Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Production of documents

Department of Education air purifier program

David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:13): I move:

That this house requires the Leader of the Government, pursuant to standing order 10.01, to table in the Council, by 30 June 2025, all documents in possession of the Department of Education relating to the 2022 rollout of high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) purifiers in Victorian government and low-fee non-government schools, including but not limited to:

(1) the timeline of procurement and delivery of devices;

(2) Samsung warranty and fault reports and department replacement requests, detailing unit functionality and school usage;

(3) outcomes of ventilation assessments conducted in schools;

(4) evaluations, studies, or data assessing the impact of HEPA filters on air quality, health outcomes, or absenteeism in schools;

(5) guidelines provided to schools; and

(6) any advice received from the chief health officer and any other internal or external experts, including related to the expansion of the program in 2022.

This is a fairly simple motion that requires the Leader of the Government to produce documents relating to the rollout of high-efficiency particulate air filters in government and low-fee non-government schools. There was much talk yesterday about the money wasted on the Commonwealth Games that we did not have in Victoria, but another thing that has been concerning me for some time is the amount of money that we spent on HEPA filters for schools. My understanding is it was somewhere in the order of $190 million, and I have concerns about whether this actually did anything at all helpful for schools. So what I am especially hoping to get from this are any evaluations that were done on the effect of these HEPA filters, whether they were actually serviced and whether there were faults and warranty claims. My understanding is that some schools did not want to pay for the maintenance on them – that replacing the filters on some of them cost upwards of $250 a year and the schools decided that it was not worth it – so they just sit there doing nothing.

Another thing that I understand with the HEPA filters is some of the guidance that was given to schools during the time, during the pandemic, was to keep the windows open in the schools to help with ventilation. However, if you read the instruction manuals on these HEPA filters, which I have done, they say they do not work with the windows open. I am very curious to see what effect these HEPA filters had. These documents will hopefully shed some light on what has actually happened with these filters in schools. It is a fairly simple motion, so I will keep it short and leave it there. I hope that people will also want to look at whether this was an effective use of taxpayers money.

Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (10:15): I am pleased to rise to speak on Mr Limbrick’s motion seeking documents in relation to the use of HEPA filters in Victorian schools. These purifiers were rolled out and the program was implemented in response, obviously, to the COVID-19 pandemic and the very real consequences for our community, for children in our schools, of airborne viruses and infection caused by airborne particulates. I think in many forums over many years now, particularly since that pandemic, the science on the dangers of respiratory-based illness caused by airborne particulates is pretty well and comprehensively documented. I do not think we need to go through them again. We understand and believe the science on this side of the chamber.

In response to that pandemic, the school system, the Department of Education, set up the Victorian ventilation technical advisory panel to give advice to the Victorian government on ventilation matters in our classrooms. We know that there are classrooms in our school system that are more than 150 years old and there are classrooms in our school system that are months old and we needed to have a look at the range of settings and circumstances that students in this state are under, so we set up a technical advisory panel to provide advice to the government on ventilation matters, particularly to reduce the risk of airborne infectious disease transmission.

Working with that panel, the education department has undertaken analysis of the data collected through the ventilation assessment program at 100 sample schools as well as 40 early childhood settings, including CO₂ monitoring data and detailed thermodynamic modelling, providing insights into airflow and air change per hour in school spaces – detailed, rigorous assessment. As part of the program 18,000 rooms were audited and 3400 CO₂ monitors were installed in a sample of schools and early childhood settings. The assessment found that most early learning centres and schools rely on natural ventilation, and the government has responded by providing additional air purifiers to reduce the transmission risk of airborne viruses in settings where natural ventilation is less available, and particularly less available in winter. One of the issues that we have obviously in those seasons where the risk of airborne infectious disease is higher – during winter – is that if we open windows to provide natural ventilation it lets cold air in, and students understandably are not particularly enamoured with having cold air brought into their classrooms as a way to reduce the risk of airborne viruses. So what the government has done is provide ventilation systems, filtration systems, to help with that process.

We are, as always, concerned to make sure that the settings that our students in this state learn in are ones that are safe from preventable risk. We now as a community have a much greater appreciation of the risk that airborne infectious diseases pose. We much better understand the settings that we all live and work in, and I think it is an entirely appropriate thing for the government to do to get technical advice, to get scientific advice, to get health advice and to act to make sure that the settings that we educate our children in and that this state under law forces them to be in are as safe as they possibly can be. Obviously the government will, as is our convention, not oppose the documents motion. We will look through the process diligently. But I will never resile from supporting government initiatives to try and keep our kids safe, and I will never be party to any sort of explicit or subliminal campaign that suggests that we should not be taking that kind of action. I think undermining that kind of an approach, whether explicitly or subliminally, is a huge risk to our community, and we must constantly guard against it no matter what we see happening on the other side of the world.

