Tuesday, 17 March 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (21:58): (2415) My adjournment tonight is for the Premier, and it concerns yesterday’s revelation that the Victorian government has settled the small business COVID lockdown class action for $125 million. Let us be honest about what this $125 million represents: it is not the government fixing a problem, it is not the government helping businesses, it is the government paying to make a political liability disappear in an election year.

Yesterday at the Supreme Court barrister Adam Hochroth SC announced that the parties had reached a settlement of $125 million inclusive of costs and interest. The settlement means that former health minister Jenny Mikakos, former jobs minister Martin Pakula and former department heads Kim Pike and Simon Phemister will not have to give evidence. How convenient. Consider the total cost to Victorian taxpayers. The government was prepared to spend up to $40 million in legal fees fighting this case, including $2.8 million to a California-based economist at US$950 an hour to argue that mum-and-dad businesses should have bought pandemic insurance that did not exist. Now taxpayers will pay $125 million in settlement, potentially on top of whatever legal costs have already been incurred. The 16,000 businesses who registered will receive a fraction of their losses after approximately 30 per cent is deducted for legal costs and litigation funding.

In Parliament this government still defends the lockdowns, but in court it pays $125 million to avoid defending them. The statement made yesterday was remarkable. It stated:

The … Government stands by the steps it took during the pandemic to keep Victorians safe.

If that is so, why settle? Why pay $125 million rather than make that case? We know why. Because the case could not possibly be made this year, not with ministers in the witness box and an election on the horizon.

The real comparison is with other states. They managed to protect both lives and livelihoods. Victoria trashed its businesses through a quarantine failure that killed 768 people, locked the state down for 112 days and now expects taxpayers to foot the bill twice, once for the lockdown and again to settle the consequences. The action I seek from the Premier is a full public accounting of the total legal costs incurred by the state in this class action, including all fees paid to interstate and overseas consultants. Victorians deserve to know – (Time expired)