Tuesday, 2 December 2025

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (02:43): (2193) Thank you, President. I am indebted to you and the minister and everybody else who is going to bear my indulgence.

My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples. As part of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee inquiry into the 2024–25 financial and performance outcomes the Department of Premier and Cabinet provided a comprehensive questionnaire to the Parliament. Buried within section H, ‘General’, is a reference to a review commissioned titled the ‘Interim scoping commission on compensation issues’. This review cost $150,000 of taxpayer funds, yet the department confirms that it has not been published, nor is any justification provided as to why Victorians are not allowed to see what they have paid for.

Compensation issues, particularly those involving government decisions, compulsory acquisition or harm suffered due to failures of public administration, are matters of profound public interest. The issue of compensation for Indigenous land loss is particularly sensitive, given how far-reaching the consequences could be. Compensation or restitution claims in regional Victoria may affect families, farmers, workers and local communities. Transparency on how the government approaches these questions is essential for public trust, yet we have a secret review. There is no information about who conducted it, what it found or whether the government intends to act on its recommendations. What is so politically sensitive that this government believes citizens should not know how compensation matters are being scoped and treated?

A Google search for ‘interim scoping commission on compensation issues’ returns no hits whatsoever except those within a Victorian government departmental website. At a time when public confidence in integrity and accountability is already strained, secrecy only deepens cynicism. If this review contains sound policy work, why hide it? If it contains warnings or criticism, surely those affected deserve to understand the risks. The action I seek is clear: the minister must immediately release the interim scoping commission on compensation issues in full, including the identity of the authors or consultants paid to produce it, and detail any policy work underway in response to its findings. If the minister refuses to publish it, she must provide a detailed explanation to this Parliament and to the people of Victoria as to precisely what is being concealed and why taxpayers should be expected to simply accept yet another secret Labor government report.