Wednesday, 19 June 2024

 Cindy McLEISH (Eildon) (14:18): My question is to the Minister for Women. Thuggish CFMEU boss and friend of the Premier John Setka was convicted of using a carriage service to harass his wife. The minister has presided –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Eildon will be heard.

Cindy McLEISH: I will start again. Thuggish CFMEU boss and friend of the Premier John Setka was convicted of using a carriage service to harass his wife. The minister has presided over the Call It Out advertising campaign. In line with the government’s Call It Out campaign, will the minister now call out Mr Setka’s use of threats and bullying language?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Tarneit can leave the chamber for half an hour.

Member for Tarneit withdrew from chamber.

 Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham – Minister for Jobs and Industry, Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, Minister for Women) (14:19): Thank you for the question. I welcome the opportunity to talk about women’s policy in this house and receiving my first question in this space since becoming minister at the last election. Our priorities around gender equality in this state are second to none in comparison to every other state, and I welcome the federal government actually stepping up in this space in recent months. And that is the release of a gender equality strategy that is underpinned by 110 ‍recommendations which go to the heart of making our state more equal. When it comes to union leadership –

Cindy McLeish: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, it was about the specific Call It Out campaign, not a general strategy.

The SPEAKER: The minister was just into her answer. I will give her the opportunity to respond.

Natalie HUTCHINS: When it comes to union leadership, when it comes to business leadership and when it comes to school leadership and leadership in hospitals, we expect that women are going to be respected and treated well across this state. That is the standard that we are putting in place with the gender equality strategy and so many of our government policies. The member opposite asked me about the Call It Out campaign – a fantastic campaign actually not in my remit but in the remit of the minister for family violence prevention. I am very proud of that campaign. It is something that we are trying to embed across our community to make sure that leaders in our community and leaders in our union movement are being respectful of women, and of course this government is leading the work when it comes to challenging the norms that have been in place for many decades.

Peter WALSH: On a point of order, Speaker, on the issue of relevance, I would ask you to bring the minister back to answering whether she will call out John Setka for his behaviour.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Thomastown, you are not the Speaker. The Minister for Women was being relevant.

Natalie HUTCHINS: We have gender equality targets that we have put in place across our boards to make sure that we have more women in leadership roles. I strongly encourage the union movement to do the same. And as I was saying, we are doing world-leading work in changing male-dominated industries, giving pathways to women in those industries and making sure that there are certainly ways that women can move up the ranks into leadership roles in those male-dominated industries, whether that is the technology industry, where women are greatly under-represented and this government is stepping up with its digital jobs program, or whether it is manufacturing, where we are in the processes of putting together a strategy to get more women into that sector. In clean energy we are also doing the same, and I am working with the minister. Also we have had a successful program in the construction sector and in the transport sector, where we are changing the game on the job, in the union movements and in the employer associations by putting more women into industries and changing behaviour.

 Cindy McLEISH (Eildon) (14:23): Given the minister will not call it out, last month the minister outlined that the government was expanding the Modelling Respect and Equality, MORE, program to ensure that young men have positive role models. Is John Setka – CFMEU boss, friend of the Premier and a man convicted of harassing women – eligible to be a MORE champion?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Women to respond to the question as it relates to government business.

 Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham – Minister for Jobs and Industry, Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, Minister for Women) (14:24): I think in the current environment of this state, seeing some of the worst stats around the murder of women and record numbers of sexual harassment of women in workplaces in our community, the opposition could lift their game when it comes to this issue instead of trying to attack individuals in this place.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the minister is outrageously debating the issue. This was a very simple question. I understand why the government does not want to answer the question. The question was whether or not Mr Setka, a thug, is entitled to be a MORE champion, and the minister can simply answer that question.

The SPEAKER: I ask members, if you are raising a point of order, to not repeat the question. The Minister for Women was being relevant. I do ask her to remember that the question is responded to as it relates to government business.

Natalie HUTCHINS: I was asked about the MORE program, which actually sits within the purview of responsibility of the minister for family violence prevention. But as the Minister for Women, I absolutely encourage these sorts of programs that are rolled out, that are changing our young boys’ behaviours and that are embedding respectful relationships. I absolutely support those, as I know the Minister for Education and the Premier do. We want to see more of these programs rolled out in the future.