Hansard debates

*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE *** ... Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (10:11): I thank Ms Bath for her motion. The refusal to release the bushfire risk management report and the withdrawal of 290 G-Wagons before the fire season tells you absolutely everything about this government’s priorities. I strongly support this documents motion, and I want to reiterate that this government’s total preoccupation with running a secret society in this state is like the Politburo. You hide behind climate change now as a reason not to provide documents. You have got to provide the information that is available to ...

*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE *** ... Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:34): (1300) My question is to the Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation. Minister, last sitting week you excitedly announced to the house that the seizure of 3 million illicit cigarettes in the first month of your tobacco licensing scheme was ‘fantastic’. Industry estimates show organised criminals sell more illicit cigarettes than your 3 million in one single day in Victoria. Minister, is seizing one day’s supply in an entire month a success or a complete and utter failure? ...

*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE *** ... Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:36): Thank you, Minister. Minister, 3 million cigarettes is just a drop in the ocean. This is not just lost revenue for your cash-strapped government, it is allowing organised crime, firebombings and violent robberies to flourish on Victorian streets. New South Wales has 78 tobacco enforcement officers, and Queensland has hired an extra 43. Why does your government think 14 inspectors, some of them recently locked in a cupboard, is a serious response to a criminal trade that is terrorising communities across ...

*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE *** ... Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (14:53): I thank Dr Mansfield for her contribution to this motion; she actually got it completely right. I thank Mr Davis for his motion. I am very supportive of it, because the way the Legislative Assembly, the Labor government’s plaything, has treated the bill in question is a disgrace. Frankly, you are a disgrace over there for completely missing the point when it comes to open and transparent government. You treat this Parliament – you treat the taxpayers of Victoria – as an ...

*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE *** ... Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (17:45): This week the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office tabled its report into the latest round of local government financial audits. While VAGO, the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office, issued 179 clear audit opinions, the detailed findings of the report are deeply concerning. They are in fact a total indictment of the Allan Labor government, a government that loves to interfere with the internal politics of council chambers but abandons the sector when it comes to their finances. For anyone who cares to read this report, you ...

*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE *** ... Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (18:17): By the standards of parliamentary petitions Ms Bath’s petition today has been signed by a huge number of Victorians – 12,570 to be precise. I thank all those petitioners, and I also thank Ms Bath for being the supporter of the petition, the sponsor. Those 12,570 people and many more are sick of being treated as though they are the problem when they are not. They are sick of governments that cannot tell the difference between a law-abiding farmer, hunter or sporting shooter and ...

*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE *** ... Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (18:39): (2468) My adjournment is for the Minister for Local Government, and the action I seek is that the minister clarify his government’s position on the gag orders passed at Hobsons Bay City Council last week. Councillors are now prohibited from speaking to the media without the mayor’s express approval. All agendas, papers from officers and presentations for councillor briefing meetings are now secret. As the council’s own deputy mayor said, these are Big Brother tactics, tactics that belong in an ...

*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE *** ... Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:19): (1287) My question is for the Treasurer. Despite yesterday’s Commonwealth excise cut, petrol and diesel prices remain far above pre-conflict levels. GST is levied on total fuel costs, so every cent of the price spike delivers additional revenue to Victoria. Conservative estimates accounting for business input tax credits and the excise reduction show Victoria receives a net GST windfall gain of $17 million per month from the fuel crisis. Treasurer, isn’t it a fact that your government is profiting from ...

*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE *** ... Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:21): The Commonwealth has put $2.5 billion on the table to help families at the petrol pump. Your government has limited it to free public transport at this point in time, a measure that does nothing for the millions of Victorians who have no choice but to drive. So what are you doing for the families who cannot catch a train to work, cannot catch a train to school drop-off and cannot catch a train to the farm gate? ...

*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE *** ... Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:50): (2265) My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. My constituent Andrew, a farmer, tells me that since hostilities began in the Middle East the price of urea, on which his cropping program depends, has increased by 84 per cent, on top of a 7 per cent rise in his other fertiliser costs, not over a quarter of a year but in barely four weeks. Australia imports virtually all its urea, over half from the Persian Gulf, and has ...