Tuesday, 21 June 2022

Department of Justice and Community Safety

Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan—Leader of the Opposition) (11:46): My question is to the Attorney-General. I refer to the so-called Red Wedding at the department of justice and the massive turnover of staff, including a redundancy spike, as it was politicised by your secretary, Rebecca Falkingham, a matter now under investigation by the Ombudsman, and I ask: in addition to the Ombudsman’s investigation, will you immediately refer this corrupt politicisation of the department to the public service commission?

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (11:47): Mr Davis, there are some outrageous remarks in that question. As we know, it is this Council, this chamber, that referred a matter to the Ombudsman in relation to hiring practices within the public service. The mere fact that a referral has gone to the Ombudsman and she is obligated to accept a recommendation from this house does not suggest in any way the nature of that investigation, who has been investigated and indeed the characterisation of your question and your linking of it to a media report in relation to some practices within a department. It is, completely appropriately, a matter for the secretary of the department and the senior executive to make decisions about priorities of a department. Hiring and firing practices are not to be politicised, which you are kind of now asking me to do.

I have full faith in the department of justice. I have been in the role of Attorney-General, lead minister of this department, for 18 months, and I have received fantastic support, particularly off the back of working really hard during the pandemic, making sure that we can continue to support Victorians in every aspect of that portfolio, which covers a very broad range of ministers and a broad range of topics. The public service and the advice that I have been provided with by the department of justice, as I am sure some other justice ministers in this chamber would attest to, have been exemplary. It has certainly been my experience that the hiring processes are meritorious. They are appropriately conducted. I have seen absolutely no evidence to suggest otherwise. The department has my full support, the secretary has my full support and your attempts to politicise this are shameful.

Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan—Leader of the Opposition) (11:48): It is not me who is attempting to politicise it, Minister. I refer to the so-called Red Wedding and a boardroom meeting at which every executive position to be filled was displayed on a whiteboard while the names of candidates preferred by Falkingham and her deputy secretaries were written on post-it notes, and I therefore ask: given the corrupt and politicised appointment process, will you fully cooperate with the Ombudsman?

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (11:49): I reject the notion of your question—to suggest that it is a corrupt practice to make appropriate appointments to some really important roles in the department of justice. Your question is without basis, and that is the answer you are getting.