Tuesday, 25 August 2026

 Anthony CARBINES (Ivanhoe – Leader of the House, Minister for Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Economy, Minister for Major Events, Minister for Medical Research, Minister for Racing, Minister for Economic Development) (12:15): 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 27 August 2026:

Local Government Legislation Amendment (Stronger Communities) Bill 2026

Fair Work (Commonwealth Powers) Amendment Bill 2026

Education and Training Reform Amendment (Apprenticeships, Traineeships, Schools and Other Matters) Bill 2026

Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026

Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Coercive Control, Good Character, Risk Assessment and Other Matters) Bill 2026

Workplace Legislation Amendment (Accident Compensation and Other Matters) Bill 2026.

In moving those matters I would say also that it is a very significant business program of some six bills for the Parliament to give consideration to in the Assembly because the Carroll Labor government will continue to deliver for hardworking Victorians. We do not know whether those opposite will be delivering very much, because they do not care about working people. They only care about doing the bidding of others in the community.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker: relevance.

The SPEAKER: Leader of the House, come back to the government business program.

Anthony CARBINES: This week we will be debating the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Coercive Control, Good Character, Risk Assessment and Other Matters) Bill 2026, which will make significant reforms to prioritise the safety of victim-survivors and ensure perpetrators of any form of interpersonal violence are held to account. It is about responding to the voices of victim-survivors. It is about listening to their concerns and taking action. It is a bill that will establish a standalone criminal offence of coercive control and abolish good character references at sentencing for all offences. The ‘good bloke’ defence will be a thing of the past.

I might say also that I know Rosie Batty will be in the Parliament this week, and we welcome her here to play a role in hosting members of Parliament and other members of the community. I know that that is occurring with other members, including the Attorney-General. I know that we welcome her here and the advocacy and work that she has displayed over a long period of time. Certainly I was a member of this place when we stood for Rosie Batty when she spoke in this chamber to indicate her heartfelt experiences and her support for the community. I do know that there is a member of that Parliament who has been preselected by the Liberal Party who did not stand for Rosie Batty then and I am sure will not stand for her now.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker: again, relevance.

The SPEAKER: I encourage the Leader of the House to come back to the government business program.

Anthony CARBINES: We will also be debating the Workplace Legislation Amendment (Accident Compensation and Other Matters) Bill 2026. This bill makes practical improvements to the Victorian workers compensation framework to make sure it is fair for injured workers, employees and the wider Victorian community, because safety at work is not negotiable for the Carroll government. It is about fair compensation for those unfortunate enough to be injured at work. The bill demonstrates that Victoria is not only a safe place to work but also a place where we want people to be able to invest and grow. But you also need to be investing and growing your workforce and looking after them to make sure they get home to their families, which is very much just as important as it is in some of the matters that we have already touched on this morning in motions by leave. Everything we can do to keep people safe at work we must do.

One of the important ways of helping working families is to make sure they have access to high-quality and effective education and training. This week we will debate the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Apprenticeships, Traineeships, Schools and Other Matters) Bill 2026. It will strengthen protections for Victoria’s apprentices and trainees, making the system safer and fairer for our youngest workers, who are a particularly vulnerable cohort.

We will also be debating the Local Government Legislation Amendment (Stronger Communities) Bill ‍2026, strengthening laws around integrity and governance in local government and ensuring public decisions are made fairly and transparently. Along with many people in this place, as a former local government councillor, I know integrity and governance in local government is critically important. We look forward to the further debates and the reforms that we can bring to this place across those matters this week.

We also understand that working families rely heavily on local government representatives to be efficient and effective in delivering the services they rely on and to ensure determinations about ratepayers money are responsible and effective. We will be debating the Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026, another bill that is about protecting workers. Our government understands they deserve access to safe, fair workplaces and proper and effective representation.

