Wednesday, 16 August 2023

Bills

Operation Daintree Implementation (No. 1) Bill 2023

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of David Davis:

That the bill be now read a second time.

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (11:48): I rise to speak to this important item that we are debating today, the Operation Daintree Implementation (No. 1) Bill 2023, which has been brought into the house by my colleague Mr Davis, who has pursued these areas around the government’s integrity – or the lack thereof, I should say – and in particular the important elements around the IBAC report relating to Operation Daintree. This report, which was tabled just a few months ago, in April 2023, is a scathing report. It actually demonstrates the extent of what this government and especially what the Premier will do to ensure favouritism and allow bad outcomes for Victorian taxpayers, and I want to go through that in some detail. The report, as I said, was scathing about the findings after a whistleblower bravely came forward and provided information to the integrity agencies around a contract that was awarded on the eve of the 2018 election. As Victoria was going into caretaker mode prior to the 2018 election, the Premier’s private office, together with the Minister for Health’s office, awarded this –

Melina Bath: Dodgy.

Georgie CROZIER: very dodgy contract, Ms Bath, and that is the issue around corruption and why corruption matters, because it is taxpayers money here – $1.2 million that was awarded to the Health Workers Union (HWU) to undertake some training on occupational violence in the workplace, and I will return to that matter in a moment. That is taxpayers money, and that idea that was cooked up in the Premier’s private office, that was given to the union as we were going into caretaker mode, demonstrates the extent of what this Premier and his government will do to ensure that they have control and power and make decisions that are not always in the interests of Victorians. That is why we are incredibly concerned about the findings of the IBAC report.

The report itself finds that staff in the health minister’s and Premier’s private offices, as I have mentioned, breached their ethical obligations by pressuring independent bureaucrats to award a contract to the Health Workers Union – and that contract was provided to them. It goes on to state that there were so many concerns that were raised around what had occurred. We know that in early 2018 the Health Workers Union began lobbying the Victorian government on the issue of getting additional training in hospitals and other health services around occupational violence. That in itself is not a bad thing, because we do know that that is a very big concern for so many health services. The issue around the increase in occupational violence remains very, very concerning and the government have promised to do something when in actual fact they have failed to deliver on that as well, but I will not go into that at this point in time.

What the HWU did do was submit an unsolicited proposal to the Minister for Health’s office in June 2018 for its related and recently established entity, the Health Education Federation (HEF), to develop and deliver the program. Then, when the caretaker mode period for the election of 2018, as I said, was to commence at 6 pm on 30 October, this contract was awarded. That says it all – that they were willing to do this on the eve of caretaker mode as we were going into an election period. What we did find was so many allegations around that awarding of the $1.2 million contract that was entered into. According to the whistleblower and others and what subsequently IBAC found, the procurement process for the contract constituted ‘serious corrupt conduct’, and I am quoting from the IBAC report here:

The anonymous source alleged that:

(a) the contract value was more than the $1 million, but no competitive process was followed

(b) the project was awarded to a single provider, HEF, which:

• was newly formed and had no relevant experience

• at the time of engagement was not a registered training organisation …

• was not financially established and thereby posed a risk of non-delivery

• did not have sound governance arrangements in place

• had directors with executive officer positions at the HWU

(c) HEF was not on the training panel and would have been unlikely to qualify for inclusion

(d) a partial upfront payment was approved prior to delivery of any training, despite the finance department of DHHS advising to the contrary –

here you have a department saying do not do this, yet the Premier’s private office and the minister’s office themselves initiated this and ensured that it went through –

(e) the contract was awarded less than a day before the government caretaker period commenced in 2018.

We know this government has form around corruption. We know this government has little regard for due process. We know that the Premier himself has been before IBAC on many occasions, including around this particular issue and Operation Daintree. One of the recommendations that the IBAC report makes is recommendation 4:

That, in line with other Australian jurisdictions, the Victorian Government develops and introduces legislation to clarify and formalise the employment arrangements for ministerial staff, in order to strengthen transparency and accountability.

Options to consider include:

(a) clarifying employment responsibilities, such as:

• designating the minister to whom the staff are assigned to be their employer, or alternatively, vesting employer responsibilities in the minister to whom staff are assigned, once they have been employed by the Premier

It goes on with various other aspects, including:

(c) providing for the making of codes of conduct by the Premier to be observed by staff in performing their functions …

I raise these issues in light of what we have discovered over the last 24 to 48 hours in relation to the very serious concerns that are coming out of Minister D’Ambrosio’s office.

A member: It is outrageous.

Georgie CROZIER: It is outrageous, the extensive corruption that has occurred in the Premier’s own faction, the Socialist Left faction, where he is protecting his minister over behaviour that was undertaken in her own office. And why this is not being referred to IBAC to consider, as was done under –

The PRESIDENT: Ms Crozier, I will just pull you up there. It seems to me that you are making a serious accusation against a sitting MP. I think you know that you can only do that by substantive motion, and I understand Mr Davis put one of them on the notice paper this morning, so you can maybe hold until then.

Georgie CROZIER: Thank you for your guidance, President. I was referring to the minister’s office. I made that point because of the recommendations that have been put forward by the IBAC in relation to Operation Daintree: Special Report, because it does talk about accountability and transparency of ministerial offices. Although that was an electorate office I was referring to, it goes to the conduct of ministers in this government, and clearly there is form to corrupt the system and to abuse the system. And why does that matter? Because it is taxpayers that ultimately miss out in terms of having proper process and trust in government. I think that is a very important element of what we are talking about here, because there have been so many issues where the Premier himself has been before IBAC, and this was an abuse of process. There was a lack of integrity and it was abuse of a power, as I said. Providing that contract on the eve of going into caretaker mode demonstrates the extent that this government will go to. It is clear. There is no doubt that the Premier’s private office, as was highlighted in here, were looking after their own union mates. They have a very clear habit of doing this, and on so many occasions we have seen them do it – time and time again.

We have seen it in recent days – again, the Premier looking after his mate Minister D’Ambrosio. So when you have got that breakdown in trust and the lack of accountability that I spoke of earlier, then Victorians have every right to ask what on earth is going on. And that is why this bill is important, because it is providing that degree of understanding about what happened with this contract, what the government did and the lack of accountability, the lack of responsibility, the lack of due diligence and process in awarding that contract in the way it was done. That centralisation of power in the Premier’s private office is clear from these findings from the commission. And I have to say the Premier’s comments around it, saying it is just an educational report, were absolute –

Melina Bath: What a cop-out.

Georgie CROZIER: Well, it was a cop-out. It was another dismissal by the Premier – understanding that the man is so arrogant. He has checked out, he is on his way out – we all know that ‍– but the level of arrogance and the display of disregard for proper process is astounding. And Victorians have quite frankly had a gutful of it, and they understand that this is wrong. The grey corruption that has gone on here – it is corrupt behaviour. It is corrupt behaviour, and we do need to do more to strengthen IBAC. The Ombudsman came out this week, not that she is in IBAC, saying that she needs more money to do the work that she needs to undertake.

Melina Bath: Yes, she does. She is highly frustrated too.

Georgie CROZIER: She is highly frustrated because of the lack of accountability, transparency and resources. Again, with IBAC we have constantly said that we need to strengthen it and we need to provide the additional resources that it requires, and the government keeps fobbing that off. Well, Robert Redlich, a man of great distinction, who has been absolutely ridiculed by backbenchers of this government – well, not ridiculed, he has shown them up for their ridiculous and appalling behaviour in how they conducted themselves over recent days in committee hearings, which demonstrates the extent this government will go to.

Business interrupted pursuant to sessional orders.