Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Business of the house
Program
Please do not quote
Proof only
Business of the house
Program
That, under standing order 94(2), the orders of the day, government business, relating to the following bills be considered and completed by 5 pm on 31 July 2025:
Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025
Crimes Amendment (Performance Crime) Bill 2025
National Electricity (Victoria) Amendment (Vicgrid Stage 2 Reform) Bill 2025.
It is great to be back after a break. I want to take this opportunity to wish you and the parliamentary staff all the best for the next session, as we now approach the sixth quarter – I am not sure of our term. As always, our Labor government has been hard at work, focusing, as we always do, on the things that matter most to Victorians. Let me be clear that here in Victoria, the people of the community that we so proudly represent know and fully understand that our Labor government has their back. We are always on the side of Victorians. They also know that under the Liberals they are on their own – I mean, history repeats time and time again. If you want to understand the values and the priorities of those on the other side of this place, we only need to look at what they have done in the rare occasion that they have had the opportunity to govern in this state in the past 30-odd years or so and we will see their values writ large, and they contrast with ours.
I know, because I have seen the list, that people on this side of the house cannot wait to get up and speak about the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025. Since 2014, Local Jobs First has been applied to over 3000 projects, worth over $197 billion in government investment. What this means in real terms for real people is job opportunities, but not just any old job – good jobs with good career prospects, good training prospects, well-paid jobs. The Local Jobs First Amendment Bill delivers on our 2022 election commitment to strengthen the Local Jobs First Act 2003 by enhancing the powers of the Local Jobs First commissioner, unlocking opportunities for Victorian jobs and businesses on Victorian government projects.
We talked about the winter break. I had the opportunity to do some really terrific things during that time. One of the highlights for me was joining the Premier and the member for Melton at the site of the new Melton hospital. On that day we talked about the number of jobs that are to be created in the building of that hospital and all the fantastic opportunities that that presents, to which of course the Local Jobs Amendment Bill will apply. Can I say this: it is not just jobs that will be created in construction, but as the member for Melton knows and my friend the member for Sunbury knows as well, this is such a great opportunity for the young people that we represent to grow a career in health care close to home. That was an incredible experience. Whether it is working on the construction site or indeed working in the hospital once it is built –
Members interjecting.
Mary-Anne THOMAS: I am going to take up some interjections over there. In my office we have been trying to find the last time that the Liberal Party planned, built and opened a hospital, and I will tell you what: we are still looking.
Members interjecting.
Mary-Anne THOMAS: If the very chirpy member on the other side now would like to inform me, I would be happy to know. I am going to throw that out to you as a challenge. You can come back to me and tell me the last time the Liberal Party planned, built and opened a hospital. I am looking forward to it.
We will also be debating the Crimes Amendment (Performance Crime) Bill. Once again, I congratulate the Attorney-General on the work that she is doing, along with the Minister for Police and the Minister for Corrections in the other place, in terms of the diligence that they have applied, making sure that we have got the right settings in place to drive down crime in this state and to make sure that young people understand and experience the consequences of their actions. Performance crime is a crime that is enabled by social media. Therefore it is appropriate that we legislate to ensure that we can stamp it out.
The last item on our agenda for the week is the National Electricity (Victoria) Amendment (VicGrid Stage 2 Reform) Bill 2025. Once again our Minister for Energy and Resources, the most consequential minister for energy in Australia, is bringing a bill to the house to complete our transformation of power in this state.
Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (15:46): You would think, after a five-week break, this Allan Labor government – this tired, 10-year-old Allan Labor government – would have spent their five weeks wisely to set aside the chaos and to have some sense of order when it comes to their government business program. But what do we have? We still have chaos and failure when it comes to the priorities that Victorians need addressed and the action that Victorians deserve right now.
There are bills sitting on the notice paper that were introduced back in April and May of this year, months and months and months ago. The Wage Theft Amendment Bill 2025, as an example, was introduced in April and is still failing to come up on the government business program for debate. I would hazard a guess that the reason the government is shy about debating the Wage Theft Amendment Bill is because it is an admission of failure, because they know that the wage theft bill they introduced is unconstitutional. That is perhaps a reason that they have put it on the back burner. It has been sitting on the notice paper for months while this government has introduced other bills for their government business program.
A government that is tired should be shown the door in November 2026, next year. This government should be dealing with the most urgent and critical issues that are facing Victoria right now. In the most recent times, after the devastating and disgraceful alleged commission of offences against children in Victorian child care as a result of system failures under this Allan Labor government, why is this Labor government not introducing legislation to strengthen this broken system today? You would have thought, after one of the most horrific set of crimes that is alleged to have occurred to our most vulnerable children in childcare centres, that the first order of business for this Allan Labor government would have been to introduce legislation this week. But no, the legislation they are introducing is about other things, about election promises from years ago, not legislation that will strengthen the system and protect our children from having to suffer these heinous crimes ever again.
How could any other business be of more import or greater priority for Labor than the bill sought to be introduced by the leader of the Victorian Liberals just before, the Worker Screening Amendment (Safety of Children) Bill 2025 that the Victorian Liberals and Nationals, in good faith, introduced into this chamber only moments ago? That is what this Parliament should be debating and promoting and pursuing today. But shamefully this Labor government blocked it. They blocked this important proposal to implement the Victorian Ombudsman’s recommendation from 2022, three years ago, to strengthen the working with children check system. That is something that we should be debating today.
I cannot think of anything more critical or more important than debating that today, and yet this Labor government blocked that in order to do a lesser important program, and that is utterly shameful. What this government wants to debate this week is the Crimes Amendment (Performance Crime) Bill 2025 and the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025, and also the National Electricity (Victoria) Amendment (VicGrid Stage 2 Reform) Bill 2025. On that last one – the VicGrid bill – we sought to go into consideration in detail with the government. This Labor government did not even deny a request to go into consideration in detail on this bill; they did not even respond. That is how disrespectful this Labor government has become. As a result, we will be opposing this government business program, because it is not debating the most urgent and most critical legislation required – legislation to protect our children in child care, in state care. That is something that we should be debating this week, not this program, particularly when this government yet again fails to allow us to scrutinise bills through consideration in detail.
Dylan WIGHT (Tarneit) (15:51): It is always a pleasure to follow the member for Evelyn. I am not exactly sure what that contribution was all about. I do know it did not really go very far towards the government business program. I am not sure how much the member for Evelyn touched on the government business program. You can stand up and make points of order on relevance, but honestly, they are that incoherent you may as well just let them go. One bit that I did pick up, though, in that contribution was I heard the word ‘chaos’, and I can only assume that the member for Evelyn was talking about the party room in which she sits.
A member interjected.
Dylan WIGHT: A big five weeks – given in the last five weeks the second leader of the Victorian Liberal Party in less than three years was sued by somebody in their own party and then you want to come in here and lecture us on chaos. Like I said, you could stand up and make points of order, but what is the point? Just let them go.
It always is a pleasure to stand up and make a contribution in favour of the government business program, because it is quite a program. The Leader of the House outlined it in detail, and it is no wonder that the Liberal Party – or the opposition, sorry – oppose it. When we go through the bills that are included on it, it is no wonder that they oppose it. The first bill that we will get to this afternoon is the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025. The Victorian Liberal Party has never met a Victorian worker that they have not wanted to sack. I am not surprised that they will not support this bill. I am not surprised that they do not support the government business program. This is a party that, when they have had the chance to govern, have sacked thousands of Victorian workers and frontline workers as well – teachers, nurses, doctors, paramedics and firefighters. They have closed hospitals. They have closed schools. They have never met a Victorian worker that they have not wanted to sack.
I can understand why you are so offended by today’s government business program, considering that we have the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025 on it. This is a bill that strengthens Victoria’s commitment to the amazing workforce that deliver the projects that we need for this state. Even the opposition cannot argue with this: we are a government that builds things, and when we came to power in 2014 we knew that that would be a defining feature of this government. But it is not enough to just build things. You have to have that value add as well, and that is what our Local Jobs First Amendment Bill is all about, and the previous iterations of it – to make sure that we have got Victorian apprentices on these jobs, to make sure that we have got Victorian workers on these jobs and to make sure that we are protecting local content.
So when you build something like, for instance, the West Tarneit station, which will be coming to Tarneit in 2026, an incredibly popular election commitment from us in 2022 – when we build those projects we know that there is local content; we know that there are local apprentices, we know that there are local workers on those projects. It is absolutely amazing.
We have obviously got the Crimes Amendment (Performance Crime) Bill 2025 as well. We know the Victorian Liberal Party, or the opposition, speak a big game on crime. They speak a big game on bail, but they come in here every single time, when they have got an opportunity to be bipartisan about something – just to be bipartisan about something – and they move silly little reasoned amendments. They shift the goalposts every single time. They have got no interest in policy in this area; they are only interested in politics. So I understand why the opposition would be so offended at a government business program that has this bill on it.
In closing, the third bill is the National Electricity (Victoria) Amendment (Vicgrid Stage 2 Reform) Bill 2025, you know, legislation that is obviously going to help us move renewable energy around Victoria more efficiently. We obviously understand why that is so offensive to the opposition, because half of their party room do not believe in renewable energy; they take every chance they get to do a drive by on the industry, and they do not think that global warming is real. But it is a fantastic government business program here this week, and I commend it to the house.
Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (15:56): I rise today to talk on the government business program. It is great to be back, and as a person that has employed people in this great state of Victoria – whether they be fully qualified tradespeople or whether they be apprentices that I have actually had the privilege of watching grow from a 16-year-old person coming through, learning the trade of being a plumber, moving on to own their own business – it is truly great to be back in the chamber to represent those people to the best of my ability. I like the point that we are opposing the government business program, because I do get a little bit shaky when we decide to not oppose it; it just does not seem right. With my 2½ years in the chamber, it just does not seem right. I think that we need to be able to stand up for what we think is relevant and what we do value. So, you know, we do have three bills on this one. I will be speaking on all three bills again this week, because I feel it is part of my role as the local MP down in the Latrobe Valley to represent my community and talk on everything that the government does put up, whether it be some good and some bad, and represent my community to the best of my ability.
So the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025, which we will eventually get to today, as other members have said, talks about jobs in the community and supporting our local community, and I am looking forward to being able to talk on this, because at the moment right now in the Latrobe Valley we are going through a change where key jobs for people in the valley to go to work at and to earn money at the moment are being scaled down. So we are we are going through a change and going to other energy formats, and what I need to be able to do at every opportunity I get is stand up in the chamber and ask relevant ministers where those jobs are going to be coming from and when they are going to start, because unfortunately at the moment there is not a lot of guidance and forethought as to winding up one type of power industry and moving to another one where those workers are actually going to be able to get certain jobs and a certain paying job also that they can continue their lifestyles on.
We also have the Crimes Amendment (Performance Crime) Bill 2025. Crime is very relevant down in the Latrobe Valley. We have just wound up a major court case in Morwell with the mushroom case down there – that has just wound up. We are not shielded from people that are breaking into houses and stealing cars, and unfortunately people are losing their lives because of a crime rate that sometimes is out of control and that we need to rein in, so I will be really pleased to be able to talk on that. Then we have the National Electricity (Victoria) Amendment (VicGrid Stage 2 Reform) Bill 2025, where we can talk on energy. The Latrobe Valley provides energy to the state – it has for 100 years, and it will continue to do that – so I will get to talk on that too.
The Leader of the House said that Labor have the backs of the people of Victoria, but unfortunately at the moment they have their backs up against a brick wall, because every day the government are trying to stick their hand in their pockets and take money out to make sure that they can pay for blowouts in costs with tunnels in metropolitan Melbourne, while still forgetting to look after people in regional Victoria. That is where it is great to be able to stand up and talk on the government business program to remind the government that we do need to look after all Victorians always. Even though we are in opposition to the government business program, I am looking forward to talking on the three bills at hand.
Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (16:01): I am delighted to rise to speak on this incredibly important government program, but I would just like to make a few comments about the previous speaker, who suggested that this government in some way does not care about regional Victoria. I can assure the member for Morwell that having a regional caucus of 18 members, which is almost the size of the Liberal party room, we certainly represent people in the regions. In fact we represent most of the people in the regions. Our Premier is from the regions, our Treasurer is from the regions and our wonderful Minister for Health is from the regions, so any suggestion that we do not in any way represent the regions is fairly strange. But even more than that, the comments from the member for Morwell that he does not want to support the government program – or is agreeing that they should not support the program, solely based on the fact that it does not seem right to – seem to me to reflect everything that those on the opposite side stand for, which is absolutely nothing. The reason that they are opposing this program, according to the member for Morwell, is just because they ought to oppose everything this government does. I think it is a sad reflection of those on the other side that they cannot work together to make the best policy for Victoria.
In opposing this bill, the member for Evelyn said that it was not important – that there were more important things to talk about. We have got some pretty extraordinary infrastructure going up in Ballarat, including our wonderful hospital, but also, really importantly, we have Alstom, the train manufacturers. I am really delighted that they are building the X’trapolis 2.0. The reason that I bring this up is because those people are working on jobs that the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025 applies to. Those people are incredibly important to me – the working people in Ballarat who will gain from this legislation, ensuring that that incredibly important legislation is acted upon locally.
The member for Morwell also talked about his love of apprentices and guiding apprentices through, and one of the really fundamental parts of this bill is ensuring that apprentices are on the worksites of jobs first construction. It seems odd to me that the member for Morwell can say that he cannot wait to get up and speak on all three bills. He said he is really looking forward to speaking on all three bills. If he is really looking forward to them, then surely he should be supporting the government business program, because he wants to get up and talk about these things. But sadly, no, he is in full agreement with those on the other side, who just want to use this house as some tawdry game of politics rather than actually creating policy that is good for Victorian people. I want those on the other side to remember that they are opposing a bill that is about supporting local content and local jobs.
Even more tragically, they are opposing a program that includes legislation to crack down on performative crime. We all know the terrible, terrible damage that gets done through social media as those crimes are sent out to all and sundry and young people are influenced. But no, those on the other side do not think that is important enough to debate. The member for Evelyn says that it is not an important government business program, and I want the people of Victoria to know that those on the other side do not think that protecting Victorians from performative crime is important. They do not think that providing local jobs and using local content is important. Instead what they think is important is some performative action that they bring to the house to play pure politics. I wish those on the other side would get on board and back some good legislation for Victoria.
Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (16:07): I rise to speak on the government business program. Firstly, the bills on the agenda for this week are the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025, the National Electricity (Victoria) Amendment (VicGrid Stage 2 Reform) Bill 2025 and the Crimes Amendment (Performance Crime) Bill 2025. This week’s program shows a revealing mix of reactive legislation, heavy-handed enforcement and political catch-up. It includes a draconian VicGrid energy bill that strips landholder rights and centralises control, it includes a weak attempt to tackle youth performance crime which fails to match interstate standards and it includes a local jobs bill which threatens to burden small businesses with compliance penalties in the name of local content without offering meaningful support. Overall this program reflects a Labor government scrambling to assert control after years of neglect, mismanagement and public backlash, more concerned with appearances than effective governance.
Meanwhile, we may be debating the take-note budget motion this week, and maybe we will not. We have little clarity on this. Is the government embarrassed by its own budget – a budget that shows zero intention of putting the state’s finances on a sustainable trajectory, a budget that shows Victoria having one of the worst debt burdens of comparable jurisdictions around the world, a budget that is bad for individuals, families and all Victorians not just now but for future generations? At the same time this government has just blocked the important Worker Screening Amendment (Safety of Children) Bill 2025 brought by the member for Malvern in conjunction with the member for Kew, who I acknowledge for her amazing work in the last two weeks on these issues. This would have brought greatly enhanced safety for children in child care and more broadly. This was brought in good faith, and it was backed by the Liberals and the Nationals. Even the Greens backed it. But Labor shamefully blocked it. I can see nothing more important this week than debating this, and this should be on the government business program. Particularly, having had two children in child care myself for nine years in a row, I know how important child care is and how important childcare safety is, so really we should be debating this today and passing this bill this week.
Going to the government business program in particular, we have the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025, which raises serious concerns about its disproportionate impact on small and regional businesses.
Labor’s so-called deprioritisation scheme threatens to blacklist businesses that cannot meet local industry development plan targets, even when workforce shortages or market conditions make compliance impossible. We have civil penalties of up to $100,000, site inspection powers and vague compliance obligations, all without a proper framework for mitigating circumstances – basically, all stick and no carrot. What is even more concerning is under questioning Labor have refused to disclose how much this will cost to enforce – no modelling, no answers, no transparency. This is not how we support local jobs and businesses. It is in fact how we kill them with bureaucracy and bury them with red tape – red tape and costs that are already greatly impacting businesses, say, on the Mornington Peninsula, who have to pay higher payroll tax than Geelong and elsewhere due to its metro classification by the state government. I also know how hard it is running a small business, having run my own small business in the past, particularly during the COVID years, when it was extremely difficult.
We also have the national electricity bill. We have yet another draconian bill disguised as reform. As mentioned by the member for Evelyn, we sought consideration in detail, but we got no response altogether. The government claims it is streamlining energy infrastructure planning, but what it is really doing is bulldozing rural communities, stripping landholder rights and handing VicGrid sweeping powers to enter private land and use force to do so. It is an unmitigated power grab.
Lastly, we have the crimes amendment bill. This bill is too narrow, too weak and too late, only covering a handful of offences, and if the person doing the offence does not actually share it, well, their mate can share it themselves, and there will be no consequence. Whereas other states like Queensland have introduced strong, targeted laws, Victoria’s approach is weak, so we will be opposing the government business program.
Assembly divided on motion:
Ayes (49): Juliana Addison, Jacinta Allan, Colin Brooks, Josh Bull, Anthony Carbines, Ben Carroll, Anthony Cianflone, Sarah Connolly, Chris Couzens, Jordan Crugnale, Lily D’Ambrosio, Daniela De Martino, Steve Dimopoulos, Paul Edbrooke, Eden Foster, Ella George, Luba Grigorovitch, Bronwyn Halfpenny, Katie Hall, Paul Hamer, Martha Haylett, Mathew Hilakari, Melissa Horne, Lauren Kathage, Sonya Kilkenny, Nathan Lambert, John Lister, Gary Maas, Alison Marchant, Kathleen Matthews-Ward, Steve McGhie, John Mullahy, Danny Pearson, Pauline Richards, Tim Richardson, Michaela Settle, Ros Spence, Nick Staikos, Natalie Suleyman, Meng Heang Tak, Jackson Taylor, Nina Taylor, Kat Theophanous, Mary-Anne Thomas, Emma Vulin, Iwan Walters, Dylan Wight, Gabrielle Williams, Belinda Wilson
Noes (27): Jade Benham, Roma Britnell, Tim Bull, Martin Cameron, Annabelle Cleeland, Chris Crewther, Wayne Farnham, Sam Groth, Matthew Guy, David Hodgett, Emma Kealy, Tim McCurdy, Cindy McLeish, James Newbury, Danny O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Kim O’Keeffe, John Pesutto, Richard Riordan, Brad Rowswell, David Southwick, Bill Tilley, Bridget Vallence, Kim Wells, Nicole Werner, Rachel Westaway, Jess Wilson
Motion agreed to.