Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Matters of public importance

Diversity

The SPEAKER (16:01): I have accepted a statement from the member for Mordialloc proposing the following matter of public importance for discussion:

That this house recognises Victoria as a place of diversity where community is strong and equality and inclusion are not negotiable.

Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (16:01): Thank you, Speaker, for the opportunity to rise on this important matter of public importance, because equality and diversity are indeed not negotiable in Victoria. That does not mean that it is just a given. It is not something that just happens. It requires effort each and every day and a commitment from our community and all of its facets to make sure that those that are from diverse backgrounds and communities are supported in every single facet. I am going to take the house through a few examples of how that can be threatened and impacts that we have seen in this place across time.

I think it is fitting to reflect at the moment on what is taking place just a little while down the road. We see an impact on our inclusion and our diversity right now down at the exhibition centre. It is always the right of people to peacefully gather and protest. As the party of the union movement, we absolutely subscribe to that, but I think it is worth calling out that the divisions and the impacts on social cohesion that we have seen – that have been stoked by some in this Parliament – are of great concern to the community.

We had a question from the member for Richmond to the Premier only last sitting week that asked, after referencing the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities and the right to protest, if there would be an impact from Victoria Police on those that peacefully gather, practice civil disobedience and have peaceful direct action as keystones. This was the question that was put forward about whether Victoria Police would escalate the situation in their presence. What we have seen reported today, about what should have been a peaceful gathering if you are protesting, are allegations of acid being thrown at members of Victoria Police, along with excrement from horses, and the burning of various items. No-one comes to a peaceful protest loaded up with acid. The absolute escalation in tensions and impacts have a direct hit on diversity and social cohesion. It is a time for people to be really careful and cautious here, because we do not want to see the images that we see writ large internationally and the divisions that happen – that have at their cornerstone a political element of benefit to those that drive those divisions – stoked any further.

Everyone is in despair about the conflict in the Middle East. Everyone wants to see a peaceful resolution and solution as soon as possible. No human life should be lost – no additional human life. It is an absolute devastation that we see. But the notion that people front up to a protest with acid to throw at our members of Victoria Police and the notion that Victoria Police have some sort of accountability there is extraordinary.

I want to put on record that when we talk about diversity and inclusion we all have a responsibility. We can passionately advocate for issues that our communities and our constituents care about. That is absolutely the hallmark of this place. But we also have a responsibility in our words and our actions to always be inclusive, respectful and supportive. Because we are in the oldest civilisation in the world. First Nations people have been here for more than 60,000 years and 2000 generations. It is a source of the greatest pride for Australians that we have such an unbroken connection and respect for our First Nations peoples and their multitude of languages. We acknowledge on country, on Wurundjeri land, their continuous and unceded connection.

It is a great hallmark of our diversity that we welcome so many nationalities – 300 ancestries, nearly 300 different languages spoken and 200 different faiths. It is a beautiful patchwork of inclusion and diversity that Melbourne and Victoria celebrate, love and cherish. It needs constant work and it needs constant effort to make sure those divisions and issues that come up from time to time, which I will address, are called out in the strongest possible terms, no less so than with the collective disappointment I think Victorians feel given their endorsement of the position that we find ourselves in with First Nations Victorians and the pathway to treaty. I give a shout-out to the member for Kew, who I do not think will be tuning in back home at the moment. I congratulate the member for Kew on little Patrick James arriving. The member for Kew came out in support of treaty early on. She looked within her values and said this is something we should do. That is leadership. That is bringing together thought and consideration around leadership. When the member for Berwick decided to have a discussion around raising the age and the impact on vulnerable youth and community and went outside of where their position is, that is leadership; that is coming forward with an idea or plan. When the member for Brighton, against a tide of opposition from those within his party, talked about the importance of LGBTIQA+ communities – and thankfully we are at that position – that is against a background of it not always being popular and not always being seen to be the centrist thing to do. When it is needed most, the Andrews government and the Allan government have always been on the side of equality, diversity and inclusion. That is something in which there is great pride, both in Australia as a flagship of diversity and also internationally. It is one of the safest, most inclusive places in the world.

It was only a few years ago that they fronted up in this Parliament for two years solid saying that 54 ‍countries with 1.5 billion people in the world were representative of gangs in our community. Remember the African gang commentary that went on consistently and the damage that that did to social cohesion for an extended period of time? It has been editorialised and it has been backgrounded by the regret that those opposite have, but we have never heard one particular word, particularly from the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Hawthorn. He was Shadow Attorney-General when law reform bill after law reform bill was coming in here, when in the language and narrative about our communities from the 54 countries of the African continent they were said to be African gangs, and not once since has there been an apology. Not once has someone said sorry for the generalisation and the impact on those communities and on social cohesion. You will see the member for Hawthorn, uninvited, come through citizenship ceremony after citizenship ceremony. I was surprised one day when he stumbled into the City of Kingston.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the member can make any accusation he likes by substantive motion. On a motion that relates to inclusion, the member is, for a start, being contradictory, and I would ask you to bring the member back to the matter before the house.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mordialloc is reminded that impugning other members is disrespectful. I would ask you to be very careful about how you speak about members of the opposition.

Tim RICHARDSON: I will place on record the Age article from 2019 editorialising the regret that the coalition had, so if they are walking back their regret, I would love to know why that is the case and where the leadership was at the time when they were directly targeting 54 nations in a continent of 1.5 billion people, generalising. I will go one step further – there was an impact on social cohesion.

This is the non-negotiable call-out that we need to do. We had a Leader of the Opposition who was the alternative Prime Minister saying that it was not safe to go out in our communities at night – not safe to go out. Not once was that ever called out by those opposite – not once. They represent communities across which there is a diverse diaspora of African communities, and not once was it called out for what it was and the damage that it did. I am glad now that there has been a realisation, but when there was political capital, when Tony Nutt from the Liberal campaign wrote it into their law-and-order crime strategy at the time, we saw it for what it was, and thankfully Victorians saw it as well, because we all have a responsibility to call out that behaviour when it impacts on inclusion and diversity.

Remember: 200 faiths, 300 ancestries and 290 languages spoken. Generalisations about race, culture and community are so damaging, and we are seeing that playing out again at a federal level in the same predictable circumstances, which has a huge impact on communities and will undermine communities into the future. And it is not only that. It comes at a time when we launch Victoria’s strategy on suicide prevention. We know that communities from diverse and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds experience a disproportionate impact when it comes to mental health and wellbeing. That is why this strategy, launched this week on World Suicide Prevention Day, is so very important.

We know it is a really hard journey as a newly arrived migrant or refugee to settle into the community and find your way. There is nothing more passionate, exciting and energising as a member of Parliament than when you front up to an Australian citizenship ceremony and you hear people who are so passionately appreciative of becoming an Australian. They might have been here for decades and then become Australian citizens or they might have been here for a few years, but the pride and passion and the lived experiences of their stories are absolutely incredible. It is already a hard enough journey, and the resilience that it takes to establish yourself is so substantial. When those narratives and that language are put forward, they impact on mental health and wellbeing. In Victoria we celebrate our multiculturalism. We say that you can speak your language, you can celebrate your culture; it is all part of the rich fabric and patchwork quilt of an Australia that has more than 7.5 million people born overseas. It is something that is a great source of pride. Where we see division play out around the world and even in the United States at the moment, Victoria continues to be a beacon and example of a wonderful, inclusive and harmonious society.