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (10:20): I am very pleased to be able to rise and speak to Mr Limbrick’s motion. It is a very simple motion, a documents motion. In the interests of transparency he is seeking from the government an understanding about the high efficiency particulate air – or HEPA – purifiers that were provided to government schools and low-fee non-government schools. They were rolled out through the pandemic, and I think at the time there was huge fanfare by the then education minister saying, ‘This is the biggest investment in our schools to protect students, staff and school communities.’ I note that the program ends at the end of this year, and listening to Mr Batchelor and what he was saying, you would wonder why these purifier contracts are not extended – given what he was saying about the importance of viruses and air ventilation. We all know that the best ventilation is an open window or an open door. The Spanish flu told us that. You do not have to be a medical expert or a scientific expert to understand the benefits of ventilation.

Certainly there were so many issues around the COVID pandemic that I and Mr Limbrick and others have spoken about ad nauseam, and most of those on the other side were not here at that time when we wanted greater transparency and understanding about the impacts of the government policy decisions. As Mr Limbrick has said, what he is concerned about – given this program, which was implemented by the government at close to $200 million, I understand – is the issues around these purifiers, around the warranties, around replacing the filters. Is that being done, and what is the cost to those schools? Can schools afford that? They are under so much pressure as it is. These are the issues that we need to understand around: really, did this program provide a benefit to children, as the government were saying at the time? If you look at the Department of Education website, where they talk about this policy initiative, they say:

Schools are strongly encouraged to fix windows that are designed to be opened but do not open …

Well, that is on the government. Where are these maintenance programs, when windows that need to be opened cannot be opened?

It is a pity Mr Batchelor was not down at the St Kilda Primary School with me on Monday with the parents and children who were honking the government, wanting to have a community hall. Talk about ventilation – they have got to have their assemblies outside. They do not even have a sports facility, and they need to have a community hall that is fit for purpose in 2025. Nevertheless the government is not investing in that. I digress slightly, but the point I am making is that there is a failure by the Allan Labor government to be providing sufficient maintenance for schools and sufficient capacity for schools, especially in my electorate of Southern Metro and at the St Kilda Primary School, which is in desperate need of that community hall – and I have raised it before.

But Mr Limbrick’s motion is obviously very succinct. It is very reasonable; it is not asking anything. I heard Mr Batchelor say, ‘We’ll look through it in due course.’ Well, I would urge the government to do so, given the failures in what the government did through COVID – no royal commission, which we were asking for in the interests of transparency and understanding for the Victorian community. Look at the 2009 bushfires and the royal commission that was held and what they said: we need to understand what happened so that we can prevent such a tragedy. Well, there were so many tragedies during COVID.

But with this expense that was provided by the government, has the program worked and what are the issues, as I said, around the replacing of the filters, the cost to schools – is that happening, is it not happening – and the warranties? What is going to happen to the HEPA filters? Are they just going to lay dormant? Were they positioned in the right places? Again I say there are basic issues around maintenance, about fixing windows that need to be opened. I think that is the best form of ventilation for our schools, and I would urge the government to get on and identify those areas. I commend Mr Limbrick for bringing this documents motion, and I urge the government to support it and get on and release those documents.

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:25): As I rise in front of an air purifier, I look forward to making a brief contribution on this subject today. I am disappointed that Ms Crozier has decided to leave the chamber immediately, but I am sure you will make up for the lack of volume, Mrs McArthur.

I do rise to make a few comments on what is an important subject and affirm again, as Mr Batchelor has, that in line with convention the government will not be opposing this motion which has been brought for us today by Mr Limbrick. It goes to an important subject, and that is the rollout of these HEPA purifiers across schools in Victoria. It was a $190 million investment that this government was very proud to make because it is a government that has consistently put the health and wellbeing of all Victorians, and indeed all students, at the forefront. We know that a total of 110,000 HEPA purifiers were procured for schools, which was enough to cover every classroom, staffroom, gym and so on in eligible schools. I understand that of that number, 107,000 were delivered across 2021 and 2022. If Ms Crozier were here, I might actually agree on one little point with her to say that, yes, obviously ventilation is the best form of air purification, but we cannot always do that. It is not always weather appropriate to do that either, and that is why HEPA purifiers are so very important. There have been things that we have learned through the pandemic, and not just for COVID of course but for all sorts of other nasty bugs and viruses. These air purifiers are a great thing, and they are one of the tools that we should all be using insofar and as much as we can. Whether it is getting our flu shot, I know I got my flu shot last sitting week down here along with Mr Luu from the other side, and I hope many other members did too. I hope you did, Mrs McArthur.

