Thursday, 9 March 2023

Government integrity

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:08): My question is to the Premier. In a letter to Parliament raising concerns about the conduct of the government, IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich has exposed that the Andrews government controlled Integrity and Oversight Committee directed independent auditors to:

… find dirt on IBAC and data that is not readily publicly available.

Premier, who instructed government members of the IOC to direct auditors to find dirt on IBAC?

Daniel ANDREWS (Mulgrave – Premier) (14:08): Well, again, I am not –

Members interjecting.

Daniel ANDREWS: I am getting advice from the Leader of the Opposition on how to answer questions.

John Pesutto interjected.

Daniel ANDREWS: Well, you have never answered one, mate. You have never answered one, and by the looks of the people behind you, they know you never will.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I ask the Premier to answer the question.

Daniel ANDREWS: Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition asked me about correspondence that is not addressed to me. If the Leader of the Opposition –

Members interjecting.

Daniel ANDREWS: No, the correspondence is not addressed to me. What is more, the preamble to the question is wrong because the correspondence is not addressed to the Parliament; it was addressed to the Presiding Officers. Well, the problem is that the Leader of the Opposition is a –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition and members of the opposition asked a question. I would like to hear the answer in silence.

Daniel ANDREWS: It is a walking example of what the Leader of the Opposition would like to be true.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, to assist the Premier, can I offer to make available a copy of Robert Redlich’s letter to you and the President?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! You can table the letter, but the Premier was answering your question. Order! Leader of the Opposition!

The member for Caulfield can leave the chamber for 1 hour.

Member for Caulfield withdrew from chamber.

Daniel ANDREWS: On the point of order, Speaker, I thought the Leader of the Opposition only 10 minutes ago was asking you for a copy of a letter. Now, apparently, he has got a copy of the letter – confused would be a compliment for this joke. I reject in absolute terms and with clarity any suggestion by the Leader of the Opposition that any member of the government has behaved inappropriately, or any member of staff has behaved inappropriately. And let me conclude by saying the member for Bulleen did not ask this question, did he? He is not here actually, but even if he were here, I do not know that he would have asked this question.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Wendouree can leave the chamber for 1 hour.

Member for Wendouree withdrew from chamber.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, this is a very important matter, and I would ask you to ask the Premier to return to this very important matter.

Daniel ANDREWS: The question contains assertions, and I reject each and every one of them.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): The government has undermined and weakened IBAC in doing its job. To restore integrity in Victoria, will the Premier support a judicial inquiry with the coercive powers of a royal commission to allow the former IBAC Commissioner, auditors and others to speak freely about their concerns?

Daniel ANDREWS (Mulgrave – Premier) (14:12): Former heads of integrity agencies are free to speak. I would have thought that was well understood. What is more, former heads of integrity agencies, when in office, have obligations to report any conduct that they believe to be of a serious nature, and as private citizens they are perfectly entitled to do the same. Again the question began with a series of assertions that have absolutely no basis in fact. It is what the Leader of the Opposition would like to have happened, it is what he would want to have happened –

John Pesutto: No, it is what Robert Redlich said happened.

Daniel ANDREWS: You are wrong. You are wrong – and not for the first time.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, we are most of the way through the answer and we have yet to have a response as to whether the Premier will support a judicial inquiry. It is an important question, and I would ask you to draw him back to that question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier has concluded his answer.