Thursday, 8 February 2024

 Annabelle CLEELAND (Euroa) (16:58): I rise today to speak on the Service Victoria Amendment Bill 2023, a bill that I do not oppose. Getting to the guts of it, what I am really concerned about in my community is possibly the impact it is going to have on the elderly and people who might have communication challenges when it comes to using a computer. We heard a wonderful debate earlier, so I will not repeat anyone who has gone ahead of me. What I do want to talk about are some of the challenges that we are worried about, and this includes people who suffer from disabilities; people who have issues with comprehension, are illiterate or are innumerate; the elderly; or people who are just not tech-savvy. Being from a regional electorate, this is something I am concerned about. Our office is regularly inundated with constituents needing assistance in order to access online-only services, find information, use programs, print, scan, photocopy and more. While they are always welcome, we do have concerns about this being a one-stop shop online, because many residents in our regional communities have at best unreliable internet connection in addition to many towns suffering from regular power outages – check out my social media. The frequent power outages and natural disasters that have plagued my community have disrupted internet connectivity and rendered online services inaccessible –

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The time set down for consideration of items on the government business program has arrived, and I am required to interrupt business.

Motion agreed to.

Read second time.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The bill will now be sent to the Legislative Council and their agreement requested.