Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

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PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AMENDMENT BILL 2011 1702 COUNCIL Thursday, 2 June 2011 Referring a bill to a legislation committee enables further consideration of the bill and provides the opportunity to call witnesses et cetera. More information can be gathered than is otherwise possible during the second-reading debate on a bill or even during the committee stage. Many government bills are amended by the government. If legitimate concerns are considered by the committee, the government can improve its own bill. Everyone knows that despite governments thinking their bills are perfect, in most cases we find they are not. In the last Parliament we saw bills that the government considered were perfect, so no amendments were considered, but often those bills came back to the house 6, 12 or 18 months later. I predict the same will happen in this parliamentary session — that legislation will be returned to the Parliament for further change because it was originally rushed through without enough consideration. I anticipate, and I hope it is not the case, that this may be one such bill, because the provisions have created confusion in communities, which is what we foreshadowed could be the case. I also draw the attention of members to the fact that in the Victorian Parliament bills are introduced into the lower house without the knowledge of the opposition parties, particularly without the knowledge of the Greens. They pass through the lower house in a matter of a week or two, come to the upper house and then debate is put off for a sitting week, which could mean two or three actual weeks. The bill comes back and, as a routine, passes through the Parliament. That is not the case in the Senate, where most bills are considered by a Senate committee. In other parliaments in Australia bills go to legislation committees. In the New Zealand Parliament bills go to select committees, and exposure drafts of bills are put out. We need to adopt a culture where there is more time for legislation to be considered by the community and by other parties in the Parliament so we make sure we end up with better legislation which does not have to be returned to the house. That is the function of a legislation committee. So far the government has been resistant to availing itself of that function, but I would urge it to change that resistance. As I mentioned the last time I tried to refer a bill to one of the committees, if a member feels that a bill needs to go to a committee and the member is supported by other members in the house, that should be agreed to, especially if it is only for a short time. Hon. R. A. DALLA-RIVA (Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations) — I thank Ms Pulford for her motion. However, the government has made it very clear that this bill fulfils an election commitment. My understanding is that there was extensive debate on this issue before question time. We can obviously clarify some issues during the committee stage. I note that a contingent notice of motion has been listed on the notice paper to enable Mr Somyurek to move an amendment and a new clause in the committee stage. There has been ample discussion on this bill. It is not a complex bill in the context of some bills that come before this chamber and, as I said, will fulfil and complete an election commitment that the coalition took to the last election. We will not be supporting Ms Pulford’s motion. Ms PULFORD (Western Victoria) — Just quickly in response, it is disappointing that the government’s approach to motions from the opposition or the Greens to use our new committee structure as it was intended is to continually reject them. This is a very narrowly defined matter. It is a matter of real importance and significance to albeit only part of the state, but to those communities that are affected by this legislation it is very significant. There is some common purpose about the way in which we would like people to be able to celebrate public holidays and do so in a way that does not overly burden organisations. This is exactly the type of thing the committee could be used for and is in no way seeking to overly tie up the government’s legislative program or detract from its stated desire to fulfil its election commitment. It is to just have a look at the specific impact of the bill on a number of people and at a couple of the bill’s provisions. House divided on motion: Barber, Mr Ayes, 19 Pakula, Mr Broad, Ms Pennicuik, Ms Darveniza, Ms Pulford, Ms Eideh, Mr Scheffer, Mr Elasmar, Mr Somyurek, Mr (Teller) Hartland, Ms Tarlamis, Mr Jennings, Mr Tee, Mr (Teller) Leane, Mr Tierney, Ms Lenders, Mr Mikakos, Ms Viney, Mr Noes, 21 Atkinson, Mr Koch, Mr Coote, Mrs Kronberg, Mrs Crozier, Ms Lovell, Ms Dalla-Riva, Mr O’Brien, Mr Davis, Mr D. O’Donohue, Mr Davis, Mr P. (Teller) Ondarchie, Mr Drum, Mr Petrovich, Mrs Elsbury, Mr Peulich, Mrs Finn, Mr Ramsay, Mr (Teller) Guy, Mr Hall, Mr Motion negatived. Rich-Phillips, Mr Sitting suspended 12.56 p.m. until 2.01 p.m.
