Thursday, 18 May 2023

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Maribyrnong River flood review

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:00): (145) My question is to the Minister for Water. Minister, on 15 December at 2:39 pm a staffer in your office emailed other staff in your office and Melbourne Water staff in response to a requested approval of the Maribyrnong River flood inquiry headed by Nick Wimbush. It stated:

Hi sorry [blank] can you please not send the OK

Minister, isn’t it a fact that your office paused the approval for the Maribyrnong River flood inquiry and that this is inconsistent with your statements in the chamber? In short, you have misled the house.

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (12:00): Well, Mr Davis, I am glad to see that if nothing else you are consistent in your question time strategy. To that end, I just want to put again on the record for the avoidance of any doubt you might have that neither I nor my office have had any involvement in the independent review being undertaken by Melbourne Water following the October 2022 flooding events. Further, Mr Davis, neither I nor my office have had any involvement in the appointment of Mr Wimbush, in the probity advice in relation to Mr Wimbush’s appointment, in changes to the membership of the panel or indeed the terms of reference of that particular technical review. So, Mr Davis, the answer to your question is no.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:02): I asked whether you had paused the approval, and you did not answer that, pointedly. Minister, Melbourne Water became increasingly restive on the day of 15 December as it progressed, sending repeated requests for approval emails to VICMIN staff in your office, to the extent that by 1:06 pm emails were sent stating:

Melbourne Water has chased up … about the … approval

Minister, doesn’t this sequence show again that your office was involved directly in the approval of the flood review and that you have now been caught out tampering with, intervening in and directing an independent agency?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (12:02): Let me say this again. Mr Davis, I was sworn in as a minister at 5:30 pm on 14 December. That went for about half an hour. After that time I caught up with my dad, went out and had some dumplings. You might want to look into that as well. Then the following day –

David Davis: On a point of order, President, this is a serious matter and the minister’s activities on the night of the 14th are completely and utterly irrelevant. They are beside the point. I am asking about activities on the 15th, and her dumplings are completely beside the question.

The PRESIDENT: Let us not get bogged down now. I think the minister was coming to the answer.

Harriet SHING: I am trying to introduce some new material here, Mr Davis, that might actually help you. I am not sure what else there is that I can add. I think we might be approaching a dozen times that you have actually been asking the same question. I was sworn in on the 14th. On the 15th I was advised that Mr Wimbush had been appointed to conduct this technical review by Melbourne Water. When I go back to exactly the documents that you are referring to, Mr Davis, the very documents –

David Davis interjected.

Sonja Terpstra: On a point of order, President, I cannot hear the minister’s answer. There is so much noise and constant interjection coming from Mr Davis that I cannot hear. The minister should be able to continue in silence.

The PRESIDENT: I uphold the point of order. If you are going to ask a question, I think you would like to hear the answer. I also have to hear the answer as well in the duty that the chamber has given me. Minister Shing, you have run out of time. Let us put the minute back up, please, so we can all fulfil what we are required to do.

Harriet SHING: Mr Davis, the documents that you have show that the Melbourne Water memo was sent internally to endorse Mr Wimbush on 1 December and that a Melbourne Water official endorsed the recommendation in the memo to appoint Mr Wimbush on the 1st. I was not sworn in until the 14th. Mr Davis, there is nothing here, no matter how you seek to contrive it.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:05): I move:

That the minister’s answer be taken into account on the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to.