Thursday, 13 November 2025

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (19:26): (2112) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples. The action I seek is clarification as to how the government intends to maintain ministerial and parliamentary accountability over Gellung Warl, the new body to be established under the Statewide Treaty Act 2025, which gained royal assent today. Under section 13 of the legislation, Gellung Warl is definitively stated to be ‘not subject to the direction or control of the Minister’ in relation to its functions and powers. Yet this same body will be funded directly by Victorian taxpayers through a standing appropriation. This is an automatic, ever-increasing payment which begins at almost $24 million in 2025–26 and rises to more than $70 million within four years. After that, the figure increases automatically each year. Parliament will have no opportunity to review, reduce or redirect that expenditure.

This is an extraordinary arrangement. We are creating a publicly funded body with no expiry date, a permanent income and no effective mechanism for democratic oversight. Is there any other precedent for this? I can think of absolutely none. Ministerial responsibility, the cornerstone of the Westminster system, is being casually bypassed. Once the money leaves consolidated revenue, it is gone without the normal checks of departmental reporting, Auditor-General scrutiny or budget paper transparency. Will there be an alternative budget? Where is the guarantee? According to this legislation, they can do what they like.

The government has presented this as administrative reform, but it amounts to the establishment of a fourth arm of government, operating independently of Parliament yet drawing on its purse. As far as I am aware, no other Victorian public authority enjoys anything like this combination of autonomy and guaranteed funding. It is unprecedented. The Auditor-General, the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission and the Ombudsman, all independent by design, remain subject to statutory oversight, reporting requirements and review by this Parliament. Why should Gellung Warl be different?

Minister, Victorians are entitled to ask a simple question: who will be answerable if this body fails to deliver results, misuses funds or exceeds its mandate? To whom do taxpayers turn if millions are spent and nothing improves? The action I seek is for the minister to explain clearly to this house and to all Victorians what mechanisms will exist to ensure Gellung Warl remains accountable to the Parliament that funds it and how this government intends to uphold the principle that those who spend public money must ultimately answer to the public itself.