Wednesday, 21 September 2022

Member for Yan Yean

Valedictory statement

Ms GREEN (Yan Yean) (15:57): Oh, dear Speaker, of the many joys I have experienced in almost 20 years in this place, one of them is seeing you, a sister regional MP and dear friend, ascend to the respected office of Speaker—indeed the first-ever regional woman to hold the position.

However, I want to begin my final contribution to this Parliament by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which I stand and pay my respect to elders past and present and especially to those emerging, who are leading the journey to treaty. I have the most profound confidence in the elected Indigenous leaders led by Marcus Stewart and Aunty Geraldine Atkinson, the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples and especially my friend the member for Geelong and Parliamentary Secretary for First Peoples. She has lived her values and stood up for working people, including First Nations people, her whole working life. Her lived experience of being widowed with four children when her 26-year-old Gunditjmara husband died of a heart attack on the cricket field makes her ideal for her current role and for so much more. I am calling on my colleagues—you back her in for so much more. She epitomises the hardworking, compassionate values of her much earlier predecessor, the first-ever Labor woman in this Parliament, Fanny Brownbill, who represented Geelong from 1938 to 1948.

There are so many reasons that I have been privileged to represent the electorate of Yan Yean for 20 years, but especially it is because it is one of the few districts to carry a name in traditional language. ‘Yan Yean’ means ‘young boy’ and ‘Mernda’ means ‘young girl’. Mernda is the geographic centre of the Yan Yean electorate. It means ‘young girl’ in the Woiwurrung language spoken by the Wurundjeri. For each day of the past 20 years I have tried hard to ensure the merndas and yan yeans of today and of tomorrow are at the centre of my work. It is not lost on me, but the first time I met the Premier was in the mid 1990s, when we were both on the Aboriginal affairs policy committee, and it is great to see this work coming forward.

Now I want to take a look back from where we have come, and one of the reasons I want to do this is that I am a La Trobe alumnus and I have tried and tried to get La Trobe University students to talk about the history of women in this chamber. Maybe I will have to write it myself, but I am going to make sure it is in Hansard. It is 40 years since I first voted. At that election the Cain government took office and a young mother of five, born in Horsham, became the first-ever woman cabinet minister in Victoria. Pauline Toner was then one of only seven women in the Victorian Parliament, and indeed there had only been three others prior across both houses. Pauline was the member for Greensborough, and along with Pauline’s successor, Sherryl Garbutt, and my dear friends and neighbours the member for Eltham and the member for Bundoora, we are all honoured to be part of Pauline’s legacy, representing some of the same localities that she did. I always feel a little thrill when visiting Yarrambat Primary School to see Pauline’s name on the plaque there. Her policy achievements, to quote the member for Altona, were impactful but too short.

When I entered Parliament in 2002 I was part of the largest influx of women ever, 24 sassy and diverse Labor women, so many hailing from regional areas. At that election the National Party elected its first woman to the Assembly and the Liberal Party had only two women, making a total of 27, or just over 30 per cent of this chamber—a huge increase of 22 women from when I had first voted, 20 year earlier. Across the Labor caucus 40 per cent were women in that amazing transition. I remember hearing Channel 9 journalist David Broadbent, the then chair of the press gallery, opining that this female influx was the single largest change he had ever seen in his 25-plus years of reporting. Children were everywhere during the sittings, and toilets for women, just like at the theatre and at the G, were scarce.

Our large numbers translated to many female cabinet ministers, not just playing bit parts but in senior, meaty roles. We elected the first woman Speaker, Judy Maddigan, a former librarian who struck terror and silence into the house, me included, when she stared imperiously over those glasses. Monica Gould, who has been visiting the Parliament today, I was delighted to see, was elected the first female President of the Legislative Council, with Glenyys Romanes the first female Deputy President. In my second term, in 2006, Jenny Lindell became the second female Speaker, and Ann Barker, another sister Bomber, became the first female Deputy Speaker. Since 2002, in Pauline Toner’s heartland of the north, female MPs have outnumbered men two to one. Twenty years on from my election there are now 34 women out of 88 MPs: 24 Labor, four Liberal, two National, one Green and two independents. This makes it crystal clear that the other parties have a long way to go when it comes to equality, and I was so, so happy yesterday to have that magnificent photo with all of the Labor women’s caucus, with you, Premier, and with all our sassy women candidates that are standing for this election.