We also see some of the mental health impacts in LGBTIQA+ communities, and we have seen this play out in debate after debate. I wanted to share with the house some of the impacts that that has on communities. Equality is non-negotiable. You can be who you want to be and love who you want to love in our state – and now in our nation. I think it is really important to reflect on some of the damaging rhetoric around diversity that we have seen. When trans people were being attacked our former Premier put up the flag and said, ‘I’m an ally. I’m with you each and every day.’ That is what leadership looks like. In a pile-on of media, in an avalanche, as a beacon of hope we established those inclusive principles. That is what leadership takes. It has always hit me, as the Parliamentary Secretary for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention – when Dan Andrews was asked a range of questions on these issues, his simple answer was, ‘Why would you want to pile on any more to a community that cops so much discrimination now and impact?’ Research suggests that 73 per cent of LGBTIQA+ people have considered suicide, compared to 13.2 per cent of the general Australian population. The over-representation of discrimination hugely impacts on communities. Let us be abundantly clear: being trans and gender diverse is not an inherent vulnerability or risk to mental health. It is the repeated experiences of violence, discrimination and stigma that contribute to the tragedies. Sitting on the ministerial advisory committee on mental health and wellbeing, I hear that each and every day – the lived and living experiences, the fear when people divide communities, when people impact on LGBTIQA+ communities by making some of the most horrific statements.

We know the member for Brighton might be getting up on this very soon, but let us reflect on when some of those divisive comments were made out on the steps, which is going to be a feature in a few days time on another matter. The member for Brighton at the time said, ‘You can’t sue your leader and get away with it.’ It was not about the comments at the time. It was about the fact that there was disunity within the Liberal Party and why Moira Deeming is no longer a member in this place. It should have been about calling out and literally doorstopping with the Premier. The opposition leader should have come together and doorstopped on the divisive language and impacts –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, it is improper for the member to be impugning me on matters that I have been publicly outspoken about for my career.

The SPEAKER: I think the member for Mordialloc was referring to another member of Parliament in his contribution. He did refer to you, but this is a matter of debate.

Tim RICHARDSON: It is a quote that was publicly reported at the time. Did the Leader of the Opposition doorstop with the Premier and denounce those comments? No, he did not denounce them. Did the Leader of the Opposition come out and denounce those comments on the day?

James Newbury interjected.

Tim RICHARDSON: It is not about you. You are not the Leader of the Opposition yet. I know it has been a big day and there have been about 45 points of order, but the member for Brighton is not the Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition acted based on political interests and disunity, not based on the divisive, harmful, hateful comments that we see impacting on communities.

That is the challenge in our place. There is a chance to go the high road and be inclusive and supportive of others and those from LGBTIQA+ communities, or there is the opportunity to deride, belittle and impact because it is in your political interest. That is the challenge for the Greens political party with the violence we saw down the road today. No-one rocks up to a peaceful protest with acid and rocks, impacting on the people that serve in our community. You have got an obligation to step up. The Greens political party has an obligation. It goes all the way through to comments around African gangs that they regret down the track – that the Liberal Party is on the record as regretting down the track – or then the impacts on LGBTIQA+ people. Thankfully, the Labor government steps up and supports diversity and inclusion in every single facet.

James NEWBURY (Brighton) (16:16): I rise to speak on the matter of public importance from the member for Mordialloc. At its core this matter of public importance speaks to a community being strong, which at its centre is about social cohesion and the importance of social cohesion in this state. The substance of that topic is timely, never more so than today. Today we should be debating the community being strong and the social cohesion of this state. Today we have seen 24 police officers who were doing their work hurt while protecting the community – 24 police officers – while 1200 ‍scum are on the streets attacking good, hardworking people of this state.

But what is worse is that at the core of our community, the centre of our community, should be the Parliament of Victoria, where we stand for what is good and right in terms of social cohesion. We have seen a member of this place again disrespect this place and in doing so undermine the social fabric of our community. In fact this morning that member tweeted and called for disruption. That is incitement. The core of what that member did this morning is inciting and disrupting the community, which has seen 24 police hurt. And it is not just police; we have seen journalists attacked, we have seen law-abiding citizens as they walked around the city attacked, we have seen cars and trucks damaged and we have seen fires set by these scum, these absolute scum. And at the centre of this behaviour is a member of this place.

Enough is enough when it comes to the member for Richmond. I do not use the words that I use lightly, but this Parliament has had enough of that scum. We have a member in this place who is discrediting the good standing of people in our community, who is undermining social cohesion – the basic fundamental principle of why we are here and what we uphold as per the Members of Parliament (Standards) Act 1978. The statement of value, which I am sure the Speaker would know so well, includes that we as members should carry out our duties to serve the public interest and to uphold democracy, integrity, accountability, respect for diversity of views and backgrounds within the Victorian community, diligence and leadership, and yet we have a member of this place protesting with the 1200 people on the street hurting other Victorians. How long can that stand?

We in the coalition have said repeatedly that it is not okay for someone in this place to be part of shutdowns of this building. It is not okay to bring people in here to protest. We cannot stand for it, and on every single occasion the coalition has stood up and offered our hand to the government and said, ‘We will work with you to deal with this behaviour.’ Hansard will show it; on every occasion I spoke about these matters through the chamber so that they would be put on record. I have said it to the Premier across the table multiple times. The Leader of the Opposition has called for the same. How long can we have a member of this Parliament breaching the fundamental principles of what we stand for and what we should be upholding as a Parliament?

To know that there are 24 officers who have been hurt today and that a member of this place was part of a protest that caused that hurt is deeply distressing, I would hope, for every other member of this place and, I would hope, for every Labor member of this place. We cannot keep standing idly by. We have a matter of public importance that is about ensuring we have a strong community and about social cohesion, yet have the government said they will do something about this behaviour? The member for Caulfield moved a number of motions this morning and sought leave to deal with this behaviour.

David Southwick interjected.

James NEWBURY: Nothing. The government declined to grant leave that was being sought to debate and deal with the matter.

I have said in a very bipartisan way to the government, publicly and privately, on every occasion: it must stop. We have a member of this place who is a rogue. We have a member of this place who is inciting dangerous violence. The tweet this morning disturbed, I am sure and I hope, every member of this place. I saw the tweet calling for disruption, which then resulted in acts of violence. My view is there are questions about whether the law was breached, because when you call for disruption and you see people hurt, when you see property damaged, you must take responsibility for it.

We as members of Parliament can no longer stand idly by and say this member for Richmond is welcome in this place. I believe every member should have an almost – almost – unquestionable right to represent their community to raise issues. Whether I agree with them or not, I am sure we all as very strong supporters of freedom of speech on this side of the chamber believe in every member’s right to do so. But do we extend that right in this place to inciting violence? Do we let that stand?

With this matter of public importance today I say again to the government: why will the government not work with us to set in place a framework to say that members of Parliament cannot shut down the building, that members of Parliament cannot incite violence? I am sure that every member on this side of the chamber supports members going out into the community, meeting constituents and attending protests or rallies to be aware of what community concerns people have. Of course we do, and in no way are we suggesting that that should not happen. But we have seen today police and Victorians hurt. We have seen property damaged. We have seen fires. We have seen the most disgraceful behaviour from the scum of the earth, and the member for Richmond is one of them – and I do not use those words lightly.

But when and what will it take before the government will say to us, ‘Yes, we will work with you on ensuring that behaviour is appropriate’? The tweet this morning, in my view, raises questions of law. Incitement is a very serious thing, and what we have seen over time is in my view straight antisemitism coming from that member – straight antisemitism, obviously dressed up to hide the fact. But what that has done is undermine social cohesion in the community, and today we have seen that type of behaviour play out and violence occur on the streets.

Who is saying to the members of the families of the police that were hurt today, ‘We are here on your side and we will not tolerate the leaders of this community inciting the behaviour that occurred to those members’? No-one from the government. There are only so many times that the coalition can call on the government to work with us to act in a bipartisan way before you can come to the view that the government does not want to act. I mean it quite genuinely. On every occasion we have attempted to work with the government to seek action, because we cannot have a dangerous activist sitting in this chamber using the title of this office to incite the community. It is dangerous. The member for Richmond is not fit to sit in this chamber. When you look at the Members of Parliament (Standards) Act, when you look at the values, the member does not uphold those standards, and social cohesion is important.

I am not saying that there are not other occasions. We saw it today in relation to a former Labor leader in New South Wales and a defamation outcome following an absolutely disgusting tweet of a former Labor member, now an independent, in the New South Wales Parliament, who tweeted the most disgusting thing about an independent member in that place and who was rightly found to have defamed that member today. Given the hurt that has been caused to the rainbow community because of that absolutely disgusting tweet, he deserved to have been found to have done so. I think that in that place they have a question in relation to that feral member.

But the member for Richmond today has not just tweeted and incited violence. The member for Richmond has today walked on the streets with a group of people who have hurt Victorians – that is what has happened. She walked on the streets with a group who have hurt Victorians, who have attacked police, who have attacked fellow Victorians, who have burnt property, who have attacked vehicles, who have attacked animals, who have attacked horses, thrown rocks at horses, thrown acid at police – the most disgraceful behaviour – and it appals and disgusts us on this side of the chamber to know that that person is a member of this chamber, because they do not uphold the values of this place.

We have tried to impress upon the Greens our views over time. We have tried. We have tried to call on the government to act. We have tried multiple times, but what will it take? With two years left in this term I am deeply concerned about what the member for Richmond will do over that time, because the escalation of her behaviour is clear. What started as a shutdown of this chamber has resulted in people being hurt today. The escalation is clear, and that is undermining the social cohesion of our community. It cannot stand.

The government must finally act, and again I call on the government to act. We cannot have a member behave in this way. No good Victorian would accept the behaviour of that member, and enough is enough. On behalf of the people who were hurt, on behalf of the good, hardworking Victorian police, we are calling for action now.

Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (16:31): I am very pleased to rise to speak on this matter of public importance raised by the wonderful member for Mordialloc, but before I do go any further with that I do feel the need to address the previous contribution from the member for Brighton. While I certainly share many of his opinions about some of the action and certainly the destruction that is caused by the member for Richmond, I understand that the process of this house is that the Speaker is in charge of this house and of the members. I felt personally that there was disrespect shown to the Speaker, who has taken actions where the standing orders allow each and every time. To suggest that this is an issue for government –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, I would ask you to ask the member not to impugn me. On every occasion I have professionally worked with the Speaker, but on this occasion I have attempted to work with the government, who have declined to do so.

The SPEAKER: These are matters for the house.

Michaela SETTLE: As I said, I have every respect for the endeavours that the Speaker has made to maintain an orderly house. I thank you for that work.

I would like to address this matter of public importance that has been raised by the member for Mordialloc:

That this house recognises Victoria as a place of diversity where community is strong and equality and inclusion are not negotiable.

I thank him also for his contribution, which was a very detailed look at social cohesion and the support that many of our more vulnerable communities have had from both this side of the house and, perhaps less so, from the other. I did, as always, enjoy his contribution.

When we talk about diversity, of course the word itself is very diverse. When we talk about diversity we can be acknowledging and celebrating the full spectrum of human experience, whether that is multiculturalism, gender, sexuality, identity or ability. It is about ensuring that everyone, regardless of where they come from or who they love, has the right to live their life with dignity, respect and opportunity. These values and strongly held by people on this side of the house, and this government has shown again and again our support for many of the more vulnerable in our communities across the entire spectrum, whether it be diversity of sexuality, gender or ethnicity.

We have always been a really proud home in fostering multiculturalism, and I know I and the member for Wendouree are very proud that Ballarat, through the goldfields, was really where multiculturalism in this country was born. We continue to acknowledge the contribution of those many cultures from that period during the gold rush with things like the Chinese monument celebrating our Chinese workers.

We are very rich for the diversity of languages, cultures and traditions that shape our communities, but we also equally champion the rights of people to love and express themselves freely regardless of gender or sexuality.

Just recently I had the absolute privilege of attending, again with my colleague and friend the member for Wendouree, the 2024 Ganesh festival. It was really a beautiful, beautiful celebration. I have to give a nod to my colleague the member for Wendouree, whose support of multiculturalism goes a little further than mine in her ability to carry off a sari. I do not think I could do it, but the member for Wendouree did it and did it very well. It was a truly lovely event, and I do of course at this point want to acknowledge that the wonderful member for Ripon was unable to attend that event but was with us in heart and spirit. She has worked so hard for the BHTCC, the Ballarat Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre. She has worked very hard to get a temple for them, and this government invested $900,000 to assist with that.

I also had the privilege of attending the Nepalese Teej festival in Ballarat. The Teej festival is a particularly lovely festival because it is really about celebrating and empowering women in the Nepalese community. It is one of the most wonderful events. If I am completely honest, it is chaos, but it is absolutely joyous chaos as families and children celebrate the women in their culture.

It is important to understand that communities in my area are changing at a very rapid rate. I know, for example, in Ballarat we have a very, very fast-growing Indian community. It is beholden on us as local members to make sure that those communities are incredibly welcome in Ballarat, and we do that as best we can by supporting things like those festivals.

Of course Bacchus Marsh, which I also represent, has had extraordinary growth in its multicultural communities in the past five years, with an 80 per cent increase. There is a very newly formed organisation there called UNITE Foundation Inc. They are just doing extraordinary work in trying to create language schools and so forth in Bacchus Marsh, and I was really pleased and proud to be able to support them in their endeavour to have a language school at the West Maddingley community hub. I would also like to give a shout-out to the Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council, which is a wonderful organisation in our area that does amazing work in terms of engaging new communities as they move to Ballarat.

But of course, as I said, diversity is not just about where we come from, it is also about advocating for equality, and I want to take a moment to speak about the importance of gender and sexual equality in Victoria. Before I entered this Parliament I had the incredible opportunity in the 1980s to work for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which is a festival that stands as a powerful symbol of LGBTIQ+ pride and resilience. It was that experience that really shaped my understanding of the importance of standing up for the rights of all individuals. I did say in my inaugural speech, and I stand by it in many ways, that that experience was what drove me to seek a life in politics, because I wanted to stand up for people. There was really only one party that I could see that would represent that value, and I have been a very proud member of the Labor Party for a good 20 years.

The government of course has done some extraordinary work, and we are very proud of our two openly out ministers, of course our wonderful Minister Dimopoulos in this place and Minister Shing in the other. We are very proud of them. We are not just proud that they are out, we are proud of the extraordinary work that they have done to support the LGBTIQ community in this state. Minister Shing’s leadership and advocacy have been absolutely crucial, and like the member for Mordialloc, I salute our previous Premier. He made it so clear that he would stand by the transgender people in our community, and of course our current Premier continues that great work with the support that we do.

The matter of public importance is about a recognition of the diversity of this wonderful state. This government has done so much in this space. I am incredibly proud of the record in LGBTQI+ rights but also in our absolute support for our multicultural communities. I think the Premier’s extraordinary multicultural event in Geelong speaks to that commitment and support, but for me it also speaks to the Premier’s understanding and this government’s understanding of regional communities. I know that the member for Geelong was incredibly proud to have that event in her electorate and have the Premier there to support the multicultural people in the regions. It was just a fantastic event.

This matter of public importance is celebrating this government’s work to support diversity, inclusion and equality in communities. There is only one side of the house that has worked so tirelessly. I think our record stands for itself.

David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (16:41): I rise to speak on the matter of public importance (MPI) that Victoria is a place of diversity where the community is strong and equality and inclusion are not negotiable. I say at the outset that as a proud Jew I think that this is something that I and just about every member of the Jewish community have stood for. Whenever there is somebody that has not been accepted, whenever somebody has been targeted, it has been our community that has stood up and called it out. Absolutely that is what we do. We stand up and call it out. I am very, very proud to call that out –

Michaela Settle: African gangs.

David SOUTHWICK: I am very proud to call that out, member for Eureka, and I find that offensive, all right. You have had your turn. On this particular occasion the government are hypocrites. It is appalling that they again should try to be divisive through this MPI that we have today, because this government does not walk the talk. I can tell you that the very community that I am proud to represent in this house has been abandoned by the government.

The events of 7 October have seen antisemitism absolutely spiralling out of control. There has been an almost 700 per cent increase since 7 October, and what have we seen from the government since 7 ‍October? Nothing, absolutely nothing. On 10November we had people very similar to what we have today hunting Jews in Caulfield; that is what we had on 10 November. We then had a statement from the Islamic Council of Victoria that was put out to say that the Jews burnt down the Burgertory store. Where did that go? Was that called out? Was the Islamic council counselled for that? No. The Islamic council still gets funding from the government, the member that is on the multicultural commission, appointed from the government, has continued to fuel all of this and the government has done nothing. They are hypocrites.

The people today who have been marching, 1200 of these people – if you can call them that; ‘scum’ as the member for Brighton said – who have been out and attacked 24 police officers today are the same people that have been marching each and every week in the city, which the government have allowed. Each and every week these same people have marched down the streets with zero consequences. So is it any wonder that we have this rabble turn up and assault police officers today? Is it any wonder? And on a day when these people are assaulted, these imbecile members of Parliament, the Labor Party, stand up here and say, ‘We are the inclusive lot, we are the ones that support social cohesion.’ You all should be ashamed of yourselves.

Tim Richardson interjected.

David SOUTHWICK: Member for Mordialloc, you should be ashamed of yourself. Where have you stood up and called out antisemitism and hate? Where have you called it out? Nothing. You are a disgrace. You are all a disgrace.

Tim Richardson: On a point of order, Speaker, I can see that the member for Caulfield is wound up, but I literally have the federal Attorney-General in my electorate. What a disgraceful comment and reflection.

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

Tim Richardson: I take offence at being called the language that the member for Caulfield just said. I ask him to withdraw such offensive language. This MPI is about inclusion. It is unparliamentary, the notion that we are stoking antisemitism. Is that what he said?

The SPEAKER: Member for Caulfield, did you impugn the member for Mordialloc?

David SOUTHWICK: No, I did not impugn the member. I am happy to repeat and ask when the member for Mordialloc has called out the antisemitism that we have had, and if he has called it out, I am more than happy to hear it.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I ask you both to calm down. You are correct, member for Mordialloc. This is meant to be an MPI on inclusion and equality, and I ask you to be respectful of each other’s opinions.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Member for Caulfield, I ask you to make your contribution through the Chair. And cease interjecting, member for Mordialloc.

David SOUTHWICK: I will say again that since the events of 7 October, despite numerous calls from the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, from Zionism Victoria and from a number of peak bodies calling for action, calling for consequences, calling for laws, we have seen zero from this government. We had the racial and religious tolerance laws that were promised by this government back in 2020. In 2021, 34 of 36 recommendations were approved by this government. Included was a change to recommendation 1, which was not just about hate; it was about race, it was about gender, it was about sexual orientation – a whole range of things were a part of these recommendations. We are still waiting for any of those laws to protect those that are vulnerable. We have not seen them. They are sitting on the Attorney-General’s desk. It is little wonder, again, that we are three years late for a strengthening of our hate laws.

I am worked up because my community and I feel unsafe in Victoria. It is all very well to go and pat yourself on the back –

Steve McGhie interjected.

David SOUTHWICK: Rubbish? When the member for Melton says it is ‘complete rubbish’ that the Jewish community does not feel safe, I think it is something that all members of the public and my community – and I will be repeating that for my members of the community because –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Member for Melton! Order! Members who are not in their place will not interject.

David SOUTHWICK: This is appalling. The member for Melton is absolutely appalling. When you have had on 10 November a vehicle with five occupants stop outside Yeshivah College in St Kilda East – the vehicle appeared to intentionally have come to St Kilda East to target Jews – and an occupant of the vehicle proceed to yell to an identifiably Jewish child, ‘Free Palestine. Eff the Jews. Eff your country. Everybody hates Jews. We have tonnes of gas,’ before the car sped off, do you think, member for Melton, Jews feel safe? Do you think so? You are a disgrace, member for Melton. The member for Melton is a disgrace. The member for Melton’s comments are a disgrace, because I can tell you that is one of hundreds of situations where the community have been targeted, with zero consequences. There was a boy only last week at Caulfield station. Eight young people went and targeted this boy because he was visibly Jewish and punched him in the face – a teenager of 15 – last weekend. There was another incident on a football ground for AJAX juniors. Again the kinds of words that I will not describe here were said – again, very similar to what I just read out. There was an incident on a website about a Jewish day school – I will not mention the Jewish day school – from Free Palestine Printing. You can look that up. There were a whole range of things about that school educating ‘baby-killers’, and that was followed with a comment saying ‘Bomb the school’.

So if we are talking about incitement and hate, we cannot be having a government that put a matter of public importance up here, trying to pat themselves on the back and say they are a good and the opposition are bad, because that is why we have division. That is why we have what we have – because the Victorian government, the Allan Labor government, has done nothing to fix this.

Steve McGhie interjected.

David SOUTHWICK: The member for Melton can say that is untrue, but that is what my community is saying.

Iwan Walters interjected.

David SOUTHWICK: The member for Greenvale is saying it is untrue, again, that the Jewish community do not feel safe. I would love to have the member for Greenvale and the member for Melton come and visit the Holocaust centre, come and meet a number of the Jewish community and see how they are feeling at the moment, because there is no social cohesion here in this state of Victoria. There have been no consequences for the behaviour we have seen, and I again feel very sorry for the members of Victoria Police that are doing an upstanding job in a horrible situation to deal with these thugs that we have seen today. But this did not happen today; this has been brewing for 12 ‍months. We are just about to approach the 7 October 12-month anniversary, and what we see here today is the result of inaction.

Iwan WALTERS (Greenvale) (16:51): If I can be very clear at the outset, my interjection during the member for Caulfield’s speech was not in relation to any suggestion around his experience or the experience of the Jewish community; it was in regard to his suggestion that the Victorian government has done nothing to ensure and promote social cohesion and social inclusion across our state at the moment. I want to talk about those dimensions, because they are critically important. We are a subnational jurisdiction, in which our community is a multicultural community, a multiethnic community and a multifaith community. People in my electorate as well as in the member for Caulfield’s electorate are hurting acutely, and I completely understand –

David Southwick interjected.

Iwan WALTERS: Member for Caulfield, I understand the emotion that informs this debate, but I also think that you throwing around terms like ‘vermin’, like ‘scum’ and like ‘disgrace’, which we have heard, and suggesting that those on this side of the house are promoting antisemitism is an unreasonable assertion. Any instance of antisemitism is abhorrent. The behaviour that we have seen across too many parts of Melbourne is abhorrent. The trauma that is experienced by disparate parts of our community is deeply concerning to all of us. I think when we use terms like ‘scum’ and like ‘disgrace’, whether it is in relation to the member for Richmond or to anybody else – and I think it is worth remembering the member for Richmond was elected to be in this place by the electors of Richmond and was put here solely and exclusively by the preferences of those opposite –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Brighton! Member for Eureka! Member for Narre Warren North! The member for Greenvale, without assistance from the house. I ask members to be respectful of the member on their feet.

Iwan WALTERS: I was hoping to say it was a pleasure to rise to speak on the matter of public importance (MPI), because at its core it is not a tool of division, it is not a tool of disharmony. As the member for Eureka said, it is a very simple concept, that we are all humans with inalienable rights. We all deserve to live in happiness and to thrive irrespective of our gender, our sex, our sexuality, our ethnicity or our faith. I represent a community with a profound array of faiths, of ethnic backgrounds and of cultural traditions – people who have come to Australia in many instances because they were not able to freely practise those in their homelands, people who have experienced the kinds of oppression, the kinds of tyranny and indeed the targeted killings that other communities have as well.

What makes our country special and has done, I think particularly in the years since the war, is the capacity of communities to live in harmony side by side, often indeed communities who in their original homelands experienced internecine conflict and intercommunal violence, which has not been a characteristic of our community.

