Thursday, 11 September 2025

Business of the house

Orders of the day

Danny PEARSON (Essendon – Minister for Economic Growth and Jobs, Minister for Finance) (11:12): I move:

That:

(a) the following order of the day, government business, be read and discharged:

DISABILITY AND SOCIAL SERVICES REGULATION AMENDMENT BILL 2024 – Second reading – Resumption of debate and that the bill be withdrawn;

(b) the following orders of the day, government business, be read and discharged:

HEALTH WORKFORCE – That this House acknowledges the massive investment of the Allan Labor Government in the health workforce, including – (1) Growing the workforce by more than 50 per cent; (2) Increasing nurse and midwife pay by 28.4 per cent; (3) Growing the on-road paramedic workforce by over 50 per cent; and (4) Upskilling thousands of health professionals – Resumption of debate;

COMMITMENT TO WORKING FAMILIES – That this House recognises the Allan Labor Government’s commitment to working families by expanding free breakfast clubs, saving parents $400 through the School Saving Bonus, and extending the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund, ensuring every student has access to essential programs, no matter their circumstances – Resumption of debate.

I am a great admirer of this institution of the Parliament. In my time in this place I have always admired the fact that we have been able to ensure the institution keeps pace with 21st-century technology but that we have got the underlying notions of respect, going back to the Speaker’s comments earlier this week, about this great institution.

A key part of the way in which this house operates is through the notice paper, and I think it is timely and important that we regularly update the notice paper to ensure that it is current and accurate. This is a housekeeping measure, and it will be removing older notices so the business before us as parliamentarians is clear. This is standard practice in Westminster parliaments when items have outlived their purpose. We are not going to waste this chamber’s time or the time of the Parliament’s staff by stacking out the notice paper with a dozen of the same motion, like those opposite do. Just as any organisation keeps its agenda current, this Parliament has the responsibility to do the same.

The people of Victoria expect this Parliament to focus on the issues that matter most – the cost of living, jobs, health and education. That is where our attention should be, not tied up with old and redundant items sitting on the paper. Clearing the decks allows us to get on with the business that makes a real difference for Victorians. This motion demonstrates respect for the processes of the house and shows that we treat the notice paper seriously and do not treat it as a dumping ground for items that have no pathway forward, like those opposite do. This is about keeping our house in order, something those opposite could learn from given the time they took up earlier today. The government has considered the best use of the house’s time and determined that these matters do not need to proceed further.

Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (11:15): I rise to make a few comments, too. I am surprised to get up and contribute and say a few words on this, because in my discussions with the Leader of the House she indicated she had not intended to make any remarks in moving this motion, so perhaps that memo did not get through to the minister at the table.

I noticed that in this motion at point (a) the government seeks to discharge the Disability and Social Services Regulation Amendment Bill 2024. This is a bill that has been sitting on the notice paper, as you can see, for about 12 months. Quite frankly, you have got to wonder why the government introduced a bill to this chamber – and parliamentary counsel has obviously determined that the government wants to proceed with the bill – and engaged parliamentary counsel to do all the work that they do. We have got to value parliamentary counsel, and we should not be wasting their time. But they got parliamentary counsel to draft this bill, they introduced it to the chamber and then it has just sat on the notice paper for a very, very long period of time, only for the government to realise that they got it wrong. The government has realised that when it comes to this disability bill, they have got it wrong. Again, you have got to wonder; the disability sector must be scratching their heads. Certainly I know the Shadow Minister for Disability, Ageing, Carers and Volunteers is aware of this change, and he is looking forward to the government, hopefully, introducing another disability bill, because otherwise, quite frankly, the government will be vacant in this space.

On the other point, point (b) of this motion, the government seeks to discharge two motions – on the health workforce and on their commitment to working families in a cost-of-living crisis. I find it quite interesting why the government would fail to put these to a vote. Are they afraid of how the vote might turn out? I am not sure why they are not putting these two motions to an actual vote. On the health workforce, our health workforce do amazing work. They are at the frontline. On our paramedics, I give a shout-out to those at the Lilydale ambulance station and the work that they do. They point out to me regularly the challenges in their jobs and the constant ambulance ramping at Maroondah Hospital. That is because the Allan Labor government has, due to their incompetence and financial incompetence, has a problem in the hospital system such that when ambulances and paramedics take a patient to Maroondah Hospital they are unable to then transfer them into a hospital bed because of the problems at Maroondah Hospital as a result of the failures of the Allan Labor government. It strikes me as odd that the government would not put this health workforce motion to the vote but just seeks to discharge it and get it off the notice paper. There must be something awry there.

Perhaps, too, with the motion on the commitment to working families – the government’s motion refers to breakfast clubs, the $400 school saving bonus and extending the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund. Again, it strikes me as odd as to why the government would not put this to the vote. I know there are many families through my electorate of Evelyn who are really struggling with the cost-of-living crisis at the moment, and any assistance they can get is valued. I wonder if the government seeks to strike this off the notice paper because perhaps in the next budget they cannot afford it, and they do not want to have voted for it. Perhaps they do not want to have on the parliamentary record that they voted for something that they are going to cut from the budget.

I would suggest to you that the Allan Labor government is probably going to cut these cost-of-living measures for Victorian families, and that is precisely why they are seeking to quietly try to just take this off the notice paper and fail to put it to a vote. I would challenge them to put it to a vote, but perhaps they just want it off the notice paper. So we will be looking very closely at this Allan Labor government’s budget when they hand it down next year.

We already know that debt is soaring to record levels, with nearly $200 billion of debt under this Allan Labor government. The interest repayments on that debt are over $1 million an hour. It is crazy. Of course taxes have increased, with tax after tax after tax. I have lost count –

James Newbury: 63.

Bridget VALLENCE: Thank you, member for Brighton. There are 63 new or increased taxes, despite the fact the former Premier at an election committed to no new taxes under his Labor government. Well, that was a promise that completely and utterly failed. We will be looking closely at the budget, because now, given the fact that the government do not want to vote on their own motion on cost-of-living measures for families, I would suspect that they are actually going to cut it from the budget. So we will be looking at that very closely when the budget comes around next year.

But that is all I have to say. As I said, the Leader of the House did convey to me that she had no desire to speak on this motion, and yet given that the Minister for Finance did stand up to speak to the motion, I thought it best to put some of these concerns with this motion on the record. However, we will not be opposing it.

Motion agreed to.