Thursday, 17 August 2023

Government performance

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (09:43): Victorians will be shocked by the increasing evidence that this government has no commitment to integrity, increasing evidence that this government has decided to block and stop incremental, sensible improvements in our integrity regime, and after 20 years of the last 24 years in government, it is a tired government, it is a government that is corrupt to the core, it is a government that has a lot to hide. It does not want more powers at IBAC. It does not want more investigation by IBAC or the Ombudsman. It is a government that has got a lot to cover up. And the prime person who is involved in this cover-up is the Premier – Premier Daniel Andrews. He is rotten to the core. I have to say the extraordinary statements he made at the time of the Operation Daintree tabling – that ‘It was an educative report’ and that there were no negative references – well, the former IBAC Commissioner has made it very clear that it was not purely an educative report. It was a report that laid out a series of negative findings about the government, negative findings that may not be criminal but were certainly corrupt. And the decision to try and spin that down reflects poorly on the Premier and – (Time expired)