Wednesday, 22 March 2023

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Government integrity

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:01): My question is to the Premier. It is now 13 days since the former IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich’s letter was made public and presented to you in this place. Has the Premier now, 13 days later, read or been briefed on Mr Redlich’s claims of corruption?

Daniel ANDREWS (Mulgrave – Premier) (14:02): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. He has done a calculation – 13 days. Been doing a bit of counting lately, haven’t we? Yes – 13, unlucky for some, it would seem. Let us hope you have got your counting right for next Monday. Well, I hope you have got your counting right for next Monday, because we are very happy with you. Long may you reign, long may you sit in that –

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance. The Premier’s own office is facing corruption allegations. Your own office is facing corruption allegations!

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition knows that that is not the way to raise a point of order.

John Pesutto: Thank you for your advice, Speaker. On the point of order, just on relevance: the question was very clear about whether the Premier had been briefed on or had read the letter from Robert Redlich containing serious allegations of corruption against his own office, his own government, his own MPs. Has he read or been briefed on the letter containing corruption allegations?

The SPEAKER: Order! A point of order is not an opportunity to repeat the question. The Premier will come back to answering the question.

Daniel ANDREWS: The question was an opportunity for the Leader of the Opposition to demonstrate that he can apparently count. That was the only observation I was making. You write the questions; you stand up and read them out. The correspondence referred to was not addressed to me. The correspondence referred to was marked ‘sensitive’, so I am told. The former head of that integrity agency or any integrity agency does not need the Leader of the Opposition, let alone the Premier of the day, to inform him on how to make a complaint to an integrity body.

John Pesutto interjected.

Daniel ANDREWS: One can only hope he is more impressive in his party room – seriously. One can only hope.

Danny Pearson interjected.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Assistant Treasurer is warned.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, integrity in Victoria is a very important issue. It is not a joke, and on relevance –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Is there a point of order?

James Newbury: On relevance I would ask you to bring the Premier back to the question. It is a serious question, it is an important question, and I would ask you to bring the Premier, as you have already, back to the question for a second time.

The SPEAKER: Order! I ask the Premier to come back to the question.

Daniel ANDREWS: The correspondence is not addressed to me. It is, I am told, marked ‘sensitive’. I am not in the business of reading correspondence that is not addressed to me. What is more, the former head –

Members interjecting.

Daniel ANDREWS: I can see how you might be interested in how former heads are referred to – you might be a former head very, very soon.

On the issue of making referrals and allegations, I reject the premise of the question where the Leader of the Opposition is essentially making his own allegations. They are not necessarily allegations that have been made by anyone else – not necessarily made by anyone else – and in terms of making complaints, in terms of referring matters, I would have thought that a former head of an integrity agency knows only too well how to make referrals of that nature, and indeed might well be obliged to make such referrals, given his obligations when he was the head of that agency. He neither needs the Leader of the Opposition nor the Premier of the day to tell him how to make a complaint.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:06): Will the Premier instruct Labor members in the other place to cooperate with any inquiry into the corruption allegations against the Andrews government, including corruption allegations against the Premier’s own office?

Daniel ANDREWS (Mulgrave – Premier) (14:07): I make two points. Firstly, people should cooperate with any process that legitimately –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Daniel ANDREWS: Well, how is instructing your colleagues going for you, mate? I would not be lecturing anybody on issuing instructions to colleagues. I do not know that the Leader of the Opposition has thought this question through.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! When a question is asked, I would like to hear the answer in silence.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, I ask you to ask the Premier at the very least to show courtesy in the way he refers to other members of the chamber.

The SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.

Daniel ANDREWS: Thank you for that stunning interjection, yes. The point I was making is that parliamentary committees have powers under acts of Parliament. Parliamentary committees have custom and practice under long-standing traditions and the forms of this house and the other chamber and the joint committees, jointly. The notion of directing people just shows a galloping ignorance on the part of a pretender, nothing but a pretender.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, I would just like to offer the Premier a copy of the Robert Redlich letter again. If he would like to read it, it is there.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: That is not a point of order. The Leader of the Opposition knows that is not a point of order.