Wednesday, 22 March 2023

 Mathew HILAKARI (Point Cook) (10:33): I rise to speak on the committee report from the Integrity and Oversight Committee Performance of the Victorian Integrity Agencies 2020/21: Focus on Witness Welfare. The IOC, as we know, is responsible for reviewing and monitoring the performance of our integrity agencies in Victoria, all four of them: the IBAC, the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner, the Victorian Inspectorate and the Victorian Ombudsman. I am so pleased to make my contribution after the member for Albert Park but particularly the member for Melton, who was a previous chair of this committee in the 59th Parliament. Of course, as a new member of this Parliament I am so pleased with the secretarial support that I have received on the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. It is such an important role that they play in making sure that members are up to date, well briefed and prepared to provide reports like this to the Parliament. I would like to thank Sean Coley, the committee manager; Dr Stephen James, the senior research officer; Tom Hvala, the research officer; Holly Brennan, the complaints and research assistant; Maria Marasco, committee administrative officer; and Bernadette Pendergast, committee administrative officer. Each of these has made sure that this committee report does justice to the work that the committee does day in and day out to ensure that we have the appropriate oversights that we need.

There were a series of recommendations that were contained in the report, and I was pleased to hear the member for Melton discuss the support of the integrity agencies in taking up these recommendations and running with them. This is an important role that the committee has played and they were important recommendations. I thank you for my being able to make a contribution on this important matter.