Tuesday, 22 March 2022
Business of the house
Program
Program
That, under standing order 94(2), the orders of the day, government business, relating to the following bills be considered and completed by 5.00 pm on Thursday, 24 March 2022:
Gambling and Liquor Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
Justice Legislation Amendment (Fines Reform and Other Matters) Bill 2022
Puffing Billy Railway Bill 2022.
In moving this motion today to the house, I do so with great optimism and positivity because I have been given a bit of a whisper that this might receive some universal support throughout the chamber today. I do not want to get everyone’s hopes up too high; there is still the entirety of the government business program debate to be run and I know how much the members for Gippsland South and Sandringham love making their key contributions of the week on this important part of the house’s processes and debate. I think we are all still trying to recover from the member for Sandringham’s attempt at getting Mr Squiggle into the context of the government business program debate last sitting week.
But in all seriousness, the government has put three bills forward for consideration by the house today. They are all good, important bills that cover critical pieces of policy and reform for members to consider and debate, and the government would like to see them passed without amendments. I would also note, for completeness’s sake, as you have just read, there is the bill returning from the Legislative Council, the Regulatory Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill 2021. It is the government’s intent for that matter to be discussed this afternoon, as I appreciate there is quite a bit of interest from members in this house on that matter. I particularly note the independent member for Shepparton is no doubt very keen to make a contribution on that amended bill, given it goes to issues that she raised in this place during the second reading of the bill some weeks ago in the Legislative Assembly.
I just want to finish by making the observation that the opposition have requested that the Puffing Billy Railway Bill 2022 be taken into consideration-in-detail stage. After some long conversations with the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, discussion about the bill and the content and the request from the opposition that was weighed heavily and considered and discussed with great detail, we are very pleased to be able to confirm to the opposition that that request has been agreed to. The minister for tourism is very pleased to be able to have the opportunity to discuss this bill in greater detail with the Shadow Minister for Tourism during a consideration-in-detail stage. Now, I will have to say to the opposition: it will be later this week; it will be based on when time is available later this week. I understand—
Members interjecting.
Ms ALLAN: You should all know by now never to assume and never to presume. I know that the minister and the shadow minister have had some discussion already about some of the issues that the shadow minister wishes to raise, and I am sure an appropriate amount of time can be made available later in the week for that consideration-in-detail stage to take place and for those matters to be raised and debated during that part of the week. With those words—and from the joyous nature of those opposite—I am going to hope that this government business program gets supported by the house this week.
Ms STALEY (Ripon) (12:17): I can advise that on this occasion we will not be opposing the government business program. We can do that because, as the Leader of the House has indicated, we have requested it, as we quite frequently request consideration in detail on a bill, and this time around the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events—unlike every other minister that this has been put to, who has run scared on this issue—has agreed that he would answer some questions in this place. Clearly every other minister that we have asked this of—and that includes the Minister for Health, the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers, who all declined the opportunity—is not across their portfolio in the way the minister for tourism is, prepared to have a go and answer some questions.
This is a serious bill. The Puffing Billy Railway Bill 2022 is the result of an inquiry that came out of some very, very serious allegations that ended up with some people going to prison, I believe, and a terrible culture of sexual assault, and it is a final part of some of the recommendations from that inquiry. So it is an important piece of legislation, and we do welcome the opportunity to examine it in more detail. But we cannot get past the fact that we have been asking for consideration in detail, and we are now in the fourth quarter of this term of Parliament and this is the first—and we will wait to see if it is in fact the only bill we get consideration in detail on. We will be asking for it, I would suspect, on other bills at other times—but that is not to take away from our pleasure that the minister for tourism is prepared to come into this place and answer some questions from the Shadow Minister for Tourism on this bill.
I wonder, though, in addition to the minister’s availability and acceptance of our request, whether in fact the government has been reading the Guardian, because I note that in the Guardian this week there has been quite a big piece on the government’s poor record on how it runs this house. It mentions the motion that the member for Shepparton attempts to move each sitting week and for which she is denied leave so it cannot even be debated, and it also mentions the consideration-in-detail stage and the fact that we have asked for it repeatedly and never received it this term. So I do wonder whether a bit of sunshine in the way of press mention has in fact prodded the government to give us consideration in detail. I note, though, that it should not take that and it should not take our continual requests—somehow begging for crumbs at the table of consideration in detail. It should be far more a part of this place than it is.
As I noted in my remarks when I spoke to the Guardian, senior ministers such as the Treasurer, the Minister for Transport Infrastructure and the Premier are all in this place, and they all should be prepared to answer questions—
Ms Allan: On a point of order, Speaker, a bit of latitude is given, but reading into Hansard the article in the Guardian—I mean, we can all go and read it for ourselves. I would suggest it is straying far and wide from the government business program. I could also point out to the former Shadow Minister for Transport Infrastructure that not all requests are always made by those opposite for those ministers that she has identified. I would suggest that she come back to debating the government business program, and we can all pop off and read the Guardian article at our leisure.
The SPEAKER: Order! I do not uphold the point of order. The member for Ripon is being relevant to the government business program debate.
Ms STALEY: Thank you, Speaker. I could keep reading and in fact will. What I went on to say was:
It’s not something that we would do all the time, on each and every bill, but some are incredibly important.
It’s an issue that goes to the very heart of democracy.
It is relevant to the government business program because we are exactly debating whether we get to go into consideration in detail, and the government business program is where the guillotine is imposed. So as I say, we will not be opposing the government business program on this occasion.
Motion agreed to.