Thursday, 16 October 2025

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (16:31): It is a great pleasure to be able to speak on the Statute Law Revision Bill 2025, another momentous piece of legislation, another attempt to make sure that the statute books here in Victoria – the great state of Victoria – are in the sort of pristine condition that we expect them to be, because fundamentally we all, as legislators, should take our jobs seriously to make sure that the laws that are in force in the state of Victoria have all of the appropriate spelling, grammar, punctuation and that references to things like the relevant Commonwealth administrative tribunals appear in our statute books in the correct manner. That is the purpose of the statute law revision bills, which do come through on a regular basis.

Listening to Mr McCracken’s contribution on this bill on Tuesday, he was a little bit derisive, I think, in his contribution about the need to undertake bills such as this. He did in his contribution seem to suggest that it demonstrated somehow that the government did not have a very full legislative program. I think what this week, the next sitting week and the extra sitting week after that are going to demonstrate to him is that, in fact, we do.

It is important, as we legislate, that we make sure that the laws that currently stand, the acts that are in force, are kept up to date with matters in particular that do change. And as I said, one of the things that this bill does is to amend references that currently exist in state law to bodies that have had their name changed. Often that is done by entities other than the state of Victoria. One of the amendments we have before us here is to change references to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), which was a Commonwealth body established under Commonwealth law until it was stacked full of Liberal Party hacks and had to be overhauled by the former Attorney-General, so the new Administrative Review Tribunal that now exists at the Commonwealth level is in place. It is only appropriate that the Commonwealth’s ART be accurately and correctly described in Victorian law so as to not confuse the good citizens of Victoria. When they, in looking up a piece of Victorian legislation that is in force, see reference to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, as it then was, they will not get confused and decide that they do not know what they are talking about. As I said before, the AAT, as it then existed, had to be abolished because it seemed to be a place where former Liberal Party apparatchiks went to, I will not say to die, but to enjoy.

Harriet Shing: Mr McGowan made it back here.

Ryan BATCHELOR: And so did the member for Prahran, so there is life, apparently, after the AAT. But that is what this Statute Law Revision Bill is designed to do. One of the things that the Statute Law Revision Bill does do is make some amendments to the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Act 2017. I thought I would take a brief moment in this debate to ensure that people across the land were aware of the great work that the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust does. The trust oversees the planning, development, management, operation and care of the reserve at the Caulfield Racecourse for racing, recreation and as a public park. Many in the community are not aware that whilst Caulfield is a racecourse and part of the land is leased to the Melbourne Racing Club for the purposes of conducting events like the Caulfield Guineas and Caulfield Cup and a whole lot of other race day events throughout the year, the rest of the land that exists, including inside the track – for those of you who have been through the underpass under the track and parked your car in the middle on the way to race day, or those who like to walk their dogs in the middle of the racetrack – public land and a public park, and it is controlled by a public entity, the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust.

What the trust has particularly done in the last few years has been to seek to improve the public realm at the racecourse, such that things like what is now a vibrant market can occur in the middle of the racecourse reserve on a regular basis and that there is signage, access tracks and access gates. I have had the opportunity, with some local residents, at Caulfield Racecourse Reserve to have a walk around and have a look at the ingress and egress points to the racecourse reserve, the public elements of the racecourse reserve. There are some ponds and a sort of wetland and quite a nice little bit of birdlife. There is some new fencing, there are some signage activities and there are improvements that have been made to the pedestrian underpasses. There are a couple of pedestrian underpasses underneath the racetrack, there are at-grade pathways that you can use across the top of the racetrack and there are gates from the edge of the reserve out onto Queens Avenue in particular, which is the one that I went through on that day.

I was there on that particular day because one of the things that we have been doing with the residents of Caulfield East has been protecting the trees that exist along the eastern side of the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve whilst we installed a new shared user path for the benefit of local residents and local cyclists from Neerim Road to Normandy Road along Queens Avenue, which sits next to the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve. Why this was important was because it fixed a link in the strategic cycling corridor along the Frankston line to enable cyclists to get along the new cycling corridors that have been generated along the Frankston line along this last stretch of connection to the Djerring trail. A new shared user path was put there, and this was done as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project at Glen Huntly and Neerim roads, which was completed a couple of years ago by this Labor government, removing dangerous and congested level crossings in Glen Huntly. It included – and I know Minister Shing will be particularly interested in this – one of Melbourne’s last remaining tram squares. It was removed on Glen Huntly Road as part of this level crossing removal, and what has replaced it –

Harriet Shing: I had my 21st on that tram square.

Ryan BATCHELOR: Did you? Oh. I know that many across Melbourne are absolutely delighted at the fact that that tram square has been removed. But as part of the entire Level Crossing Removal Project, this last bit of shared user cycle path was put along Queens Avenue. The original plan was to cut down 200 trees to get it done, and working with the local residents, working with the local council and working with Minister Pearson, who was then the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, we worked through a solution that enabled the shared user path, the bicycle path, to be built, connecting the Frankston line cycling trail up to the Djerring trail on Queens Avenue, while protecting these trees which were at the side of the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve. This matters even more today because that cycling path will now help cyclists get to Caulfield station, where, in December, they will be able to get a train through the Metro Tunnel. We will have a connection for cyclists coming up the Frankston line to a destination at the Caulfield train station to enable them to get on the train and hit one of the five brand new train stations that are built right here in Melbourne and that will open in early December, through the Metro Tunnel. You can get it from Caulfield station, go to Anzac, go to Town Hall, go to State Library, go to Parkville and the universities and the hospitals at the Parkville precinct, or even all the way over to Arden, which is a long way from Caulfield. I know that, for example, Ms Watt is an ardent supporter of the Arden station. We would not have that cycling access if we had not built from parts of the Frankston line – suburbs like Ormond, Glen Huntly – to a train station that will deliver them onto the Metro Tunnel, unless we had built this last bit of cycle path from Neerim Road to Normanby Avenue on Queens Avenue at the side of the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve. That is why this trust is a really important part of managing the public realm and of improving public amenity and public services, and why, in making technical amendments to its act, this bill will enable that trust to continue to do that sort of important good work here in Melbourne.

There are a range of other things that this bill does. One of the other things that the bill does is make amendments to section 118 of the Health Complaints Act 2016 to correct a punctuation error. As well as removing grammatical errors in the Health Complaints Act, this government is also removing barriers to health care through the community pharmacy pilot. Earlier this year our state budget announced an expansion of the community pharmacy program to make it permanent. It is an initiative that has so far helped 44,000 Victorians access medical treatment and advice from their pharmacist directly without needing to go to a doctor, saving them time and saving them money. Since the pilot began a couple of years ago pharmacists in the pilot have delivered free consultations, treating things like UTIs, issuing contraceptive pills, treating skin conditions, providing travel vaccinations, nausea support and relief from allergies – something I know is on both the minds and the throats of many in the city at the moment, as the plane trees, the wind and the hotter air deliver scratchy throats to lots of Melburnians and a lot of people in this chamber. If you want help with things like that, it is now a whole lot easier to go and get some care and support from your pharmacist, because what the Labor government has done through the community pharmacy program is remove barriers to accessing health care at the pharmacy, saving people time and money, just as this bill removes a semicolon from the Health Complaints Act 2016. Removing semicolons, removing barriers – that is the spectrum of what we can do as a government and as legislators. I think it demonstrates to you that no matter where we are, the government is absolutely focused on improving the lives of Victorians.

There are many other things that the bill before us does in terms of removing and revising areas. My notes do go into some detail to get into some discussion about some matters relating to the CFA, but I feel like it is probably not in the spirit of getting out of here in one piece on a Thursday afternoon to start that debate, other than to say we know that as our fire season approaches, climatic conditions across the state, particularly lower-than-average rainfalls over winter, are creating an exceptionally dangerous fire season. The fire season itself has been extended, has been brought forward, and we know that firefighters right across the state, whether they be our career firefighters or our volunteer firefighters, are going to be doing everything they can right throughout the fire season to make sure that our communities stay safe. This bill makes some amendments to the Country Fire Authority Act 1958, and particularly as we are about to embark on what I hope is not but could be a dangerous fire season, they know that they have got our support.

This bill before us today is an important part of keeping Victoria’s statute books clean and up to date. It is an important part of making sure that the laws in Victoria are as they should be, and I commend the bill to the house.

 Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (16:46): I rise this afternoon to make a brief contribution on the Statute Law Revision Bill 2025. These sorts of bills are probably the most innocuous and benign of any that pass through Parliament. I understand that it fixes typos, it corrects grammar, it updates cross-references, it does some housekeeping, and we do not oppose those minor details. It is a bill that amends many different acts and gives us the opportunity to walk down the path of discussion on some of those acts while acknowledging the work done in order to fix up these typos. It is no surprise to this house that I am going to make a contribution on various elements, including Parks Victoria, the Country Fire Authority – in fact I will certainly have a discussion on the Country Fire Authority – the Conservation, Forests and Lands Act 1987 and the Forests Act 1958. All of those things that happen out in the bush in regional Victoria are important to regional Victorians and, I should think, city folk alike.

The Parks Victoria Act 2018 – there are some grammatical changes in there. What we need to understand about Parks Victoria are the changes that need to occur out in our parks and our forests. Indeed Parks Victoria outsources its fire controls – so its fire protection, its fire mitigation, its bushfire preparedness – to the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and DEECA’s bushfire and forest services group. In doing so, it outsources the bushfire agency of FFMV, Forest Fire Management Victoria. It was probably 10 days ago now that we had the Premier make a comment, look down the camera and say, ‘I’m really concerned for Victoria,’ in effect, or words to the effect of, ‘It’s going to be a dangerous bushfire season. I’m concerned for everyone. We need to be vigilant. Advice has come through that it is potentially a dangerous bushfire season.’ I have contacts who I speak with both in the CFA and in the department, and in the next breath we were to learn about the fleet of FFMV Unimogs and G-Wagons. These are light tankers and heavy tankers that were purchased some eight years ago by the Victorian government to do the work. One holds 4000 litres, the other one is about 600 litres, and they do the work of bushfire mitigation and preparation. This is the time now, while it is not raining in the middle of winter, before peak summer comes, where Victoria needs to be prepared and get prepared. But what has happened to the fleet? We do not know how many, but there is a discussion of around 300 of these vehicles being withdrawn, taken offline to be repaired in some form of structural capacity.

The government has known about this in the past because some years ago they took another batch off for repair. Now, I do not care if there are people who think that these vehicles are the best thing since sliced bread. Clearly the government did some years ago when they spent $32 million on it. They said, ‘No, we’re not going to look at the Toyota LandCruiser. We’re not going to look at something like that. We’re going to go for something new.’ Somebody had done some assessment and said they were the ants pants. Right now we have, as the Premier has stated, a dangerous fire season coming on. There should be hundreds of people out there using these vehicles for fire mitigation and bushfire preparedness. But no, they have been taken off line. Indeed there is a letter going around, a request going around, from Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) to ask CFA volunteers in their region, ‘Would you mind helping out if we need that work? Would you mind being there?’ This is an organisation that has had significant cuts to it, cuts to its ageing infrastructure. Its fleet – talk about slightly ageing. I will read you some actual data rather than me doing it from memory. Let me tell you about it. But CFA volunteers have been asked to backfill while these vehicles are off line.

Let me talk about the ageing fleet of the CFA. CFA manages over 2000 vehicles – 1700 of them are tankers and over 200 are pumpers, and 230 of the fire trucks are more than 31 years old, with the oldest being 35 years old. An additional 244 trucks are aged between 26 and 30. Over 11,000 CFA trucks are in the red line and need replacing. Then we can talk about the funding in relation to these. To maintain a maximum age of 20 for tankers and 15 for pumpers, CFA needs at least $55 million a year to replace 100 every year. Current levels are less than half of what is needed. The government has announced $10 million. They have put their shingle out: ‘Aren’t we fabulous? $10 million for CFA vehicles.’ That is roughly, on average, 20 tankers. But we need to replace 1100 trucks. So if you have got these vehicles, they are aged. You ask the government to replace them. It is going to take decades at this current level. And then we go back to the Parks Victoria Act 2018, which this bill is going to do a little bit of workshopping, a bit of cosmetic surgery, on. Well, let us also look at what is happening in Parks Victoria.

Over the past two years, FFMV has only completed 67 per cent of its planned burns, a mere 26 per cent of its priority planned burns and has failed to meet its fuel-driven risk targets in metropolitan Melbourne region as well as in Victoria’s regions – in Yarra, in Latrobe, in Midlands and in Ovens Valley. Where have I got this from? This has come out of Parks Victoria and FFMV reports. These are facts. In actual fact the Minister for Environment was asked a question in the lower house during question time. I roughly quote him because I have seen it and listened to it. He said, ‘This is not newsworthy that departments share resources.’ Well, this is not sharing. This is one whole fleet going off line due to faults and then coming back and just asking the CFA volunteers to use their ageing resources to backfill. That is not sharing. That is a burden. That is the broad shoulders of the CFA organisation being asked to carry the load because of this government’s ineptitude. That is not sharing, Minister. It is newsworthy, because we have people that live in the regions. We have people who live in my patch in Eastern Victoria Region who clearly remember the 2019–20 fires where 2 million hectares of forests were incinerated. Sadly and tragically, lives were lost and homes and infrastructure were lost. So when we talk about whether this is newsworthy, a Statute Law Revision Bill is not necessarily newsworthy, but we are not sharing resources. You are pushing the burden of resources onto the CFA. They have broad shoulders, but they also deserve respect and they deserve resources being delivered to them. As we move through some of these other topics and other bills that the Statute Law Revision Bill deals with, let me put some other things on the agenda. There is one topic I will see if I have got time for at the end.

One of the things that this bill does is amend the Youth Justice Act 2024 and make some incorrect cross-references correct – well, fantastic for that. When we look at youth crime in our state, it is going to need more than some incorrect cross-references corrected. It is going to need an overhaul. Let us look at some of the statistics of youth crime. It is deplorable that these are the facts, but they are the facts. Youth crime has increased by 40 per cent – 7185 additional offences. Aggravated burglary has increased by 218 per cent. Motor vehicle theft has increased by 76 per cent. Retail crime has gone up by 20 per cent. If you wander down the streets of many towns in my communities and you go into those communities, you will know and you will hear the stories that people are really frustrated by. These are small business people. What do they do? They pay taxes – they pay rent, they pay taxes, they pay rates. These small businesses are going to be hit with a doubling of their emergency services tax. Not only are they being hit with crime now in waves and proportions that you have never seen before – and it is the truth – but they are also having to put up with a tax. Let me go to some other issues. Retail stealing incidents have increased by 46 per cent and assault at retail settings by 21 per cent. It is crime that does not need to happen.

Let us look at some other things that the Statute Law Revision Bill 2025 looks to address. Let us look at some of these issues. It also makes small amendments to the department of agriculture. It changes the name in this section. Of course what it has also done over the period of time that I have been in here, since 2015, is it has made a very proud department, the department of agriculture, become the back door, the back room and the outhouse in terms of this government’s focus – it is a crying shame. We produce the best food in the world, we are a productive state and we have farmers who carry the heavy and very responsible burden of producing our food and fibre, and yet we have cuts to the agricultural service sector, we have cuts to staff, we have a diminished role for Agriculture Victoria and we see farmers losing trust in the government in relation to a whole raft of things, not only the tax that they have been hit with – and we have seen rallies and the like with the emergency services tax. We also have a government who is choosing to run roughshod over farmers in relation to renewable energy zones and misleading statistics. These are some of the issues that are frustrating people. In terms of primary industries, we also can see there has been a departmental name change. As I said, there has been such an ideological bias to look away from our farming communities.

The last comment I will make on this one is on the Status of Children Act 1974. It fixes a heading, a capitalisation error, in section 21 of that act. We heard about and we know the importance of protecting children. We know that since 2018 there have been complaints received by QARD, which of course is the quality assessment and regulation division within the Department of Education. That is the regulator looking after the early childhood sector and education sector. We know – statistics tell us; these are facts – that there has been a 45 per cent increase in complaints, and yet compliance action over the same period has declined by 67 per cent. And we know that the Ombudsman has spoken about this and indeed made recommendations to government three years ago.

Well, we now have a committee before us. We have a select committee, which I am proud to be on representing the Nationals. I know my colleague Ms Crozier is on it as well and that we need to drill down, and this government not only needs to drill down into some typos but it needs to drill down and ensure that our children are safe and that our sector is well educated, is compliant and is at the very top of its game, with checks to ensure that when a parent drops their precious child off at an early learning centre, an education centre or a day care they have the best of care. This government has again fallen down on this. I commend the bill to the house.

 Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (17:01): I have been waiting for this all day. All day I have been waiting to make a contribution to the Statute Law Revision Bill 2025. Can I thank Ms Bath for her contribution before us, because it gave me some time to reflect on what it is that we are changing. I will tell you what: in all seriousness, this is an important part of the ongoing housekeeping of the Parliament and our role making sure that our laws remain accurate and accessible for everyone who needs to read them. I was delighted to see just how big a change this will be. It is good to know that the Statute Law Revision Bill 2025 is part of the ongoing cycle of legislative maintenance that ensures Victoria’s laws remain modern and workable. Each year our statute book grows through new reforms, amendments and consolidations, and with that growth comes the need to correct technical errors and remove some redundancies in the system. You see, this bill does not alter the substance of the law, but it ensures the integrity of the system that underpins it. It reinforces the accuracy and reliability of our legal framework, and that in turn protects public confidence in the law itself.

The bill’s purpose is simple: to tidy up the statute book. It does not create new rules or new penalties. It just fixes the small things, clears up old references and keeps our law in good working order. One might say it is like minding our p’s and q’s, dotting the i’s, crossing the t’s and in this case fixing the t’s that were crossed in the wrong place. Every so often – and I am recalling some of these from earlier on – the Parliament passes a statute law revision or amendment bill to correct some small errors, things like missing commas, outdated departmental names and odd cross-references that sort of wandered off into the wrong section. These are the kinds of details that most people will never notice. But for the lawyers, the public servants and the Victorians who rely on clear legislation to make a difference in the lives of Victorian people, it is the difference between – well, I could explain it, but I have got to tell you, there are at any given time hundreds of acts currently in force in Victoria, and with that, many laws written and amended over generations. It is inevitable, simply inevitable, that a few typos and tangled cross-references will creep in, so periodically we get together in this place and we get ourselves ready for a fun time, as always: the debate on the Statute Law Revision Bill. This time it is in 2025. Previously it was in 2015, 2017, 2023 and 2024. On a couple of those occasions I had the opportunity to speak, and every time it was supported right across the chamber, because no-one wants to stand up and make the case for keeping spelling mistakes in our laws.

I have read some of the contributions from those in the other place, and can I take the time to thank the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel in consultation with multiple departments. That collaboration has ensured that we have got this bill before us today and that each amendment reflects the current responsibilities and operational structures right across government. The Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee has also reviewed the bill – I do recall that meeting quite well, I must say – to ensure the amendments are purely technical rather than substantive policy changes. The committee describes its job in plain terms: to ensure that amendments are strictly confined to the correction of minor errors or omissions, such as cross-referencing, some spelling, some drafting or some grammatical errors. The bill makes a number of small but necessary amendments across a range of acts – 22, in fact – to correct typographical, grammatical, numerical and cross-referencing errors. To give you a sense of the whole bunch of those 22, I am just going to pick out a few that come to mind here, including one mentioned by Mr Batchelor, the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Act 2017. There is the Child Employment Act 2003, the Country Fire Authority Act 1958, the Family Violence Protection Act 2008, the Fisheries Act 1995, the Serious Offenders Act 2018 and the Status of Children Act 1974, and just for good measure the final two that I am thinking of are the Triple Zero Victoria Act 2023 and the Youth Justice Act 2024, two acts which I recall making contributions to in this place.

It also makes minor wording updates in a number of other acts, like replacing references to the administrative appeals tribunal, which some of us in this place may know has been repealed, with references to its successor, which is the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 – there you go. It might not sound thrilling, but for the lawyers, administrators and anyone who relies on these provisions, those updates matter. Across that time we have also had a number of changes to departmental and agency names. This bill brings the orders up to date with current arrangements under the Administrative Arrangements Act 1983, including references to the old Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, which are being updated to the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, where I find myself many, many weeks of the year. References also to the former Department of Justice and Regulation are being corrected to the Department of Justice and Community Safety. Similarly, the bill amends the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 to update references to Alpine Resorts Victoria following the abolition of the old Alpine Resort Management Board in 2022. Here is a quick one: the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006. This bill has a small correction from the important term of ‘specified’ act to ‘special’ act to improve the alignment under the Land Acquisition and Compensation Act 1986.

While the Statute Law Revision Bill 2025 may not be the most exciting bill before this chamber, it is an essential one, making sure that our laws say what they mean and mean what they say. I have absolutely loved joining my previous contributions to the importance of statute law reform and revision by making a contribution now for the 2025 edition. With that, I will leave my remarks there and commend this bill to the house.

 Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (17:07): I rise to make my contribution to the Statute Law Revision Bill 2025. This is an omnibus bill, and it will make several changes that update the acts currently containing grammatical and typographical errors, cleaning up a broad range of legislation. This bill updates and cross-references outdated department names, board appointments and so on. The bill amends various acts in areas which interest my constituents and me, in relation to police, corrections, emergency services and taxation to name a few. This bill quickly goes through and makes various amendments to acts in relation to corrections, court services, crime, family violence protections, serious offenders, surveillance devices, tobacco, Triple Zero Victoria, and the Youth Justice Act 2024. I mention a few of these specifically because I want to take the opportunity to reflect on some of these acts and their impacts on the broader Victorian community.

At the moment I want to closely concentrate on the Crimes Act 1958, firstly, and mention that the changes in this bill to the act are minimal. It merely updates and reflects that justice responsibilities now lie with the Department of Justice and Community Safety. What is more important to the Victorian community right now in fact in relation to the Crimes Act is the rising rate in crimes in Victoria and the government’s response or lack thereof to the crime crisis. The bill addresses Oxford commas here and there. Some think it is of paramount importance, but it just benefits those in the chamber and the government MPs. What I hear from my constituents in the western suburbs is the impact of the crime crisis. People are scared because they know what the state is: a crime is committed every 50 seconds in Victoria. Just look at the recent figures released on motor theft in Victoria: two cars stolen every hour in this state and an increase of 55 per cent in insurance claims for car theft over the past 12 months. Aggravated burglaries are being carried out every single hour. They are the things that actually affect my constituents and those in the wider community. While this bill makes various amendments to make more fluent and more efficient legislation, these matters that concern my constituents in relation to the Crimes Act 1958 are not responded to under the bill.

I know words matter, to use that expression, commas matter and administrative values matter. But what also matters to my constituents is what is happening out there in the real world. The crime crisis facing Victorians right now is severe, it is prolonged, it is frightening, it is front and centre in Victorians’ minds. That is why I think we must never lose sight of what we were elected here to do: to keep Australians safe, to keep Victorians safe. I hear my constituents loud and clear. They want action from this government by being tougher on crime, doing away with the spin and the smokescreen and putting some effort into addressing escalating crime.

I speak of this because in the last month my constituents have been complaining of various crimes in my electorate, in Point Cook and Werribee. The member for Caulfield in the other house gave me assistance and we participated in a joint community forum and heard firsthand from our constituents of their life experiences. Many are victims of crime now. I can assure this chamber that placing commas in those 70 acts and ensuring the correct spelling and formatting of lines in every act are important changes. They are front and centre, but they are not front and centre in my constituents’ minds. What concerns them is being victims of carjackings, home invasions, aggravated burglary. These are always on their mind. and that is what comes into my office regularly as constituents come and speak to me. Youth offenders, youth justice, breaking bail repeatedly are always on their lips. People being stabbed, being robbed and being concerned about their family’s safety are always front of mind for my constituents. These fears are real and constantly highlight the tragedy of incidents.

I understand it is something we need to do with this bill, but seriously, the people in my electorate do not want to hear of commas being put front and centre. They want to hear what is being done to address the issues of gang fights resulting in serious injuries to young people out there. Sometimes it is a question of priorities, which we need to mention when talking about the crime crisis. We see this government spending countless hours debating laws and the amendment of 70 acts by way of administrative oversight instead of tightening weak laws, strengthening youth justice and supporting our hardworking police officers.

So I will keep this short. In rounding up, police resources are being stretched in the alpine area at the moment looking for Dezi Freeman, who killed two police officers. For the benefit of the house, here are the alarming but nevertheless important statistics that highlight the important things in my electorate. In Victoria, youth crime is an issue. It is up 18 per cent for offenders under the age of 18, and it has gone up 42 per cent in a decade since the Andrews and now Allan Labor government began. Crimes against the person committed by juveniles are up 74 per cent. These are all things at the top of my constituents’ minds. When they come and see me they mention these numbers. They are not just coming from me here, they are coming from my constituents. These are front and centre. So slashing $50 million off the police budget when the police are experiencing thousands of vacancies in their ranks, stations are closing downs and they are minimising hours, again, these are front and centre.

Going back to this bill, it does not introduce any new policies. It replaces references to repealed Commonwealth tribunal legislation with the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024, to reflect alignment with the Commonwealth system. Multiple acts now cite the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024, replacing outdated Administrative Appeals Tribunal references.

I also want to mention that we do support this bill. We understand the need to fix these errors. But there are issues out there front and centre in relation to my constituents. I just want to mention that as to how we relate to these various acts we are amending. We will not stand in the way of these amendments. I thank the government for allowing members to make remarks on what is truly important to Victorians.

 John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (17:15): I rise to speak on the Statute Law Revision Bill 2025. This bill is important to ensure continuity within the parliamentary documents. A foundation point of our democracy is that the laws must be knowable. Laws are not just written for the trained eyes of judges, lawyers and bureaucrats; they are written for and need to be written to be easily understood by the people they govern. Statutes need to be accurate, clear and accessible to the public, and this includes maintaining their structure and consistency. The result of this is sometimes these housekeeping bills come through. Some might dismiss them, but they have always been part of the parliamentary practice. Without bills like this one, things can become cluttered. Victorians require an up-to-date statute book that does not include inconsistencies and long-abolished bodies and clauses.

It is worth noting the role clarity plays in everyday life for Victorians. When tenancy policy is written plainly and kept updated, renters are then more empowered to understand and uphold their rights. When local sporting clubs or community organisations deal with the government regulations, they should not have to untangle decades of conflicting provisions. Legislation should be kept in the plainest English possible for ordinary businesses, clubs, community organisations and Victorians.

The Statute Law Revision Bill 2025 ensures clear interpretation and reduced confusion. The bill corrects typographical, grammatical, numbering and section referencing errors in multiple acts. It updates references to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 to align with the updated legislation and the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024. Updating these references keeps them in accordance with Commonwealth legislation so there is transparency within connected documentation. It amends several acts by correcting out-of-date references, names and departments because of orders made under the Administrative Arrangements Act 1983. It also amends some of the wording of provisions that has become obsolete, amending phrasing in the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 to correct a reference for the purposes of the Land Acquisition and Compensation Act 1986, as well as replacing references to the Alpine Resort Management Board with Alpine Resorts Victoria in the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021, following the abolition of the former by the Alpine Resorts Legislation Amendment Act 2022.

Each word of the legislation matters. Laws should be intelligible to the people that they govern, and punctuation and small inconsistencies with these documents can weaken their integrity. It is important to remember the dual role of our Parliament of not only creating the laws to meet the needs of our communities – which the Allan Labor government continues to do – but also curating and maintaining the existing legal framework to ensure it remains clear, relevant and applicable. Whilst this bill does not affect the functions of the acts it is changing, that is not its purpose. The purpose is to align with the obligations, which everyone in this place can appreciate, for a firm, clear and precise policy. Any lawyers in the chamber will understand how important it is that those laws can be understood as clearly as possible to avoid unintended consequences, such as the potential abuse of loopholes. Tidying up the composition of the legislation avoids unnecessary confusion with compliance to ensure that the public have straightforward references when it comes to easily understanding the word of law.

Many of these acts affected by the changes which we are making today are too important not to fix up when we notice instances of where there might be even a minor change or a lack of clarity. It is essential to recognise the bodies that keep our legislation framework strong. The Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, or OCPC, is responsible for drafting all Victorian legislation to ensure that laws are clear, consistent and legally effective. It is made up of expert drafters within the public service. Their functions include drafting bills and statutory rules; maintaining the official Victorian statute book; advising on legislative structure, style and interpretation; and supporting law revisions like those changes proposed in this bill. I want to acknowledge the dedication of the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, whose work it is to ensure our statute books are in good working order, and the chief Jayne Atkins, who contributed to making this bill possible. Their precision in maintaining the statute book allows for the Statute Law Revision Bill and other housekeeping bills to be productive. With that, I commend the bill to the house.

Motion agreed to.

Read second time.

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (17:20): I move, by leave:

That the bill be now read a third time.

I thank everybody who has participated in the extraordinary, wideranging and articulate debate here this afternoon. I look forward to the Oxford comma being represented by Hansard in the course of this motion.

Motion agreed to.

Read third time.

The PRESIDENT: Pursuant to standing order 14.28, the bill will be returned to the Assembly with a message informing them that the Council have agreed to the bill without amendment.