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AMENDMENT BILL 2011 Thursday, 2 June 2011 COUNCIL 1703 Instruction to committee Mr SOMYUREK (South Eastern Metropolitan) — Pursuant to standing order 15.06 I move: That it be an instruction to the committee that they have the power to consider an amendment and a new clause to amend the Public Holidays Act 1993 to appoint Easter Sunday as a public holiday. This motion effectively broadens the scope of the current debate to allow my amendments, which were circulated during my speech, to be debated. Given that Mr Dalla-Riva made the comment — — Mr P. Davis — On a point of order, Acting President, the problem has been solved by the clerks. The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr O’Brien) — Order! I believe at the time Mr Davis raised it the problem still existed, so I thank him for his prompt attention. Mr SOMYUREK — Mr Dalla-Riva’s objection to the referral of the bill to an upper house committee for scrutiny was based on the grounds that I had circulated amendments. I do not mean to verbal Mr Dalla-Riva, but I think he said that gave the house plenty of opportunity to debate the bill. Given that, I would expect the government to support my motion to broaden the scope of this debate. Hon. R. A. DALLA-RIVA (Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations) — The verballing continues. I indicated that the bill was an election commitment, so there was plenty of time before, during and after the election campaign to consider the policy position. For the record, only recently we had a discussion about the Easter Sunday matter in which all those issues were flagged again. I think this is more about the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Union pushing the buttons of those opposite than the question of what is legitimate legislation. We will not support Mr Somyurek’s motion. Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — The Greens will be supporting Mr Somyurek’s motion to broaden the scope of the debate to allow the committee to consider amendments regarding Easter Sunday being made a public holiday. We supported it during the previous debate on the bill. We have a bill before us that amends the Public Holidays Act 1993, so it is an appropriate time to introduce amendments to that act. We support the motion. Mr SOMYUREK (South Eastern Metropolitan) — All my motion does is correct a historical anomaly. It is a historical anomaly that Easter Sunday is not a public holiday, because when the Public Holidays Act 1993 was introduced by the Kennett government, shop trading hours had not been fully deregulated and therefore shops were still closed on Sundays. For this reason the act did not specifically identify Easter Sunday as a public holiday. The intent of the Public Holidays Act 1993 was not to exclude Easter Sunday from being a public holiday. Mr Drum interjected. Mr SOMYUREK — It is a historical anomaly, Mr Drum. I am disappointed that the government has used a technicality in the standing orders to refuse to even debate my amendments. This issue affects 200 000 Victorian retail workers. The legislation in effect deprives these people of the chance to spend Easter Sunday with their families and friends. House divided on motion: Barber, Mr Ayes, 19 Pakula, Mr Broad, Ms Pennicuik, Ms Darveniza, Ms (Teller) Pulford, Ms Eideh, Mr Scheffer, Mr Elasmar, Mr (Teller) Somyurek, Mr Hartland, Ms Tarlamis, Mr Jennings, Mr Tee, Mr Leane, Mr Tierney, Ms Lenders, Mr Mikakos, Ms Viney, Mr Noes, 21 Atkinson, Mr Koch, Mr Coote, Mrs Kronberg, Mrs Crozier, Ms Lovell, Ms Dalla-Riva, Mr O’Brien, Mr Davis, Mr D. O’Donohue, Mr Davis, Mr P. Ondarchie, Mr Drum, Mr (Teller) Petrovich, Mrs Elsbury, Mr Peulich, Mrs Finn, Mr (Teller) Ramsay, Mr Guy, Mr Hall, Mr Motion negatived. Rich-Phillips, Mr Committed. Clause 1 Committee Hon. R. A. DALLA-RIVA (Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations) — I seek leave for Mr Philip Davis to join me at the table for this committee of the whole. Leave granted.
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PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA PARLIAMENTAR
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Legislative Council committees Priv
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TUESDAY, 31 MAY 2011 ROYAL ASSENT..
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PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS 1636 COUNCI
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AUSTRALIAN SYNCHROTRON: FUNDING 163
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Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

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