Daniel Andrews denies ‘sneaky’ document dump
Victorian Parliament’s tabled documents database briefly crashed late on Tuesday with the delayed release of 265 government reports.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has denied his government is being “sneaky” in tabling 265 reports in state parliament five days before Christmas.
The massive document dump initially resulted in parliament’s tabled documents database crashing, and came late on Tuesday afternoon, at the conclusion of the first and only 2022 sitting of Victoria’s 60th parliament following last month’s election.
The tens of thousands of pages of documents relate to an extremely wide range of government bodies including integrity agencies, hospitals, courts and the struggling Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority.
Asked whether he was “being sneaky” in dropping the reports so soon before Christmas, having prorogued parliament in September ahead of the election, Mr Andrews dismissed the question.
“We’re back to normal, are we? I mean, really. Like seriously,” he said on Tuesday morning.
“Some reports were tabled by caretaker. The balance will be tabled today.”
Mr Andrews also cited comments from Victoria’s Auditor-General about a national shortage of public service auditors.
“Today is the first sitting day after the election,” he said.
“The writ was returned only a couple days ago. Those reports will be there as a matter of record, and they’re being tabled in accordance with the law.
“Many other reports were tabled prior to caretaker, so there’s nothing extraordinary about this. It’s the way this works. We could always defer them until February next year, but I don’t think that would be a smart thing to do.”
Opposition Leader John Pesutto slammed the delayed document dump, saying accountability, scrutiny and integrity in government are among the Coalition’s top priorities for the state’s 60th parliament.
“I think integrity is an issue that affects not only the conduct of people in public office, but it’s also about the processes of government,” he said. “Visibility into the way agencies, ministers and departments operate is lacking in this state, and you will hear from us a lot in this space about how we need more integrity, more scrutiny and more accountability.
“Dumping documents on the first day of parliament is not a constructive way to advance that discussion and that process.”
MPs were on Tuesday sworn in to the new parliament following the November 26 election, in which Labor won 56 of 88 lower house seats, the Coalition 27 and the Greens four.
The Coalition is expected to add one seat to their tally when a delayed election is held for the safe Liberal seat of Narracan on January 28, following the unexpected death in November of the Nationals candidate.
In the Upper House, Labor holds 15 of 40 seats and the Coalition 14, with a crossbench of 11 made up of four Greens, two Legalise Cannabis MPs, one Animal Justice Party MP, Labor-turned-Democratic Labour Party MP Adem Somyurek, returned Liberal Democrat David Limbrick, a One Nation MP, and returned Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party MP Jeff Bourman.
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