Ms HUTCHINS (Minister for Industrial Relations) — How absolutely offensive and ironic that those opposite want to talk about equity in the workplace. When they were in government, the words ‘equal pay’ and ‘access to flexibility’ were not even in their vocabulary. From the former minister for industrial relations, we heard not one comment in this house in four years about equal pay.

Honourable members interjecting.

The SPEAKER — Order! The member for Macedon is warned.

Ms Victoria — On a point of order, Speaker, they can bully all they want. It comes down to the fact of will the union actually come out and support women or will the government finally stand up for women of this state?

The SPEAKER — Order! There is no point of order.

Ms HUTCHINS — I am happy to talk about this government’s track record when it comes to workplace equity. We have the highest representation of women across the public service. We are implementing initiatives for women in leadership roles across the entire public service. We have some fantastic female leaders in our fire services.

Honourable members interjecting.

The SPEAKER — Order! The member for Eltham will come to order. There is too much shouting across the chamber. I will start removing members from the chamber.

Ms HUTCHINS — I am super proud of this government’s achievements in representing women in our workforce, putting them into leadership roles, supporting women going forward. We have done more in two and a half years than these guys could think of in four years.

Ms HUTCHINS (Minister for Industrial Relations) — I thank the member for her question. Yet again I need to stand here and give a lesson about industrial relations to those opposite, who clearly do not understand what the process is in terms of one side bringing a claim forward and the other bringing a claim forward and negotiations happening. Of course we have a new system, and I congratulate the Minister for Emergency Services for the work that he has done in establishing Fire Rescue Victoria. I am not going to stand here and pre-empt the outcomes of negotiations that are currently happening, as I do not do with any industrial matters. But I am proud of this government standing up for paid firefighters.

Honourable members interjecting.

Ms Ryan — On a point of order, Speaker, on the issue of relevance, the question was very narrow. It was about whether the minister would guarantee that there will be part-time firefighters under future firefighting EBAs. She is not answering that question at all.

Ms Allan — On the point of order, Speaker, in her preamble to the question the member asked the minister in her capacity with her whole-of-government responsibility for industrial relations and referred to her contribution at the PAEC hearing last week. In line with that responsibility, the Minister for Industrial Relations is being entirely relevant to the question that was asked.

Mr Walsh — On the point of order, Speaker, it is a very clearly defined question: will the minister guarantee that there will be part-time firefighters under all future EBAs? That is not something that is in negotiation in an EBA. That should be a government policy if they are as good as their word. I ask you to bring the minister back to answering that question.

Mr Pakula — On the point of order, Speaker, on the question of relevance, as I understood the minister’s answer, the minister is taking the house through the process for making that decision exactly, so it could not be more relevant. The opposition might not like the answer, but the answer is directly relevant in that the minister is taking the house through the question of how that decision would be made.

The SPEAKER — Order! I do not uphold the point of order.

Ms HUTCHINS — Getting back to industrial relations 101 for the other side, who do not understand how these negotiations work, and that it is not for the Minister for Industrial Relations to propose every single clause in the negotiation stage but rather for parties to come together and present an agreement. That is a matter that I hope will come together very soon. There are these things called national employment standards for any agreement that is presented before the Fair Work Commission. Those national employment standards need to be met. I am not going to pre-empt the outcomes of this agreement, but I do look forward to reading the outcomes of this agreement, because unlike those opposite, we can actually reach agreements in a very respectful way forward with our workforce.