Some on the other side of politics have wrongly tried to dismiss our women at every election as mere quota girls. The evidence is in on that, I reckon. Yes, we have party rules requiring a balance of women and men; however, these rules have never had to be invoked, due to the flood of women who have nominated since the rules were altered almost 30 years ago and the support that the branches and unions have given those women. To any who may think this imbalance is unfair to men, consider this: for the most part of Victoria’s history men have comprised a huge majority in this place. More than 1500 of them have represented seats in this chamber and in the Council, compared to only 98 women in this place. I am really hoping, sisters, you are going to make the ton after this election. So I simply say it is our turn. Our current cabinet comprises 65 per cent women, with three out of four party leadership positions held by women: Deputy Premier, Leader of the Government and Deputy Leader of the Government.

A more gender-equal Parliament is not just about who is occupying the positions; it means it sees huge changes in public policy in matters that truly impact women’s lives. Sherryl Garbutt established the State Disability Plan and the Victorian Honour Roll of Women and, as the first minister for children, built children’s centres, many in my electorate—the first being at The Lakes in South Morang, but they are now all over my electorate and across the state—a policy that was adopted by the Gillard government. My dear ski buddy and friend Maxine Morand, together with the Premier, passed abortion law reform during a marathon sitting.

The late Lynne Kosky, another ski buddy, reformed applied learning in our schools and elevated craft to its rightful place, equal to that of the other creative arts. It is fitting that there are awards in craft and TAFE that bear Lynne’s name, and I am so glad that Howard Kelly, who this year got the Lynne Kosky Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement, is here to hear my speech today. Thanks Howard. Lynne’s work in TAFE continues under the close watch of the current minister, Gayle Tierney. A special shout-out to Lynne for her support for the South Morang rail extension. It never would have happened without her and the then Premier John Brumby. The late Fiona Richardson, another warrior woman of the north, implemented the findings of Australia’s first Royal Commission into Family Violence, changing forever the responses of the police, the judiciary and the service system for women and children seeking safety. Her work is continued today by the member for Yuroke, another woman of the north.

Victoria’s first female Attorney-General, the member for Altona, who we heard an amazing contribution from yesterday—I have been thinking, ‘How do I top that?’. The line where she said the Labor Party has been like a bad boyfriend to her was the best line ever. My husband lovingly called Jill the ‘Attorney-Jilleral’. Jill undertook a labour of love in honour of her mum to pass our voluntary assisted dying laws, as the member for Richmond mentioned. I will be forever indebted to her for initiating reform into forced adoption, which impacted my aunt Anne Radford, June Smith and so many other women who have been in contact with me over the years. If circumstances had been a little bit different, my Blake would have been taken from me too. I am so glad that he was not and that he is here today. Jill’s work included the legalisation of medical cannabis, and I thank her and the Premier for responding to the pleas of the Wallace family; Cooper Wallace has the most wonderful life, being able to legally have that treatment. Thanks to Jill for banning gay conversion therapy. I want to echo the member for Albert Park’s call yesterday to anyone in the forthcoming election: do not use trans people for your purposes to seek a vote and for clickbait. Xandra Metcalfe is a fantastic trans woman raised in Diamond Creek. I have worked closely with her family, and I particularly want to give credit to her mum, Deb Metcalfe, who has been a fantastic teacher at Montmorency Secondary College supporting the rainbow youth support group there. But from the stories that they have told me, of all of Xandra’s friends—who are in double figures, 10 to 20 of them—Xandra was the only one that had family support, the only one. As political leaders we need to understand that these young people need our support, not derision.

Jill’s groundbreaking work is now being carried on by the current Attorney-General, Jaclyn Symes—she is actually a distant cousin of mine, if you did not know—and my dear friend the Minister for Health, the member for Macedon. The member for Bellarine, a sister member of the class of 2002, became the first-ever Minister for Mental Health. She reformed the water sector and, as the first-ever female Minister for Police, led the implementation of the Victorian community safety statement, including an agreed police allocation model ensuring that our police academy is always pumping out great new graduates to be tasked to growing communities like the north.

Another northern neighbour and 2002 classmate, the member for Mill Park, is Australia’s longest serving energy minister, leading the transition to alternative generation to mitigate climate change, and has also played a part in delivering some mighty fine walking and cycling trails for our shared patches. I have said to a number of people that my sister Gabrielle shared a house with David Kirner in Turner Street, Abbotsford, just as Joan was first elected to this Parliament, and it was where I first met Joan. I met Julia Gillard, who was a young Labor activist, and the O’Connor boys, and I met Lily. While there were massive parties going on in this house, Lily sat quietly in the corner drinking her cup of tea. But it has been a pleasure to continue working with her. She was the good one.

Members interjecting.

Ms GREEN: Thanks, Lily, for letting us have a laugh. No conversation about the achievements of women in this place would be complete without mentioning my twin, the Deputy Premier. We are not quite twins, but we do share a birthday and a passion for regional Victoria and improving it as a place to live, work and visit. I recall messaging JA on her 26th birthday and saying, ‘How did you get to be so young and so clever?’. That birthday was the day after she was elected in 1999, some 23 years ago. She is the longest serving woman ever in the Legislative Assembly, and early in her next term she will become the longest serving woman ever in Victorian parliamentary history—and she is not even close to 50. She will surpass the record of Louise Asher, whose service was across both Council and Assembly, and I do not think Louise will mind at all being surpassed by another Essendon supporter. Go Bombers! Jacinta and I said this morning, with the news about Hawthorn, that our Bombers are looking pretty good. But the AFLW team is going very well. The Mernda community will always remember the Deputy Premier for the delivery of Mernda rail, three new stations, walking and cycling paths, an upgraded bus network and 2000 extra car parks.

My parents both grew up on farms, and many family members still farm, so it is in my DNA. It is not just the province of the National Party. That is why I was so chuffed to work closely with another regional buddy, the first-ever female Minister for Agriculture, the brave Jaala Pulford. When she tasked me with re-establishing the Victorian Rural Women’s Network, not only was this the right thing to do, it was a love job for me. Walking here this morning I spoke briefly to another past trailblazing female minister, Caroline Hogg, who was the first-ever minister for rural affairs and the founder of the Rural Women’s Network. It was actually Labor in government that saw that as important as agriculture and the industry is, there is so much more to what is out there, and Caroline led that.

In the early 1990s I worked as a young public servant in the office of rural affairs, editing the Rural Women’s Network magazine and supporting events like Women in Action workshops in small towns and communities across regional Victoria. It was a lifeline to rural and regional women, and it celebrated and nurtured their contributions to community and economic development. At its peak the magazine had a hard copy distribution of over 20 000, and it moved online as well. When elected in 2002 I was pleased to see the network thriving and growing. In 20 years in this place I feel blessed to have served only four years in opposition, from 2010 to 2014. During that time I was the Shadow Minister for Women. My heart sank when the then government moved the Rural Women’s Network magazine to online only. That told me that the Liberal minister for women had zero understanding of the lives of country women and how marginal and inaccessible the internet can be in some parts of rural and regional Victoria.

A subsequent budget then completely shut down the Rural Women’s Network. I sincerely hope that both the Liberal and National parties have learned what folly that was. Jaala, as the first female Minister for Agriculture, has been succeeded by Jaclyn Symes, the Minister for Health and now Gayle Tierney. Labor currently has 18 MPs representing rural and regional Victoria, and 15 are women. I leave this place content that they will always fight for regional communities, especially for women, and I so hope that they are going to be joined by Martha Haylett, Dr Kate Maxfield and many others.

Caroline Hogg’s work as the first-ever minister for rural affairs in 1990 has been expanded and grown by Jaala, Jaclyn, Mary-Anne and now Harriet Shing, as ministers for regional development. The Andrews Labor government established the Growing Suburbs Fund, and I want to thank in particular the member for Kororoit and the Minister for Education, outer suburban MPs who backed in these investments as ministers.

Of course the work of all these fabulous women has been supported by some amazing blokes. I first met the member for Richmond, a passionate housing advocate, when he was an adviser to then housing minister Barry Pullen in the Cain government and I was a young public servant working in program development. Now the Big Housing Build is the pinnacle of his work. Thank you, Richard.

I have been privileged to work with three out outstanding premiers in Bracks, Brumby and Andrews and their equally great and loyal deputies Thwaites, Hulls and Merlino. In particular treasurers Brumby and Pallas have always respected the needs of a growing Yan Yean, and the Treasurer told me on numerous occasions that Yan Yean was the gold medallist in numerous budgets—I think almost every one—during this time.

I will always remember in the lead-up to the 2014 election when the then shadow minister, the member for Monbulk, and the then Leader of the Opposition, now Premier, launched the Education State at Mernda’s Hilltop Park. As Minister for Education the member for Monbulk took a special interest in making up for the pause in education capital funding during the 2010–14 Liberal government. His care saw the delivery of numerous schools, and I seek leave, as my dear friend the member for Lara did, to table that list of schools and the other list of what has been funded over the last eight years.

The SPEAKER: Leave is granted.

Ms GREEN: Thank you. I have been privileged as parliamentary secretary to work alongside some outstanding ministers: Bob Cameron in police and emergency services; the member for Lara, tourism and major events, who turbocharged our visitor economy and major event sectors; Jaala Pulford, Jaclyn Symes, the member for Macedon and now Harriet Shing in regional development; the member for Keysborough in sport; the member for Oakleigh in sport; and my neighbour the member for Yuroke in community sport. Thank you to all and to your staff, some of whom are here today.

Many column inches have been written about Labor’s factions. I want to thank my friends in the Labor Unity faction for backing me to get here, but there are many, many other fun factions that I have been a member of too: the women’s caucus; the regional caucus; the food faction and its love child, the yum cha faction; the fashion faction; the ski faction; the Fatsadika faction of Kythira island; and the BVA, the Benalla veterans association, which the Premier, the member for Ivanhoe, the member for Altona, the member for Sydenham, Lee Tarlamis and many more are members of, and I feel so proud to have Denise Allen’s son, Paul, here today. Every subsequent wave of Labor MPs following 2002 has added strength to the whole. I want to give a special shout-out to the class of 2018. They are the largest wave of new MPs since 2002, and it has been an out-and-out pleasure mentoring them on the ways of bay 13.

I want to thank the staff and all the committee buddies that I had, and that is across the Parliament. To anyone coming into this place: please get on parliamentary committees. You learn so much, and it can completely change your thinking. Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, outer suburban and environmental planning have all been amazing.

Thank you to my loyal, resilient and multitalented staff, especially my adviser Virginia Wellard, who has worked for me since the start days of 2009 until now, but we have been friends since the mid-1990s. My previous adviser, Pam McLeod, has been a stalwart of the Yan Yean electorate since its creation in 1991, a past diligent Whittlesea city councillor, a past president of Australian Local Government Women’s Association and so much more. Thank you to both of these fabulous women for their wise counsel and friendship.

Former colleague Simon Mead once said, ‘Don’t ever resent your staff moving on to greener pastures. They’re not leaving you; they’re actually helping you grow your empire’. I wear it as a badge of honour that so many of my fine staff have been picked off to work for premiers, ministers, deputy prime ministers, federal members, senators and more. Thanks in particular to Brooke Haffenden, Naomi Joiner, Josh Raymond and Olivia Tregambe for their courage during COVID, and to Brian O’Connor, Matt Sheean and Chris Piper for outstanding work in opposition—a special shout-out to Matt for teaching me so much about living and thriving with disability and being a voice for the voiceless. To Amanda, Rosy and Jinane: amazing work following Black Saturday. I will never forget the day after that terrible day and my staff being in the office just ringing and finding out what people needed and in fact whether they were still with us.

To my first staff, the late great Jan Martorana Cleeland, the late Santo Spinello and Marg Burbidge, now a stalwart of Ripon. To all the bright young things who filled part-time roles, were my interns or were part of the Yan Yean Youth Council. My current electorate officers: Louise Kenney-Shen, Paul Allen and Aden Davison. My branch members from the former Diamond Valley, Epping, South Morang, Wallan, Whittlesea, Kinglake and Yan Yean branches. The unions—the Transport Workers Union, the ASU, the Health and Community Services Union, the Rail, Tram and Bus Union. The hundreds of community volunteers, especially the Yarrambat crew, who have staffed polling booths, street stalls, Clean Up Australia Days, community festivals and agricultural shows and who have doorknocked and made phone calls with and for me over five elections. To my local government councillor friends, especially the past Murrindindi and Ararat mayor, Peter Beales, who is here today, and his fabulous wife, Jenny, for their friendship and their work in relief and recovery. Jenny, you deserved a second crack at McEwen and would have made a fine MP. I know you have mentored so many others along the way.

To past Nillumbik mayors: my dear friend Helen Coleman, Warwick Leeson, Peter Perkins, Michael Young, Greg Johnson and Lex de Man, and current mayor Frances Eyre. I hope many of you noted that they are not all Labor mayors there. To other councillors: brave Natalie Duffy, Bob Stubbings and Michael Hall; in Whittlesea, former mayor Lawrie Cox and Cr Pam McLeod; in Mitchell shire, former mayor Cr Sanderson and all the councillors at Mitchell shire and local government professionals; the late, great David Turnbull and his loyal deputy at Whittlesea and Mitchell, Mary Agostino; Griff Davis and Liana Thompson, both ex-Whittlesea; and the current CEO, Craig Lloyd.

To the sporting clubs, for their fun and joy of competition, especially the Panton Hill Football Club, who made me their patron. For all the women and girls playing footy, especially the groundbreaking Diamond Creek Women’s Football Club; the north has been the cradle of AFLW. I also want to shout out to other football clubs—Laurimar, Hurstbridge, Diamond Creek, Mernda and Whittlesea; the Greensborough Hockey Club; and also the artisans in my electorate. It is great to be a Renaissance person and to love sport and the arts. You can do it, despite what Sigmund Jorgensen used to say.

