Parliament of Victoria | Legislative Council | Motion 1239 by Ms Blandthorn: Variation of scope of orders for the production of documents
5 March 2026
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan Region):
I would like to make a very brief contribution. Before getting into that, however, could I just thank Mrs McArthur for that walk down memory lane. My, doesn’t time fly when you are waiting for that document motion to be processed? Not at all. Legalise Cannabis welcome this proposition, and we are appreciative of the work that was put in by the Procedure Committee in bringing it before the chamber.
Like I think everyone else from the opposition and the crossbench who has spoken on this debate, Legalise Cannabis has been profoundly – profoundly – frustrated at the results that have come from these very important democratic mechanisms that we call documents motions.
We have consciously chosen to try and keep our requests very simple and the number of documents sought very limited, and we have always sought to provide plenty of time. And we have virtually nothing to show for it. I guess we therefore embrace this proposal with great expectations but very limited optimism.
Dr Mansfield has eloquently I think described the confounder that I guess is the next layer on this cake, the use of executive privilege and commercial in confidence, so I will not go into that other than just to say that if we have got this new process and all we get is the next brick wall arising from those uses of privilege, it would be a pretty depressing test of the government’s bona fides and its commitment to transparency.
We will of course support this motion. Let us suck it and see, and if it fails, as Mrs McArthur alluded to, we will no doubt look to what our other options are to try and pry open the apparent confidentiality of government on these very modest matters.
[Motion agreed to]
