Thursday, 20 September 2018

 Mr DIMOPOULOS (Oakleigh) (10:11): I am pleased to speak on the Essential Services Commission (Governance, Procedural and Administrative Improvements) Amendment Bill 2018. I think the Minister for Women, formerly the Minister for Local Government, last night said that it was probably one of the longest names of a bill that we have had for a while. It is such important legislation though, because it improves the governance framework and the strength of the independent regulator, effectively the regulator that deals with Victorians’ essential services. This government, as other speakers have said, completed a review of the Essential Services Commission Act 2001 in December 2016. The government’s response was tabled in the Parliament in the first half of 2017. The review looked at improving governance arrangements and other procedural and administrative arrangements.

Probably the biggest change the bill is proposing is to replace appeals panels that are currently provided for under the act with a review jurisdiction conferred on the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which is consistent with many other appeals processes in the Victorian jurisdiction. The bill will enable the minister to nominate a person to act as acting chairperson in the absence of the chairperson or a vacancy in the office, which makes absolute sense and probably should have been put in the initial bill. The bill clarifies that the Essential Services Commission (ESC) has a function of reporting on the market structure and performance of regulated industries. This is required under enabling legislation. It also provides for a further review of the act to be completed by the end of 2026.

The bill contains a range of technical changes, but they are really important ones, because the ESC is an organisation, I would hazard a guess, which has very little visibility in the community, but the industries it seeks to provide regulation for have high visibility in the Victorian community, whether they be the energy power companies or commercial passenger vehicles. Last night I think the Minister for Women also talked about the Fair Go Rates system. Both industry sectors and regulatory bodies provide an important service to Victorians. The ESC has coverage of all those and it has a mandate to develop reports on how markets operate; deliver price determinations, as we saw with the feed-in tariff decision earlier this year; produce compliance assessments and audits; and take enforcement actions. It is a really important authority in the state apparatus.

I want to focus on a couple of examples of the importance of it. Last night the minister talked about the Fair Go Rates system. I was in the chair and I was very pleased to be there to listen to the minister’s contribution because it is a prime example of the importance of this regulator and explains why strengthening the regulator through this bill is important. The Fair Go Rates policy effectively — in my words, not those of the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, a former Minister for Local Government — sought to put a downward pressure on rates. It was an issue that was screaming out for attention for a long, long time, as there was such a difference in the rates applied by different councils. I think you, Acting Speaker Carbines, when you were speaking on this bill, referenced your experience as a local government councillor and spoke of how easy it really is when you are finding it a pressure in dealing with a whole bunch of demands in local government to just increase the rates. It probably is a default option for some councils and we saw that with extreme rate rises. I remember that there were rate rises in some councils in excess of 9 per cent in one year alone. They then stepped down to 7 per cent or 6 per cent but over the four-year cycle there were rate increases of over 20 per cent — way beyond the CPI.

Mr Gidley interjected.

Mr DIMOPOULOS: I will pick up the interjection by the member for Mount Waverley who says that Monash increased them. That is right; Monash did. In fact, the minister yesterday referenced Monash as the only council that applied for an exemption because of the waste issues that were confronting the local government sector generally. Monash never had what many other councils had, which was a differentiation in the rates notice between the rates and the levy charge. They were all bundled into one. Monash, as the minister said, put up a compelling case, had done community consultation and, through an Essential Services Commission review, it got an approval. I think that proves the point. Only one council did that but nonetheless that council had a good case and it went forward.

The rates bill is probably the biggest single bill that many families will receive in the course of the year, so having a regulatory body that oversights or puts downward pressure on that is important. I think it is a successful policy in relation to rates.

The other bill that is obviously a big impost on families generally and has been for the best part of a decade really, as the member for Essendon said, is the power bill. I am really pleased that we are not only strengthening the regulator that has some coverage and a role to play with energy prices but that we have done a lot more than that as a government. Other than strengthening the regulator, we sought the John Thwaites review. Three people were involved in that review, but in shorthand it is known as the Thwaites review. That review showed that, amongst other things, the retail part of the energy system was in effect the price-gouging part of the system. The rest of the system seems to be operating well but the retail arm has a fair bit of work to do, and that is where this government has already taken some action and will continue to take action.

The action we have already taken is to provide a greater sense of market knowledge. You cannot make choices as a consumer if you do not have the knowledge. We have set up our independent government website, the Victorian Energy Compare website, which effectively does not favour any energy provider. You cannot get to the top on the search engine because you pay extra money to the government. The energy providers are all equal and are benchmarked on the search parameters input by the customer. I have used the Energy Compare website both for my parents and for myself and my partner and it has been extraordinarily beneficial.

So we have done that. We are also deepening supply in the energy market. We were the first government in Victoria’s history, and one of the leading governments around the world, to actually invest in policy terms through the first-ever climate change act and carbon emission targets and to actually invest in the clean energy market through the reverse auction scheme that was referenced in question time in the last couple of days. We are supporting good, innovative projects in my electorate; for example, one of many will be the Monash University microgrid program where Monash University, across its entire campus, will try to capture energy information to better utilise that for building efficiency.

We do things like that, but the most profound change in the last few weeks — I think the member for Bentleigh said it was a game changer — was the 650 000 houses that are potentially eligible for the solar panel scheme. That is a profound change in the energy mix in this state, and I cannot wait until next July, I think it is, when consumers will be able to go into solar panels without an up-front cost.

They are some of the big initiatives this government has been involved with, with an essential service being power prices and power provision, but we are also strengthening the regulator, that is, the Essential Services Commission. It does a whole range of other work, the Essential Services Commission, not just with the energy market but also with commercial passenger vehicles and the fares they charge and a whole range of other things — the essential services that every Victorian relies on. In a sense it is a bit of a circuit-breaker between the excesses of the market and the needs of the consumer and the taxpayer. I am pleased that we are supporting this commission. I commend the bill to the house.

 Ms SULEYMAN (St Albans) (10:22): I am also pleased to speak on the Essential Services Commission (Governance, Procedural and Administrative Improvements) Amendment Bill 2018. I echo the sentiments of by the member for Oakleigh that this is a fantastic opportunity for us to regulate and further empower the Essential Services Commission (ESC). This follows from a review conducted by the Andrews Labor government. The review was conducted with a number of consultations with various stakeholders. The review concluded that the Essential Services Commission was working very well as an economic regulator but found there were some areas that needed to be strengthened, including the improvement of governance, procedural and administrative arrangements.

The bill proposes to replace the appeals panel established under the act with a review jurisdiction conferred on VCAT. The bill also enables the minister to nominate a person to act as acting chairperson in the absence of a chairperson or a vacancy in the office. It streamlines the process to clarify that the Essential Services Commission has the function of reporting on the market structure and performance of regulated industries.

We have heard about the very important responsibility of the ESC, from energy, water and power companies to local government and of course administering rate capping. We have heard about, as the member for Oakleigh has just said, the Fair Go Rates system for Victorians. In particular in my electorate of Brimbank, where we do have everyday pressures, whether it is your rates or your bills, we need the Fair Go Rates system. I commend the Andrews Labor government for introducing this system because there were unfortunately some councils that were going beyond the means of their ratepayers and there were a number of ratepayers and constituents that were not able to keep up with the rate increases. But now with the essential services commissioner there is an absolute, responsible cap which allows ratepayers to understand what kinds of rates they are paying, and that they are in line with the CPI and day-to-day living costs.

This bill will make sure that the cost-of-living pressures that I know exist in my electorate of St Albans are eased, that rates are fair and that there are options and effective policies in place for local government so that councils do understand when it comes to spending and forecasting expenditure that that needs to be within their means and within community expectations as well. We cannot have councils — and unfortunately there have been some in the past — going beyond their means; we have seen some councils operating for over a decade without any form of capping or any form of a border on spending and raising rates in their municipalities.

As previous speakers have said, the Essential Services Commission is unseen, but it is critical and plays a very vital role in areas ranging from electricity energy to local government and in making sure that the appropriate procedures and administrations are in place.

I also note the recent announcement by the Andrews Labor government of the solar panel scheme. What a fantastic announcement that has been. I know that many residents in my electorate have taken up the scheme. Not everybody can afford an upfront payment, and this Labor scheme gives people, including those in my community, the opportunity to access the scheme. The government pays 50 per cent of the cost, and people can pay the other 50 per cent in instalments over time. It is really important to note that among my constituents in St Albans this has been extremely warmly welcomed, and I am looking forward to the continuing rollout of this important scheme to the rest of St Albans and Victoria.

Mr Dimopoulos interjected.

Ms SULEYMAN: Absolutely. As my colleague the member for Oakleigh has just said, it does apply to hot-water systems as well. This is the only government that has done this. When you look at the Andrews Labor government and the schemes, incentives, programs and support that it has introduced, it cannot be matched by any other state across Australia. We are leading the way when it comes to providing the appropriate support mechanisms to our communities not only in metropolitan Melbourne but also in regional Victoria.

I just want to reiterate, as previous speakers have said, that this bill deals with an essential part of the lives of everyday Victorians, but it is also making sure that the governance, the procedures and administrative arrangements are in place. It is strengthening the regulator, promoting long-term interests of course, making sure that we have respectful prices and that quality and reliable essential services are available to all Victorians. This bill will also regulate the Victorian energy efficiency target scheme, which aims to reduce greenhouse gases by making energy efficiency improvements much more affordable to consumers.

As I said previously, the review undertook pretty specific consultations with key stakeholders. It included the industry, government departments and agencies, and consumer agencies and organisations. This was really an opportunity to seek opinions and make sure that we have the right structures in place. This was also broadly supported by government, and all recommendations were accepted. There has been broad-based support and consultation to improve the Essential Services Commission, the regulator of Victoria’s energy, water and transport sectors, including local government and other agencies, and more importantly to provide good structural outcomes for all.

To conclude, I commend the minister for introducing this bill and making sure that the regulator has the appropriate mechanisms to keep the balances and checks for our essential services throughout Victoria. It will also ensure that the Fair Go Rates cap is monitored and assessed each year so that rates in our municipalities are not over the top but remain within the CPI and that local governments operate within their means and keep the rates down so that they are affordable for residents in the City of Brimbank, keeping in mind the cost-of-living pressures on families in my electorate. I commend the bill to the house and commend the work of the Essential Services Commission.

 Ms THOMAS (Macedon) (10:31): It is my pleasure to rise this morning to speak on the Essential Services Commission (Governance, Procedural and Administrative Improvements) Amendment Bill 2018. The proposed changes aim to improve the operation of the Essential Services Commission Act 2001 and the Essential Services Commission (ESC) and implement the government’s response to the review of the act.

In 2016 a review of the Essential Services Commission Act was conducted in accordance with the requirements of section 66 of that act. The bill implements several of the recommendations of the review, including replacing appeal panels established under the act with a review jurisdiction conferred on the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal; enabling the minister to nominate a person to act as chairperson in the absence of the chairperson, or in the event of a vacancy in the office; clarifying that the Essential Services Commission has the function of reporting on the market structure and performance of regulated industries if this is required under enabling legislation; and providing for a further review of the act to be completed by the end of 2026. The bill also makes a range of statute law revision amendments to the act.

The Essential Services Commission is of course an independent regulator that promotes the long-term interests of Victorian consumers with respect to the price, quality and reliability of essential services. The ESC regulates Victoria’s energy, water and transport sectors and administers the Andrews Labor government’s very successful Fair Go Rates system for the local government sector.

The ESC also regulates the Victorian energy efficiency target, now known as the Victorian Energy Upgrades scheme, which aims to reduce greenhouse gases by making energy efficiency improvements more affordable for consumers. It is important to note that no government ever in the history of this nation has done more to positively reform energy markets than the Andrews Labor government. We have been resolute since we came to power in 2014 in our commitment to both transform the energy market away from emissions-intensive brown coal — the dirtiest coal you can find — to a vibrant, thriving renewable energy sector, and at the same time working to drive down prices.

We have had a comprehensive energy plan the likes of which have never been seen in this nation, and I might say it is opportune to reflect on the paucity of policy from the current Morrison government. What a disgrace it is in Canberra. The upcoming Council of Australian Governments meeting has been cancelled. Do we have a national energy policy? No, we do not. The National Energy Guarantee, which the Andrews Labor government opposed for a range of very good and solid reasons, was opposed by those in Canberra who had nothing in mind other than to roll an incumbent Prime Minister. That is what their opposition to the National Energy Guarantee was about. So here we are in 2018 and we do not have an energy policy in this nation, and the forum at which an energy policy could be agreed to has been cancelled by the illegitimate Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.

In contrast, this government has been working very, very hard. We introduced ambitious renewable energy targets: 25 per cent of our electricity generation will come from renewables by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2025. Let the record reflect in this, the last contribution that I will make in the 58th Parliament, that the Liberal-National opposition intend to ditch those targets. It is vitally important that the people of my electorate understand this very, very clearly because the Macedon Ranges is one of four or five shires that has the highest take-up of solar panels anywhere in Victoria. My community loves renewables. They are right behind this government. They are right behind our commitment to those targets for renewable energy. It is important that they understand that a Liberal government would ditch those renewable energy targets. They have nothing in its place. They have no energy plan. We have a plan to grow renewables and to drive down prices. We have got our renewable energy targets.

We have also just seen the hugely successful reverse auction. I congratulate the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change because, as I said, she is leading policy development in this state. I might not have this quote absolutely correct, but I did see — I think it was even in one of the Murdoch papers, or perhaps it was the Australian Financial Review — they said about our minister for energy that she might have been ‘the smallest person in the room’ at the ministers’ council meeting but she had the biggest ideas. She had the biggest ideas and made the biggest impact. Absolutely. So I congratulate our minister for energy on all of the work that she has done and continues to do.

We have had the hugely successful reverse auction. That reform of ours was initially expected to deliver 650 megawatts of renewable energy but that goal has been smashed, and the auction is instead going to deliver 928 megawatts of renewables — almost 45 per cent more power than originally anticipated. Those projects will generate $1.1 billion of economic investment in regional Victoria. Can you believe that in the face of this fantastic news that those on the other side of the house condemn this process? They have not got one single policy idea in this space. They are opposed to renewables. They will get rid of our energy targets. We all know what happened under the Baillieu-Napthine governments: the wind industry in this state was smashed and destroyed. Whereas our $1.1 billion economic investment is going to create more than 900 jobs, including 270 apprenticeships and traineeships.

So I for one am very, very pleased with the results of our innovative reverse auction scheme, and I can tell you this: so are the members of my community in Macedon. Indeed the more those on the other side want to talk about how they want to ditch our renewable energy targets, the better, because they are totally out of step with the Victorian community and the aspirations of people across this state and particularly in my electorate. I did want to let you know that the Hepburn shire, again in my electorate, is the first shire to sign up to be a shire of zero net emissions through our government’s TAKE2 initiative. Hepburn Shire Council, the Coalition for Community Energy, Hepburn Wind and Sustainability Victoria have partnered together. We have invested $81 000 in this pilot. I have got to tell you the results are fantastic. When you invest in communities and you give communities the tools to make their own decisions about how to best drive down emissions, so much innovation flourishes, and that is what we are seeing in Hepburn. I anticipate continuing to support everything that the Hepburn shire is doing to achieve zero net emissions. Indeed the Macedon Ranges Shire Council are keen to follow in their footsteps.

In conclusion, it is probably also important to mention the Victorian Energy Compare website. That has been a hugely successful initiative of this government. It has been my pleasure to host a couple of sessions in my community, including with pensioners, to help them access the best energy deals for themselves, using our easy-to-use Energy Compare website, and they are getting their $50 bonus for going online. We are working to drive down prices in the energy market and put some competition back into the privatised retail energy market — privatised of course by those on the other side of the house. This is a good bill. I commend it to the house.

 Mr CRISP (Mildura) (10:41): I rise to make a contribution on the Essential Services Commission (Governance, Procedural and Administrative Improvements) Amendment Bill 2018. The purpose of the bill is to amend the Essential Services Commission Act 2001 to achieve outcomes outlined in the provisions of the bill and to make consequential amendments to VCAT, the Accident Towing Services Act 2007, the Electricity Industry Act 2000, the Grain Handling and Storage Act 1995, the National Electricity (Victoria) Act 2005, the National Gas (Victoria) Act 2008, the Port Management Act 1995 and the Rail Management Act 1996. There are so many things one could talk about.

The bill repeals the provisions for panels specific to the Essential Services Commission (ESC) to hear appeals in relation to requirements, decisions or determinations made under the principal act and confers jurisdiction on VCAT to replace the appeals panels; allows the minister rather than the Governor in Council to appoint the chair of the commission; further provides for the commission to report on the market structure and performance of regulated industries; and provides that the act will be reviewed by the end of 2026.

Certainly the ESC has a large number of roles in our community. They perform quite a number of functions. They are responsible in my area for water rates and reviewing those. They have a role in the local government rates. The Fair Go Rates system is also a creature of the ESC, though indirectly. Rates in local government have certainly become a big issue in recent times in my electorate. The Victorian Farmers Federation are fighting strongly for a better deal for farmers on farm rates. We then also have the fire services levy, which pays in part for the Country Fire Authority (CFA). As part of that CFA budget, there is an aerial response process, which is managed through Emergency Management Victoria.

Certainly we look to this year being one of the driest years, and in the latest briefing our rainfall and soil moisture conditions were at the lowest 10 per cent of records. Traditionally the Mallee is the first to go into the fire season with restrictions. This year East Gippsland has gone first because they have been in drought longer, but the Mallee will have its challenges. Experience shows that in years after you have had a great deal of rain and there are large fuel loads on the ground, you can have fires, but equally you can have them in very dry years because of the low humidity rates, particularly in the Mallee where we do not really have an understorey or an overstorey; it is really a single storey. There is, I think, considerable risk.

To help manage that risk, Mildura Airport has installed a fantastic system there to reload the tankers, and I will read from their recent release to me, which says:

I would like to … pass it on to the relevant parties, that Mildura Airport now has a refilling point for the large aerial fire bombers …

They are the Hercules and BAe 146 aircraft, as well as the Elvis category of helicopters. The release continues:

From now on you can bring a fire bomber up to Boeing 737 size and have immediate capability to refill directly from the hydrant point adjacent to taxiway B.

Aircraft refuelling is also available. No advance notification is required, nor is ground tanker support because it is just a matter of plugging in.

This makes Mildura the most capable aerial firefighting refilling airport in Victoria, NSW and SA …

It means that you can deploy a large aircraft to a location proximate to Mildura and not have to worry about logistics …

Previously there were delays in refuelling the aerial fleet, as I understand, and one of the things that was discussed in January this year when the aerial point was completed was that there would be consideration this fire season by Emergency Management Victoria to in fact place a tanker on standby in Mildura. What they can supply, from a high-pressure volume pipeline, is a hydrant that can directly load a tanker located on taxiway Delta: 20 000 litres can be moved into the aircraft in 10 minutes, and that is without any other ground support. This is truly an excellent facility provided by Mildura Airport.

All that remains I think is for those in fire management to realise that now we are in fire season we need a tanker located in Mildura at the airport, that such a tanker can service a wide area from that airport and that should a fire break out, Mildura is in a very strong position to support a large number of aerial appliances that may well be dealing with a fire. Also, Mildura does have all the other services necessary to support such deployment. In the meantime it would I think give the Mallee great comfort to know that there is a large tanker sitting at Mildura Airport ready to deal with any fires that break out in the electorate of Mildura. The proximity of a large airport in being able to deliver that service quickly to those CFA volunteers on the ground could well make a significant difference in the spread of a fire and thus the damage that is caused by the fire and the need to deploy large numbers of ground staff. Having something located in Mildura offers that very early attack on the fire, strong support for our volunteers and certainly the knowledge that any fire will be contained quickly. With those words, The Nationals in coalition are not opposing this bill.

 Ms GRALEY (Narre Warren South) (10:48): It is a pleasure to rise this morning to speak on the Essential Services Commission (Governance, Procedural and Administrative Improvements) Amendment Bill 2018. I would like to commend the member for Mildura for being the second Nationals member to speak on this bill and for turning up and making a contribution, because we have only had one member of the Liberal Party come in here to talk about what is a very important bill. I will give credit to the member for Mornington who did turn up and took his full half-hour to explore this bill, but, as he said, he was effectively keeping up appearances — keeping up appearances for a whole lot of people over there in the opposition who have barely shown their faces in this chamber this week. I do not know what they are up to, but it is not fulfilling their duties as parliamentary participants and representing their local community, and I would suggest —

Mr Nardella interjected.

Ms GRALEY: Yes, maybe they are having a look at that whiteboard, member for Melton, but one of our important roles is to debate legislation.

Apart from the contributions from the member for Mildura, the member for Ovens Valley and the member for Mornington, we have heard nothing about this from members opposite, and the reason for that is this bill actually creeps into an interesting space for us. We want to talk about these things because we are very proud of being a government that has really committed to a strong energy policy. Yes, we have committed to try to support the renewable power industry so that we make sure we have good supplies of energy for the future, that we protect our environment and that we support businesses. Most of all, you do not have to support the environment at the expense of the economy; you can support them both at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive, and in the case of our energy policy you see that happening because our energy policy and our climate policy will create thousands of jobs for Victorians and some of them I hope will be in Mildura.

To return to the bill, the bill is a very important one, and as a person that does believe in the role of government and does believe in making sure that government decisions are open and transparent and also as a participant in civic life, I am a strong believer in the independent umpire — places like the Ombudsman and, in this case, the Essential Services Commission (ESC) that people can go to and that organisations can access if they sometimes have got disputes or sometimes are looking for some better advice.

The Essential Services Commission is a very, very good institution. It has served us very well in Victoria. It is, as I said, an independent regulator that promotes the long-term interests of Victorian consumers, and consumers need protecting. We have a very volatile energy market. We know that people are doing it tough with all their household bills. So to have such an independent and good, working regulator that looks at the price, quality and reliability of essential services is a very important part of our government’s governance infrastructure. They do regulate Victoria’s energy, water and transport sectors and administer the rate capping system for the local government sector, and they also regulate the Victorian energy efficiency target, the VEET scheme, which aims to reduce, as I said earlier, greenhouse gases by making energy efficiency improvements more affordable for consumers.

I do want to spend what time I have left on talking about why it is very important that we have the ESC monitoring rates in this state. At the last election the Andrews Labor government committed to rate capping of sorts in that local governments could only increase their rates by a certain amount. That was, I have got to say, very, very warmly welcomed by people in the Narre Warren South electorate. One of the issues that constantly has come through my door in the 12 years I have been a member of Parliament is the issue of, frankly: ‘What is the City of Casey up to a lot of the time?’. Secondly, ‘What are they spending money on?’, and thirdly, ‘I am a bit unhappy about the level of my rates bill’.

Get the picture we have here: mostly people in the City of Casey have invested enormously in building their first home or their dream home, and they do experience — many of them — high energy bills, high mortgage rates and all the other things that come with looking after a family. So when they get their rates bill, they often get very, very upset. They do not get much of a hearing from the City of Casey, so what do they do? They toddle on down to my office and we sit down with them and have a chat.

It was only in 2016, not that long ago, that the City of Casey decided — I think it was one of only two councils in the whole state that decided they could not live within their means — they could not live within the rate cap. The council could not look outside their Taj Mahal and see what was happening in the homes of ordinary Narre Warren South residents. They decided they wanted to put the rates up by, I think, 3.47 per cent. Thank goodness for the Essential Services Commission. The council had to go to that organisation, and I have got to say the ESC was completely on to them. It was a great relief that the independent regulator had a really thorough look at the City of Casey’s books. They realised that Casey’s overall financial position was strong and that they were actually forecasting an underlying surplus of — can you believe it — $33.9 million. Casey had also, the ESC discovered, been receiving state government funds at the same time as they were saying they did not have enough money for capital build projects.

Local government never, ever says thank you to the state government for the interface fund, the Growing Suburbs Fund, and all the extra support we have provided to them, especially in the last four years, which has enabled them to build infrastructure in the local area that would have still been in the never-never if we had not been, I have got to say, generous but also very targeted in making sure that the facilities that the community needed were being provided as a result of the partnership between state and local government.

I am a big fan of the ESC. They do a very good job, and this new legislation will allow them to do an even better job. The government completed a review of the Essential Services Commission Act 2001 in December 2016, and now this bill before the house proposes a number of changes which will make the ESC much more efficient. It will set up a very good clear, transparent review process that will enable people to take their case to VCAT on appeal. Anybody who has been to VCAT, as I have, knows it is a good court in which to air your disputes and get on with the job after the decision has been made.

Without further ado, it is a pleasure to commend the work of the Minister for Finance, who brought this bill to the house, and wish it a speedy passage through to the next Parliament, which I will not be here to see. I have no reservations in saying that those on this side of the house — and I do thank the opposition for not opposing this bill at this stage — should be back on this side of the house again, and they will make sure that this bill gets the wind in its sails and becomes law in the future.

 Mr EDBROOKE (Frankston) (10:58): It is a pleasure to rise this morning to speak on the Essential Services Commission (Governance, Procedural and Administrative Improvements) Amendment Bill 2018. I will just take this chance to speak about the member who spoke prior to me, the member for Narre Warren South, and say what an incredible contribution she has made to this house over the many years she has been involved in public life.

As a fairly junior member of Parliament I learned much from the member for Narre Warren South, and I just want to put in Hansard that she has been a friend to many, many Labor colleagues and given some very sound and sage advice to some of us in the house. It is a very sad day to see her go, along with many other members of the Labor caucus who have made magnificent contributions to their communities and to policy in Victoria as well.

I come back to the bill. Some members opposite have actually come in now to listen to the bill, surprisingly. We have had, I think, two Nationals members speak on the bill. It is something that I love, seeing people come in to hear me speak about bills that are so good for my community. As I said, I am really pleased to make a contribution on the Essential Services Commission bill. This bill arises from a review that was initiated and completed by the Andrews government in December 2016. The review and the response were tabled in this place on 7 March 2017. The review and the response, which we see reflected in this bill, made some really important changes to the Essential Services Commission. The commission itself, as many members of this house —

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Carbines): The member for Frankston will have the opportunity to continue when debate on the bill resumes. The time has come for me to interrupt business under sessional orders for questions without notice and ministers statements.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.