Tuesday, 17 March 2026

 Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Women) (12:13): 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 19 March 2026:

Regulatory Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill 2026

Safe Food Victoria Bill 2026.

It is excellent to be back in the Parliament. I must say I am looking forward to universal support for this week’s government business program, on the basis that it is all about reforming the regulatory environment that we have here in Victoria, ensuring that we are, where appropriate, streamlining reform, removing regulatory burden and making it easier for a range of businesses to get on and do their work here in the state of Victoria.

I might first speak to the Safe Food Victoria Bill 2026. This is reform that was committed to by our government in the Economic Growth Statement in 2024, and it will make Victorians safer and it will ensure that it is easier to do business here in Victoria. Obviously as Minister for Health I have a real interest in this bill, and I want to thank my colleague the Minister for Agriculture for the work that she has done in bringing the bill to this place. Maintaining food safety at all times is a very big and significant role and responsibility held by our government and regulatory authorities, and it is always important that we get the balance right, ensuring that we have safe food at all times but that we have a regulatory environment that is fit for purpose and does not present an unintended drag on business.

It is also important to note of course that the nature of risks in the food environment changes all the time, and so we need to be conscious of the need to be responsive to this new food environment. The need for change and the absolute requirement to safeguard the health of Victorians is at the forefront at all times, as is the world-class reputation of our agriculture sector. This bill is about ensuring that our agriculture producers have a regulatory environment that is not overly complex but is, as I have said, one that makes it easier for them to do business, because right now there are four Victorian acts ‍– two responsible ministers – regulated by the Department of Health, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Dairy Food Safety Victoria, PrimeSafe and 79 local councils. It will be really interesting to hear diverse viewpoints in this chamber. I know that there are people who have experience as farmers and people who have experience in the hospitality industry and as greengrocers and so on – and that is just on our side of the chamber – so I do look forward to hearing the diverse views. Of course as Minister for Health I will have some things to say on it as well.

The Regulatory Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill 2026 is a bill that we bring in every year. It supports effective and efficient regulation, promotes greater clarity and consistency with existing legislation and policies, streamlines processes and reduces administrative burden. We are always looking to do that. It supports our Business Acceleration Fund and is backed with almost $40 million in funding. The reforms that this bill seeks to deliver are expected to deliver around $250 million in annual benefits by reducing red tape. As I said, these two bills should receive the support of everyone in this chamber.

In an election year it is really important that we use time in this place to outline the different positions of the different parties in relation to the matters that are at the forefront of the minds of the Victorian people when it comes to choosing who should govern them. That is why I am delighted that there will be time in the agenda to continue the debate on our TAFE motion – which due to popular demand is back on; we will be debating that motion further in the chamber, Manager of Opposition Business – and I expect we will have another motion, which we look forward to debating too. We will give those on the other side an opportunity to tell us about their housing policy.

 James NEWBURY (Brighton) (12:18): I rise to speak on the government business program, and the coalition will be opposing the government business program. For the parliamentary weeks this year we have done a little bit of a dance in this chamber on the government business program. Each week we have done a little bit of a dance, where the government have said they have a program and have said they have legislation that Victorians should feel is important and that this Parliament would debate it, and then we have got part of the way through the week and the government have stopped debating their motions and have gone to random sledge attacks on the opposition. Of course they have. Each week we have played this little game where I have called out, on the government business program, the fact that the government would be doing this. The government has denied it, and then halfway through the week that is where we have got. The government has wasted this Parliament’s time with debates, often procedural, of waste-of-time sledge substance. The Leader of the House is hoping that I engage in procedural debate this week. I take up the opportunity and always stand ready to speak to a procedural debate, as you would know, Speaker. So each week we have played this silly little game, and the government has then wasted the Parliament’s time with political sledge motions. I have to pay the Leader of the House a compliment.

Members interjecting.

James NEWBURY: Yes, I know. Everyone get ready. The Leader of the House has admitted on day one of the parliamentary week that she is going to be wasting the Parliament’s time this week. You have to give the Leader of the House a compliment in saying that two sledge motions are going to be debated this week and that the government is going to waste the Parliament’s time doing that – as they said, because it is an election year. I mean, how much more raw, straight politics can you get that the –

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a –

James NEWBURY: I am speaking to what you spoke about.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Brighton, when someone stands to raise a point of order it is not appropriate to interject.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Speaker, the member on his feet is required to be truthful in all that he says, and he is misrepresenting my contribution.

The SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.

James NEWBURY: I am speaking directly to the substance of what the Leader of the House spoke to in her contribution, and that was that the government agreed and revealed to Victorians that for multiple occasions this week the Parliament would not be debating legislation and would be debating political sledge motions – no surprise there. So, as I said, we call out the fact that the government is doing this. What a disgrace it is.

The one thing that the Leader of the House did not note is that during this parliamentary week what I suspect and hope is that a private members bill that is being considered in the Council will pass and be brought back to this chamber. I hope there is a very long debate about increasing IBAC’s powers. I hope that the Council passes that bill this week, and I look forward to looking in the eyes of the members on the other side of the chamber as we vote on that bill, if it passes. There will be two types: there will be the type that do not want IBAC to have new powers, and there will be members who do it because they have to. We on this side of the chamber, I can assure you, are going to be speaking very strongly to it.

Back on the government business program, we are concerned by the way the government is being political. I know that in only a handful of weeks time this government will stand up on the government business program and say they do not have enough time to pass all the legislation. That is what they will be saying in a few weeks time. Yet they are wasting weeks and weeks of this Parliament’s time on dirty little sledges – and Victorians can see it. Victorians can see that these are just nothing short of political sledges. It is a waste of the Parliament’s time. We will not support a government business program when we know – and the Leader of the House has flagged – that is her intention. It is a shame. It does not stand this Parliament in the stead that it deserves to be and in the historical standing that it has for the government to be playing games in the way it is in this chamber, so we will oppose the program.

 Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (12:23): I rise to speak on the government business program. The member for Brighton’s contribution there just referred to silly little games that we are playing in terms of motions. I had the absolute pleasure of speaking to the free TAFE motion just last sitting week, and I noted in my contribution that this is all about the people that we represent and the people that have had their lives changed through free TAFE. I was able to share a speech made by a wonderful TAFE teacher at the Fed Uni TAFE excellence awards. I bring this up because I know that many on this side have just such stories about lives that have been changed through free TAFE and what an incredibly important program it is. For the member for Brighton to refer to it as a political sledge really starts to make me wonder. I mean, I did note in the past that the only time that the Leader of the Opposition has mentioned free TAFE was to refer to it as a waste of money, so perhaps in the member for Brighton’s contribution he is categorising free TAFE as a political wedge. I guess what he is saying here is that there is no support from those on the other side for free TAFE, and perhaps that is why they are opposing today’s government business program, because they do not want to discuss what is such an important part of our education system. I am really surprised to hear that free TAFE is nothing but a silly little game to those on the other side.

I am really looking forward to the debates in the house as well, and I will be absolutely delighted to speak on the Safe Food Victoria Bill 2026. I would like to acknowledge the wonderful Minister for Agriculture, as well as of course our wonderful Minister for Health. They have worked very closely to bring this bill here to Parliament. It is such an important bill, as the Minister for Health said in her contribution, that there are many of us who want to speak about our experiences. Certainly, having come from a farming background, I know how important these regulations are but also how important it is to get that balance right for farmers, who obviously have a lot going on in their lives at the moment. A bill like this is incredibly important in its opportunity to get that balance right and to relieve some of the regulatory burden that is upon them.

I am somewhat amazed that the opposition are opposing basically a program around regulatory reform. I know that we have brought these pieces of legislation forward so that we can support the many small businesses, the many agricultural enterprises in our state, and I am amazed, to say the least, that those on the other side have said that they are going to oppose it. It is pretty shameful. I mean, I know agriculture makes up 25 per cent of Victoria’s gross state product. It is an incredibly important part of both our economy and of course also just all our livelihoods and all that we eat. So we are trying to make it easier for farmers when at the moment there are a lot of headwinds; we have just been through a pretty awful period of drought, and I know that there is a great deal of concern in the agricultural industry as we look to what is happening overseas. So anything that the government can do to support our agricultural business has surely got to be supported by all sides of the house. I am somewhat amazed that those on the other side do not support this bill, which is really about supporting our farmers and supporting small business.

But in the moments that I have left, I do just want to reflect again on the comments from the member for Brighton in his contribution about silly little games. To refer in that way to a motion that celebrates free TAFE and all that it has brought for so many people in this state is just extraordinary. We also want to discuss housing. Have they got something to hide on the other side?

 Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (12:28): As the Manager of Opposition Business said, we will be opposing the government business program this week, namely because, as he said, two bills and two sledge motions are hardly an effective use of time – the Parliament’s time and the taxpayers’ time. Whilst we have heard a lot about free TAFE – and we do support the education, particularly in the regions, that TAFE offers – there is no such thing as free. We know that. Just like there is no such thing as government money; it is taxpayer money, and in this place, the people’s house, we should be using it effectively. So the lack of a legislative agenda, with only two bills on the program this week, flies in the face of the effective use of time.

Last sitting week I drew attention to the incredible rainfall that happened in Mildura, and I did thank the SES for the incredible work that they did. It was remiss of me not to mention the CFA crews who were out assisting the SES and doing an amazing job, as they always do. We have seen this week that those CFA volunteers – working for free, using their fuel to get to jobs and often in stations paying through the nose for fuel – are getting slugged the emergency services tax for the pleasure. But this week you will be happy to know that the golf courses that I spoke about reopened, and I did also mention the Swing Society tournament that had been cancelled. That has been rescheduled to 26 April.

A member interjected.

Jade BENHAM: Swing Society is to do with golf. It is golf, let me be clear.

The SPEAKER: Member for Mildura, I bring you back to the government business program.

Jade BENHAM: Of course, Speaker, apologies. I was taking up an interjection from the other side just to clarify some things. The government business program this week allows my colleagues from the Nationals to speak on a plethora of issues, particularly through the Regulatory Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill 2026. There are 13 acts, I believe, being reformed in that, so that opens it up to a wideranging debate, obviously. There are a wideranging number of issues that need to be taken up, particularly in the regions, and after last week, when the bill was rushed through for compulsory acquisition in renewable energy zones for renewable projects and transmission projects, that has escalated. Add to that the fuel crisis that no-one is talking about, and yet we have regional areas running dry of fuel. There are a number of things we would like to discuss.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Speaker, you already pulled the member up for straying wide from the government business program. I ask that you bring her back to the GBP.

James Newbury: On the point of order, Speaker, the Leader of the House spoke to a number of motions and other matters that would be debated in the house this week, which gives us every right to speak about the same.

The SPEAKER: I do not mind members varying from the government business program briefly, but I do ask you to speak to the government business program.

Jade BENHAM: In speaking to the government business program I am referring to the regulatory reform bill that is on the program today, which allows for quite a wideranging debate with regard to all sorts of reforms, particularly those that concern me and my colleagues in the Nationals, in regional and rural Victoria, who are hurting now, and it will only get worse.

I do want to state also that with the lack of legislative agenda from this government, with only two bills on the program and two sledge motions, would it not be a more useful use of time and taxpayer money to finish off the take-note motion on the budget? My poor colleague the member for Morwell ‍– we have not finished that yet – feels like he has been gagged because he has not been able to speak on the budget. The member for Narracan has not been able to speak. He is also feeling like he has been gagged. We are counting down the days now until the next budget. Are we actually going to finish this take-note motion before the next budget? There is something we could put on the government business program, and in that case we might actually support the government business program.

 Dylan WIGHT (Tarneit) (12:33): It is always a pleasure to follow a statement from the member for Mildura. Whilst those opposite have been busy making cringey Instagram reels over the last few days, those on this side of the house have been concentrated on governing for all Victorians and bringing forward the reforms that matter most. I actually thought this may have been the week where the Victorian Nationals showed some gumption and voted in a different way to their coalition partners on this government business program, given its contents – both the Regulatory Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill 2026, which is incredibly important to people all over Victoria, and specifically the Safe Food Victoria Bill 2026, which is so incredibly important to those primary producers that the Nationals claim to represent.

And whilst we are coming into this house with that incredibly important reform, we have got the member for Brighton standing up in front of the Nationals, calling this government business program a waste of time, a government business program that has in it reform that helps small businesses but also helps, incredibly, our primary producers. As the member for Eureka said, 25 per cent of Victoria’s gross state product is made up of agriculture – 25 per cent of Victoria’s GSP. This is reform that not only maintains and helps food security, which we know is an ongoing issue all over Australia and all over the world, but also helps Victorian businesses with a simpler regulatory framework. And those opposite, both the Liberals and the Nationals, want to come in here and call that a waste of time. They say that legislation is a waste of time.

I can tell you that I will be going back to my electorate, and I will be crossing the road to the member for Point Cook’s electorate with him to talk to the primary producers in Werribee South, like the said family of Fresh Select, which supplies about 75 per cent of Victoria’s lettuce and broccoli. If you eat lettuce and broccoli in Victoria and you get it from Coles, most likely it has come from Werribee South. You can bet your bottom dollar the member for Point Cook and I and the member for Werribee will be going to talk to those families to inform them that the Liberals and the Nationals think that a simpler regulatory framework for their food safety and supporting their businesses is a waste of time. It will be an absolute pleasure for me to go and inform them of that, member for Morwell.

It is incredibly disappointing; I did come into the chamber this morning with high hopes that this would be the day that the Victorian Nationals showed some gumption and did the right thing by the people that they claim to represent. Unfortunately they have not had the intestinal fortitude to do so, which is incredibly disappointing.

It is a jam-packed government business program, as I said. The member for Brighton wants to have a laugh. Whilst those opposite want to talk down Victoria every single step of the way, we will get on with the reforms that help all Victorians. As I said, that food safety bill is incredibly important for Victorian business, particularly primary producers. Those opposite want to talk down Victoria. They want to say that Victoria is a bad place to do business in, but the stats just do not show that. The most recently released data from the ABS shows that private investment into Victoria in the year leading up to December 2025 was the second highest anywhere in the country, second only to South Australia. We know that it is that private investment that is fuelling Victoria’s economic growth, which is also the highest anywhere in the country.

We have also got the Regulatory Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill 2026, which makes a suite of changes to help refine and modernise Victoria’s regulatory systems. I will not go into them all, but I am on the bill, so you can listen to me in about an hour. I commend the government business program to the house.

 Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (12:38): I rise to oppose the government business program, as we have already noted in the house, and to correct the record from those opposite. I know they do not like the truth to get in the way of a good story on that side of the house; it is very true. But to twist the words of the members that are here fighting for their communities is abhorrent. It is not factual. We are here to talk about the fact that the government are wasting our time. The government are also wasting the Parliament’s time, and they are also wasting taxpayers money. We know that; that is for sure. The reason that we are opposing the government business program today is because of this lack of legislative agenda. It is not for what is in the program this week, but it is for what is not in it. There is an abundance of things that are not in the government business program that we ought to be talking about today that are so imperative and that are also so important to Victorians, and that they care about.

The government is here time after time and week after week talking about how they want to sledge the opposition and they want to use time in the Parliament to sledge the opposition. They think that is a good use of time, they think that is a good use of taxpayers money, they think it is a good use of the Parliament’s time, and that to us is a joke. It is a joke that week after week for the entire parliamentary sitting year they have, again and again, moved motion after sledge motion against the opposition when we are here to legislate, when we are here to fight for our communities and when we are here to stand up for Victorians – here we are – and this is why we are opposing the government business program; it is so very lacking.

Not to mention that but, as the Manager of Opposition Business said, the next thing on the agenda, as noted today, is a motion to commend themselves. The next thing on the agenda is the Allan Labor government dislocating their arm to pat themselves on the back – well done and good job to themselves ‍– when the truth of the matter with housing is that they are failing again and again. We are here with the number of new homes built last year at the lowest level since 2014. That is ridiculous. And they are missing their targets year upon year upon year. They are well behind on their targets and not doing anything. In fact research is now showing that 62 per cent of Victorians – an overwhelming majority – do not trust the government to make the right policy moves to improve housing affordability. That is the truth of what is going on.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Speaker, the member on her feet will have ample opportunity to make these points in the appropriate debate, but right now I ask you to bring her back to the government business program. I note that, with more than half of her time expired, she has not yet mentioned either of the bills on the program.

The SPEAKER: The member for Warrandyte will come back to the government business program.

Nicole WERNER: Again, we are opposing the government business program, as we said, not for what is in it but for what is not in the government business program. The Leader of the House has been sitting here this whole time. We have made this point very articulately, speaker after speaker, to say that the legislative agenda is lacking, that we are here to fight for Victorians and that we are here to legislate in this house, not to sledge each another time and time again. This is why we are here, so that is why we are opposing the government business program. It is clear for all to see. There is an abundance of things that should be in the government business program but that it is lacking. We could be talking about the Commonwealth Games that were meant to have started today. We could be talking about the breaking news that the Premier had been warned and knew about CFMEU corruption. There is an abundance –

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Speaker, again, the member on her feet will have an opportunity in the house, apparently in motions that she opposes, to debate some of the issues she is raising.

The SPEAKER: Leader of the House, what is your point of order?

Mary-Anne Thomas: Relevance.

The SPEAKER: Come back to the government program.

Nicole WERNER: Those opposite want to run down the clock so they gag me from speaking. Here I am. We oppose the government business program.

Assembly divided on motion: