10 November 2011
Mr MORRIS (Mornington) — It is a real pleasure to have the opportunity to speak on the Independent Broad‑based Anti‑corruption Commission Bill 2011 and the Victorian Inspectorate Bill 2011. It is the beginning of a new era in terms of integrity in the Victorian public sector, and not just the public service and the Parliament but local government and the wider public sector — —
An honourable member interjected.
Mr MORRIS — And of course the police as well. I want to make a couple of points before I go to the detail of the bill.
There has been some commentary around the extent of consultation with the opposition in the way the bills have been brought forward. The consultation process that has been followed in regard to these bills is exactly the same as the process that was followed by the former government for 11 years.
There has also been some commentary about the fact that it has taken so long to get the bills into the house. Yes, one would acknowledge that it might have been a better outcome if we had got here sooner in terms of time, but the point about this legislation is that it is essential to get it right.
The last thing we want to do is to bring into this house the sort of half‑baked and half‑thought‑through, totally deficient legislation that we saw brought in over successive years by the former government.
Honourable members interjecting.
The ACTING SPEAKER — Order! The member will be heard in silence. I ask both government and opposition members to cooperate.
Mr MORRIS — That is exactly why we have had to go through this process.
In the past we have had jurisdictional disputes between the various bodies charged with the investigation of matters. We have had gaping holes — areas that were not covered at all — and no matter how many times the legislation was patched up it still failed to work and has been a complete and absolute failure.
In contrast, this package will introduce a strong, independent and effective anticorruption body. It will introduce the Victorian Inspectorate, which will provide the necessary safeguards to monitor the activities of the commission under the commission’s act and to investigate complaints, which is an area that was deficient in earlier models around the nation. It will also assess the policies and procedures and, essentially, the inner workings of the anticorruption commission. There will be both the body itself, which will be a robust body, and a robust oversight body as well. The director of the commission will report directly to the Parliament, as do the Auditor‑General and the Ombudsman.
Aside from the commission and the inspectorate there will also be a joint house committee of Parliament which will be charged with monitoring and reviewing the performance of the body and which will report to both houses on any matters that relate to the body.
The committee will also examine the IBAC (Independent Broad‑based Anti‑corruption Commission) reports and of course, as has already been mentioned by some other speakers, have the capacity to veto the appointment of the Commissioner.
I want to refer for a minute to the issue of the appointment of the Commissioner. The inaugural Commissioner will be appointed by the Governor in Council after the Premier has consulted with the Leader of the Opposition.
There are some reasons for doing that. It is essential that the Commissioner be appointed as quickly as possible following the passage of this bill. The consultation process in relation to the bill also involved consultation on the process for the inaugural appointment.
The process is modelled on similar processes for similar inaugural appointments in Queensland and Western Australia. It is also similar to the process and consultation required in the commonwealth jurisdiction for the appointment of the director‑general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
It is likely that the IBAC Committee will not be operational by the time the government appoints the Commissioner. Therefore the consultation process that has been proposed is entirely appropriate.
The consultation process in relation to independent officers of the Parliament reflects the government’s commitment to the independence of IBAC.
I will refer to some of the background issues that have made an IBAC necessary.
One only has to think of the situation in relation to the City of Brimbank. There has been scandal, mismanagement, hypocrisy, venality, abuse of public office and undue influence from people outside the council.
There has been some commentary from the member for Altona and the member for Footscray, I think, about the education side of the commission.
Honourable members interjecting.
Mr MORRIS — Having observed Brimbank City Council in operation both before and after the inspector was put in place, I can say that that group had learnt absolutely nothing. If members ever had any doubt about whether the educative function of IBAC is required, they would only have to look at the way the City of Brimbank councillors were behaving after the municipal inspector was put in place.
There were issues with the City of Greater Geelong in relation to councillors who did not know how to behave under the circumstances there, there was the Windsor Hotel debacle, there were secret deals between the Bracks government and the Police Association prior to 2006 and there were all the other issues.
None of those issues has been resolved satisfactorily. That is the point: no matter whether people are innocent or guilty, none of these things has been resolved satisfactorily.
As I said at the outset, the patchwork quilt involving institutions, offices and jurisdictions that has been put in place — —
Honourable members interjecting.
Mr MORRIS — The Minister for Education says ‘Noodle Nation’. Exactly right.
You could not model it. An absolutely hopeless structure that has been put in place. It has been a total failure. That is why these issues need to be addressed. We are committed to having an anticorruption body which has the strong powers that it needs to do its job but with robust oversight as well. That is why the inspectorate has been created.
We are committed to getting the process started, and we are committed to getting it right. The government is absolutely committed to restoring integrity in government, to increasing transparency, to removing the culture of secrecy that has existed under — —
Honourable members interjecting.
The ACTING SPEAKER — Order! The member for Williamstown! Two things should happen: firstly, the Chair should be able to listen to the speaker, and the speaker is entitled to be listened to in silence; secondly, if the Chair cannot hear the speaker, the Chair cannot make a proper contribution to this house. I ask both opposition and government members to assist.
Mr MORRIS — I am delighted the member for Williamstown is concerned with my seating arrangements. I will just observe that I am sitting on the government side of the house and the member for Williamstown is not. And I am very happy to be here, thank you very much.
This is absolutely landmark legislation. It is long overdue. It comes into this house less than 12 months after the defeat of a Labor government that had failed to take any serious action against corruption in this state for 11 years.
The former government may have tried, and it claims to have tried, but no‑one could argue that it did not fail absolutely dismally.
This legislation will establish a strong anticorruption body, a body with strong and independent oversight, a body that will have direct oversight from the Parliament of this state through the joint house committee and a body that will create a strong foundation to rebuild the Victorian public sector as a model of integrity. It is excellent legislation.
I congratulate the Leader of the House in his role as the Minister responsible for the establishment of an anti‑corruption commission on bringing this legislation forward. I commend the bills to the house.
Legislative Assembly 10 November 2011
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