Housing
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:37): (1036) My question is for the Minister for Housing. Is it true that Homes Victoria relocation officers are being offered performance bonuses if they move residents out of public housing towers by a specific date?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:37): Thank you for that question. I am a bit perplexed by the question, because what it seems to indicate is that there is some reward for people doing what sits at the heart of their work in the public service – namely, to assist with the delivery of government programs. One of the things that we are doing, as you would be well aware, is working really closely with residents of the towers who are in the process of or who have completed a relocation to ensure that they have the information that they need; that they have access to the supports and services that they require, whether that is an interpreter, whether that is being able to have meetings, including attended by a representative or by a family member; and that everyone is allocated a dedicated relocations officer. This is not about incentivising the workforce to do their jobs; it is about making sure that when the workforce do their jobs they are doing so with the relevant level of care and of dedication and of sensitivity. We have got a relocations team of about 26 staff, and they work day in, day out to make sure that people have what they need, including accurate information which addresses and counters a lot of the mis- and disinformation that is doing the rounds. One of the things that I want to be really clear about is that we are –
Sarah Mansfield: On a point of order, President, I asked a very narrow question, and I just feel that the minister has not answered that question. It was about performance bonuses if residents are moved out of the towers by a specific date – it was quite clear.
The PRESIDENT: I ask the minister to continue.
Harriet SHING: Again, that point of order seems to miss the point of everything that I have said until now – namely, that Homes Victoria staff and the 26 relocations officers, who are working day in and day out, have at the heart of their employment the responsibility and obligation to make sure that residents have the information that they need.
A fair bit of the work that relocation officers do is about actually countering the sorts of conspiracy and fear-based campaigns being run that are suggesting that people will be evicted into homelessness, that are suggesting that demolition works are occurring while people are in the towers and that are suggesting that people will not have help with relocation costs or that there are deadlines or drop-dead dates by which support will not be provided to residents. That is the work that relocation officers are doing day in, day out, and they are doing it as much as anything because for clicks and likes people are creating this mis- and disinformation. Again, this is their job, this is what they are doing and this is what they will continue to do.
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:41): With respect, Minister, you did not answer the question. I did not ask about whether the role of relocation officers was to provide information or anything about the information side of their job. It was a very narrow question about whether performance bonuses are being offered to relocation officers if they achieve a certain target, which is to relocate residents by a certain date. I will take it from that answer that possibly they are being offered these bonuses, but I would welcome an alternative. Can the minister rule out the future use of performance bonuses or incentive payments for Homes Victoria staff related to relocation targets?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:41): I want to be really clear, and this is something which yet again shows a unity ticket between the Liberals and the Greens: when you stand up here in your preamble to the supplementary question and you are inferring in fact that there is some form of conspiracy in place here whereby people are being incentivised to move people out of their homes, that reflects exactly what we saw in this chamber yesterday – the peddling of conspiracy theories for the sake of cheap narratives, clicks and likes. Let me just be really, really clear: this is a completely false narrative from the Greens that sits alongside all of the other false narratives that you are very happy to peddle or in fact you just put out there to release into the world in a way that causes very real harm, very real anxiety and anguish. Let us be really clear about the way in which VPS terms and conditions are set: they are set through an enterprise agreement. You, if you actually had a look at the VPS agreement, would know that through a range of VPS considerations sign-on bonuses are provided in incentives for recruitment, for example. They are not part of the classification system. Have a read of the EBA and you might well understand a little better.