Thursday, 14 November 2019

 Mr O’DONOHUE (Eastern Victoria) (12:32): My question is to the Leader of the Government. Minister, I refer you to the comments Her Honour Commissioner McMurdo has made in recent months about the cooperation of Victoria Police in providing timely and relevant information to the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants. In particular Commissioner McMurdo stated that moving this commission forward in public is:

… akin to a boxer in a fighting a match with one hand tied behind his back and the other bruised and bleeding.

Commissioner McMurdo further stated:

Delays in the provision of this material in a form that can be made public have hampered the Commission’s progress, a concern I have raised expressly with Victoria Police in public hearings.

Now it has been revealed many priority witness statements requested to be filed in March still have not been lodged with the commission, leaving the commissioner to rebuke the Victoria Police barrister by saying that even she and her ‘great advocacy can’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse’. Minister, what will the government do to address the commissioner’s plea for Victoria Police to cooperate with the royal commission before the commission turns into a Clayton’s commission—the commission you have when you do not have a commission—in other words, a complete and utter farce?

 Mr JENNINGS (South Eastern Metropolitan—Leader of the Government, Special Minister of State, Minister for Priority Precincts, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs) (12:33): While there is a fair bit in that question from Mr O’Donohue, there is not a lot in it that is directly my responsibility, and he is aware that that is the case. I preface whatever I say to you with you knowing and me knowing that there is nothing formally in my responsibilities in terms of what is available to me to determine this outcome.

Mr O’Donohue: You have answered the question previously.

Mr JENNINGS: In fact I am not avoiding it; I am just making you and the house acutely aware of what the limits of my responsibility are. I do have some interest in the matter, and I share the interests of the commissioner. Indeed on the doors this morning I made some comments that backed in the commissioner’s desire to make sure that the royal commission acquits its responsibilities, because even with the challenges of it gathering and assessing the material, I have no doubt that the commission will make significant recommendations and findings in the scope of matters that it is currently considering.

My colleagues in the other place, in terms of the justice ministers, have worked with their agencies to try to make sure that any information that comes from either government sources or the police is provided in a timely and appropriate fashion, and I know that they continue to do so. I support my colleagues in their desire to make sure that the commission acquits its responsibilities and has the relevant information available to it.

Beyond that, I share their concerns. I share the concerns expressed by the commission, and in my previous answers to this chamber I have indicated that it is the government’s desire for all appropriate information to be shared with the commission, and the government will work within the appropriate limits in our recognition of the separation of power between the state and Victoria Police in encouraging them to comply with their obligations.

 Mr O’DONOHUE (Eastern Victoria) (12:35): Thank you, Minister, for your answer. I note the separation of powers between Victoria Police and the government, as you cite. I also note the protocol that exists between the royal commission, Victoria Police and the state of Victoria that was flagged by the commissioner in the interim report of the royal commission which is supposed to facilitate the management of public interest immunity claims and the production of documents. That therefore, Minister, makes the government—or the state of Victoria and, through it, the government—a key player in the provision of information to the royal commission, notwithstanding the separation of powers that you cited earlier. So given that fact, Minister, what will the government be doing to ensure this important protocol that exists within that tripartite protocol works to ensure the delivery of the key documents requested? Because, notwithstanding what was cited in the royal commission interim report, clearly it is not working.

 Mr JENNINGS (South Eastern Metropolitan—Leader of the Government, Special Minister of State, Minister for Priority Precincts, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs) (12:36): In my substantive answer I did acknowledge the intention of the government and the obligations that the government has entered into by those protocols. I did not refer to the protocols in my answer, but in fact I referred to the working understanding between the government, the commission and Victoria Police in relation to those matters. And the government works appropriately within its direct control in terms of the release of information and its influence, encouragement and support of statutory agencies in relation to their provision of information. In terms of the method by which that is undertaken, it is better held in the realm of diplomacy rather than an exploration in the Parliament about the most appropriate way to achieve those outcomes.