It is important that we work together, as a subnational jurisdiction without the direct capacity to inform and influence conflicts abroad, to sustain cohesion. I do not use these terms lightly. It is a really complex, challenging, difficult scenario that we exist in, and instances of violence and aggression targeting any group, including the Jewish community, are abhorrent. I think we all share that perspective. Certainly those of us in the chamber at the moment share that perspective. I think we need to recall the need to focus on the common humanity that we have. I think that the values of diversity, equality and inclusion, which are encapsulated in the MPI, are and should be the cornerstone of any liberal democracy, but I think they especially should be so in one with such extraordinary multicultural, multifaith, multiethnic and multilingual diversity as Victoria. But it does not happen by accident. Liberal democracies are in a sense by their very nature vulnerable. The freedoms that we espouse and that we believe in are themselves vulnerable to exploitation by those who do not play by the rules, by those who seek to divide and by those who seek to weaponise conflicts abroad and to use that to fuel hatred in our state and in our city.

James Newbury interjected.

Iwan WALTERS: Member for Brighton, please. I listened to your contribution; this is my time to contribute. Those who import and seek to stoke hatred on our streets I find unconscionable. We have seen too much of it across the state recently. Indeed, whether it is neo-Nazis marching out the front of this place – and I am not going to make any comment on what is happening next week – there are those dimensions of society which we have seen, which is why the government has legislated against that, legislated against the Hakenkreuz. It is to ensure that those signals of hatred – and I know the criminal legislative amendment that is up tomorrow will do something similar – and to ensure that those signs of intimidation and fear which can be used to silence people are not legitimate tools of expression. But it is a constant tension in a liberal democracy to ensure that we are preserving freedoms of people to associate, to gather and to express themselves while simultaneously protecting community freedoms. It is a really tough balance. Other countries have had liberal democracies; the Weimar Republic was a liberal democracy, if flawed, and it was exploited and weaponised, and we know the history. The member for Caulfield knows well the history, and the member for Box Hill knows well the history. So it is so important that we do not seek to weaponise historical disputes and enmities, and that goes for those across the house, but particularly perhaps those Greens members.

But as I say, that kind of harmony and inclusion matters, and it matters particularly in my community, where the vast majority of people were either born overseas or have parents who were born overseas and where more than 80 per cent of people express a faith – and very different faiths. It is a profoundly diverse, multifaith community in which people live in harmony side by side in a way that they do not take for granted, because they have seen what can happen in other parts of the world where that does not occur. That is why it matters that our government supports those communities. It is why it matters that the government has taken steps to ensure that diversity and that inclusion, whether it is through $102 million into initiatives that have supported our multicultural communities in the most recent budget or $9 million for community language schools or, sadly but necessarily, $6 million for security upgrades at faith-based schools. I have seen firsthand the impact that the $6.2 million for multicultural story time has had, bringing people and families from the Assyrian, Chaldean and Arabic-speaking communities together in the same room, where they see their children learning to read and play together. These things are deliberate steps that help to build harmony and intercultural, interfaith dialogue.

In my contribution today what I actually wanted to focus on was a slightly different thread of diversity and inclusion. It was in the context of my role as Parliamentary Secretary for Disability that I had the privilege of meeting with Victorians with disability across our state, with their families, with their loved ones and with advocacy groups who consistently expressed the importance of our government’s initiatives to support genuine inclusion of Victorians with a disability to ensure that they can lead fulfilling lives that enable them to thrive in the way that they do. Glib interjections from those opposite that belittle families and those with a disability, I think, are unbecoming.

A member interjected.

Iwan WALTERS: You may well take offence, but it is the truth of what you just said.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, the member is impugning the members of the opposition untruthfully, and I would ask you to bring the member back to the matter before the house.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Brighton, the statement was made to a collection. As the member for Brighton knows, that is not impugning. It is a matter for debate.

Iwan WALTERS: In returning to that theme of ensuring that people with a disability are supported to live fulfilling lives, that is what matters, and it is what makes a difference in communities. It is a core responsibility of state governments, perhaps increasingly so in the context of NDIS reforms, to ensure that irrespective of whether a Victorian is a participant in the NDIS or not they are supported to live fulfilling and full lives that are focused on the ability and not the disability. I saw that when I was a teacher in our schools, where I saw the importance of ensuring that a young person, irrespective of their sexuality or their gender, is supported to be the person they are and is cherished and loved and has a life that matters to them.

Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (17:01): You will be happy to know that I have taken a different perspective on this matter of public importance. I thank the member for Mordialloc for raising that this house recognises Victoria as a place of diversity where community is strong and equality and inclusion are not negotiable. It gives me a chance to explore the 37,500 square kilometres of the Mildura electorate and exactly how diverse it is, how much it contributes to the state’s economy and how little we are included in the budget every year.

Let us perhaps start in the south. I did bring the map in, but, you know, no props. The Buloke shire includes places like Sea Lake, Birchip, Donald and Charlton. The population of that entire local government area is just over 6000 people according to the last census. Their economic output yearly is $950 million.

Tim McCurdy: How much?

Jade BENHAM: $950 million – not bad, just shy of a bill. Donald is the home of Kooka’s Country Cookies. You might be familiar with Kooka’s cookies.

A member interjected.

Jade BENHAM: Yes, they are delicious. Because they are such big pulse producers – peas, the home of Peaco – they are also the home of Australian Eatwell, which produce the veggie burgers for Hungry Jack’s, for Nando’s and for many others. They have expanded their industrial estate for places like Australian Eatwell, but what they have not got is investment into their industrial estate and the infrastructure, particularly the water and waste management. They would love to be included in infrastructure planning in Donald. There are other places like Charlton of course; it is a very vast area.

Birchip is the home of Ray Neville, the youngest ever jockey to win a Melbourne Cup. They would love to put a portrait of Ray Neville on their silo. Everyone around them has got painted silos, but Birchip goes without, although they are the home of, in my opinion, Australia’s best vanilla slice – snot block ‍– and certainly the best bee stings. If you are ever there, and I suggest you go, they have the best bee stings. But they are also the home of the Birchip Cropping Group, who have contributed an enormous amount not only in terms of this state’s economy but to how the practice of broadacre farming has progressed over the last 10 to 20 years. Farmers can now sow on a calendar date; they do not have to wait for rain events and things like that – all sorts of things. They are forever running trials. I had the pleasure of introducing some of the board members to the Minister for Agriculture a few weeks ago. All they want is $6 million to help BCG expand with their Nexus project or their agritourism platform. They have had this shovel-ready project ready to go for years. It is only $6 million. That is only 6 hours of interest repayments.

That is what we need. Some equity in Birchip would be fantastic, and the painted silo of Ray Neville would be just a bonus. Sea Lake was the home of the Mallee Rally and the home of Lake Tyrrell of course, which disappeared a little while ago. Honestly, it would be great to have the Mallee Rally back, but we would just like to have some answers on why there has been no progress over the last five years. That is all we want there. No money in that – just some clarity would be terrific. Hopetoun – their netball club needs new lights. Patchewollock needs the wild dog program back, because at the moment, with the non-protection orders lifted, they are losing sheep in critical numbers – and it is getting worse because these packs of dogs know now that no-one is going to stop them. Who is going to pay for that? They want a bit of equity and to be included in the wild dog program, because it is needed. Let us talk about –

Members interjecting.

Jade BENHAM: Sea Lake always gets a mention, because you know I love Sea Lake, member for Preston. I want to bring the Mallee Rally back.

Let us talk about Robinvale, heading north. Robinvale is my home town, and it is also the most diverse community. It is a very small community. If you believe the census, then the population is about 3500; if you believe the council that did a population study in 2019, it is closer to 8000. However, in that town of 3500 there are around 40 languages spoken and there are 61 ancestries. 7.9 per cent of the population of Robinvale identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. That is a huge percentage. The languages spoken, in this order, are English, Tongan, Vietnamese, Malay, Mandarin, Italian – because Nonno is not teaching us to speak our mother tongue anymore, unfortunately, but they are teaching us to make a very good salami – Thai, Greek and Fijian.

The lantern festival – this is how inclusive and diverse Robinvale is; there are cultural festivals on all the time. This Friday night is the lantern festival, which is a culmination of what might be held in South-East Asian countries as the harvest festival. Rather than having different ones for each culture, they have put it all together. It is a beautiful melting pot of cultures put all together in one lantern festival in September on Friday, and the food is amazing.

Let us talk about the Mildura LGA, which has a population of around about 57,500 and an economic output of $8.157 billion per year – and it is going up. We are the largest contributor to this country’s economy but have no passenger rail. We are the only regional city in the country with no passenger rail. We want to be included in the public transport strategies that this state comes up with. That would be great, because there is not even any public transport to and from Mildura Airport and a lot of the time flying is the only way to get to and from Melbourne, particularly if you have to travel for medical and health reasons. There is no train, and no-one wants to sit on a bus, regardless of how cheap it is, for 14½ hours. So what we would like to be included in is talk around the future of rail, both passenger and freight, because that Murray Basin rail and the Maryborough freight corridor certainly have not been a success, have they?

We also need a new hospital. The Mildura Base Public Hospital was built 20 years ago. The capacity remains that of 20 years ago. We would like to be included in health planning. We need 30 new ED beds as a matter of urgency to help relieve the ambulance ramping that occurs there on a weekly basis. The CEO came out during the week in the paper saying that capacity is where it was 20 years ago, and he is absolutely right. We need a new hospital. We need to be included in these conversations.

You can see by the few examples that I have given of the diverse communities around just my part of the state, which is a little less than 20 per cent – so the member for Lowan tells me – that it is incredibly inclusive. On any given night of the week I can go and have a haircut from a lady from the UK, I can have a massage with someone from Thailand or China, I can have a gyros from a Greek family or fish and chips and I can buy a bottle of scotch from a Scottish bloke, and that is not even a joke. I can buy spuds from the Irish bloke next door; that is not a joke either. I can have a salami that Italian families like us have hand-made.

When we talk about inclusion, there is a quarter of Victoria’s population living in rural and regional Victoria. When we talk about inclusion, let us talk about including the regions. Let us not talk about including the regions when we talk about Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong, because those of us that are out beyond the freeways think that is a joke. That is outer suburbia; it is not regional and rural Victoria. We want to be included. It is as simple as that. I have given you the figures that contribute to not only this state’s economy but contribute to your plate, to my plate. We want our fair share. We want 25 per cent of infrastructure spend. We want to be part of future planning, because again – and I say this often ‍– without us in the great north-west of this state we would all be naked, hungry and sober. If we want to talk about strong, inclusive communities, let us talk about regional Victoria and let us include them at the table.

Paul EDBROOKE (Frankston) (17:11): It is indeed a great opportunity to get up today and speak about equality and diversity in this great state of Victoria, which of course I think everyone, even across the chamber, even though we might have a little bark at each other occasionally –

Members interjecting.

Paul EDBROOKE: that is a good bark face, that one – agrees is not negotiable. Part of the huge strength of this state and this country is our multiculturalism and the way we embrace diversity and the way we respect each other.

I think it is fair to say it is a pretty difficult time in politics. It is a really fragile time for politics in Australia. If you look at the polling, I think most people who read it correctly will see that people are identifying less with mainstream political parties; instead they are identifying with fringe elements that offer them other things. Both parties are losing votes to people because they do not like what they see. They do not feel like they are part of democracy. They do not feel like their issues are being talked about. They do not feel like they are part of the conversation, and they do not identify with the institutions of democracy. There will be more and more focus groups and polling that come out to reflect that.

We talk about inclusivity, but I would say this shift is not so much about inclusivity as it is about excluding people. What I have just witnessed in this house is part of that. We witnessed some people make some fairly disgraceful statements alluding to members of this house from major parties inciting hate and stoking division. I must admit I sat here just shaking my head at how quickly those comments came out and how little thought was behind those comments to other people in this house basically telling people that they are racists. Let us not stuff around: some of the language that was used was pretty close to that. I sat here shaking my head. This is the reason that people turn away from major parties, because that trigger throws respect out the window, and any kind of reasoning as to why we are here goes out the window so quickly. It becomes toe for toe, red versus blue. That is forcing people to look at the guy in the yellow T-shirt from the UAP or someone else that says, ‘Hey, I will stand up for you. I will talk about the issues that you want me to talk about. I won’t just be in politics to have a crack at the other side.’

I would really love to see in this house more politicians, even across Australia, take on the principle of ‘Do no harm’, so do no harm in this house. We see that in the medical field. We see it in the environmental field. We see the United Nations have a mandate for that as well. All it would take would be for people to have a good, hard think about what they are going to say, and it might save some people from looking like absolute idiots as well, I would suggest. Just have a good, hard think about what you are going to say and the repercussions of that statement in this house and how it echoes in your community as well.

We have heard from the member of Mordialloc, who was very factual in his statement I believe about the African gangs saga. That was something that really touched a blossoming multicultural community in Frankston. We do not have the multicultural community that some other communities here have – Tarneit, Dandenong et cetera – but we do have a small community of people that are making Frankston their home, and they are doing very well. They are blossoming indeed. To have people come into my office with their kids in tow in tears and say, ‘We have been here in Australia five years, and now I’m not sure whether my child should walk to school alone, because if they walk to school alone they’re a target, but if they walk with their brother and sister they’re an African gang.’ And those words had meaning that came directly from this house.

If people before they spoke those words had a bit of a think about that no-harm principle, we might be in a different place now. People in those communities and indeed other communities might be more engaged with our political process and feel like they are part of democracy instead of just being spoken about. And this is not new. John Stuart Mill articulated the principle in the 1859 essay On Liberty, where he argued that:

The only purpose for which power can be rightly exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.

We saw it in France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789, and I think it found some expression earlier in Thomas Jefferson’s 1785 Notes on the State of Virginia, query 17, ‘Religion’, in which he writes:

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.

Of course he is talking about government. Government consists of leaders. This house consists of leaders, and I would like to think that everyone in their own right in this house can be a leader if they are not already. And leadership means that, especially if you are the leader of a party, you must stand up to certain elements in your party that are threatening what we all love about our community.

Although you will never really hear me speak about the former opposition leader Mr Guy, the member for Bulleen, in glowing terms, because he is the opposition, I do respect that in the 2022 campaign, when it was reported that someone in his party was in opposition to gay and trans reproductive rights ‍– and that included support for illegal conversion therapy, I might say – the member for Bulleen, the opposition leader at the time, said:

I’m not in any way going to have the Liberal party in any way going to be supportive or tacitly supporting any type of practices that should [be] and are illegal in this state.

And he kicked that member out of that party room. Contrast that with the leadership we are seeing today, and I think the leadership has deteriorated rapidly. We have a member that was in that party room that used her inaugural speech to slam left-wing school curriculums and the decriminalisation of sex work, take aim at the state government’s approach to gender-diverse young people and criticise recent changes to the Victorian law to outlaw gay conversion therapy and allow gender transition in children. And this is real leadership – the opposition leader said, ‘I can’t babysit every MP.’ Is that the leadership that people in our community are looking for? Is there any reason to suggest that we would offer something to people that are looking for something else, to pull them back from those UAP people?

We have heard a member talk about the treaty process, and I have spoken to many First Nations people and many Aboriginal people in my electorate who are just dumbfounded that those opposite have walked back on their support of treaty. Again, it is something that I think lends itself to what I have been speaking about. They do not think a major party can actually be the party that represents them anymore. But I also wonder, sitting here: with that kind of leadership, if there was a chance for that opposition leader to be Premier, what would they walk back next?

Would it be voluntary assisted dying? Would it be women’s health service exclusion zones? Would it be banning conversion therapy and making it illegal? Would it be women’s health rights, the Safe Schools program, climate change documents? I am not here to have a discussion about human rights. But to me all those policies and all those laws are human rights, and we are supporting those human rights with our laws here in Victoria.

I lead it back to the principle of ‘Do no harm’. There are things that are said in this house at times. There are things that I think are said in the heat of the moment that might make sense in the moment, and it might be, ‘Yes, I’ve thrown a great hand grenade over there for them to deal with. I’ve thrown a great spear, I’m a political operator.’ Great. But what people outside this chamber see is language that stokes fear and stokes division, and people having a go at each other. I am sure even people in the gallery at times see us. They think they are coming in to see a high-level policy discussion to make their community better, and instead they see people like the poor member for Mordialloc, who was basically just put in a position that none of us want to be in, being accused of things that are just unsightly and have no basis in evidence at all. He was right to ask for that withdrawal, and I would be offended if I were him too. Really I think we should have a look at that principle of ‘Do no harm’, because this is a state where equality is not negotiable.

Cindy McLEISH (Eildon) (17:21): I rise to make a contribution to the matter of public importance today. It is interesting listening to the big game that is often talked up by the Labor Party and the lack of substance that actually follows. There are a number of examples that one can continue to bring where they fail in these areas. Of course I am a big believer in strong communities. I am a huge believer in equality and inclusion and diversity. These have many arms; they are not very narrow, as the Labor Party likes to try and typecast, for example.

We heard the member for Mildura talk about what happens in regional Victoria and equality, and the distribution of funding that goes to regional Victoria is very unequal. People in the country consistently feel forgotten about and left behind. This is part of equality – having the opportunities that are available to those in the city. It might not be a train on every doorstep. Of course it is not going to be like that, and of course when people live in the country there are certain things that they expect. But they would like good standards of education. They would like quality classrooms and school buildings that are not neglected. They would like CFA stations that are fit for purpose now. We see all of this money that has been directed to city-based integrated stations and city-based fire services, and all the time those in the country get left. And whereabouts are the risks? The big risks of fires, bushfires and a lot of the weather events that have happened are in the country, and if we do not have equipment that is fit for purpose, similar to what they have in Melbourne, well, that is not equal at all. I have so many emergency services who wish they had the same sorts of services, the training and the support that those in the city have.

I want to talk a little bit about diversity, because we think of diversity sometimes in quite narrow terms. We think of it as maybe the multiculturalism of our society. Sometimes if we are looking at the make-up of various committees, we might think, ‘Well, we need diversity on that. Let’s make sure we have an equal number of males and females.’ Fine, that might be equality. We might be looking at backgrounds and where they came from, culture and country of birth. We might be looking at that. But I think what we often forget is that there is diversity of thought and diversity of opinion. Too often I think this is lacking with government appointments – much too often. I look at the number of the ex-MPs that have found themselves in very lucrative board positions for who they are, not for their diversity of thought. Their thought is that they have to have the same view as the government.

As the chair of a board, that is not diverse. They should be having their own opinions and bringing their own backgrounds and experiences, not those of an ex-MP. Equally, the number of Labor Party members that are appointed to boards and to senior spots in the public sector – again, that is not diversity.

I draw your attention to one of the most recent appointments to the board of Tourism North East, and I see the former member for Keysborough Martin Pakula has been appointed to Tourism North East. You have got to ask about somebody living and working in the city all of those years – he might have just bought a little property now in the country; I hope he does not think he is going to put it out for short-stays, because he will be slugged land tax and he will be slugged another tax as well – and bringing in someone like that. I am trying to think: what is the diversity he offers to Tourism North East? Is it the fact that he can bring a city perspective and then see all of the things that are missing in the country? I do not think that is diversity at all. I think the government fail in this because they consistently make appointments of like-minded people like themselves, and that is certainly not diversity.

I want to talk about inclusion. One of the best examples of inclusion is the town of Mansfield. I have often said that if you have a disability, you should live in Mansfield, because they are the most inclusive society and the most inclusive community that you could have. There are those in the town that have disabilities, and everybody else knows who they are. They let them get on with their business, but they have all got eyes in the backs of their heads watching to make sure that they are safe and watching to make sure that everything is going really well for those people – and it is. It is so safe for those people with disabilities to be out and about walking around and getting on with their business but knowing that there are always people there that have got their back.

Not only that, they have the musical and dramatic society, and they include adults and children. They have the most wonderful productions. They will have kids who are homeschooled, they might have kids from the Steiner school or from the local primary or secondary schools and they will have people with disabilities involved in there, and they work to make sure that everybody feels comfortable. There was an incident with Lyfe of Bryan, which was put to music by a local doctor. Will Twycross wrote that, and it was marvellous. One of the statues that they used – I think it was of Jesus actually – had a big red flashing light. Somebody was a little bit offended by that, and they thought, ‘We still need this statue,’ so they changed it to green so it was less offensive and less confronting to this person, because they wanted to make sure that everyone is included.

I look to the people of Mansfield time and time again and just admire them so much because of how they bring everybody on board. We have also got the Rural Australians for Refugees, and we have an Afghani family who is there. Halima is the most wonderful person. She has been embraced by the community, and she has equally embraced the community, because they are such a sensitive, caring and inclusive community.

One of the other big games that the Labor Party talk up is about women and equality of women. But really there is lot of hypocrisy here, because it is real lip-service, and it extends to women, women’s health and their future. This government is one of neglect and broken promises. Let us have a look at the 2024 Department of Health review, which reveals that half of all Victorian mothers miss vital screenings for postnatal depression. That is a big concern. One in two women are left vulnerable during the most critical times of their lives simply because Labor has neglected to ensure that these services are available to all mothers. That is not good enough. Mental health struggles – we hear a lot about that. It is one of the most common complications during pregnancy and after birth, yet under Labor these screenings are inconsistent at best, leaving women and their families to suffer in silence. They talk a big game; they are letting the women down. Despite guidelines recommending that women should be screened for postnatal depression, both during pregnancy and postpartum, the review found that services are patchy, under-resourced and lacking the training and capacity to provide this care.

The failures do not stop there. In their recent budget Labor slashed funding to key programs that support women: $79 million cut from early childhood sector supports, $141 million from child protection and $42 million from much-hyped public IVF services. This is at a time when the health system is in crisis. Women’s safety and wellbeing should be paramount, but the government have turned their back on them. As I said, they like to talk the big game, but when you look at the detail, people are being let down. This is not inclusion; this is failing women and their very real struggles. Their cuts directly affect women’s health and reveal their hypocrisy.

A recent KPMG report showed that in the years approaching retirement age the superannuation gender gap can be anywhere between 22 and 35 per cent. The median superannuation balance for men aged 60 to 64 is $204,000, whereas for women in the same age group it is $146,900. This is a gap of 28 per cent. There is a lot of work to do in these areas. For the preretirement age of 55 to 59, the gender gap is 33 per cent, and in the peak earning years of 45 to 49 the gender gap is 35 per cent. There are a number of sole traders, and when things get really tough, like they are at the moment, sole traders who are women decide that they do not contribute to their own superannuation. When things get tough, the women, more so than the men, stop contributing to their own superannuation.

We know we have a cost-of-living crisis here, and a lot of the government’s policies are failing women. It is not the equality that the government like to talk about. There is still a lot of work to bring women up onto the same platform as men.

Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (17:31): This has been a wideranging debate for sure. I do want to assert, and it is a point that has been made rightly, that equality is not negotiable in Victoria. As a government we have a proud history of standing with our diverse LGBTQI+ communities. I have a couple of key points, and then I am going to dive into this concept that is being bandied about as a result of some comments just made on the issue of equality.

