Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Housing

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:20): (666) My question is to the Minister for Housing. Yesterday it was revealed that the Premier has asked the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority to make ‘absolutely clear the government’s expectations around unauthorised access by any individual on our government Big Build worksites’. Can you guarantee that Mr Setka will not be able to access any Victorian government housing construction sites?

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: I am taking up the interjections that suggest that maybe this is the same question. For the life of me I cannot remember the question yesterday. There are rulings from previous presidents that a question can be similar and be put to a minister. I think it is similar. I will put the question to the minister.

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:22): Rather than table the answer that I gave yesterday in response to a couple of your questions and indeed questions from previous weeks, Mr Mulholland, what I am going to do is take you, for the benefit of you and your colleagues, through the way in which rights of entry can be exercised. Rights of entry, as regulated by the representation of registered employee organisations, are regulated by the act from 2009, and that sits immediately adjacent to the terms of the Fair Work Act 2009. In order to access a site you need to have standing as a representative of a registered employee organisation. It is not permitted for any member of the public who does not have the relevant acquittal of obligations and standing to enter – for example, as a registered employee organisation representative, to be on a site where safety is of utmost importance.

Mr Mulholland, it is my expectation that there is no attendance on sites by any member of the public. I do not want to see you on a building site unless you are a registered employee organisation permit-holder. I can almost guarantee, if you are looking for a guarantee, Mr Mulholland, that you will never be there on a worksite to represent workers safety.

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, the minister is really struggling to answer a very simple question, and I would ask you to bring her back to what we asked in the interests of all Victorians. It is very simple, and I ask you to bring her back rather than debating the question.

The PRESIDENT: The minister is being relevant to the question insofar as regulations and laws apply to everyone.

Georgie Crozier: I could go into a hospital worksite if I am invited on.

Harriet SHING: I will take that interjection up, Ms Crozier. As I recall, when there was industrial action you had no compunction whatsoever about crossing various lines in order to attend a worksite that you called your base. What I would say is that I do not want and nobody on this side of the chamber wants any member of the public to be attending a site where safety is of utmost importance – not you, not Ms Crozier, not Mr Davis, no member of the public.

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, I say again this is a very simple question and Victorians have a right to know whether the minister will guarantee that Mr Setka will not be able to access any Victorian government housing construction sites. It is a yes or no. It is not a debate; it is a yes or no.

The PRESIDENT: The minister is being relevant to the question. There are a number of rulings from previous presiding officers as well. It is not up to a presiding officer to force a minister to answer in a way that completely satisfies the person answering the question.

Harriet SHING: Thank you, President. If you are not an authorised, registered representative of an employee organisation – if you are a member of the public seeking to enter any building site – then you should not be there. There is no exception to this.

Members interjecting.

Nick McGowan: On a point of order, President, the standing orders –

Harriet SHING: Do you want your toilet or not, Nick?

Nick McGowan: I would like to talk about the toilet, but I will keep that for later. On a point of order, President, the requirement is that answers be factual. As the minister well knows, the right of entry is an entitlement, and it does not cover instances where the individual is invited onto the site. They do not need to have a right of entry in order to access the site. They can be invited to a site.

The PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order.

Harriet SHING: Again, I will take up Mr McGowan’s substantive interjection. A right of entry – if you think that that is a right rather than something which is bound by the terms of workplace safety, the Fair Work Act 2009 and the registered employee organisations act of 2009, you have missed the point of industrial relations and the way in which it is regulated in Australia, not just in Victoria but in Australia. So I will finish where I started: if you are a member of the public, you should not be on a building site, and I do not care who you are.

David Davis: On a point of order, President, the point was specific to one individual, and the member did not answer about that individual once. She did not mention the word ‘Setka’ once.

The PRESIDENT: There is no point of order. From my previous ruling, there are many precedents from previous presiding officers and presidents that it is not up to a presiding officer to force a minister to answer in a particular way that satisfies the people asking the questions.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:28): The minister seems to be quite confused about industrial relations law given that anyone can legally enter a construction site if they have permission from the occupier or owner. So given that, will you write to all contractors making it clear that Mr Setka is not authorised to access any Victorian government housing worksites?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:28): Thanks, Mr Mulholland. Again, are you actually seeking that the government should come in over the top of industry and enterprise to prescribe the way in which private matters of building and construction are undertaken? Because, Mr Mulholland, as I recall, your background at the institute of freedom and fetters would seem to indicate –

David Davis: On a point of order, President, question time is an opportunity for government ministers to answer questions, not to attack the opposition, and that is clearly an attack on the opposition and not an answer to a question.

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: Order! I uphold that point of order.

Harriet SHING: I would not imagine, Mr Mulholland, that you think an organisation that you referred to in your inaugural speech very proudly, namely the IPA, would want to see intervention into the way in which business is conducted.

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, I know the minister is struggling to even utter the words ‘Mr Setka’ in any response; however, this is very important to the Victorian public, around the corruption that Labor has overseen, and this question goes to the heart of how this government is administered. Please bring her back to answering the question.

The PRESIDENT: That was a point of debate; it was not a point of order.

Members interjecting.

Harriet SHING: Yes, I have almost forgotten the question as well, perhaps more due to its forgettable delivery than anything else. Mr Mulholland, if you have any concerns or allegations to make, please make them, whether it is here –

Evan Mulholland: On a point of order, President, it was a narrow question about whether the minister will write to all contractors making it clear Mr Setka would not be authorised to access Victorian government housing sites. The minister has not come close to that.

The PRESIDENT: The minister at the start of her answer was relevant to the question. It is just that in the recent ping-pong, which I have kind of lost track of, she may have strayed from being relevant.

Harriet SHING: Your interjections show that you are not actually interested in the answer. My expectations are that workplace safety is front and centre of all that happens in building and construction. I would hope that it is yours as well.

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:31): I move:

That the minister’s response be taken into consideration on the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to.