite clear that it is going to be a root-and-branch independent review of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. I am not sure what Ms Bath is talking about.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Thank you, Mr Galea, that is not a point of order. Ms Bath to continue without assistance.
Melina BATH: I have had some conversations over the last few days and indeed weeks when we had the education inquiry with some very fantastic mathematicians, and they are very frustrated with the education minister. They have written to the education minister on a number of occasions, and they are learned. They are not out of the Weeties box. They are actually practising mathematicians in schools. They have been involved in assessment over many years. They are being ignored by the minister, and some of their comments are quite apposite to this. I am not going to name names, because I do not know these people, but there are people who are working very hard in the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority exam unit. There are other people in the Department of Education, and it is a big beast, that are not doing their job. Clearly they are not doing their job, and they are overstaffed and underproductive in terms of outcomes. We are seeing this at the end, because we are having exams that are deeply flawed – are compromised – and students have not got the confidence that in the exam they are going to sit they are not going to be disadvantaged through this exam process. They have not got the confidence that this government is fixing it up, because it has had three years and it is still broken. And these learned people certainly feel that the government has not made those inroads.
Let me just speak to the education inquiry that I know Mr Batchelor was on. I was a participating member and we moved for this inquiry. We actually moved that the Bennett review –
Melina BATH: Oh, and Mr Galea. It is not a cheerio; it is a serious topic. We moved that the Bennett review be implemented – the government said that they would adopt it – and that the government report back to Parliament and provide clarity on what those improvements have been within the next year. That is one of those oversights that this government is not known for.
If this was us, if we were on the other side and there had been three years of stuff-ups by the education minister, whose primary role is to make sure that there is competency in the system to provide students with the best possible future, they would be baying for our education minister’s blood. Well, we are baying for his, because it is absolutely unacceptable. He cannot guarantee that no student will be left without disadvantage. He has not done that, and he should be referring this to the Ombudsman rather than to an internal review.
Finally, in speaking with some of the maths teachers, they have said to me that there needs to be systemic cultural change in the education department, that this is the tip of the iceberg and that unfortunately this minister is absolutely derelict in his duties. I commend this motion, and I call on the whole house to do so too.
Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (16:34): I do rise to speak on the motion put forward to us today by Ms Crozier on the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). As my colleague Mr Batchelor noted as well, we will not be supporting this motion, for the reasons which he has gone through and which I will further elucidate for the benefit of the chamber and indeed Ms Bath, who was under some confusion as to whether the review being undertaken was going to be an independent root-and-branch review. I can assure Ms Bath that it absolutely is. Now that that matter is settled, we do note, and it is completely inappropriate, that a number of VCE students have been let down at one of the most important times of their academic life. This is exactly as the minister said, and I share his grave concern over these incidents. I also note with a great deal of appreciation the immense effort that the minister himself and indeed his officials have gone to in addressing this very serious problem. As serious as it is, though, we know that a referral to the Ombudsman today – an Ombudsman who members opposite apparently do not even know the name of – is going to achieve nothing other than a cheap political stunt, and I would take the lack of interjections or points of order there as confirmation that members opposite do not know the name of the Victorian Ombudsman. Again, that is a matter for them.
This referral, if implemented, would further divert resources and time away from the VCAA’s number one priority, which is providing timely, fair and equitable examination markings for students ahead of their ATAR release this December. Our absolute priority as this government is to ensure fairness for every single student.
Ann-Marie Hermans interjected.
Michael GALEA: I note, Mrs Hermans, that I have spoken to many friends of mine, indeed one particular friend who is an English teacher, and I hear the frustration and I absolutely hear the frustration of their students, but I am absolutely proud to be standing alongside a Minister for Education who is perhaps bar none best equipped to deal with this issue and institute the reform that is required. Currently VCAA is on track to meet those scheduled timelines of 12 December for the release of this year’s ATAR results. VCAA themselves are actually working to address these issues caused by the early publication of some examination results.
What we are doing and what the important thing to do to get right is to do a proper – and I will say it again for the benefit of those opposite – independent root-and-branch review of what happened. This will include transparency in both the review and the change process. That transparency will extend to ensuring that the report will be publicly released. There will also be an independent monitor for next year’s VCE exams to oversee that entire process.
I do note as well some contributions from members opposite that spoke of the Bennett review. The Bennett review looked at some specific issues with regard to understanding maths and chemistry questions. Those errors that were caught by the Bennett review were addressed by the Bennett review and then VCAA took some actions in response to that review. Those incidents and those issues regarding those maths and chemistry exams did not recur this year, so the Bennett review did do the job it set out to do. But what is clear – and I know that the education minister himself has been very clear on this – is that a more significant review is needed, and that is exactly why he has implemented the independent root-and-branch review of the VCAA.
The opposition’s motion would deflect and take time out and resources away from an Ombudsman who, I believe, they may have even outrageously referred to as a lapdog earlier this year as well. Mrs Hermans, you have now come into the chamber since I first mentioned this. Perhaps you know the name of the Victorian Ombudsman, and if you do I heartily invite you to interject and tell us all the name of the Victorian Ombudsman, but apparently you cannot. Maybe Mr Welch can tell us the name of the Victorian Ombudsman, maybe he cannot. It seems clear that once again we have a Liberal Party that is running off bad policy, with absolutely no idea, no clue and clearly no vision or no practical plan for the state of Victoria. We see it again with the motion here before us today. Who is the Ombudsman? You cannot tell us. This should not be a trick question. I was sure that someone was going to interject in the first minute of me saying that. It has now been more than 5 minutes into my contribution and not a single member of the opposition can tell us the name of the Victorian Ombudsman, and they still do not know. That goes to the heart of the absolute intellectual baselessness with which they approach this issue, as indeed they have approached every other issue that they take to this place, because there is no depth. There is no substance. They are standing here today putting a referral to an Ombudsman they do not even know the name of. How pathetic the Victorian Liberal Party are. How pathetic each and every one of you are. You have no clue, no idea and absolutely no vision for the state of Victoria. Almost 6 minutes into my contribution I will spare you – no, I will not. You can jump up and say it if you wish to give us the name.
Harriet Shing: Marlo Baragwanath.
Michael GALEA: Thank you, Minister Shing. You have said it. You have got the prize for the name that no-one in the Liberal Party seems to know.
Harriet Shing: I just want a chocolate.
Michael GALEA: She has got a chocolate as the prize. Again, absolute intellectual vacuity we see from those opposite.
Georgie Crozier: On a point of order –
Michael GALEA: Here we go, Ms Crozier. Please enlighten us. Do you know the name?
Georgie Crozier: Yes, I do. On a point of order, Acting President, while Mr Galea is having a bit of fun, this is an important issue. I would ask you to draw him back to the issue that we are debating. This is about this house referring this important issue to the Victorian Ombudsman.
Harriet Shing: On the point of order, Acting President, Mr Galea not only has been entirely relevant to the motion in his contribution but has been well within his rights to respond to the contributions made by the opposition, which in seeking this referral have not been able to identify who the Victorian Ombudsman is. In the context of the standing orders, Mr Galea is being relevant –
Georgie Crozier: When does a motion have a person’s name in it? It’s the Victorian Ombudsman.
Harriet Shing: Sorry, I am going to pick up the interjection there in response to the point of order. Ms Crozier has just asked since when the name of a person actually has any relevance to the motion. In fact it is an insult to the Ombudsman that nobody on the opposition benches knows her name.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! There is no point of order. Mr Galea to continue without assistance and to keep it relevant to the motion.
Michael GALEA: I will say that Mrs Broad did mouth the name of the Ombudsman to me in that last little section there, so I will acknowledge Mrs Broad for that and acknowledge that once again the Nationals certainly seem to be running rings around their coalition partners. I do not know why they continue to put up with them, Mrs Broad.
At any rate, if Ms Crozier was listening to the start of my contribution, she would have heard me genuinely very earnestly talking about the impact this has had on students. Indeed I have actually had some conversations with some VCE students as well, some children of family friends, about the impact that this has had. As I mentioned earlier, some close friends of mine who are in the teaching profession and teach VCE subjects have been frustrated by this as well, as I know the minister is, which is why we have seen this decisive, swift action taken, unlike the political witch-hunt put forward by those in the opposition today that would do nothing other than try to find some other embarrassment for the government. They know that, day in and day out, this is a government, under the leadership of Ben Carroll as Deputy Premier and education minister and Jacinta Allan as Premier, that is delivering for Victorians and is delivering for Victorian school students. If you look at the $400 school saving bonus, if you look at all the new schools, Mrs Hermans, in the electorates that we cover in South-Eastern Metropolitan – in Berwick alone we are building more schools in that one electorate than those opposite built across the state in their entire four years in office. They never care about education. They say the right things in opposition and then they get elected. Oh, here we go.
Ann-Marie Hermans: On a point of order, Acting President, this is actually not relevant to this particular motion. I think that we need to really stick to the fact that this is a motion about a situation where exams have been leaked. The member needs to stick to that because there are students whose futures are being impacted by this. It has nothing to do with where the schools are in his region.
Michael GALEA: Further to the point of order, Acting President – (Time expired)
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (16:45): I want to make a brief contribution on this motion from Ms Crozier and thank her for bringing this matter before the Legislative Council. I think it is most appropriate that this issue, which is causing concern widely, is appropriately ventilated. VCE exams are a big thing. I think we all know that. Whether you are a student or whether you are a parent or a family member, the VCE exam is exciting, it is challenging and it can be pretty bloody scary, to be honest, I think, for many people who have been through this process. Either way it is a big thing, and it is a reasonable expectation, whether you are a student, whether you are a parent, whether you are a family member or whether you are a teacher, that the exam process is done properly and it is done fairly, and what has happened does not reflect those values. What has happened is absolutely unacceptable.
We have taken the time to read into this matter, as I suppose has everyone who has been following the news. We have also spoken with people directly involved. Can I just say, in terms of Ms Crozier’s contribution, and I will say it on the record, that I have not spoken to anyone from the –
Georgie Crozier: Rachel told me.
David ETTERSHANK: Ms Crozier, please. Let me say it, and then you can disagree if you want to. I have not spoken with anyone from the AEU, and I think it is possibly relevant to bear in mind –
David ETTERSHANK: Ms Crozier, the AEU do not have coverage of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). They are covered by the CPSU, which is the relevant union.
Ryan Batchelor: They’re all the same.
David ETTERSHANK: That is right, yes. I mean, maybe you should do your homework a bit better before you start verballing people.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! Mr Ettershank, I have noticed a bit of this going on. These things should be through the Chair. Have at it with what you want to say, but rather than having a conversation across the chamber – and it is not just you; I have noticed it happening across the chamber – through the Chair, please.
David ETTERSHANK: Thank you, Acting President Bourman. I take on board that advice and will endeavour to do better. I have spoken with representatives of the staff who actually work in the VCAA, and absolutely there are major problems with that organisation. There is dysfunctionality. There is rock-bottom morale. There is a huge problem with excessive casualisation and systemic dysfunctionality, so I do not think there is any disagreement from our point of view. That is why I started my contribution by indicating that I think it is great that you have brought this forward. There does need to be action taken, and I think there is an expectation in the Victorian community amongst parents, amongst students and amongst teachers that action will be taken. The question is: what is the appropriate course of action?
I do not know enough to be able to say what the workload or otherwise of the ombudsperson or the Ombudsman is, but I think it is fairly clear that we need a process that can be done independently, can be done transparently and can be done promptly, such that we can go into the next VCE exam round with a level of confidence that all of those people who will be affected by it know that it is going to be done properly.
I am almost loath to use the expression ‘root-and-branch review’ because I did get into trouble for referring to bus routes. I do not want to upset Ms Terpstra any further than I already have. But in terms of the undertakings that we have received from the government and from the Premier’s office and from the government representatives who have spoken this afternoon, there are certain elements to a process that is being proposed that we are supportive of. The first one of those is that there will be a thorough systemic review, a root-and-branch independent review – please do not hit me, Ms Terpstra – that will get to the bottom, I hope I can say ‘bottom’, of the problems within the VCAA, because that is long overdue. This is the third year in a row, so there needs to be a thorough investigation. But investigations that are done in the dark are not as good as investigations where you can see both the process and the outcome, and so there is also an undertaking from this government that the review process will have a high level of transparency, in terms of both the review process and also the subsequent change process. There is also an undertaking from the government that there will be a public release of the report at the conclusion of that investigation.
In case I did not mention it – also I think it is really important – in terms of that review, it will be at arm’s length. It is an independent review. It is not the Department of Education or the VCAA looking at itself. And then, finally, there will be an independent monitor appointed to ensure that those changes are applied correctly, professionally, in the next VCE round, so that there can be a level of confidence that this is not going to happen again. On the basis of those undertakings from government, Legalise Cannabis Victoria (LCV) will be opposing the motion, primarily because this appears to be suitably accurate, it is timely and it fits the criteria for addressing this. And I am sorry –
David ETTERSHANK: Well, I think it is very disappointing. I am going to just answer that response. I mean, the opposition are very keen to slag the progressive crossbench when we are voting against them, but they are not so unhappy when we are voting with them –
David ETTERSHANK: it is just that we do not do it enough. And maybe if there were better and more thoughtful resolutions that were brought to this chamber by the opposition we would support them, because we have supported them on their merits. On that basis, LCV will be opposing the motion, and we look forward to a good, thorough and transparent process that will result in a VCE next year that is not marred as this one has been.
Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (16:53): I am very pleased to stand in support of this motion to ask the Ombudsman to investigate and report on the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s (VCAA) failures for the VCE exams. I do want to thank my colleague Georgie Crozier for putting this to the chamber. I note that Ryan Bachelor during his contribution did acknowledge the stuff-ups and mistakes that have happened, and last week the Minister for Education stated that 56 out of 116 VCE examination papers had been compromised. He committed to releasing them to the public, but the public is still waiting.
This is a complete bungle. Thousands of students have worked hard over a very long period of time, they have faced their VCE exams, and to have this hit the headlines I think would be very destructive to them. I know that because I am a parent of a child going through the VCE, and I think it undermines confidence. They feel ripped off, disadvantaged and very confused by what has happened. It does impact the students, it impacts the families and it certainly has an impact on the teachers. I thank Melina Bath, my colleague who is a former teacher, for her contribution to this as well. But this is not just a once-off. We have seen errors now over the last three years.
Minister Ben Carroll has been too slow to act on this important issue. The marking of exam papers is well underway. Labor have asked their friends at the Australian Education Union to look into the matter, but it really goes to that issue of marking your own homework or having friends mark your homework – it is not a good idea. The Liberals and the Nationals want to see a truly independent and comprehensive investigation. It has been more than six weeks now since the VCAA learned about the issues with the exam papers, the hidden text embedded within sample examination papers, and we still do not know all the facts. What were the exams? Which questions were compromised? VCE students and their families deserve better. Our teachers and our schools deserve better. But, as I said, this is not the first time. We have had errors now three years in a row. Reviews have been done, but the problems still remain. The independent investigation put forward in this motion for the Ombudsman will help restore integrity to the VCE assessment process, and it includes a complete review of the systems, processes and resources used for the VCE examinations. Too often we hear in this state about students falling behind in education and standards dropping, but I will say leadership starts at the top. Students, their families and teachers deserve better. They deserve to know exactly how these compromised exams will be graded, which questions have been affected and how their final marks will be impacted.
Minister Carroll found out in mid-October that the examination papers were compromised. He failed to take action to resolve the issue, and now thousands of students are unsure of how they will be impacted. This is just another example of the lack of transparency we see under the Allan Labor government. I ask members of this chamber to support this motion to refer these matters to the Ombudsman for further investigation. As I said, the government should not be marking their own homework or asking friends to do it either. A review is needed after three years of errors. This motion is timely, it is fair and it is reasonable, and I ask the chamber to support it.
Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (16:57): I also applaud Ms Crozier for this motion, which is an investigation into the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) exams. As a former secondary teacher and as someone who has enjoyed teaching secondary students, preparing them and teaching them skills so that they are equipped to go into English exams, I am absolutely appalled to think that under this government for the third year in a row we have leaking of exams. To have 56 exams compromised and to expect the opposition to feel comfortable with the government investigating itself is an absolute joke.
I listened to Mr Batchelor and what he had to say – ‘We don’t want to take up the time of the Ombudsman, and we really think that they should be doing something else.’ Let me say, that is actually the job of the Ombudsman: to be looking into the integrity and looking into these issues. So what are we saying – that they cannot do their job? This government is so inept and so incompetent in so many different areas that this poor Ombudsman is run off its feet. Really the issue here is that this is a very important situation where exams have been compromised. Young people have been preparing for these exams and training in these skills from the time they entered secondary college.
Harriet Shing: On a point of order, Acting President, Mrs Hermans has just referred to the Ombudsman as ‘him’ or ‘he’. That is in fact misleading the house on the basis that the Ombudsman is actually female, and she has got a name, which would be good for Mrs Hermans to put on the record as well.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Whilst you may be correct, it is not a point of order.
Ann-Marie HERMANS: The issue here is so important. The government is trivialising the fact that there needs to be transparency and there needs to be an independent inquiry –
Michael Galea: On a point of order, Acting President, I could not have been more clear in my contribution that the root-and-branch review is going to be independent. For Mrs Hermans to be saying otherwise is either unintentionally or deliberately misrepresenting the facts that have been put before this house. I ask her to correct the record.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): That is not a point of order. Can we kind of wind back on the points of order?
Ann-Marie HERMANS: Thank you, Acting President, and I would really appreciate it, if these points of order are going to continue to be about this, that we just keep going. It is incredibly important to the students and to the teachers that we look into this. It is so important, because these teachers spend a lot of their additional time outside of their school life to train students up to make sure that they are ready for these exams.
My question is: which schools were able to get the exams in advance? Which students were able to get the exams in advance? In which regions did this take place? These are really important questions. Who had access to this information? We need to get to the bottom of it, because at the end of the day –
Ryan Batchelor: On a point of order, Acting President, I am just concerned that Mrs Hermans in her contribution is misrepresenting, wilfully or inadvertently, the facts here, which may lead to confusion for anyone listening to the debate, so I ask that she be accurate in her contribution.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Unless you want to make an accusation of deliberately misleading the house, that is not a point of order.
Ann-Marie HERMANS: It seems that the government is extremely agitated by the fact that a former teacher, who is very familiar with VCE exams, is actually standing up to represent this motion and to speak on it. That concerns me in itself – that I have to be interrupted every time I speak on a motion about a VCAA exam that has been leaked and that actually has compromised results. Some people are going to get into universities who may not really have had the ATAR if they had not had a leaking of that exam, and those –
Michael Galea: On a point of order, Acting President, I would appreciate it if Mrs Hermans would not cast negative aspersions on a cohort of year 12 Victorian students, who are passing their VCE exams as we speak. I ask that she not put negative associations on this cohort of year 12 students. That is an outrageous accusation.
Georgie Crozier: On the point of order, Acting President, the government is trivialising and putting ridiculous points of order, and I ask you to ask them to desist and allow Mrs Hermans to continue with her contribution.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! That is not a point of order. Mrs Hermans to continue without assistance.
Ann-Marie HERMANS: It really bothers me that this government think it is a joke that exams have been leaked and that they want to make a joke of my contribution, because they are constantly interjecting as I speak. Acting President, I actually cannot hear myself.
Members interjecting.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! If we can just keep it down. Let us get through this. Mrs Hermans to continue without assistance from anyone.
Ann-Marie HERMANS: When exams are leaked, when they are compromised – in this case we are talking about 56 exams – it impacts the results. It impacts which students get which results and go to which institutions. Let us just, for example, hypothetically say a regional school that is already disadvantaged is in a situation where it did not have access to that leaked information and its students are already disadvantaged – now they are even more disadvantaged because they did not get the information that maybe some other ‘special’ school somewhere else that is maybe elite or government has been privy to.
It tells me that this government has a lot to hide and once again it is incompetent. Once again it is not transparent, and it is not even willing to support or to encourage the crossbench to support a motion that requires an investigation where we can get a report outside of this government. You cannot expect the people of my region in the south-east to honestly believe that this government is capable of investigating its own internal affairs and being transparent with the public about it. It will be the south-eastern region people who will be disadvantaged in so many ways, and I would like to see the list of the schools that actually received this leaking.
I think that we need to look at what is going on here. I am tired of seeing a government that does not pay attention to the concerns of the people. I am tired of a government that will not allow an independent investigation and a report from the Ombudsman. I know that the people in my region are tired of it. Schoolteachers and students alike do not think this is fair, and they expect a fair deal. This motion is something that will provide it for them.
Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (17:05): This motion is actually very important. It goes to a range of issues around integrity, around confidence and around a system that is integral to our state, and that is the education system. What we have seen and heard today in this chamber by members of the government is quite appalling. They have trivialised this matter, they have ridiculed members of the opposition for no reason and they have not grasped the severity of what has happened here. They argue that there is independence and that it needs to be undertaken, again, by their own people. But this is the third time it has happened – the third year in a row. I repeat what I said in my earlier contribution, that the minister said last November:
These stuff-ups should not have occurred in the first place … We have to ensure this will not be repeated next year.
But it has, and that is why it is concerning. That is why parents are concerned, that is why students are concerned and that is why the opposition is concerned that this is going to happen again, because it is the same people looking into themselves. What is concerning is that members of the crossbench have actually said that we were wrong when in fact members of their own party have sent messages to the shadow minister, and I will read it out:
… the AEU have been active in holding govt to account and seek to allow the dept to deal with it.
We have got unions running this state, and this is just another example of it. They are lobbying the crossbench, and I am sure there will be some fancy deals done down the track. That is the problem in this state. We have got these deals being done. We have got very bad decisions being made. We have got wrong decisions being made, and the impacts are profound, whether it is the increasing debt or whether it is this really important issue around student VCE examinations and the authority that is overseeing them and a minister who should have resigned or been sacked. This is appalling governance. It is an appalling failure, and what we heard from Mr Batchelor and Mr Galea and interruptions by Minister Shing – it was all a bit of a joke and a laugh. The Ombudsman, Mr Batchelor said, was too busy and this would divert resources. If there is not an issue as important as this that an authority like the Ombudsman should be investigating, then goodness, why have them, honestly.
Ryan Batchelor: So they can make decisions on their own motions.
Georgie CROZIER: Yes, but you know, Mr Batchelor, so should the house, and if you had any integrity, if your government had any integrity, you would support this so she could do it.
Michael Galea: You’re very touchy today, Ms Crozier.
Georgie CROZIER: Well, Mr Galea, I am frustrated – like those parents are frustrated, like those students are frustrated and like those principals are frustrated – that you are the worst government in this state’s history and you will not do the right and decent thing.
Georgie CROZIER: Touchy, touchy, touchy.
The PRESIDENT: Ms Crozier, Mr Bourman made a very good ruling before that contributions should be through the Chair.
Georgie CROZIER: President, in my summing-up, this is an important issue, and that is what we have been putting up with through the debate – those sorts of comments from a backbench who are just parroting the lines from a government that is drowning in its own demise and corruption and incompetence.
Georgie CROZIER: Well, you are all failures. You have got CFMEU running the state. You have got the AEU directing the course in this debate. There are real issues, and if an authority should be looking into something, it is something like this. I am absolutely appalled that the government does not see the decency of what needs to be done here for the sake of students, for the sake of parents and for the sake of principals and their school communities. They are taking the political line and not the decent line. How disgraceful.
Council divided on motion:
Ayes (16): Melina Bath, Jeff Bourman, Gaelle Broad, Georgie Crozier, David Davis, Renee Heath, Ann-Marie Hermans, David Limbrick, Wendy Lovell, Trung Luu, Bev McArthur, Joe McCracken, Nick McGowan, Evan Mulholland, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, Richard Welch
Noes (19): Ryan Batchelor, John Berger, Lizzie Blandthorn, Enver Erdogan, Jacinta Ermacora, Michael Galea, Anasina Gray-Barberio, Shaun Leane, Sarah Mansfield, Tom McIntosh, Aiv Puglielli, Georgie Purcell, Harriet Shing, Ingrid Stitt, Jaclyn Symes, Lee Tarlamis, Sonja Terpstra, Gayle Tierney, Sheena Watt
Motion negatived.
Business interrupted pursuant to sessional orders.