Finally, we will be debating the Fair Work (Commonwealth Powers) Amendment Bill 2026. These are important changes for working people once again, including Victorian public service staff and Victoria Police. We worked closely on these matters with the Police Association Victoria. I know how important these changes are. These are changes that relate back to the previous dark days of the Kennett Liberal government, when rights for workers were palmed off to Canberra, but of course carved out from that were Victoria Police members, who lost those rights. Those appeals and having their rights protected at work were taken away from them – they were excised out by the Kennett government. It will be a Labor government that will bring those rights back for Victoria Police members. I am very proud that that legislation is coming before this Parliament. No-one else has been able to deliver it, but a Carroll Labor government will make sure those rights of Victoria Police members at work are protected and brought back through this Parliament. I commend a solid business program to the house.

 James NEWBURY (Brighton) (12:20): I rise to speak on the government business program. What a mess this Parliament is. What a mess this government business program is. We had six days left of Parliament and the government had over four years to work out how they would manage a legislative program over that four years, and they have got to the final days of their government – the end of days for the government – and have worked out that time is running out and their delivery for the community has not lived up to expectations, and now the government are in a mad panic to try and make up for all of the errors they have made in relation to community priorities. That is why we now know that we will not be sitting for five more days after today. An additional week of sitting has been announced – to do what? Who would know? You would see, in what has returned to this place today, what is being considered in the Council this week and what there is an indication of being brought into this chamber, that the program has not facilitated and the Leader of the House has not spoken to how all of those things will be managed. That is important, because if you are on top of your job, if you are on top of managing the program, you will know how you are going to manage these things.

We know that we will probably sit late tomorrow evening, only briefly, because the plan for valedictories has not fully been thought through, and now we have to fit valedictories in, which of course we all should be here for. I am not in any way reflecting on the valedictories occurring, but it is just a sign of mismanagement of the chamber’s time. All of these things should be managed in a way that these things are managed well. We expect, I would presume, working from home at some stage to be brought back into the chamber – perhaps this week – though we would put on record that despite a press conference last week, no amendments have been moved to the bill. What are the amendments?

Anthony Carbines: On a point of order, Speaker, as much as I appreciate the crystal-balling of the member for Brighton, I ask, on relevance – which he has been keen for us to adhere to on this side of the house – for him to perhaps go to some of the six substantive bills and the three that are forecast for amendment. He might want to cast some commentary on those matters.

The SPEAKER: Member for Brighton, I remind you that it is the government business program we are debating.

James NEWBURY: Thank you, Speaker, and I have been very, very careful not to make any political comments and rather to talk about managing the chamber. I think some latitude thereof is reasonable, considering we will need to understand how we will bring through work that is being done in the Council and potentially amendments to other bills that the government is seeking to move through the chamber this week. It is only reasonable to understand how we will facilitate those items around a proposed government business program and, as the Leader of the House identified, amendments that are returning from the Council. When it comes to managing this chamber’s time, you do need to take into account the work in the Council and those amendments coming through, and that is why I raised the work-from-home legislation, because I suspect there will be amendments. The government has announced that there will be amendments but has not made any public release about that, so it is reasonable to talk through how this chamber will facilitate that. But I take the Leader of the House’s point. For working from home, as there have been no amendments moved by the government despite their public promise, it is probably a fair thing to surmise that nothing will happen with that legislation this week, and I take the Leader of the House up on that point.

Further, I understand that the government is considering further IBAC reform and there will perhaps need to be time afforded for that legislation. The Premier, last Thursday from memory, announced an intention on IBAC. The Premier announced that, so I think it is reasonable that we consider that. That is why we oppose the program.

 Dylan WIGHT (Tarneit) (12:25): It gives me great pleasure to rise this afternoon and make a contribution in favour of this amazing government business program, a jam-packed government business program. It is always a great pleasure to follow the member for Brighton, who does seem genuinely aggrieved that he will have to travel 11 kilometres from Brighton for an extra few sitting days.

Members interjecting.

Dylan WIGHT: I cannot hear myself think, Speaker. According to him, the member for Brighton is most certainly the smartest person in this room, so I thought that he would have known that coming to Parliament, debating legislation and voting on it is a pretty significant part of his job. And if we need to take a few extra days to get this jam-packed legislative agenda that the Carroll Labor government has done then that is exactly what we will do. If we have to sit late some sitting nights, that is exactly what we will do. If we have to come back for a few extra days during school holidays and in grand final week, that is exactly what we will do, because this government, the Carroll Labor government, is committed to supporting working people here in Victoria. That is exactly what this government business program this week is all about, member for Murray Plains. That is exactly what it is about.

A member interjected.

Dylan WIGHT: Oh, no, I meant Murray Plains. We have got six bills on this government business program, the vast majority of which will make the lives of working people in our state better.

We will start with the Fair Work (Commonwealth Powers) Amendment Bill 2026. As the member for Ivanhoe rightly provided commentary on, a former Liberal government in the 1990s, led by Jeff Kennett, gave our industrial powers away to the Commonwealth government. This bill will refer relevant components of industrial powers. Workers out there in Victoria – we have obviously got two systems, one here in Victoria, one federally – deserve representation. This bill, like I said, will make the lives of working people better.

An incredibly important bill which I know has been some time coming on this government business program is the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Coercive Control, Good Character, Risk Assessment and Other Matters) Bill 2026. We know that family violence, domestic violence, is a scourge on our society, and there is an epidemic out there. This government, for the last 12 years really since opposition when we announced a royal commission, has worked day and night to try and improve that, particularly for Victorian women. I represent the constituency of Tarneit, which is inside Wyndham. The member for Werribee will know that 23 per cent of all family violence cases in the state of Victoria are committed in Wyndham. That is amongst a population of 340,000 people. If you talk to local police, 50 per cent of all their calls are related to family violence matters. It is an absolute epidemic all over Victoria but particularly in our outer suburbs.

For it to continue to be legal – and this will fix that – for somebody to go to court on a family violence matter and be convicted and perhaps be going off to prison and then have the capacity for somebody that they have known to provide a reference on how good their character is to try and influence or lower that sentence deserves stronger words than ‘not fit for purpose’. It has long been diabolical and a debacle, member for Brighton.

James Newbury interjected.

Dylan WIGHT: I would not start, member for Brighton. Like I said, this government business program – every single piece of legislation on it, everything we will debate this week – will make the lives of working Victorians better. That is the commitment this government has made. In November Victorians will have a binary choice between that – (Time expired)

 Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (12:30): I rise to talk on the government business program. As the member for Brighton said, we are opposing it this week. The member for Tarneit was just talking about one of the bills coming through, the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Coercive Control, Good Character, Risk Assessment and Other Matters) Bill 2026. My constituents in the Latrobe Valley carry heavy hearts because, in the seat of Morwell, the Latrobe Valley and East Gippsland are unfortunately rated number one and number two in the state for reported cases of family violence. It is something that we are working hard on, but we always seem to be in the top two places. Regional Victoria does not miss out, unfortunately, when we talk about these subjects. So to have this particular legislation come through – especially with coercive control as well, and to put measures in place against being able to write a good character reference, which should not carry any weight at all, moving forward, when accusations are brought up against people – I think most people will be standing and talking about this in the chamber.

The Workplace Legislation Amendment (Accident Compensation and Other Matters) Bill 2026, which is coming through, will be good to stand up and talk about. I have a lot of people in the Latrobe Valley community that unfortunately, through their jobs and their work, engage with WorkCover, some at a good level and some at another level, where payments for their rehabilitation are sometimes lacking. It will be good to stand up in the chamber and put a couple of the cases forward and put names to the faces of some of the people that come in and sit in my office. When they come into the office talking about WorkCover matters they are at their lowest ebb. It is probably the final step that they have left to be able to come and talk to us. It is a lot of trades, obviously. We have a lot of tradies around the place.