I want to give a shout-out to the most wonderful first responders in my electorate, who have been through so much, both career and volunteer: VicPol, Ambulance Victoria, SES, FRV firefighters and all CFA volunteers but especially my brother and sister volunteer firefighters at the Diamond Creek, Doreen and Wattle Glen fire brigades. We will never forget what we went through on those dreadful days of Black Saturday and its aftermath. I give a shout-out to all those survivors who live on to this day, despite their losses, and to the health professionals who worked then and throughout COVID.

To my family—my mother, Wilma; my sisters, Gabrielle, Julianna and Francine; my nephews Giona and Xavi; my brother-in-law Simon; my beautiful sons, Blake and Carlo, and their partners, Glen and Paola; and my wonderful, funny husband aka cultural attaché—I think he knows more people than me—Maca. To even my first husband, Michael Rizzo, who has worked on every campaign and always been supportive of me. We are really like siblings now. Thank you, Michael—both Michaels.

My old ski buddies Nicole, Helen, Maxine, Belinda, Michelle, Colin, Geoff, Puc, Mel, Tim and so many more—you were there when I needed you, so much after Black Saturday, and I will never forget that. To my new friends at Disabled Wintersport, I have been a volunteer guide for six or seven years now, and I am now on the board, and I really hope that that is going to be the next stage of my life. My touchstones—my girlfriends that I have known my whole life—you have kept my feet on the ground and made me remember who I am. Angela, Anne, Anita, Deborah, Jenny, Kerrie-Anne and Louise, what on earth will we do when we grow up? I am certain that I would not have had a 20-year political career if you had not kept quiet about the shenanigans of our youth. Thank goodness social media was not invented then and cameras were scarce. In politics there is a saying: if you want a friend, get a dog. Well, I have both. I owe a debt to Jo Duncan for making it cool to bring dogs to Parliament. Bailey thanks you with a big woof for being a trailblazer.

I leave this place in the same year as that long-running soap Neighbours, and I invoke that show’s tagline ‘when good neighbours become good friends’. The Yan Yean electorate has more neighbouring MPs than any other, and I think that is why I am giving such a long speech. I indeed have made good friends: Liz Beattie and Ros Spence as members for Yuroke; Jo Duncan and Mary-Anne Thomas for Macedon; Ben Hardman in Seymour; Bronwyn Halfpenny in Thomastown; and Lily D’Ambrosio in Mill Park. And then there are the Hurstbridge line MPs: Brooksy, aka TC; Carbs; and those Eltham ratbags and their much better successor, Vicki Ward. We have had a fabulous partnership and delivered so many projects to our shared community. We have had so much fun together, Vicki, torturing tory mayors. We played naughty teenagers to his angry dad, and I am sure people know who I am talking about, especially those on the Privileges Committee. We delivered Christmas trees dressed as elves and trick or treat packages, with me in a blue sheet with eyes cut out—Dick Hamer’s green wedge ghost—and Vicki as Pokémon.

Finally, another historical fact that I am quite proud of. The Andrews Labor government is the most Catholic government in Victoria’s history. Post the 2014 election, many of us kept questioning why a Latin American Catholic Speaker had not altered the Lord’s Prayer from the Protestant one to the Catholic one. Something had to be done. One night someone glued the Catholic version over the well-used Protestant one that was read by the Speaker. The Speaker was flummoxed and unusually hesitant and ummed and ahhed, racking his brains for the right words. I will carry to my grave the number of shoulders heaving with silent mirth throughout the start of that parliamentary sitting day. I have it on good authority that the next Speaker had one of the parliamentary staff saying, ‘Please be careful of the Lord’s prayer. There was an incident for the last Speaker, and we never found out who it was who played the prank’. Well, I unmask myself today. It was me. I want to apologise to the parliamentary staff who had to look under every rock to try and find out who did it.

I want to thank all the parliamentary staff across all the departments here. I knew so many of you before I came to this place through my work with the CPSU. You have just been outstanding.

The part of my life over the last 20 years and earlier has been the one where I have been so much like my father. My father was full of duty and team play. I was never the full forward or the wing breaking out of a pack. I hope I was the best team player, just like dad was. It is now time to channel my mum. My mum is an artist, and I really want to connect with that creative side of myself and be connected more to home. I still feel I have got so much more to do in work. I entered here in my 30s, I am leaving in my 50s. I leave with so many friends. Thank you all.

Members applauded.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.