Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (12:56): I am pleased to rise to say a few words on the Building Legislation Amendment and Other Matters Bill 2024 before we break for lunch. I must express my disappointment at the member for Laverton inviting her good friend the member for Brighton over to cook with her. She has forgotten all her Public Accounts and Estimates Committee mates already, obviously. Perhaps it is a reflection of the fact that we already spend enough time with each other in PAEC and she is sick of me. But anyway, I would be cooking with gas too, member for Laverton, if I was inviting anyone over, and I am very proud to do so.
I will come to the gas issues in a moment, but there are other elements of the bill that are not related to that – in fact quite substantive elements of this bill. It provides provisions relating to building surveyors serving building notices. It provides clarification on bringing building and plumbing actions under the Building Act 1993, it establishes a new scheme under the Architects Act 1991 with respect to registered architects annually renewing their registration and it makes a number of further miscellaneous and technical amendments to the Building Act 1993, the Architects Act 1991 and the Victorian Planning Authority Act 2017.
But I really want to talk about the gas issues, which are a small part of the bill but an absolutely central part of the policy being put forward by the government here. It is for the reason that we have concern about these gas elements that the member for Brighton has moved a reasoned amendment, and it is one that I support. Effectively, that reasoned amendment says we have no issue with the other parts of the bill that I have mentioned, but we have a strong objection to the government’s legislation to actually try and ban people from connecting to gas under regulations. That is what this bill will do if passed.
We are not sure sometimes whether the government knows what it is talking about. They have been very successful in getting the Herald Sun to run a front-page story that we can keep cooking with gas, but it soon emerged that in fact that was not really the case; the backflip was only a half-pike, and not even that. So the government remains conflicted on this. Anyone who has paid any attention knows that the Minister for Energy and Resources has had to change her language in the last 12 months or so. Gas was a great evil not that long ago, but suddenly we are acknowledging that it will be part of the transition in the energy system. It is quite strange that we have got this bill this week giving the government a head of power to ban gas connections in residential homes and businesses and yet yesterday we debated a bill that will increase storage opportunities for gas. That must have hurt when the minister had to introduce that one. It is a sensible piece of legislation and we are supporting it; this one not so much, and I will be supporting the reasoned amendment.
Sitting suspended 1:00 pm until 2:02 pm.
Business interrupted under standing orders.
The SPEAKER: I acknowledge in the gallery Dr Byreddy Shabari, member of Parliament from India, for Nandyal constituency in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Welcome.