Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of Colin Brooks:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Alison MARCHANT (Bellarine) (18:03): It is hard to follow the member for Mordialloc in this place at the best of times, but it is a very similar topic which we will be debating today with the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025. I started this debate yesterday talking about the actual personal experiences and effects on everyday lives in our state when we debate a bill in this house. I was talking particularly about the dignity of having a job, and a job is not just a pay cheque at the end of the day, it is actually the foundation of a life lived with dignity and security and stability and the pride that comes with that, particularly as we are a state and a government that has invested heavily into our major projects in this state to build our state. Behind each project is thousands of jobs, and that means thousands of workers and thousands of families that have had the pride of building this state.

I talked a little bit about my husband. He is a plumber, and he has been on construction sites over his time. We kind of play a little bit of bingo when we drive around the state, because he will point to the projects that he has been on and sort of nudge the kids and say, ‘Hey, I helped build that,’ with pride. He now does that as a teacher at a TAFE, and he instils that pride into the apprentices. He says, ‘You are contributing to building this state.’ In a local sense, in our own region, in the Geelong region – I am born and bred in Geelong – I have seen the significant change across the landscape not just in a physical sense but in how Geelong has grown.

With the amount of infrastructure that we have invested in and we have provided for the Geelong region it is an incredible transformation that we see. I have got some projects that I would like to talk about that are in the Geelong region. They have been strategic projects under the Local Jobs First strategic project initiative that we have, making sure that local content is centre of those projects. We have evolved in the Geelong region from manufacturing roots in our city, with Ford and Alcoa having been in our city. Now that we are a really diverse economy we still have manufacturing and advanced manufacturing, very much linked to our institutions of the Gordon TAFE and our Deakin University, and we are one of the fastest growing regions in the country.

Recently there was a report commissioned by KPMG, the Geelong Risk Landscape report, and I just want to talk a little bit about the changes that we have seen in that. They say:

… Geelong’s economic landscape has evolved significantly …

One of the main indicators of this economic evolution is the growth in the Gross Regional Product … of Greater Geelong, which in 2024 was $21.9 billion, marking a 152 per cent increase since 2008.

Manufacturing continues to be the greatest contributor …

…

Construction, which has risen to the second-largest employer in 2021 after being the fourth … in 2011, continues to grow and now represents almost 18 per cent of …

our gross regional product. This is an absolute transformation for our region. Of the projects that have been part of the Local Jobs First strategic projects in our region, some have been completed over time and some are still underway. We have had the Drysdale bypass construction, which was a bit before my time as the member for Bellarine. That is an absolutely incredible project. I remember the previous member, Lisa Neville, said that people used to say, ‘That will never happen,’ and it absolutely did. We have had Kardinia Park stage 5, which the mighty Cats are at. That redevelopment means a regional stadium that is going to be able to hold a whole lot more than just AFL and bring a whole lot of economic growth to our region. We have had the Geelong Arts Centre stage 3 redevelopment. We have the women and children’s hospital currently underway. We have just had completed a dedicated children’s emergency department at the hospital. We have got the Barwon Heads Road duplication stage 2, and currently – I have visited with the Treasurer recently – the Geelong convention and exhibition centre. I hate using the word game changer, but it is an absolute game changer for our region.

International eyes are now on Geelong – to come to for a convention but also to experience the wonderful offerings we have both on the Bellarine and the Great Ocean Road. Our region has so much to offer, and people from all over the world will be coming to Geelong for that. What that means in a Local Jobs First sense is that that convention centre was quite unique in that we provided, under Local Jobs First, 28 trainees and apprentices who were experiencing barriers to employment. They were able to receive 12 weeks of fully funded training onsite at the convention centre towards a certificate II in construction pathways. That was through the Gordon TAFE as well. It was co-designed between Development Victoria and Give Where You Live Foundation, who have a GROW initiative, which is a jobs initiative; social enterprise Gforce; and the project deliverer Built as the head contractor. That program and that initiative, with all those stakeholders coming together, changed the lives of these apprentices. They had never had these opportunities before. Like I have just said, they will be able to drive past that and in many, many years’ time point and say, ‘I helped build that.’ That is absolutely incredible and life changing for those apprentices and what that will lead to for their future.

This is exactly what this bill is about and what our government stands for. It is about changing lives, is about giving the security of a job, and it does ensure that Victorians are building our state – built by Victorians, for Victorians.

In conclusion, I just want to talk a little bit about how we know that having a job and having employment is giving people that security, that dignity and that stability, and it means that they can support their families. It means creating a state that makes things, grows things, builds things and looks after its people, and that is how we ensure Victoria’s prosperity. It is shared, and it is proudly Victorian – made here. We have got an amazing story to tell. This government has made an incredible investment in building this state, and we are not going to stop. We heard through the matter of public importance a little bit earlier about the contrast between this government and what the other side offers, which is nothing. We continue to look forward to a bright future where we are backing every worker, we are backing families and we are giving young people who are going into the workforce opportunities for them to also be part of that bright future.

David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (18:11): I rise to make some comments on the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025. The background to this bill is that the program was first introduced in 2003 and requires contractors on government-funded projects to actively support local businesses, workers, apprentices and trainees. It has two main components. The first one is a partnership program, and that is largely for smaller to medium operators. It deals with projects both in regional areas and then also in the metropolitan areas – regional areas up to $1 million, and over $3 million in Melbourne metro areas. Then the second part of this is the Major Project Skills Guarantee. That deals with major construction projects. In principle it is absolutely always important that we should be backing local jobs, and I do not think you will get much argument about that. There are a number of people in the chamber, from both sides, that will talk about their various electorates, what is happening in those electorates and how we can back local jobs and local industry. But we have got to do more than talk about this. You cannot fix the problem just by adding more red tape, and that is the problem with what this government continues to do, especially at a time when we are seeing thousands of small businesses actually close their doors because they cannot sustain the economic conditions that this government has put them in after 10 years of waste and mismanagement.

We know that in Victoria we are approaching $200 billion worth of debt. That means each and every day Victorians are spending $27 million just to pay the interest bill – over a million dollars an hour just to pay the interest bill. When you think about that as a cost, somebody is paying that, and ultimately it gets pushed down the road to the economic drivers of industry. That is business and that is small businesses, and that is where most of the jobs that sustain our great state come from – in those small businesses. Absolutely we should be doing as much as we can to ensure that small businesses can be competitive and can get an opening into government contracts and broader contracts and work. However, to do what this bill is intending to do – and that is to apply a whole lot of red tape and regulation just to administer this – is actually a huge oxymoron, because what that does is it puts more pressure on small businesses and in many cases sends them to the wall.

If you look at what has happened in Victoria, we have got just recently a report that indicated, according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, that 4242 Victorian companies collapsed or had a financial controller appointed in the 2024–25 financial year – that is 48 per cent compared to 2022–23. It is the largest percentage increase of any Australian state. So while the government will have you believe that in Victoria we are kicking goals – well, if that is kicking goals, then I would hate to see what the other means, because for me it is not even kicking a point. We are so far behind in terms of the economic drivers of our state. We see issues in terms of waste and mismanagement. We have the Big Build that is nothing more than a big bill.

We have got more than $50 billion worth of budget blowouts on all of the major projects industry, and every time the government cuts another ribbon on a major project announcement, it comes with a whole lot of additional waste on the project. Then you have got the government’s Suburban Rail Loop, which in the budget is a ‘to be advised’ in terms of how much that is going to cost taxpayers. So we are in a real mess in Victoria, and Victorians are paying for it. You just cannot expect, again, Victorians to foot the bill in a cost-of-living crisis. Every single thing this government touches – everything, especially when it comes to financial management – absolutely fails, completely fails. Even today we find that Victoria Police have been overpaid by close to $1 million, and they are being required to pay it back. A government failure in terms of managing the basic salaries and wages of our hardworking men and women of Victoria Police, and now, because of a government mistake, Victorian police have to actually pay for a government bungle. You are talking about creating local jobs, when you cannot even support the jobs that we have. I mean, this is a government that fails at every single point – at every single point, nothing but a failure.

When you have got a bill like this, which is about local jobs and local industry, and that is important, what are we going to do to support it? We have a small business commissioner who is tasked with reducing red tape, and every single time we talk about how we can reduce red tape. Well, you cannot reduce red tape by creating more red tape, and that is what we have done here: create more red tape. I note that the member for Kew has suggested a number of amendments, and I support those amendments. The main thing here is we should not be imposing more costs on small businesses; there should not be more of a cost, absolutely. What we should be doing is encouraging small businesses to participate in more local industries and in more government contracts.

How can we get small businesses a better look-in in these government contracts? I know on some of the Big Build projects, especially when it comes to the level crossing removals, that you have government ordering a whole lot of steel, you would think from Australia, but much of it has come from China into Australia. Then when you go and talk to the contractors, you see that much of it has been overordered and it ends up in the scrap yard. When the Glen Huntly level crossing removal was done, I went down and visited some of the contractors and I saw a whole lot of steel sitting in the holding yard. I said, ‘Hang on a minute, hasn’t the project been completed?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, that’s just the overrun’. I said, ‘What happens to that overrun?’ ‘Well, it just goes back in the scrap heap’. Seriously, we are investing in a whole lot of this steel that is over and above – wouldn’t you think after however many level crossings – I am sure the government would be quick to tell me how many level crossings that they have –

A member: 85.

David SOUTHWICK: Thank you – 85. Thank you for that. So we have got 86 level crossings. Well, you would reckon after 80 you would get it right. You would reckon you would be able to budget rather than saying you will just put in an order for a whole lot of steel and hope that you have got enough, and you will just have this extra that ends up in the scrap heap.

Mathew Hilakari interjected.

David SOUTHWICK: Well, guess who pays for that, member for Point Cook? My good friend the member for Point Cook, guess who pays for that? The member for Point Cook can carry on all he likes, but he is not supporting his hardworking constituents that are dealing with a cost-of-living crisis.

Sarah Connolly interjected.

David SOUTHWICK: I would ask the member for Point Cook – and now the member for Laverton is chiming in. The member for Laverton, who got up before in her contribution and did not know the difference between millions and billions, who could not get millions and billions right. I would ask the member for Laverton – who has got not an economic bone in her body, who does not even understand the difference between millions and billions – to listen to the contribution that she made, because we can make her realise that that contribution, which I am sure we will replay for her as she could not understand the difference between millions and billions –

No wonder we are broke in Victoria. No wonder we are broke when we have got a clown up the back, the member for Point Cook, who does not know the difference between himself or anything – here he comes.

Mathew Hilakari: On a point of order, Acting Speaker: relevance.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Nathan Lambert): Members have taken the opportunity to raise employment projects and industry generally, and I ask the member on his feet to come back to those topics.

David SOUTHWICK: I am really looking forward to hearing from the member for Point Cook, because I know he does not do a lot in standing up for his constituency. Many of them are really struggling in a cost-of-living crisis and are desperate for a job, and this is a jobs bill.

Mathew Hilakari: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, the last time the member for Caufield went across the West Gate, he could not find Point Cook. He was in Williams Landing in the seat of Laverton and he thought he was in Point Cook, the poor bugger. I will send you a map soon, I promise.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Nathan Lambert): There is no point of order.

David SOUTHWICK: In concluding, it is very, very important for us to be focused on local jobs. That is a key element, but I would remind the member for Point Cook to do his job and look out for his constituents rather than grandstanding, because I can tell you he has failed his community big time. We need to start focusing on the people that are struggling to pay their bills in a cost-of-living crisis.

Steve McGHIE (Melton) (18:21): What a great time to get up and speak on this bill. I certainly rise to support the Allan Labor government’s Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025. As a western MP, I can only commend my colleagues in the west for the great work that they do and the advocacy that they do for their constituents. I know the member for Point Cook is here, the member for Laverton is here, the member for Kororoit is in the chamber and the great member for Werribee. You see the work that they do and you see what is coming out of the ground in the west, and I know all of our constituents are grateful for the great work that we do.

A lot of the projects are these local projects – local jobs first, Big Build constructions. Billions of dollars have been spent in the west, from schools, hospitals and community centres to level crossing removals – 87 level crossing removals across the state. The opposition spruik about failures of our government. I would love to see them remove one level crossing if they ever got the opportunity, but it probably would take them four years anyway, because I think it has already been referred to that they only committed to eight projects in four years. That is only two a year, but I suppose it takes a bit of time to manage eight projects in four years. For the first two years of that term they sat on their hands. They did nothing. To do only eight projects over four years must be quite embarrassing for them. You can understand why at the last three elections we have got greater majorities, given what we have been delivering.

David Southwick: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, on relevance, I would ask you to bring the member back to the bill. This is the government’s bill, and I would have expected them to be talking about their own projects, not spending their time attacking the opposition.

Paul Edbrooke: On the point of order, it is entirely relevant. If the members opposite cannot draw the relationship between projects and jobs, that is up to them.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Nathan Lambert): Many members have taken the opportunity to talk about employment projects and industry generally, and there is no point of order.

Steve McGHIE: Just in response to that, I thought I was talking about Big Build projects and level crossing removals. Probably the opposition get embarrassed because we are talking about 87 moving to 110. And guess what? There are four in Melton: three in my direct electorate of Melton and one in my great colleague’s electorate of Kororoit. I can tell you the locals love it, and they cannot wait for these projects to be completed. It is amazing work. I have got to give a shout-out to the construction workers working on those sites. They do an amazing job. It is fantastic to see these level crossing removals in both of those electorates, and it is so important to our local communities.

I will get on to this bill. This bill delivers on our 2022 election commitment to strengthen our Local Jobs First Act 2003 by enhancing the powers of the Local Jobs First commissioner and strengthening our commitment to Victorian workers, Victorian businesses and our communities that rely on the jobs and those businesses to deliver those jobs. It is a clear demonstration of this government’s unwavering belief that when we invest in public works they should be for the benefit of all Victorians from the conceptual stage right through to completion and beyond – for the future generations – and we are seeing that right across the state.

I will go to some projects in my electorate shortly. Of course the Local Jobs First Act 2003 was previously known as the Victorian Industry Participation Policy Act 2003, which was delivered under the Bracks Labor government of course, the great Bracks Labor government that started to rebuild this state after the devastation of the 1990s. We can thank the previous Premier Steve Bracks for starting this process. Local Jobs First has been applied to over 3000 projects – not eight but 3000 since 2014. That is amazing, and the total value of that has been about $197 billion just over the last 10 to 11 years of government investment, supporting around about 60,000 local jobs, jobs that are really strong, well-paid jobs for people in our local communities, and in particular in construction and in particular during the COVID period, where we kept the Big Build going, kept people in employment and kept them having a wage coming in during that terrible time across the state, the nation and around the world. It puts workers first, it puts our businesses first and of course it puts our futures first. That is just what this bill is all about. It is about ensuring that money is invested and stays here, creating more jobs and supporting our local businesses, and that is fantastic. It shows great commitment to using local content, down to uniforms and PPE worn by the workers of course; to supporting our First Nations workers in the construction industry; and to creating opportunities for our apprentices, our trainees and our cadets, which are the future of our workforces. There have been many, many supports for our apprentices in regard to cost-of-living provisions.

I just want to touch on a bit of the reasoned amendment from the member for Kew. I remind her, because I think she made reference to hiring workers and whether they would be local or overseas workers. The thing that I just want to point out to her is it does not matter which employees you employ. Whether they be local or overseas, they still have to be paid. That is one thing that we will ensure as a government – that workers are paid, paid well and supported in their jobs and hopefully supported with being in a unionised situation in their jobs, strengthening their position on wages and entitlements. Under the 2025–26 state budget, in addition to funding of hundreds of projects across the state, $6.3 million has been allocated over one year for administration and delivery of the current Local Jobs First scheme, and this bill is about enabling local solutions, improving equity and creating the infrastructure that the community needs.

Those opposite are all talk in regard to infrastructure projects, and I keep coming back to their history around that. Again I make reference to what happened during the Baillieu–Napthine years. Only eight projects were declared as strategic with mandatory local content set, and this was raised in the previous matter of public importance session that we had just before we came back to this debate. While the opposition only care about cutting, closing and cancelling, we have invested in projects that create jobs and will bring benefit to future generations. It is great to see the Minister for Economic Growth and Jobs at the table, and I had him out at Melton only a week ago talking with the progressive Melton City Council about jobs, economic growth and investment in Melton. Our population is going to double over the next 25 years. We are going to build another 109,000 houses in Melton over the next 25 years.

Danny Pearson interjected.

Steve McGHIE: Epic station? I made reference to the level crossings, but we are going to get a new Melton railway station. It is going to be incredible, so we are really looking forward to that, and the construction workers are doing a great job. I thank the minister for coming out last week to talk to the council and me. A big project is happening in Melton, and everyone knows about it. I had the Premier out there, the Minister for Health, the Minister for Health Infrastructure and of course the Minister for Mental Health out there only a week ago to turn the sod of the soil for the major construction to the fantastic hospital that we are building in Melton that will be completed by 2029. This will treat 130,000 patients per year and 60,000 patients through the emergency department. It will deliver major health infrastructure in that western corridor.

It will be managed by Western Health. It will complete the health infrastructure for the west along that whole corridor with the beautiful new Footscray Hospital. Then we have got Sunshine Hospital, Joan Kirner, the Melton hospital, the Bacchus Marsh Hospital, and then of course we are also upgrading the Ballarat hospital. So you have got that whole corridor with great health infrastructure, dealing with the health needs in the western suburbs and the surrounding areas. It is going to create, during construction, 2400 jobs – local jobs. I have had many people come to me saying, ‘How do I get on the job site for the Melton hospital?’, and we have pointed them in the right direction. I have had people come to me about wanting to work at the hospital, which will create 4000 jobs, and the younger generation at our secondary schools now should start to think about looking at nursing and allied health courses, and we can start gearing them into that to prepare them for the workforce in 2029 at the Melton hospital.

But they are not the only things: we are building schools – two new schools that will be open next year. That is five schools in seven years being built in the Melton electorate, and of course the TAFE college where we will turn the sod of soil in only a few months time for a new TAFE college to come to Melton.

This bill is a really important bill in regard to Local Jobs First and continued construction. It is not about jobs: it is about infrastructure, it is about supporting the community, and I commend this bill to the house.

Rachel WESTAWAY (Prahran) (18:31): I rise today to comment and express my concerns regarding the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025. The legislation represents everything that is wrong with this Labor government’s approach to public administration: more bureaucracy, more penalties, more costs and absolutely no accountability for their own spectacular mismanagement and failures in regard to project delivery and financial management. I urge them to consider the member for Kew’s amendments in regard to this bill.

Let me begin with the facts that this government would rather just forget. Just this February the Victorian Auditor-General delivered a damning assessment of this government’s major project performance. The numbers are staggering. They represent real money – taxpayer money – and it could have been spent on hospitals, schools and essential services. The Auditor-General found that 113 major projects will now cost Victorians a combined $145.55 billion – that is an $11.66 billion jump in, what, just one financial year. Let me repeat that – an $11.66 billion cost overrun in a single year. To put this into perspective, that is enough money to build the much-needed multipurpose school hall in St Kilda Primary, provide police at the Prahran police station, invest in much-needed outreach services for homeless people and still have billions of dollars left over for hospitals, schools and essential services across our state.

We talk about affordable housing: the people of Prahran do want affordable housing. The average age of the people in my constituency is 35 years of age, and they cannot afford to buy into our area in the seat of Prahran. We have seen these sorts of overruns, the cost blowouts already that are just eye-watering. Half of the projects reviewed had significant cost changes, meaning blowouts of more than 20 per cent. Fifty-three projects alone will cost an extra $14.9 billion, and these are not minor budget adjustments – this is a systematic failure in terms of financial mismanagement on an industrial scale.

No discussion of this government’s project failures would be complete without mentioning the West Gate Tunnel Project. It is a project that has become synonymous with cost overruns, delays and broken promises. This project exemplifies exactly why we cannot trust this government with more bureaucratic powers and penalties, when they cannot even manage their own commitments. The West Gate Tunnel Project demonstrates that Labor’s problem is not with contractors failing to meet local content requirements, it is with Labor’s fundamental inability to plan, to budget and to deliver a major infrastructure program on time and on budget.

The Auditor-General did not mince words with this government’s transparency and accountability. The report states clearly that:

The information public entities provide Parliament and the community is not meaningful.

That is a direct quote. It found that the public cannot understand major project performance against expected time, cost, scope and benefit, and that is because the blowouts are so big and the debt so high that normal Victorians just are bewildered.

Furthermore, the Auditor-General concluded that public entities do not consistently and transparently report major project performance information in a way that is useful to the Parliament or the general public. We have got to get real here: this is just incompetency at its highest level. This is the same government that now want to impose civil penalties of up to $101,000 on private contractors while refusing to be transparent about their own performance or even provide basic budget impact assessments for this very legislation. The irony is breathtaking.

Here we have a government that has presided over $11.6 billion in cost overruns in a single year lecturing the private sector about meeting commitments and threatening penalties for noncompliance. When questioned during the bill briefing about the budget impact of these new measures, department and ministerial office staff were unable or unwilling to provide any detail at all. This is not what Victorians deserve, and I am telling you the people of Prahran are telling me this is not on. They could not even tell us what this expanded bureaucracy will cost or how many additional public servants will be required. This is the same government, when asked about data on previous breaches that supposedly justified this policy response, that admitted through the department that it was not aware of any breaches or inaction in relation to specific Local Jobs First deliverables. Whilst this government refuses to account for its own failures, it seeks to burden Victorians and Victorian businesses with more red tape, more compliance costs and the threat of financial penalties. Master Builders Victoria has described these measures as ‘an all stick and no carrot approach’, and you know what, they are absolutely right.

The deprioritisation civil penalty schemes will unfairly penalise businesses and particularly small operators in regional and rural areas, who may be unable to meet the local content requirements due to circumstances that are absolutely beyond their control. Skills shortages in regional areas, supply chain disruptions and market conditions are all real challenges that businesses face, yet this legislation offers no meaningful consideration in regard to those factors. The increased compliance burden will disproportionately impact smaller businesses that lack the administrative capacity of larger contractors. While big corporations can absorb these costs and hire compliance officers, small and medium enterprises are going to struggle under the weight of this additional bureaucracy.

This legislation is part of a broader pattern of this government’s approach: create more bureaucracy to distract from their own failures, impose penalties on others while avoiding accountability themselves and spend taxpayer money without transparent reporting or meaningful oversight. We see this pattern repeated across government, with major projects that blow out by billions, programs that fail to deliver promised outcomes and a consistent refusal to provide Parliament and the public with meaningful information about performance and costs.

The Local Jobs First program has been operating since 2003. If there were systematic compliance issues requiring these draconian measures, surely the government would have evidence to present. Instead they admit to being unaware of breaches while simultaneously arguing for tougher penalties than are needed. Supporting local jobs in Victorian businesses should not require threatening them with financial penalties and bureaucratic punishment. A competent government would focus on creating conditions for business success, skills training, infrastructure investment, lower taxation and regulatory certainty. Instead of expanding the enforcement bureaucracy, this government should focus on delivering projects on time and on budget. Instead of threatening contractors with penalties, they should demonstrate their own competence in project management.

The amendments we propose recognise that businesses should not face enforcement action or financial penalties when they cannot meet local content requirements due to circumstances outside of their control. At the end of the day this is basic fairness, something apparently foreign to this government’s approach. We cannot support legislation that expands bureaucratic powers and imposes new penalties when the government promoting it demonstrates such spectacular incompetence in managing public money and delivering projects. $11.66 billion in cost overruns in a single year, projects with cost increases of more than 20 per cent as a matter of routine, a refusal to provide transparent reporting to Parliament and the public, an inability to provide budget impact assessments for their own legislation – really? This is not a government that has earned the right to impose additional penalties on the private sector. This is a government that needs to be accountable for its own failures before it seeks to punish others.

We will support amendments that protect businesses from unfair penalties, while opposing this expansion of bureaucratic powers and costs. Victorian taxpayers deserve better financial management, and Victorian businesses deserve better. They deserve better than threats and penalties from a government that cannot manage its own budget.

I urge members to consider whether they can in good conscience support an expanded enforcement of powers for a government that has demonstrated such consistent financial mismanagement. The people of Victoria deserve better. They deserve accountability. They deserve transparency and a competent administration, not more bureaucratic red tape, not more costs imposed, not more barriers to entry and not more barriers to our local businesses to actually perform in this environment. What we are looking for is a release of these sorts of issues, not more bureaucracy and not more penalties.

Kathleen MATTHEWS-WARD (Broadmeadows) (18:41): I am proud to stand here today to support the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025. This bill is about more than just how we spend government money. It is about ensuring that spending leads to jobs, stronger communities and fair opportunities for everyone. It sends a clear message: when the Victorian government invests in infrastructure, services and development it expects that investment to create local jobs, build local skills and support local futures, especially in communities like mine in Broadmeadows. I understand how important local jobs are, and I have seen the damage caused when industry is allowed to fail in a community. I have witnessed devastation, poverty and the waste of potential and human capital. I have seen firsthand the difference that jobs make, especially for young people. Having work and purpose is a foundation of a life of dignity, economic independence, pride and most importantly opportunity.

Procurement is a really powerful tool for equality. Every dollar spent by government is an opportunity to build something bigger than a bridge, a school or a hospital. It is an opportunity to build skills, to build small business and to build people up. This bill recognises that. It embeds social value at the heart of procurement by encouraging the hiring of local workers, especially those facing disadvantage; engagement with small and medium enterprises; and support for social enterprises, Aboriginal businesses and disability employment providers. Crucially, it ensures that these commitments are not optional, they are enforceable.

We have made strong progress through the existing Local Jobs First framework, but this bill takes that commitment further. The Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025 introduces key changes to the Local Jobs First Act 2003, and these changes are not cosmetic. They are substantial, practical reforms designed to ensure that when the Victorian government spends public money it delivers real value to the people of Victoria. The bill will clarify obligations for both suppliers and government agencies so everyone knows exactly what is expected when it comes to creating local jobs and using local businesses. It will introduce civil penalties for companies that fail to meet their commitments. It will give the Local Jobs First commissioner stronger powers to investigate, monitor and enforce compliance, and it will ensure that poor past performance is taken into account when awarding future contracts so companies that do not deliver are not rewarded. It will strengthen reporting requirements so there is more transparency, more accountability and greater trust in the system.

We can pass all the legislation we like and develop rules and regulations until the cows come home, but without enforcement or penalties they are merely words. I am pleased to see penalties increased and the teeth of the regulator sharpened. A cornerstone of this bill is the new authority it grants to the Local Jobs First commissioner. These powers are not symbolic. They are practical, enforceable tools that will uphold community expectations. The commissioner will now be able to conduct investigations into supply performance, undertake site inspections and audits, report directly to the minister on noncompliance and recommend civil penalties where obligations have been breached.

This bill is about fairness. It is about ensuring that companies that win public contracts live up to their responsibilities and that those doing the right thing are not undermined by those who cut corners. In a place like Broadmeadows, where every opportunity for jobs matters, this oversight can make a real difference. The bill also strengthens reporting requirements. Agencies and suppliers will be required to provide clear, consistent data on employment outcomes – data that can be reviewed by Parliament and shared with the public. This transparency is vital. It builds trust, it enables scrutiny and it allows us to track what is working and where we need to improve.

Communities deserve to know how government investment is being used and whether it is delivering what was promised. The bill is all about using the power of government spending to build communities, grow local industries and create pathways into work for people who need it most: young people, women returning to work, migrants and those who have faced long-term unemployment. It is about ensuring that when we build a road, a school or a hospital we are also building skills, careers and competence in our communities. That is how we make every dollar count not just in the budget but in people’s lives.

Broadmeadows is more than a name on the map. It is a proud resilient community built by generations of working families, many of them migrants who brought their homes, their skills and their dreams to Melbourne’s north. But for too long Broadmeadows has borne the burden of systemic disadvantage and high levels of unemployment. Despite these challenges the spirit of Broadmeadows has never faded. Our people are resourceful, our community is united and our ambition is boundless. This is why initiatives like the Broadmeadows jobs hub are so important. It links local people with real opportunities. Since it was launched the jobs hub has facilitated hundreds of job placements in key industries such as construction, logistics and community services; partnered with TAFEs and local training providers to deliver accredited job-ready courses; and supported major state projects in our region, level crossing removals, social housing and road upgrades.

The Local Jobs First Amendment Bill will strengthen the impact of the jobs hub by ensuring that companies delivering these projects are accountable for their commitments to local employment. I take this opportunity to thank Basem Abdo for his work and advocacy and for recently bringing the federal employment minister to Broadmeadows to meet the incredible organisations who work cooperatively in partnership to improve opportunities for local people. I also wish to acknowledge the outstanding work of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, a long-time leader in employment services and a true partner in Broadmeadows’ future. BSL has been a trusted presence in our community for years, delivering jobs and Victorian employment services and, more recently, leading the federal jobs hub pilot in Broadmeadows.

The pilot, supported by the Commonwealth government, is a new kind of employment service. It is place based, people centred and collaborative, and it is based on the Victorian model. It brings together employers, educators, service providers and locals to design solutions that work for our community. In Broadmeadows this pilot has focused on matching jobseekers in real time to vacancies in growth industries; providing wraparound supports such as transport assistance, digital literacy and career coaching; engaging employees in co-designing recruitment and training pathways; and tracking outcomes to inform smarter national policy. Early results have been incredibly promising. We have seen stronger engagement from business, increased job placements and a real sense of momentum.

The bill supports that progress by requiring contractors to work with trusted local services such as BSL and the jobs hub, ensuring government investment drives local outcomes. One of the most powerful aspects of this legislation is how it aligns with our long-term economic goals. It does not merely place people into jobs; it places them into industries that are growing, future facing and resilient. The target sectors include construction and infrastructure, health and aged care, advanced manufacturing, logistics and warehousing, the green economy and circular industries and digital and tech-enabled services. In Broadmeadows we are already training workers for these sectors through the jobs hub, through TAFE and through strong partnerships with industry.

The bill ensures those efforts are matched by genuine demand and real employment pathways, and the bill is not a one-off. It is part of a broader policy framework designed to embed social and economic value across government procurement. At its core the Local Jobs First policy ensures Victorian businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, have a full and fair opportunity to compete for government contracts. Through the strategic procurement framework we are prioritising employment outcomes in disadvantaged communities, supporting social procurement and inclusive economic participation and advancing the circular economy goals and the creation of green jobs.

These policies are working in Broadmeadows. For example, the ‘buy recycled’ sustainable procurement toolkit has helped local suppliers in Hume access new markets by offering recycled and remanufactured products, creating jobs in waste recovery, manufacturing and logistics. The bill strengthens that ecosystem. It ensures compliance is not voluntary; it is expected, monitored and enforced. Procurement is one of the most powerful levers government holds and should be used to the fullest extent to bring about social good. At the heart of this bill is a simple but powerful idea that the benefits of government spending must be shared fairly across suburbs, across sectors and across society. Joe Perri, president of the Fawkner Residents Association, introduced me to Patrizia Torelli, CEO of the Australian Furniture Association, and I spoke to her again on Monday.

Victorian companies make up the largest cohort of furniture manufacturing in Australia and supply the nation across all procurement and consumer segments. Government procurement is the single most important trigger for ongoing economic viability of local manufacturers. Patrizia was very pleased with Labor’s legislation, as it delivers everything they have been asking for and will significantly support local manufacturing of furniture in Australia. I thank her for her continued work and advocacy. The Australian Furniture Association will also support local manufacturers to meet accreditation and certification requirements. Local manufacturing of furniture will also assist in reducing fast furniture waste from imported furniture, which second only to construction materials is the largest waste stream in bulk terms to landfill and produces toxic chemical waste, including PFAS forever chemicals which leach into our land waterways, posing a significant public health concern.

This bill is not just about growing the economy; it is about making sure that growth includes everyone, and it is about making sure that no-one gets left behind. Local jobs mean more than just numbers. They mean families can put food on the table, young people can learn new skills and communities can grow stronger. This bill is about real people and real lives. When we support local jobs we are investing in people’s futures. Think about that young apprentice getting their first job on a government-funded project. That is not just a job, it is a life-changing moment. It is the start of a career, a boost in confidence and a chance to build something meaningful.

Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (18:51): I rise to talk on the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025. It is actually great to look across the chamber and see the glow on the member for Frankston’s face. I am not sure if he is waiting with anticipation for my contribution on this or whether it is the fact that he is been rubbing shoulders with Hawthorn footballers upstairs from the chamber. I am putting it down to the latter – that it might be that the Hawks are in town tonight in Parliament.

On the Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025, the actual program was introduced in 2003. Being involved with local procurement policy, with contracts that I used to engage with in my plumbing business, was a bit of a two-edged sword sometimes. It was great to know that when you were getting contracts, and mine were through our local council, you were employing locals in the area – which I did; I employed qualified plumbers – and also giving the opportunity for apprentices to come through, knowing that you were servicing people that lived in the area by supplying them with a job and that moneys made inside that contract actually stayed in the region. It was always great to know that that was where it was going. That became the norm, probably for the last 15 or 20 years of my working life. And every time you went for a contract you had a list of items that you had to work through. I spoke about the double-edged sword, and being a small business and having to sit down and work through that it was probably me out there working during the daytime on the tools but then sitting down at night and working through the checklist of what was needed.

With what the government is bringing forward, I hope that the more work that is going to need to be done by smaller businesses – the bigger businesses have people that actually do this for a living and work their way through it – and the other triggers put in this bill do not put smaller business owners on the back foot and make them think it is all too hard, because it is great to know that local businesses can put their hand up and their hat in the ring and apply for tenders that the government put up. It is one of the great things to get security for a business, and you do know that they are going to be employing those local trades that go along with it. Sometimes it is very hard to only be able to get the local trades at the moment because of the drain, especially in regional areas, and trying to get other trades to come in if you are lucky enough to win a contract. It is a really big effort by the contractor to make sure that it does flow. When they are bigger contracts here in Melbourne, we know it is the bigger firms that do them.

So we do need regulations around that to make sure that it is going. Because one of the things that you do see is you may be able to sign it off in a contract that you are going to have that local content and you are going to make sure that you are purchasing your materials at the local level and the money is going back into the community, but how do you actually make sure if you do not have certain regulations? How do you know that that money is staying locally? If you have got a contractor that comes in from outside the area, you can tell that they may be getting their materials and supplies from a local store. But how do you know that all the people that are working on that site are coming up to the percentages that they do need for that local content? So we do need balances and checks and regulations, but on the flip side we do not want the impost on people and them not wanting to put their hand up because there is so much work to comply with what is going on.

Down in the valley we have had the circumstances of the timber industry over the journey shutting, with losses of jobs. We are going through the transition now of our energy grids, where the biggest employers down throughout Gippsland in the valley have been our coal-fired power stations. We need to make sure that we are getting jobs and manufacturing coming back into the Latrobe Valley so we can service the people that live there at the moment, so they have good paying, secure jobs, not just for five years but for generations into the future. We need like-for-like paying jobs and jobs that people are happy and proud to be able to do. So we need to make sure that is going.

We have been very lucky down in the Latrobe Valley with a couple of projects, and they have been massive projects throughout the Latrobe Valley. I did have the Latrobe City Council here today – my council – that came in and were speaking with shadow ministers, and they were also speaking with ministers on the other side, government ministers. They are pushing for more manufacturing to come into the region, because we know that we are going to be losing a certain amount of jobs moving forward. I would hope that members and ministers on the other side take them on face value and have that goodwill that they know that you cannot finish and wind jobs up in the power industry and also the timber industry and then not think ahead and say, ‘Hey, we need another outlet,’ so that the current people that work there – the mums and dads that are currently working in those industries – have the opportunity for their children to actually have good jobs as well.

The performing arts centre in Traralgon is one of the great performing arts centres in regional Australia. We have had people and bands and theatregoers that do come and are blown away by what we can, at a local level, build. We know that we have the people on the ground that can actually make these projects work, using the local workforce. To have companies and also bands that do come through and stand on the stage and look out into the crowd and then comment on just how wonderful that facility is is great. We have swimming pools that have been built across the area. Some of our sporting facilities have had major upgrades, and it is great that we can also have local input on that. And some of the sporting fraternities have been lucky enough that people that are embedded in those sporting fraternities and racing clubs do build stuff and do have that manufacturing arm and can put their hand up to say, ‘Hey, this is what we want to do.’

It is a great situation that we can have that local input into our local jobs, and we want to make sure that that does continue. But as I said, on the flip side we do not want to be having the fact that small businesses do not have the opportunity –

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I am required by sessional orders to interrupt business now. The member will have the call should the matter return to the house.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.