Wednesday, 30 October 2019

Fines Victoria

Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (11:08): My question is again to the Attorney-General. In 2013 Barnet Council in the UK dumped Civica as its fines IT provider. Medway Council in the UK has also had problems with Civica, with chief financial officer Mick Hayward saying:

I’ve sworn at the people at Civica and have given them earache about this, as have a lot of my colleagues around the country.

Minister, why then in 2016 did the Victorian government appoint Civica, a company clearly not up to the job, to run Fines Victoria’s IT system?

Ms HENNESSY (Altona—Attorney-General, Minister for Workplace Safety) (11:09): The Leader of the Opposition asks a question relating to a period before I took up the Attorney-General role, and so I will provide the advice that I have been provided. The advice that I have been provided is that the recommendation was made after a scan done by KPMG and after representation from various government departments, and Victoria Police made the recommendation in 2016.

Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (11:09): Blame the member for Keysborough, right. Given the $328 million black hole last financial year caused by this debacle and the nearly $60 million spent trying to fix this failed system, why hasn’t the government commenced legal proceedings against Civica?

Ms HENNESSY (Altona—Attorney-General, Minister for Workplace Safety) (11:10): Yet again the Leader of the Opposition demonstrates that he does not understand the way in which fines are operating. Now—

Mr Andrews interjected.

Ms HENNESSY: As the Premier notes, he may indeed be looking for other sources of income along the way, but fines do not expire, and that is a matter that the Leader of the Opposition fails to understand. And I have said—

Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, the question refers to both the $328 million fines black hole but also the $60 million the government has spent on trying to fix this failed system. I ask you to bring the minister back to answering the question: why isn’t that amount being recovered from the company responsible?

The SPEAKER: Order! The Attorney-General is being responsive to the question that was put.

Ms HENNESSY: Thank you very much, Speaker, and of course that is not what the Leader of the Opposition asked, and I am answering the question he did in fact ask.

In terms of the $328 million, that is not a black hole. It is money that can be recovered because fines do not expire. That is a fact that the Leader of the Opposition fails to understand. In terms of the other aspect of his question, as I have said, the government is currently conducting a review. We are not going to compromise our commercial position simply because of the fact that the Leader of the Opposition wants to come in here and try to project all of his political anxiety onto this side of the house. We will make sensible, considered decisions based on the advice that we receive.