Tuesday, 8 September 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) (12:23): I move:

That, under standing order 94(2), the orders of the day, government business, relating to the following items be considered and completed by 5 pm on 10 September 2026:

Budget papers – motion

Effect of spending cuts on hospital pipeline – motion

Conspiracy theories – motion

Neale Daniher AO – motion

Community leaders – motion

Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Amendment Bill 2026

Inquiries Amendment (Special Prosecutor) Bill 2026.

In kicking off on the business program, can I also acknowledge the honourable members for Rowville and Croydon. We do look forward to hearing from them this week as part of clipping the ticket on the government business program with valedictory speeches this week. We look forward to hearing from them about the particularly significant contributions they have made over very many years. They will join several other members, including the member for Sydenham and several others, who will also be giving their valedictory speeches through this week, as I understand.

The business program is of course about integrity, and it is about the Premier keeping his promises to Victorians and leading by example. On the first day in the job the Premier was very clear on committing to making integrity not negotiable. He committed the government to establishing a royal commission into corruption in Victoria’s construction sector. That is exactly what we are doing and what has been outlined by the Premier this morning. We are not taking our time with that; we are moving as quickly as we can, with the support of others in this place, to move quickly to debate on those matters. We will be establishing a special prosecutor to make sure that the work of the royal commission will lead to proper accountability.

The royal commission will have exhaustive powers to root out corruption and clean up our building industry. But a royal commission does not have the power to lay charges or to prosecute, so we are establishing the office of the special prosecutor, a dedicated resource with a commission to ensure that where wrongdoing is established there are consequences. Consequences matter. We will also be making important changes to the powers of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, including a new broader definition of ‘corruption’ and follow-the-money powers to enable investigators to root out corruption wherever they find it. Victorians expect public money to be spent responsibly, and they also expect their government to be transparent and accountable, and that is what the Carroll Labor government will deliver: a government that cares about working families and respects every dollar.

This week we will also be debating a number of motions, including a motion on the effect of the Leader of the Opposition’s plan to make $11 billion in cuts and how that will affect our health system and the pipeline of new hospitals – particularly in my own electorate, where we are in the middle of a significant investment of $275 million for a new and expanded emergency department at the Austin. Only a Carroll Labor government really cares about working families. That means investing in health services, not cutting them. It is also about making sure that we are putting PSOs in shopping centres, not guns in our emergency departments and hospitals.

Further, we will also be debating a motion to recognise and thank our community leaders across Victoria for their steadfast commitment to a safe, united and multicultural Victoria, because our government, the Carroll government, is one government that is for all. Our government rejects the politics of division and the grievance politics that we have seen from One Nation, and we know there are some in this place who could form government only if they get into bed with One Nation.

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

The SPEAKER: Leader of the House, come back to the motion before the house, which is the government business program.

Anthony CARBINES: Things are a little bit touchy around here, but I accept that ruling, Speaker.

James Newbury: On a further point of order, Speaker, the member is reflecting on the Speaker.

The SPEAKER: I do not uphold the point of order.

Anthony CARBINES: That was clearly not the case, Speaker. We are getting on and doing for working people, but I do want to say that I am looking forward with the confidence and the tick of approval that we have received from across the community and from across stakeholders to the establishment of the royal commission into the building industry established by Premier Carroll and the further work that has been brought forward to this Parliament through the second-reading speech and the bill that has been made available to the house today so that we can move quickly to debate around additional powers for IBAC. That is critically important. I do recall that oversight and integrity matter a lot in this place and to you, Speaker. A very long time ago the integrity and oversight minister from those opposite had to resign. Such was the level of integrity and oversight that their minister responsible for the establishment of an anti-corruption commission had to resign his position.

I am really confident that we will make sure that we have a discussion on these matters and a debate on these matters over the course of this week and that we will expedite this bill and see that IBAC has the additional powers and the follow-the-money powers that it needs to hold people to account in our community. It is a Carroll Labor government that has brought these matters forward. We will put these matters to a vote later this week, and I am pleased that those across the chamber have determined to bring these matters on forthwith so we can debate them as part of the government business program throughout the week.

 James NEWBURY (Brighton) (12:28): Though we do not support the government business program for the reasons that I will outline in a moment, we do strongly support IBAC getting the powers that they have been calling for, the powers that, as the Leader of the House alluded to, Victorians would expect IBAC to have. Our concern, which we will deal with in the substance of the debate, is that this bill does not do that. We will get to debate on that throughout the week. I would note that in relation to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Amendment Bill ‍2026 and the Inquiries Amendment (Special Prosecutor) Bill 2026 we have been amenable at all times to assist with the facilitation of those bills through the Parliament quicker.

When it comes to the government business program that we have before us, currently the program lists those bills for debate throughout the week with a guillotine on Thursday. We have made it clear to the government we would have enabled those bills to be moved across to the Council sooner because we so strongly support IBAC getting the powers they need. I put that offer again in this place to the government and say there is no reason to keep the bill in this chamber for three days, other than mismanagement of the chamber. It would be a better thing to take this bill across to the Council and get it done quickly, because if you want this bill done quickly there is a mechanism to do that. We have seen that in other weeks with other bills whereby certain bills could be guillotined earlier – perhaps this evening or tomorrow – and therefore that would enable the bill to move across to the Council sooner so that the Council could perhaps debate it on Thursday. I put that offer again to the government. As the Leader of the House said himself, and I pick up the point of his debate, these two bills that have now been listed on the government business program are about integrity, and we will get to the substance of that debate. What has become clear is those bills do not cover what IBAC has actually been asking for, and we will get into the substance of that debate throughout the second-reading speech process on the bill. It is now clear that what IBAC has asked for by way of power is not included in the bill that is being put forward to the Parliament – a shameful con, some might say, and as I have said.

In relation to the other matters that are listed on the government business program, as the Leader of the House has said, there are a number of motions. A number of those motions are meritorious, we have no issue with them and we will facilitate them through the chamber. But there are some that are simply old raw politics – sledging motions, as I have come to call them – which are simply the worst of politics and frankly a waste of this chamber’s time. They are about cheap pointscoring. It is disappointing that we see them on the government business program. We do not believe they should be on the government business program, and in fact I think at the end of the day all it does is reflect poorly on a government who clearly do not have their priorities aligned with Victorians and what they would expect us to be debating. We believe that it reflects on the government, and that is why you can see Victorians with such strong views about the poor performance of this government.

Though we support IBAC, I say again to the Leader of the House that we would support those two bills going to the Council sooner – we would be more than happy to see that done – and we support the principle of those bills in terms of the powers that they provide. It is the sledging motions specifically on the government business program that are of great concern and I think are a disappointment for Victorians, which is why we cannot support the government business program. As the Leader of the House said, we look forward to the very many valedictory speeches. As the member for Rowville said, he does not know how he is going to get through 32 years in 15 minutes, but we will all be here tonight to see it.

 Danny PEARSON (Essendon) (12:33): I am delighted to make a contribution on the government business program, and I do so as the hour of my parliamentary demise beckons, because I must say I used to love the government business program. I think it is fair to say some of my best work in this place occurred in the debate. I do recall –

Mathew Hilakari interjected.

Danny PEARSON: Well, I enjoyed myself before your time, young fella. I do want to thank the whip for giving me the opportunity to speak on this. It was always good fun, I must confess, the debating style that occurred in the chamber, particularly with Robert Clark. I thoroughly enjoyed debating Robert on these matters.

The motion before the house is, again, something very important. We have made it very clear, as the Leader of the House did in his contribution, that it is about making sure that we can have the opportunity to bring forward the IBAC bill as well as the work for the special prosecutor. I think that is important. Again, we will have that opportunity for these bills to be properly canvassed and reviewed in the course of the week before they are dispatched to the other place for consideration.

As often reflects this time in the electoral cycle, it is a good opportunity for those members who wish to make valedictory speeches to do so. The members for Rowville and Croydon will be up tonight. My good friend the member for Sydenham will be up tomorrow night. It is a good opportunity for members to have that chance to talk about their contributions, particularly the member for Rowville. The first opportunity I had to vote against the Liberal Party was against the member for Rowville when he was a candidate – he was not the member – for Wantirna in the 1992 state election. I voted against him. Clearly, the overwhelming majority of the people of Wantirna felt differently, and I think my aged appearance indicates how long ago that was.

I am particularly pleased that members of the house will have an opportunity to make contributions on Neale Daniher and his contribution. In so doing it is important to note the contribution of Mike Schneider. Mike Schneider is the chair of FightMND. Mike was a very good friend of Neale’s. Mike is an outstanding business leader as CEO of Bunnings; he announced recently that he will be standing down in January as the CEO of Bunnings. Mike has been an outstanding representative of the business community. He is a thoroughly decent person and a very good friend of mine, so it will be good to acknowledge his contribution as well.

Again, as I said to the whip, I do appreciate the opportunity to speak on this motion before the house. What I always found interesting with the government business program is that people would sometimes struggle with its narrowness – the fact that it is quite a narrow procedural debate where you are talking about the forms of the house. But if you are creative and if you are imaginative, then you have the opportunity to wander down many a wondrous rabbit hole. It is somewhat self-indulgent, I think it is fair to say. Certainly –

Richard Riordan interjected.

Danny PEARSON: At least some of us on this side of the house have aspirations for the finer things, the richer things, the more wondrous things, the intellectual pursuits in life, unlike others who may wish to use this as an opportunity to sledge the good work of a good government.

I was drawn back to a contribution where I said, ‘Ceterum existimo enim quod est per se bonum et progressivum imperium’ – ‘Furthermore, I consider that good and progressive government is essential’ – and that is a view that I have always adhered to as a member of this house. It is certainly very fortunate for someone like me to have been a member of this house and to have always been able to speak in favour of a government business program. That is reflective of having, clearly, longevity in office. It has been fun. It has been a great privilege. It has been a great pleasure. It has been wonderful for the house to have indulged me in some of my whims and my somewhat tangential contributions, but it has been a lot of fun. On those notes, I suspect this is my last government business program. I do commend it to the house, and thanks for the memories.

 Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (12:38): I rise to talk on the government business program. It is great to follow the member for Essendon. Sometimes in the chamber he has wandered down some of those paths to educate us all about how parliaments work not only here but around the world. It is terrific, with all our MPs that are leaving Parliament, that we are going to have those valedictory speeches come through this week. I am sure that we will all be happy to come in and listen.

We have the member for Rowville and the member for Croydon tonight, and we look forward to that time when we can all listen to how Parliament has evolved over time, or maybe how it has not evolved. I look forward to the member for Rowville doing that tonight. Tomorrow obviously we have the member for Sydenham. The member for Gippsland East – I look forward to his contribution. I am sure that it will have its funny points, and I am sure most members in this house will not be spared some of his indulgences that he has seen over the journey. The member for Malvern is on tomorrow night as well and then, to my left, the member for Shepparton on Thursday. We look forward to all of those.

As the member for Brighton said, even though we are opposing the government business program, we are not opposing the fact that the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Amendment Bill 2026, which the Premier stood in this chamber before and spoke about, and the Inquiries Amendment (Special Prosecutor) Bill 2026 have come into here for us to debate today and all this week before they are guillotined on Thursday. I would also like to urge the government to let us push it through, have our debate and send it to the other place to go through, because I think every Victorian and every member here in the chamber understands just how critically important it is for IBAC to have those powers at their disposal. I am sure we will have members on either side stand and speak to that as we move forward. With the special prosecutor as well we have some legislation that we need to move to give the special prosecutor powers to be able to move forward with the IBAC investigation. As we well and truly know, people – no matter where they are, everybody’s constituents right around Victoria – have been asking for this. The Premier stood in this place and said he will be making sure that IBAC get the powers that they do need, so it will be good to be able to drill down and actually find out what powers they are going to have moving forward.

Also in the notice paper items, as we spoke about before, we have budget papers. I know a lot of MPs on our side have stood in the chamber and spoken on notice paper item 3, the budget papers motion. I am sure that as we move through, the ones that have not will get to their feet. Notice paper item 4 is about the effect of spending cuts on the hospital pipeline. This is where these sledge motions that we talk about start to come in. Even though they are on the notice paper, are we doing a disservice standing in this chamber and talking about these sledge motions and wasting our time when we could be talking on more important stuff? Notice paper item 5 – conspiracy theories. Notice paper item 6, as the member for Essendon said, is talking about Neale Daniher AO. I think we all stand, and have done, in solidarity about the wonderful contribution Neale made to our community, especially about MND as he has pushed that into the face of everybody and we now talk about that more. Notice paper item 7 is a motion on community leaders. As I said, we will be opposing the business program this week.

 Dylan WIGHT (Tarneit) (12:43): It is a great pleasure to rise this afternoon to make a contribution in favour of the government business program for this week, a government business program that is incredibly important for all Victorians and that, as always when we are in this place, will make the lives of working Victorians better. It was disappointing once again to come into this place this afternoon and learn that the opposition will be opposing the government business program, particularly this week, with the two incredibly important pieces of legislation that are on it. They go to the heart of what this government stands for –

Members interjecting.

Dylan WIGHT: It is hard to hear myself thinking with the National Party branch meeting going on in front of me here. Perhaps those in the National Party could go to the phone box down the road and hold their branch meeting in there.

The SPEAKER: Member for Tarneit, through the Chair, and come back to the government business program. The member for Mildura will cease interjecting.

A member interjected.

Dylan WIGHT: I will be here, yes, absolutely. To go to the contents of this government business program – like I said, incredibly important contents that they are – we have got the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Amendment Bill 2026, which will give IBAC the follow-the-money powers that it needs to be able to conduct the business of IBAC in the way intended and in the very best way possible. It will also amend the definition of ‘corrupt conduct’ to capture a broader range of criminal conduct and other integrity-compromising behaviours. They talk a big game, the opposition, when it comes to integrity and when it comes to IBAC. I will note, though, that the credibility of the opposition leader in this space has been compromised without a shadow of a doubt during these conversations and during this debate –

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

The SPEAKER: Member for Tarneit, come back to the government business program, please.

Dylan WIGHT: Thank you, Speaker. The Leader of the Opposition, who some time ago –

The SPEAKER: Member for Tarneit, come back to the government business program.

Dylan WIGHT: Of course, Speaker. As I said, they are incredibly important pieces of legislation. The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Amendment Bill 2026 will make sure that IBAC has the powers to conduct investigations as it needs to when there is suspected corrupt conduct, when there are referrals to IBAC and when there is incredibly important work to do. I would on that point just like to credit the fantastic work that IBAC does and that it has done in the past.

The Premier said that the first thing he wanted to do was establish a royal commission into what has happened in Victoria’s construction sector. The next bill, the Inquiries Amendment (Special Prosecutor) Bill 2026, goes to the heart of that. The Premier said that he would establish a royal commission, and that is exactly what he has done. But royal commissions, as we know, whilst incredibly important, are inquisitorial by nature – they are information-gathering operations – and a royal commissioner does not himself have the power to prosecute. So it is incredibly important to move legislation in this place this week and debate it and pass it very shortly, hopefully, through this house and then through the other place, to make sure that alongside that royal commission stands a special prosecutor so that if it is clear through that process that evidence heard is of a criminal nature and there are prosecutions to be laid then that can be done in the most timely fashion. It is an incredibly important piece of legislation.

The member for Morwell also went to some of the motions on the notice paper. I thought I would just speak very briefly on the motion on Neale Daniher AO. We obviously have our great friend the member for Pakenham in here also affected by MND. Neale Daniher is a Victorian legend, as is the member for Pakenham, so I just want to mention that as well.

 Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (12:48): It is a great pleasure to talk on the government business program, my first contribution on such a matter for this 60th season, and of course it is a ripper, the second-last one of this current regime. That is the one big upside of having an opportunity to speak today. It is the second-last time from this side of the chamber, one would hope. I reference the member for Essendon, who said in his contribution only moments ago that ‘good and progressive government is essential’, and I agree wholeheartedly with him. The great people of Victoria will have that opportunity in not so long a time to make sure that they do have a fresh start with a good and progressive government. So it is my pleasure to make a contribution for the second-last time.

This government business program, this drivel that has been served to the Parliament and the people of Victoria this time, could not be more exemplified than by the legislation coming through. The new Premier has come out and said that he is not Dan Andrews and he is not Jacinta, and none of us believe him. We have facts as to why not to believe him, because the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Amendment Bill 2026, which we will be debating this week – and of course this side of the house is absolutely hanging out to have this debate about improving IBAC. But lo and behold, can you believe it, the legislation that we are going to debate this week says, ‘We won’t talk about Premier Dan and we won’t talk about Premier Jacinta. No, we’re going to conveniently leave that bit of history out.’

The SPEAKER: Member for Polwarth, be careful about anticipating debate.

Richard RIORDAN: I take that. Thank you, Speaker. Heaven forbid that I anticipate the nonsense that will come from the other side of the chamber.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Polwarth, I make rulings without them being reflected on.

Richard RIORDAN: Thank you, Speaker. We have that to look forward to: a piece of legislation that will conveniently cut huge swathes out of what might interest the people of Victoria to understand ‍– for example, where their $15 billion went. It might also be used to investigate why the crumbling train lines of Polwarth, where we have had 10,000 less seats available to the people of Polwarth for the last couple of years and where can no longer have food service –

Anthony Carbines: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance to the procedural debate before the house, I would have thought the opportunity for the substantive debate on the government business program, given those opposite are opposing the business program, will come at some later point today.

The SPEAKER: I remind the member for Polwarth that this is a very narrow debate. I understand this is your first contribution on this matter, so stick to the very narrow debate, member for Polwarth.

Richard RIORDAN: I appreciate your wise guidance, Speaker. I note that the point I was trying to make to the minister at the table is that, instead of debating the issues this week that the people of Victoria really want to hear about, we are going to have motions, for example, that say things like ‘That this house commends the Carroll Labor government for committing’. No-one in Victoria ever said, ‘Thank you, we want to commend this government for the $15 billion that has been stolen or the train lines that have been made defunct.’ No, that is not what the people of Victoria want to do. The people of Victoria want to know that we are assembling, for this second-last time in this chamber, to actually make sure that there is transparency, good governance and openness about the way we transact business in this state. That is what we would hope to debate.

There will be a little bit of an opportunity for further discussion on budget papers. That will be an opportunity to air the theft and the misleading of the Victorian public. I refer specifically to the Auditor-General last week, and there will be another opportunity to again have a look at the budget papers, because we learned last week that the budget papers that we will have an opportunity to talk about this week do not in fact have the secret tax in them. We wonder why that would be. That would be an opportunity to talk about that.

The other thing the government wants, instead of allocating time to talk about how we can make the state better, is to spend time debating conspiracy theories. That is a very odd one – whose conspiracy theories, what conspiracy theories? That is something this government, in its dying days, wants to talk about, conspiracy theories, not what is best for the people of Victoria and not what is best for this state.

Assembly divided on motion: