Wednesday, 19 November 2025

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (10:18): I am pleased to move:

That this house, in accordance with standing order 10.01, requires the Leader of the Government to table in the Council, within four weeks of the house agreeing to this resolution, copies of public opinion polling, research and the invoices and/or payment advices of such public opinion polling and research conducted by the Department of Premier and Cabinet since December 2022.

That is in effect since the election. We know that the Department of Premier and Cabinet carries out a regular series of public opinion monitoring and research. This polling is in part provided to cabinet, but it is also a broader piece of work. It is material that is available and that is paid for by taxpayers, and it is material that ought to be available to examine to understand more broadly across the community where community attitudes and opinion are. This research, as I say, is funded by taxpayers money and is at quite a detailed level.

The government, from time to time, does deep dives into certain topics. For example, I would have thought that there would have been a lot of research done on crime – exactly the sort of material that we have just heard in Mr Mulholland’s second-reading speech. The state government might not like the results, but they might be crafting their response – their belated response – to crime matters on the basis of public opinion research conducted by the Department of Premier and Cabinet. We know that the state government has for a long time retained one pollster in particular, but there are others that are used at DPC. The QDOS group, run by John Armitage and his crew, are Labor-linked pollsters who, whilst very professional – I do not in any way denigrate their actual capacity – are Labor to their bootstraps and have done very nicely out of this particular government over its years, first under Daniel Andrews, with whom they were very close, and now under Jacinta Allan. We know that public opinion research intensified, for example, during the COVID period, and there was nightly monitoring that was going on by QDOS at that period.

Bev McArthur: Because everybody was locked in their homes.

David DAVIS: Well, no, but this is because the taxpayer, through DPC, was funding daily research to find out what people’s attitudes were so that Daniel Andrews could craft his responses to the community and try to steer Victorians in a particular direction. But leaving that aside, there is a legitimate role for public opinion research and polling, and that polling at the Department of Premier and Cabinet is, as I say, funded by taxpayers, and there is no reason why the broader Victorian community could not see it. I know some of it will be presented to cabinet, but the essence of this polling is separate from whatever additional briefings are prepared for cabinet, and that polling ought to be available through this.

I have also asked in this motion for the invoices and the receipts that are available for the funding of this particular polling. We should know what has been done – we should be able to see that – and we should know how much it has cost taxpayers. As I say, the powers of the chamber to order documents are very much to the fore here. We see that this is entirely within the public interest to understand what polling has been carried out, what advice the government has received through these pollsters and what it has acted on and what it has not acted on. That could be, as I say, on crime, it could be on tax, it could be on a whole range of other issues. To reiterate: this is a very straightforward motion. The chamber has the powers to request these documents. It is in the public interest for these documents to be in the public domain, and that is why I am seeking these documents today.

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (10:23): I am very pleased to rise to speak to Mr Davis’s motion seeking access to copies of certain public opinion polling research invoices, receipts, payment advice and probably other stuff out of the Department of Premier and Cabinet procurement invoicing system, which I am sure will be fascinating, and other activities as conducted by the Department of Premier and Cabinet since December 2022. Obviously, as is always the case, the government will not oppose this documents motion, as per our conventions with respect to the Council’s ability to request the production of documents consistent with the constitution and the powers of the House of Commons in 1855, which also include an acknowledgement of the capacity of then the Crown and now the executive to assert privilege over those documents consistent with our constitution and those practices.

I am sure that, as Mr Davis noted in his contribution, some of these materials were apparently provided to the cabinet, so I am sure that will be taken into consideration by the government in its consideration of these materials. I think it would be only fair and reasonable for the chamber and Mr Davis and everyone else to acknowledge and understand that the government, as was noted in the report of the Procedure Committee that was tabled yesterday, is processing an increasing number of requests for the production of documents and therefore needs to examine each of them carefully and in turn, as is appropriate.

The document that was tabled yesterday on the referral to the Procedure Committee stated there had been I think 50 document requests passed by this chamber in this session of the Parliament – quite a considerable increase on previous ones. That is obviously placing a considerable increased workload on public servants who are required to respond to these requests and stop doing other things in order to respond to them. That is exactly what the government will do – consider the request, as is the convention. I think it is worth saying, though, that the volume of these requests is making that process take longer than it would, because in addition to servicing Mr Davis’s requests for the production of documents, the public service has a range of other tasks that it needs to do for the benefit of all Victorians. In doing those things and those tasks for the benefit of all Victorians it is I think a fair, reasonable and good thing that the public service, as part of both its policy development and its program implementation tasks, undertakes activities that listen to what the community is saying and what the community is thinking. We value the importance of hearing what the community has got to say and understanding both at a top-line level what is motivating them and also at a more granular level what might be motivating their concerns and what might be motivating their interests.

I think that particularly when thinking about both program design and also program implementation, particularly the implementation of certain activities that require the government to convey to the community important messages – whether that be across a range of fields; certainly some emergency-related communications do spring to mind – the government needs to be best informed about how to effectively communicate. Undertaking research into both what the community is thinking and also how best to communicate with them is an exceptionally important part of delivering effective government in Victoria. We have in the Environment and Planning Committee an inquiry underway at the moment on community consultation and engagement practices across the state of Victoria and how well we, as a government and as a public service – state and local governments – engage with members of the community. I think what that inquiry and the evidence we have received in public and open sessions have demonstrated is that it is an incredibly important part of our democracy that government is both effectively listening to the community and effectively engaging with the community. That is an important part of good government in this state.

 Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:28): I rise to also share a few comments on Mr Davis’s motion number 1161, which is seeking, again, another broad-brush range of documents that fulfils his ongoing purpose of throwing as much as he can at the fan and seeing what sticks. Today we have a motion in relation to polling, and it is quite appropriate indeed that the Liberals are quite curious to know how polling works, this coming in the wake of the second time in as many recent years that they have decided to completely abandon and throw out their party leader on the very day that they actually start to show some positive polls. We know that Liberal Party members do not enjoy that; they do not like –

David DAVIS: On a point of order, President, this is actually a very narrow motion about the provision of a set of documents. It is not about the views or fantasies of a member about the opposition and so forth. It is constrained, and I spoke quite narrowly about that.

The PRESIDENT: I call Mr Galea back to the motion.

Michael GALEA: I am pleased to return to the motion of the narrowly spoken Mr Davis in relation to polling. But it is, I think, a fair comment to make that it is curious that this week of all weeks is the week that Mr Davis would decide to publicise polling in any capacity – but that is something for Mr Davis to answer himself, I suspect, and he may wish to do so in some future contribution today.

I affirm the comments of Mr Batchelor that the government will not be opposing this motion and his very good point that we have a recent report – tabled yesterday – from the Procedure Committee which shows that so far in this term we have seen a 92 per cent increase in the number of documents orders that have been tabled as compared to the last Parliament in its totality, and a marked increase, I note, from when Mr Davis’s lot were last in government all the way back from 2010 to 2014. It is worth bearing in mind that there is a lot of work that is to be done. There is a lot of work being done across the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) and across various other government departments because we are a government that is still fresh with new ideas, making things happen and making significant reforms that will benefit Victorians. Whether it is infrastructure, whether it is services, whether it is the justice reforms that caused you lot to quiver in your boots last week and decide to roll another leader or whether it is any of the other reforms that we are undertaking, we are a dynamic government that is actually responding and doing that work.

Understandably that creates a lot of interest for you to find out a bit about what is underneath the hood, and you want to find out a bit about how it happens. It is no surprise indeed that the government does across many departments, including DPC, engage in various levels of research to understand impacts. It undergoes consultation on any of the various government projects being undertaken, including indeed on our significant housing reforms. Housing is a very important aspect of this Premier’s policy focus since she came into power. It is very important that we do engage with communities properly. That does not mean just listening to the few Liberal Party branch members and others in Brighton who are opposed to any sort of development. That means listening to views and shaping those activity centres around them. We have seen already in some of the earliest activity centre drafts the feedback from the community shaping – in some cases increasing, but in many cases lowering – those tower limits in some of these new activity centres.

That does not happen from sitting in your office at 1 Treasury Place or wherever it is and not listening to people. That happens because you go out and engage. That happens because you go out and consult. That is exactly why it is so important that all our government departments are doing that genuine research and doing that engagement with the community to get that genuine feedback and respond accordingly, because good governments respond when people raise their voices. That is the broad people, not just a few vested interests who are desperately trying to cling on to their property values in a leafy bayside suburb. We know that they are those very same Liberal Party MPs in those regions, such as Mr Davis and the for-now Shadow Attorney-General – I wish him well in still working out how to read a bill. Whilst he is in that role the member for Brighton has supported the new Liberal leader into her role. It is very curious that she does say that she wants to support housing for young people. I wish her all the best with that, given that she has been put into the job by the very people who have been the chief opponents of any steps to improve housing accessibility for young Victorians, including the erstwhile leader of the Liberals in this place, Mr Davis. It is very important that governments undertake this research.

David Davis: On a point of order, President, he has only got a few seconds to run, but he is flouting your ruling and coming back to the task of attacking the opposition rather than talking about a very narrow documents motion.

The PRESIDENT: I call Mr Galea back to the motion with 15 seconds.

Michael GALEA: To conclude my remarks today I will just make the point that good governments not only get things done, as we do, but good governments also engage and listen to people, and that is what we are doing as well. That is why the engagement that all departments, including DPC, undertake is so important.

 Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (10:34): Thank you very much for the call and the opportunity to speak this morning on the latest short-form documents motion presented to us by Mr Davis. As has been mentioned by my colleague Mr Batchelor and reaffirmed by Mr Galea, I would like to reaffirm that as is our convention we will not oppose the motion and that the material that you are seeking today, Mr Davis, will be provided in line with the usual processes. Thank you for presenting it to us today and giving me an opportunity to make a contribution.

It is worth pausing on how often this chamber now finds itself dealing with documents motions of these kinds, and I have had the good fortune now of spending some time looking at documents motions and speaking to them throughout the course of this parliamentary term. I certainly have some reflections on them that I would like to ventilate not here in the chamber but through an appropriate mechanism, because it has become a familiar pattern for us to have documents motions before us.

I have got some views on a range of things, but what I can say about this motion is that it is really a dressed-up attempt at accountability – the focus is not really on the materials being sought; it is about those opposite having something to talk about that is perhaps not themselves., The use of polling is in keeping with standard practice, because there is nothing unusual about government departments using research to inform policy development and policy communication and develop insights. It is routine across Australia; it is routine internationally. Departments undertake polling and research so they can understand how communities are receiving information, whether they have what they need during emergencies – I am particularly thinking about some community outreach that was done recently in the lead-up to this fire season – whether they have an understanding of major government initiatives and major programs and whether they are being explained clearly and accurately, informed by research evidence and best practice.

This work is not singular in its efforts; it sits alongside other forms of engagement, including those through Engage Victoria. There are localised discussions with communities and direct conversations with stakeholders, and I am drawn to the efforts around community consultation being explored as part of the Environment and Planning Committee’s inquiry into community consultation, led and brought to this chamber by Ms Tyrrell. I thank her for that, because it has afforded those of us on the committee an opportunity to understand more about how it is that government engagement processes are rolled out and used, both good engagement and perhaps those that are more wanting. The truth is it is not new and it is not unusual; it is simply a part of what is responsible government. When it comes to major projects, the same principles apply; thanks to the Allan Labor government, Victoria has the biggest infrastructure agenda in the country. There are programs of great scale, and communities throughout those projects expect to be heard. They want to understand what is happening in their own neighbourhoods. Departments use research to check that information is landing properly and the locals can access what they need. These processes help to redefine how programs are communicated.

What is striking here is not the content of the motion but the motivation behind it, I must say, because Victorians deserve better, and they want our Parliament to focus on the issues of Victorian people and not on themselves. Right now I would argue that the contrast is clear and that the Allan Labor government is focused on issues families raise with us every day – issues like cost of living, services that their kids rely on, the infrastructure the community needs as it grows – and Mr Davis’s motion before us does not touch on any of that. But the way the opposition uses motions like this tells a really clear story, so as I said, we will not oppose this motion. I thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Motion agreed to.