This week in State Parliament – 3 September 2015

This week in State Parliament, Liberal and National MPs sought answers from the Premier and his Ministers about their involvement in the sham employment of taxpayer funded electorate office staff who in fact worked as Labor Party campaign organisers.

We also questioned the government about its inability to stand up to the unjustified demands of union officials who helped Labor to get elected, resulting in rail users having to endure Victoria’s first train and tram strikes for many years.

We were successful in forcing the government to accept amendments to its Infrastructure Victoria legislation, including requiring the government to disclose to Victorians prior to the next election which of Infrastructure Victoria’s proposals it intends to accept, and which it does not. Regrettably, three of seven board members of Infrastructure Victoria will still be heads of government departments, badly undermining IV’s independence.

We also secured changes to racing industry legislation to make clear that representatives of the harness racing industry must be included on the new Harness Racing Advisory Council.

As well, we amended the government’s Corrections legislation to require the publication each year of the number of persons who are convicted of serious offences while on community correction orders, so the community can better assess how well these orders are being used and enforced.