As I am a former tradie, I will also rise and make a contribution on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Apprenticeships, Traineeships, Schools and Other Matters) Bill 2026. I talk to a lot of tradies and business owners in the Latrobe Valley as a former plumber, and I still talk to and catch up with the building fraternity. For a lot of plumbers, the red tape that they have to jump through these days to actually be allowed to employ somebody – it will be good to be able to stand up and talk on that. One of the things we do know, right around the state, is that our level of house builds is falling behind where it should be, and the availability of a great workforce starts with apprentices being able to move through TAFE and be educated for the four years. It does make it really hard. The completion rates are something that I would like to touch on also as we move through that bill. It is so much harder to get apprentices to our TAFEs, because normally they are young and do not have a licence and rely on public transport or mum and dad to be able to manoeuvre them around to jobs before they get their licences.

The Local Government Legislation Amendment (Stronger Communities) Bill 2026 is another one that is on the program. The Fair Work (Commonwealth Powers) Amendment Bill 2026 is also up for debate, and the sixth and last one – this is how many bills we have to try and cram in in a sitting week ‍– the Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026, will be a really interesting one. I am looking forward to the member for Mildura leading off on this, because there are a lot of issues within this bill, so to hear her articulate in her words where that sits will be very pleasing. As I said, we will be opposing the government business program this week.

 Daniela DE MARTINO (Monbulk) (12:35): It gives me great pleasure to rise and contribute to the government business program debate, because we have a slew of very important legislation before the Parliament in this sitting week. I know we are coming back for an extra week, and as the member for Tarneit elucidated and spoke to quite well, that is actually part of our job. So although it is going to hit during my birthday and it will be the first time I have attended work on my birthday, having been a teacher and always had school holidays off, I do not mind being here, because we have got important work to do, and the people of Victoria rely upon us to turn up and to pass the legislation that they need to ensure that Victoria is a safer and better place for people to live in. It is literally part of our job, so I have got no complaint about turning up. I will be looking forward to sharing the day with all my colleagues here.

There are six very important bills on the government business program this week, and many have addressed a number of them. There are a couple that I would like to go to in particular, and people probably will not be surprised that the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Apprenticeships, Traineeships, Schools and Other Matters) Bill 2026 is one that I am looking forward to contributing on. I know that apprentices and trainees are often and overwhelmingly young and it is sometimes their first foray into working life, so ensuring that this more vulnerable cohort is better protected and taken care of is fundamentally important. They are our tradies of the future, and I think to give them the best start in their working life is really important. It is incumbent upon us to be able to legislate to ensure that occurs wherever possible.

In terms of schools, and schools as places that should be sanctuaries and safe, not just for students but for the staff within them, including the principals, the proposed amendments contained in this legislation I think are quite key to ensuring that we can help, because there has been a rise of awful behaviour directed towards teachers and principals. We have seen this insidious trend increasing, where they are subject to abuse. Sometimes it is verbal; sometimes it is physical. None of it is acceptable, and wherever we can we must ensure that the protections for them are easier for them to be able to work with. There is a scheme – and I am just looking through my notes; I have lost the name of the scheme at hand – that is there and designed for principals and other senior staff to be able to ensure that schools are protected from abusive parents or associated people coming to schools, and it needs strengthening. It needs bolstering, and that is what this legislation will do. It was reviewed. A statutory review was required. They have looked at it. Engage Victoria has taken on submissions from others who have opinions on this, and we now have a piece of legislation which is going to ensure that it is fit for purpose. I know several principals, deputy principals and senior teachers who have told me that over the years this has become a more concerning issue. No-one should go to work and be abused. We looked at legislation last week to ensure that we have retail workers and workers in transport as well being more protected in their workplace, and we need to ensure that educators have protections for themselves and for the students to ensure that schools are places of education not conflict.

There is other important legislation we are dealing with. In fact all of it is important, but another one that I seek to speak on this week is the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Coercive Control, Good Character, Risk Assessment and Other Matters) Bill 2026, and like the member for Tarneit and the member for Morwell as well spoke about, good character references should not form any part of someone’s defence or mitigate what occurs there. If someone has been abusive, if someone has committed family violence, it should not matter that others may think that they are a good person outside of there. At the end of the day the damage they have done is what should be judged and assessed, and the sentencing should be appropriate there. In terms of coercive control, this is a huge step forward in calling this out and legislating on it. It is such an insidious form of family violence. This legislation goes to the heart of addressing that and ensuring that people can be safer, because family violence is a scourge, as has been described. The numbers are awful. They are appalling. Everything that we can do to try and reduce it is worthy. I commend the program to the house.

 Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (12:41): I rise to speak on the government business program, which, as the Manager of Opposition Business has said, we are opposing. The reason we are opposing this program again is because of the shambles that this government is in. Once again we see a program in the house that demonstrates to Victorians how desperate this government are: desperate to look busy, desperate to look like they are legislating, desperate to look like they are helping Victorians when in actuality that is simply not the case.

We have had nine sitting weeks this year, nine weeks where we have been able to come into this place time and again to legislate on the important issues and things that are affecting everyday Victorians every single day. They have had nine sitting weeks of opportunity to legislate and take action on crime, on cost of living and on youth crime in the wake of tragedies like the death of Van Viet Truong and people like Aidan Becker. There has been opportunity after opportunity to bring important legislation, as the government says, to this place. They have had this entire year. In fact they have had 12 years in government to be able to move important legislation. But here we are, with six days to go of Parliament, now adding another three – an additional week – simply because they have not got their act together. We are in a state of desperation because of this government, who saw fit to spend time in the chamber, wasting the Parliament’s time, debating frivolous motions attacking the opposition.

Anthony Carbines: On a point of order, Speaker, I have given a minute for members to be relevant to the government business program or refer to the government business program –

A member interjected.

Anthony Carbines: Additional sitting weeks the Parliament has not even considered.

Annabelle Cleeland interjected.

The SPEAKER: Member for Euroa, I make the rulings. Member for Warrandyte, come back to the government business program.

Nicole WERNER: To the government business program at hand for this week, there are six bills that they are trying to smash through in the three days that we have this week and then another three days next sitting week. They are trying to get all of this urgent legislation through. What did they say? They said it is a ‘jam-packed agenda’. Well, I can tell you, it has not been a jam-packed agenda this whole year. They have spent time debating motions and attacking the opposition frivolously. They have spent the Parliament’s time attacking the opposition with motions that have nothing to do with legislation. That is what this government has done. They saw fit to spend taxpayers money and Parliament’s time on debating frivolous –

Anthony Carbines: On a point of order, Speaker, saying it more loudly does not make it any more relevant. I would ask the member to come back to the government business program, which they have failed to do for 2½ minutes.

The SPEAKER: Leader of the House, I remind members of the correct way to raise a point of order. There is no requirement for commentary around a point of order. Member for Warrandyte, come back to the government business program.

Nicole WERNER: Can we look at the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Coercive Control, Good Character, Risk Assessment and Other Matters) Bill 2026. This bill proposes changes to Victoria’s response to family violence and coercive control, including changes to risk assessment, protection for victim-survivors, good character requirements and fines relief. We know that with coercive control specifically this is incredibly important. We know on this side of the house that it is, nearly 100 per cent of the time, a precursor to domestic violence. In fact there is a very, very topical conversation around gender-based violence that is going on right now in the public domain, and rightly so. We understand how important an issue this is, so important in fact that we actually moved to introduce a private member’s bill on this. We brought a bill to the house last year – that is how critical this is, coercive control and criminalising coercive control – and what did the Labor government do? They opposed it and they voted it down. When we looked to criminalise coercive control in this house, this government voted it down. This government opposed it. This government said no to that, and now they are bringing a version of – (Time expired)

Assembly divided on motion: