Tuesday, 12 August 2025

 Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (12:10): I move:

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 14 August 2025:

Domestic Building Contracts Amendment Bill 2025

Wage Theft Amendment Bill 2025

Bail Further Amendment Bill 2025.

Speaker, can I say, firstly, it is great to have you back in the chair, and on behalf of the house, I express our condolences to you.

This is another important sitting week with another full Labor government agenda delivering the legislation that will make a difference to the people of Victoria and that responds to the real needs of Victorians, because that is what Labor governments do. We pride ourselves on the fact that we listen to our communities, and they have entrusted us with the great gift of government three terms in a row now. We continue to deliver and respond to the issues and challenges as they arise in our community.

The Domestic Building Contracts Amendment Bill 2025 is a very good example of this. In May 2023, following the collapse of Porter Davis Homes, our government announced a package of reforms to provide stronger protections for Victorians who are building and renovating their homes. As part of that package, our government committed to a review of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 to ensure that it is fit for purpose and that it strengthens protections for building owners while supporting the needs of the building industry, and the review was to also consider interactions with other relevant acts and the broader building reform program. Informed by outcomes of the review, this bill will better protect Victorians who are building or renovating their homes, while supporting the industry and helping to get more homes built, because quite frankly, that is what this government does. We are very proud to have the highest building approval rate of any state in the nation here in Victoria. This bill that is before the house is a very important and significant piece of legislation, and we look forward to those on the other side of the chamber supporting us.

We will also be discussing the Bail Further Amendment Bill 2025, and again I say our government is responsive to new and emerging challenges in our community. We have always got our eyes open to those challenges and make sure that we act with speed to address those challenges, but in doing so we also make sure that we get the legislative framework right, because this is difficult and complex work. When it comes to justice reform and protecting community safety, it is only a Labor government that will get that balance right. We promised to deliver two packages of legislative reform this year, and that is exactly what we are doing. The first package was passed, as you will recall, in March, and it is already working. We see this when we see that the number of people in remand has increased. This second package of reforms brings in the toughest bail test in the country for repeat high-harm offenders and a second-strike rule for those who commit indictable offences while on bail. These reforms are strong and are necessary, and we know that they will work. We are committed to bail reform that prioritises community safety and ensures that the most serious and repeat offenders are held to account, but we work to ensure that vulnerable individuals who are impacted by significant disadvantage are not caught up. As I said, it is about getting the balance right, and only a Labor government can be trusted to do that.

Finally, the Wage Theft Amendment Bill 2025. This government has a strong and proud history of protecting Victorian workers and their rights at work. It was our government which made industrial manslaughter a crime, and it was our government which made wage theft a crime. But now that we have a partner in Canberra who shares our values, we can make some changes and repeal our wage theft laws as the Commonwealth has taken up the responsibility for that. This is a great example of how our Victorian Labor government, the Allan Labor government, leads the nation on delivering important reforms, and we are happy to cede the space when the Commonwealth steps up to do their job. This is another Labor government business program which I commend to the house.

 Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (12:16): This is yet another lazy government business program from a tired Labor government. The Leader of the House in her contribution said that when it comes to community safety this Labor government gets the balance right. I think nothing could be further from the truth. They weakened the bail laws. They then realised that they were contributing to the rise in crime and offenders reoffending whilst on bail – not once, not twice but sometimes 50 or 60 times ‍– so much so that they had to bring in some new bail laws. They realised that those laws are still not tough enough. They are bringing in more bail laws this week, but they are still not tough enough.

The Bail Further Amendment Bill 2025 is not tough enough. Victoria will still have weaker bail laws than it had over a year ago when this Labor government softened the bail laws. It has a soft-on-crime approach. They say this Bail Further Amendment Bill that they are introducing is going to be tougher, but not quite yet. If it passes, it will not come into play for at least nine months. Quite frankly, our bail laws will not be tough enough until this Labor government matches the Victorian Liberals’ and Nationals’ policy commitment of ‘break bail, face jail’. This is what will make the bail laws tougher here in this state. This is what will provide a disincentive to those repeat serious offenders reoffending whilst on bail. This is what will get the balance right when it comes to community safety.

We asked to go into consideration in detail on the Bail Further Amendment Bill because we know that Labor does not have the balance right and that these laws are still weak. They are still not tough enough. They do not go far enough to protect vulnerable people and keep communities safe. We wanted to go into consideration in detail, but yet again this tired Labor government has failed when it comes to scrutiny. They want to avoid all scrutiny, and they denied that very reasonable request. As a result, we will oppose this government business program.

When it comes to what is on the government business program, finally the government is looking to debate the Wage Theft Amendment Bill 2025 – some five months after it was introduced into this chamber and more than 1½ years after the government said they would repeal the wage theft laws. What have they been doing for more than 18 months to repeal the wage theft laws? Do not be fooled by the Leader of the House, who says that they are repealing the wage theft laws just because their friend in Canberra came along with wage theft laws. The reason that this Victorian Labor government is repealing the wage theft laws is because they were unconstitutional. This Allan Labor government has a track record when it comes to introducing and seeking to introduce legislation that is not constitutional. That is what happened with the wage theft laws.

Mary-Anne Thomas interjected.

Bridget VALLENCE: It was in the High Court. The Leader of the House interjects and wonders why this was not taken to the High Court. Perhaps she needs to do her homework, because the wage theft act of this Allan Labor government was taken to the High Court, and that is precisely why the government realised it was unconstitutional. They did not even get one prosecution in this space.

What the government business program should reflect is what is critically important to Victorians right now, particularly our children. What this government business program should have in it is a bill that would protect our children whilst in child care, that would introduce a stricter working with children check. This is something that we in the Victorian Liberals sought to introduce, but the Labor government voted it down. This is what should be on the government business program this week, but unfortunately they are still lagging on that.

I understand the Leader of the House will also seek to stand up the ethics committee in the chamber this very week. This is again something the government announced some time ago. Nearly three years ago the government announced that they would introduce an ethics committee – another integrity committee – into this Parliament. We understand that that will be done this week and hope that we can just get on with that and be done with it.

 Pauline RICHARDS (Cranbourne) (12:21): Speaker, I am very pleased to have you back. I want to take the opportunity to thank you for your service. I also thank the Deputy Speaker for stepping into the role so well.

We have a terrific agenda and a really important agenda, and I am particularly looking forward to contributing to the debate on the Wage Theft Amendment Bill 2025. This is an opportunity for me to say that I would hope that nobody would need to be brought before any court for undertaking what is a criminal act. I would hope that all workers would be paid fairly and well. The idea at the time that this was some sort of terrifying piece of legislation proved in many ways to be an important deterrent. I am very conscious that wage theft is a problem that has been part of our community settings for too long, and I was very proud that Victoria was the first state to introduce criminal offences targeting the deliberate and dishonest underpayment of wages. I am particularly pleased, always, to be able to talk about it and maybe even reflect back on the Your Rights at Work campaign, because it is always important for us to reflect on what that particular WorkChoices orange meant for our side of politics at the time. We remember that people went too far. Friends of those opposite went too far when they were given the levers of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Having wage theft on the notice paper and being able to debate the importance of this legislation – acknowledging that having the Albanese government in Canberra has made the opportunities for workers to be paid fairly, to be paid a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work – is a great relief and something that shows an enlightened society. I am very pleased to be able to see this legislation come into effect federally so that our workers across Australia are able to be supported.

The Bail Further Amendment Bill 2025 is another important piece of legislation. I think that the way the Leader of the House represented this was ‘getting the balance right’. I absolutely would concur. We are tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. This bill builds on the first tranche of bail reforms that were passed by the Parliament a few months ago. In Cranbourne, as is the case across Australia and across Victoria, family violence is the greatest law and order challenge we face. I was able to spend some time down at the Orange Door in Cranbourne last week. It is an opportunity for me to thank the extraordinary hard workers who are working at the front line of keeping women and children safe. We know that we need to give the police the powers and resources they need, and we need to be able to come in, as we ought to, with homework clubs, with free TAFE and with every other lever to be able to stop those causes of crime and get people back on track when they do commit crimes. This bill absolutely does uplift those charged with indictable offences while on bail for another indictable offence to a stricter bail test. I am very proud of the work that we have done, like I said, in managing that balance, getting that balance right – tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.

Finally, it is really important that we are able to undertake this Domestic Building Contracts Amendment Bill 2025. The Minister for Consumer Affairs has taken over that portfolio and has worked really hard to make sure that we do have the reforms necessary and the legislative approach necessary in Victoria to make sure that people are able to undertake the important work of building – signing contracts, making sure that they are fit for purpose – and that the protections for building owners and people who are part of the building industry are balanced against the need for reforms that modernise and improve the regulatory framework for consumers. It is always important to get the balance right. We have got a really full agenda. I am very much looking forward to the contributions and making sure that we keep moving forward to ensure that Victoria is a safer and fairer place.

 Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (12:26): I endorse the comments made by the Leader of the House, Speaker. It is lovely to have you back in the chair, and on behalf of the Nationals we do send our deepest condolences to you and your family. I will try to keep the raucous Nationals members under control this week, particularly the member for Shepparton, who sometimes does get out of control, I know – or the member for Euroa perhaps, who also gets out of control. The moon is waning, so who knows what could happen.

I am looking forward to some contributions from real life and lived experience from this side of the house this week. But as the Manager of Opposition Business stated, we will be opposing the government business program. This Parliament is not just a rubber stamp parliament. We should have the opportunity to enter into consideration in detail and scrutinise bills at length rather than just have them rammed through by a government that refuses deeper scrutiny. On that basis we certainly oppose the government business program, because it is a reasonable request to go into the consideration-in-detail stage.

This past week I had the honour and privilege to speak to some year 11 classes at both Mildura Senior College and St Joseph’s College in Mildura. The year 11 classes at the senior college were asking about the upcoming government business program and bills that were on the agenda. They asked how these bills might make their lives easier and how they may affect the cost of living. Well, the lived experiences I referred to, particularly from the member for Narracan about the domestic building contracts amendments, are that in fact they will make building houses potentially more expensive or make building houses much more difficult, particularly for builders, tradies, contractors and subcontractors in the region. So my answer to that was that the bills potentially on the program this week probably would not help cost of living in their households too much.

The Manager of Opposition Business touched on the fact that there are so many important things that Victorians really need right now, and one of those is the care of our children, which should always be our first priority. It is why I am in this place – and that is to ensure that my children have a happy and safe future in Victoria. It is why I know many of us with the Nationals sit in this place – to make sure that our children have a happy, safe future in this state and can thrive. But at the moment, with working with children checks needing greater scrutiny and further strengthening, that is one thing that should be – and the member for Kew of course last week presented a solution that was voted down – of concern to all Victorians when children are not of the highest priority.

We have the Bail Further Amendment Bill 2025 on the agenda this week. This is the big bad bail bill that the government professes will make the laws the toughest in Australia. In fact this will not make them the toughest in Australia. Like I have said before in this place, we want the best bail laws in the country. They do not necessarily have to be the toughest, whatever the definition of ‘toughest’ is; we just want the best to ensure community safety. So when we talk about the top priorities for every Victorian, you would think that our children in early education or education should be top of the list and community safety should also be very close to the top of the list. That is the fundamental job of this government, and having proper scrutiny from those that were elected to hold this government to account is the very reason – and I know we get eye rolls and moans and groans from the government when we oppose the government business program – why we are in this house. We are here to do a job, and that is to hold the government to account, and we are currently unable to do that.

 Lauren KATHAGE (Yan Yean) (12:31): As the member for Mildura said, this is not a place just for rubber stamps, but I also remind those opposite that this is not a place for stunts. This is not a place to take what is a serious, heartbreaking, deeply personal and shattering issue and to pick it up, look at it and make the choice to use it for political gain. This is not the place for that. To say that those on this side do not have children as the highest priority is deeply hurtful and deeply upsetting for those here. Those opposite seek to take this political approach and take it out into the community and seek to direct people to speak against us with accusations that are deeply hurtful for people. All women, I think, and all mothers, want to have their own experiences of child sexual abuse and to have their children’s experiences of child sexual abuse taken into consideration by those opposite, who want to use such a horror that exists in our community – which we are taking real action to address; real, thoughtful, appropriate action, carefully, sensitively and appropriately – and turn it into politics. So I remind those opposite that this is not a place for rubber stamps, and I ask them: please, stop with the political stunts and join us to make real change for families in Victoria.

Other changes that we are making for families in Victoria through this legislation agenda today are really important. I think specifically of the Wage Theft Amendment Bill 2025. As the Leader of the House said, we are a government that responds but also one that leads. Our government are the government that led on making wage theft illegal, and we are the government that led on making industrial manslaughter a crime. What a proud thing to be part of as this government. We know that time has shown that we were right, and we have seen that national take-up of things that started in Victoria, and it was not just for such legislation. When we look across all of our different sectors and portfolios, we can see where we lead the way: we think of treaty, we think of the Minister for Health’s work with GPs. There is so much that we are contributing to this nation and setting an example on, and long may it continue. The member for Evelyn suggested that we should match the Liberal–National policy commitments – that was the quote from her – and I ask: match what? Shutting schools, hospitals and TAFEs? No, thank you. Cancelling Free Fruit Friday? No, thank you. That is definitely not something that we will be seeking to match.

This accusation that wage theft laws were unconstitutional – well, quite frankly, that affects my constitution and makes me sick, because it just totally misunderstands the point. We know that civil enforcement measures have made a real difference to workers in Victoria, families that otherwise would not have the money in their family budget to pay for the kids’ school shoes, the uniforms or a nice dinner. Workers should have the right to go out to restaurants too, so we protect their wages and we use all methods possible. We are not going to apologise for that; we think it is absolutely the right thing to do.

On our building industry bill that is coming forward this week, I am so happy to support this bill because in my community we have both sides of the coin. We have so many people building homes – their first homes often – and we have so many builders; one of the highest concentrations of tradies is in my electorate of Yan Yean. It is right that this bill supports both sides of the coin, recognising that we are all working together to build a community that we can be proud of. This bill supports both those types of people, just as we provide for new communities and provide supportive infrastructure for growing communities. Just this morning driving here, I drove past a line of tradies streaming in to continue building homes. I wish them well for the day and all the protections that we will afford them.

 Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (12:36): Firstly, before I speak on the government business program, I just want to welcome you back, Speaker. I am sure we would all agree that we have missed you in this place. I once again extend my and our condolences to you and your family. I am sure you will be your terrific self as Speaker this week and keep us all in line on both sides of this chamber.

Members interjecting.

Chris CREWTHER: Especially me. Moving now to the substance of this debate, the government business program, we have three bills up this week: the Wage Theft Amendment Bill 2025, the Bail Further Amendment Bill 2025 and the Domestic Building Contracts Amendment Bill 2025. On the surface each bill responds to a problem that has been front-page news, but when you look deeper at the substance there is an all-too-familiar pattern: headline announcements, half-measures and a reluctance to address the root causes of governmental failures. We also have the budget reply take-note motion listed again, but recently we have not been given a chance to speak on it. In fact 20 ‍coalition MPs are still waiting to speak on the budget reply. Maybe they will not get a chance. I know I waited most of last year to speak on Labor’s 2024 budget but did not get a chance before the government guillotined it, so hopefully there is a chance this year.

Now let us look deeper at the government business program this week and into each bill that is up. Firstly, we have the Wage Theft Amendment Bill. The original Wage Theft Act was introduced in 2020 to make it a criminal offence for employers to deliberately and dishonestly underpay workers. We supported the principle that every worker should receive the pay and entitlements they are owed. Wage theft goes along a spectrum from good work through to what is deemed to be modern slavery – where someone cannot walk free from that situation. That is an area that I have worked significantly on over the years, including in bringing about Australia’s Modern Slavery Act 2018. Related to wage theft and modern slavery, I note that the Victorian government still do not voluntarily report under Australia’s Modern Slavery Act, but they could do so. It is a weakness in Victoria’s system that in our procurement systems we are not reporting under Australia’s Modern Slavery Act. I would encourage the Victorian government to voluntarily report, as they could do under that act.

Going deeper into this Wage Theft Amendment Bill, I am sure many speakers on this side of the house would like to speak to it. I note that this bill repeals those Victorian offences and renames the Wage Inspectorate Victoria as the Workforce Inspectorate Victoria. It also gives that body a new role – a complaints referral function in the public construction sector – as recommended by the Wilson review. But the Wilson review was commissioned after shocking allegations of intimidation, coercion and anti-competitive behaviour on government worksites, allegations levelled squarely at the CFMEU. The public was promised action. Instead the government delivered a limited review with a narrow scope and even narrower outcomes. This bill implements just two of the eight recommendations. It is setting up a complaints clearing house that will not investigate, will not compel action and will not address the entrenched culture of misconduct in the sector.

The Bail Further Amendment Bill is another bill that those on this side, and more generally, would like to debate today. This is Labor’s second tranche of bail reforms, following their partial backflip earlier this year. After years of weakening Victoria’s bail laws, they are now trying to claw back some ground, but they still will not return to the safeguards that we had before they watered them down. This bill does make several changes, but this is definitely not the toughest bail law in the country, as the Premier has claimed. The so-called high degree of probability test is essentially the same as what exists in New South Wales, and the uplift in bail requirements applies to a very narrow list of offences, leaving dozens of serious crimes untouched.

I want to note as well that this is an issue that continues to cause problems in my electorate and beyond. We continue to see crime rise. Just this morning one of my team members, Daniel, who has a disability, had his car stolen straight out of his garage in Capel Sound. Inside was his wheelchair, in the front passenger seat. He is unable to get anywhere – including to my office or elsewhere – without it, and he has been left deeply distressed and distraught by the actions of these thugs. So yes, we do need to tackle crime and we do need to do a lot more on bail. This actually is not going far enough, though, in my opinion.

Last we have the Domestic Building Contracts Amendment Bill, which I look forward to debating, because we do need to do a lot in this space. But overall we have not been given much of an opportunity to speak – (Time expired)

Assembly divided on motion: