Worker entitlements
Mr WAKELING (Ferntree Gully) (11:21): My question is for the Minister for Industrial Relations. Hundreds of firefighters and other public servants have not been paid for overtime or other entitlements earned during the bushfires. These underpayments are on top of cases of Andrews government wage theft affecting staff of the NGV, prisons, youth justice facilities and public hospitals. Will the minister step in and guarantee these emergency services workers will be paid every dollar they are owed in their next pay packet?
Members interjecting.
The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Essendon and the member for South-West Coast can leave the chamber for the period of 1 hour. I have warned members not to shout across the chamber.
Members for Essendon and South-West Coast withdrew from chamber.
Mr PALLAS (Werribee—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (11:22): I thank the member for his question. Might I say, I am refreshed to actually appreciate that those opposite are by implication going to support our wage theft legislation when we bring it into Parliament. Let me also be clear that as a proud unionist and somebody who fought for over 30 years for the rights of working people to get fair wages and restitution from their employers, it is unacceptable in any material respect that workers are not paid their appropriate entitlements. To the extent that there are underpayments, in many respects these have been worked through to work out what the legal obligations are. I have been keeping a very close eye on all of these matters. And can I—
Mr Wakeling: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the question was very simple. Hundreds of workers want to know: are they going to be paid their entitlements in their next pay packet, yes or no? Those workers demand an answer from the minister on this important question.
The SPEAKER: Order! The minister is answering the question.
Mr PALLAS: So if the question is, will the workers get paid their entitlements, the answer is, absolutely, yes—absolutely, yes. The government recognises that in the news today there is evidence of some delay in terms of payments that were due. We recognise that this is unacceptable, and we are taking action immediately to rectify that situation. Every worker due an entitlement will get paid their entitlements by this government.
Mr Walsh: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the question was very clear, asking the Minister for Industrial Relations: will he guarantee that these workers will be paid in their next pay packet? I ask you to bring him back to actually answering that question, because at the moment he is being very evasive about the facts on this.
The SPEAKER: The Leader of The Nationals, I think, knows that the minister has been relevant to the question that was asked. The minister has concluded his answer.
Mr WAKELING (Ferntree Gully) (11:24): Noting that the minister refused to give a guarantee that they will receive their pay in the next pay packet, the Premier has claimed that this government will make sure all Victorians get paid for the work they do and dodgy employers get more than a slap on the wrist. So what action will be taken against the ministers for creative industries, health, corrections and environment and the heads of their respective departments for short-changing the wages of public service employees?
Mr PALLAS (Werribee—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (11:25): Well, if the member is actually advocating that any time there is an administrative error in the processing of pay we construe that as a crime, our jails will be full very soon. That is not the point behind the wage theft legislation. What we are told with regard to the forest fire management pay issue is that the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning has advised that these are isolated instances, that this is not a systemic problem and consequently the errors are being rectified as quickly as possible. But to simply confuse an administrative error and assume therefore that a criminal test applies, God help us if that is the way you want the law of this land administered.
Mr Walsh: On a point of order, Speaker, I ask you to bring the Treasurer back to actually answering the question that was asked. It is time he actually walked the talk on this instead of just talked the talk.
The SPEAKER: The minister has concluded his answer and has been relevant to the question asked.
Interjections from gallery.
The SPEAKER: Order! I am going to suspend the sitting of the house until the ringing of the bells and order that the galleries be cleared. The house is suspended until the ringing of the bells.
Sitting suspended 11.27 am until 11.36 am.