Thursday, 22 June 2023

Public transport ticketing system

Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (14:28): My question is to the Minister for Public Transport. In October 2020 the Department of Transport and Planning contracted Cormeum Consulting to provide technical advisory services for the next-generation ticketing strategy. What services were provided under this contract?

Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Industry and Innovation, Minister for Manufacturing Sovereignty, Minister for Employment, Minister for Public Transport) (14:29): Welcome back to the dispatch box, member for Polwarth. I wondered where you had been yesterday. Let us be very clear: in that time line the member for Polwarth gave, we were also going through COVID and we were also responding and making sure we could use digital applications to get more and more people back onto public transport to support frontline workers. I know firsthand the Department of Transport and Planning were doing due diligence to make sure we could do everything we could to support our nurses and our doctors and our frontline workers get to where they needed to get to and also to help everyday Victorians get the jab and get vaccinated and use public transport. We draw on a lot of expertise and a lot of experience and will continue to get on and do the job to make sure we have a world-class public transport system, including a world-class public transport ticketing system.

Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (14:30): The principal –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Polwarth will be heard without assistance.

Richard RIORDAN: Thank you, Speaker. The principal consultant of Cormeum Consulting is Mr Russell Goslin, formerly the vice-president, public sector, Australia and New Zealand, for Conduent. Can the minister outline if the probity auditor was aware that the former Conduent vice-president was advising the government on a $1.7 billion contract that it awarded to Conduent?

Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Industry and Innovation, Minister for Manufacturing Sovereignty, Minister for Employment, Minister for Public Transport) (14:31): What I can outline for the member for Polwarth is that the independent probity auditor has signed off on the contract process. He has signed off right from the very beginning – the expression-of-interest process to the request-for-proposal process.

Richard Riordan: On a point of order on relevance, Speaker, the question was: did the probity auditor sign off that the former vice-president of Conduent was in fact advising your government on the contract it awarded to Conduent?

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Polwarth knows that a point of order is not an opportunity to repeat the question. The Minister for Public Transport was being relevant to the question that was asked.

A member interjected.

Ben CARROLL: I would not be talking about tap on and tap off if I was you. Everyone is waiting for you to get a tap on the shoulder and go.

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, through the Chair. It is very disrespectful to the Chair if you direct your questions across the table and not through the Chair.

Ben CARROLL: Thank you, Speaker. The independent probity adviser has signed off on the full process, and can I please outline for the member for Polwarth that when it comes to making an assessment of contracts there is the mandatory criteria, which obviously takes in financial capability, but more than that – and we have just had the Brotherhood of St Laurence in Queen’s Hall – there is the social procurement side of it, and – oh, here he is.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Polwarth! Members will be removed from the chamber without warning. I get it that this is the last question, but I ask you to come to order.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Premier will come to order. The Leader of the Nationals can leave the chamber for half an hour. When I am on my feet, the house will be silent.

Member for Murray Plains withdrew from chamber.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the question was very direct: was the probity auditor aware that the person who was managing the contract worked for the eventual winner?

The SPEAKER: Order! Relevance was your point of order. It is not an opportunity to repeat the question. The minister was being relevant to the question that was asked.

Ben CARROLL: Thank you, Speaker. I was asked a very clear question about the probity auditor, and as I said at the outset, the independent probity auditor signed off on the whole process.