Bev McArthur: I’m over vaccines.

Michael GALEA: Well, I will make sure to stay away from you in the peak of flu season then, Mrs McArthur, in that case. They are a very important tool, despite what some members opposite say. Vaccines are actually a very important tool, as are air purifiers. Indeed we have seen many investments by this government during the pandemic, and having air purifiers in schools is obviously something that goes to the heart of state administration. But we also saw this government having to step repeatedly into areas of federal responsibility when there was a complete dereliction of duty by the former federal Liberal government, a complete failure to invest, whether it was in quarantine or whether it was in primary health care. We saw the establishment of the 25 priority primary care centres by this Allan Labor government as a direct response to the then federal Liberal government’s complete failure to invest in and support primary health care in this state and across the nation too.

But this is a government that will not back away from putting Victorians first, even when a federal Liberal government does so – even when that is the case, Mrs McArthur. I hope that you will be joining me in supporting the return of a second term of Anthony Albanese so that we can continue to have a federal Labor government that does not ignore Victorians, that actually gets on with it and that wants to invest in Victoria – whether it is railway infrastructure that your lot want to rip out, whether it is the health services, whether it is increasing those Medicare rebates, whether it is the Medicare urgent locals, the new names for the priority primary care centres. There are all these things in the space of health, and of course we are talking about education, with the full 25 per cent quotient of federal funding, which has been delivered after significant lobbying, I will say, from the Victorian Minister for Education Minister Carroll. It is great to see that only a federal Labor government is actually stepping up to deliver that, to match that and to finally give Victoria its fair share.

Even though there is some work to do in some other areas, at least with ongoing outputs we are seeing that investment from the federal Albanese Labor government. It is a great thing to see, and it is something that we certainly would not have seen under that chaotic shambles of a federal Liberal government. Certainly we would not be seeing much more investment in Victoria under a Peter Dutton led Liberal government. He would be spending all his money trying to build nuclear reactors across the state and across the whole nation, I am sure, and there would be no money left for anything else, let alone air purifiers, schools or anything else. There would be no money to support any of the, for example, 2200 major school upgrades or other upgrade projects that this government has undertaken over 10 years, including the 85 level crossings that have been removed. Indeed we know he is not going to support Sunshine or the airport rail link or the Suburban Rail Loop, so he is going to rip funds out of Victoria all for his nuclear fantasy. Instead, on the other side of the debate, we have a federal Labor government that actually knows where Victoria is on the map and is prepared to continue to invest in the state of Victoria.

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (10:30): I think we have heard it all today. Mr Galea said this government – I do not know, was it the Andrews Labor government, the Allan Labor government, Carroll or Williams? We do know who is coming next – put the health and wellbeing of the people of Victoria first. No, you did not; you locked them down like no other country in the world. If you had only let people out in the fresh air, they might have been saved. Think of the children that had to be locked up at home. They did not have an air purifier in everybody’s house. They were locked inside more than anybody else in the world, never mind an air filter that you spent nearly $200 million on. Now it will end up in landfill. If you really wanted to do something, why didn’t you fix the windows and the doors at schools? Why didn’t you give them an air conditioner? You are a monumental disgrace, you lot. And what about the advice the health officials gave? We understand that it may not have been taken up by Mr Andrews in the correct way.

We all know about your incompetence at rolling out big-ticket items – take the east–west link or yesterday’s Commonwealth Games report. You cannot roll out anything. You are a total failure. What about the fridges you delivered to everybody? They ended up in landfill too – and you talk about being concerned about the environment. You are just a disgrace.

How many HEPA filters were needed in Sweden, which had the best results during the COVID pandemic with how many lives were lost compared to the population? They did none of this. They did not need a HEPA air filter.

We need transparency in this government. Mr Limbrick’s motion is absolutely right: we need every document relating to this $200 million rollout. Victorians have a right to know where you spent the money, how you spent the money and why you spent the money and a cost–benefit analysis as to whether it did save one child’s life. Think of the children that committed suicide because you locked them up. That was a total disgrace as well. So you need to provide all these documents that Mr Limbrick is calling for. He is absolutely right. Transparency in this government would be a new phenomenon for the whole lot of you – you would not know what it meant. Mr Limbrick’s motion needs to be supported.

Motion agreed to.