We were the first state to establish an equality portfolio in 2014, recognising the importance of having a ministry that oversees this portfolio – and I will unpack that – followed by the appointment of the first commissioner for LGBTIQA+ communities in 2015. There is a lot more to be discussed in this space on that matter, but I did feel we were having a bit of a flat-earth moment when there were attempts to conflate comparisons between electorates in the city and regional areas and the portfolio of equality and what that means for LGBTQIA+ communities. I think that is a very dangerous trajectory to run, and the reason is it risks diminishing the significance of the incredible reforms that have been fought for by the LGBTIQ+ community over multiple generations to get to the point where, for instance, they are no longer in prison simply because of being in an LGBTIQA+ relationship. To diminish the significance of that by saying in the regions we do not get as much as the city and that is not equality, I think is insulting to the premise which underpins the ministry that was established back in 2014 and suggests almost blind ignorance to the value of this particular ministry.

We can all unpack and look at semantics and try to, in very clever and otherwise ways, interpret what equality could or otherwise mean, but I think we all are very much aware, particularly in the context of Parliament, what equality actually means. When we say equality is not negotiable, we are referring to the way in which we treat all people in our community but specifically to not discriminate against the LGBTQIA+ community. That is why I was almost offended by that. I was thinking, ‘What are you doing? You’ve taken us back to the 1950s and you are repudiating all the hard work that has been done to get to the point where we are now.’ In spite of that, we know that LGBTIQA+ people are more likely to encounter violence, discrimination and stigma related to their identities.

This is why it is so important that we actually honour the premise and the ambit, so to speak, and the frame, I should say, which underpins this portfolio. The compounding impact of these experiences over a lifetime often results in – and this is why it is so important that we honour this frame – poorer health and wellbeing outcomes, which have a follow-on impact across whole-of-life outcomes. I am sorry to get on my high horse on this matter, but I was particularly disturbed, because I think – and this was a matter actually referred to by the member for Frankston – that we do have to be prudent in the way we communicate in the chamber because there are vulnerable people in our community who can be detrimentally impacted when we take liberties for the sake of a lofty little debate or tangent in a debate when in fact there are people who can be seriously impacted by the words that we use in this chamber. We know that.

Further to the point that I am seeking to make here, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and intersex phobia are a public health issue. This will affect people, whether they are in city areas or whether they are in regional and rural areas. It is across our state. Using people’s identities and lived experiences as a political football causes real harm, and that is why the narratives are so important, because we are talking about real Victorians who deserve to be respected.

I am going to just go to a particular report. Just last month Coroner Giles handed down her recommendations following the coronial inquest into the trans and gender diverse suicide cluster here in Victoria in 2020–21 when five young trans Victorians tragically passed away. We send our deepest condolences to their families and friends. Let me be clear, and I want to be really, really crystal clear on this point: being trans and gender-diverse is not an inherent vulnerability or risk factor for suicidality; rather, repeated experiences of violence, discrimination and stigma contribute to tragedies such as these. Hence it is even more important for us to be very respectful in this space and not to conflate other concepts that really are not contextually relevant when we as adults in this chamber are discussing the issue of equality. The Victorian government, just as a follow-on, will review the findings and recommendations of the coronial inquest closely and continue working across government, alongside service providers, peak bodies and community organisations, to improve outcomes for trans and gender-diverse communities.

Further to that point, I think on the one hand, just hoping – and no-one is suggesting that that is what we would do; it is quite the opposite – that things will change and that equality will just happen will never actually result in the fair and reasonable outcome that we want to see. Hence our government has taken many specific strategic steps forward – there are many, many steps, which I will get to – in order to facilitate or to drive the best possible outcomes in terms of health, mental health and just being able to be accepted as who you are and just being your authentic self in this great state of Victoria.

While we have made great strides in recent years – I want to also lean to the good outcomes that have resulted from the good efforts of so many across Victoria and in our community towards LGBTIQA+ equality – we do know that stigma and discrimination continue to contribute to LGBTIQA+ Victorians being more likely than others to experience suicidal thoughts and poor mental health. It is absolutely devastating to think about that. I think as an MP the responsibility that I bear and that we bear collectively in this chamber to do anything that we can to actually turn those statistics around and actually shape a much kinder Victoria that is accepting and supportive and nurtures people to be their authentic selves has got to be a fundamental premise from where we start.

Research from La Trobe University in 2020 revealed 73.2 per cent of LGBTIQA+ people have considered suicide, compared to 13.2 per cent of the general Australian population. That is why it is so very important that we actually have targeted strategies that make a difference in this space. It is better for all Victorians, because we are all better off when everyone is treated fairly.

I was very fortunate to be able to attend the launch of the trans and gender-diverse awareness campaign The Unsaid Says A Lot in June 2024, and it coincided with international Pride Month. Watching the imagery that had been put together in order to seek to surmount stigma and discrimination, there was not a dry eye in that room, because immediately what it enabled was for each individual – and I can only speak for my own interpretation – to actually be in that position. I was thinking I want every Victorian to feel like they can be themselves wherever they are in this great state and know that we will always love them and always support them, because that is what they deserve. That is the decent thing to do, and I would like to think as Victorians that is what we expect of each other.

Now, on a final point, I was just going to – I have 30 seconds. Some positives, thinking about where we have got to today: we have banned the cruel and bigoted practice of conversion therapy, achieved adoption equality, delivered inclusive birth certificate reform for trans and gender-diverse Victorians and given a historic apology for gay criminal convictions in the Victorian Parliament. We have come a long way but acknowledge there is still a long way to go, and the only way to do that is together.

Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (17:41): I rise today for the first time to talk on a matter of public importance. I note it was raised by the member for Mordialloc that this house recognises Victoria as a place of diversity where community is strong and equality and inclusion are not negotiable. Well, I can say for the people of the Latrobe Valley, our community is very, very strong. Down in the valley we certainly have not been treated as equals or even included in decisions that this Allan Labor government has made that have forevermore shaped our community. But I am here to tell you, with no uncertainty in my mind, that my community is strong and unrelenting, and we will pivot and change as needed to ensure our way of life that we deserve will continue even as this current Allan Labor government continually tries to knock us down and destroy it.

I say that in the terms of the Allan Labor government shutting the timber industry. When this government pulled the rug out from under our timber towns and our timber industry by banning native harvesting, some 900 direct jobs and countless other indirect jobs were lost to these communities in the Latrobe Valley and also further east up into East Gippsland. There are timber towns that had the rug pulled out from underneath them. There were local providers, contractors in Morwell and Traralgon in the Latrobe Valley, that were driving trucks into these coupes to continue their way of life. They had been, I think in the end, coerced by the government through mistruths about how and when the timber industry would shut. They needed to ramp up and buy machinery, which was worth a lot of money, because they needed to hit targets that the government wanted and also, with WorkSafe practices, to actually spend the money to have this machinery that would go forward and supply jobs for families and generational families to continue that way of life. And then all of a sudden the timber industry was shut down. In East Gippsland, where these timber towns are, they really feel the effect. Not only is it just stopping the logging and shutting down that industry, it sort of flows on to the community with mechanics that service the trucks, people that provide fuel at the petrol stations and supermarkets that are there providing the food for that community.

What did the timber industry get? They were offered the opportunity to go to free TAFE and re-educate themselves. People in these areas do not want to travel down to Sale and Morwell, to where the TAFE services are, and re-educate themselves; they want to stay in the community. It was really disappointing, but the strong communities that we are, we rally around each other.

Another byproduct of that was shutting the white paper industry at Opal, after former Premier Andrews stood up and promised jobs at the Maryvale paper mill would be safe until at least 2050 –

Jade Benham: Until when?

Martin CAMERON: 2050, member for Mildura. He promised that these jobs were safe, that the community was being included in the announcement. Once again, we have lost nearly 300 jobs there in the last two years. In those 900 jobs in the timber industry and 300 jobs in the white paper industry we can sort of see the picture that we are not included and we do not seem to be on an equal footing with our colleagues in inner-city Melbourne where they have this Big Build and they are able to go and work in these jobs. The people in our outer regions, in country and regional Victoria, down in my patch, are feeling the pinch. But as I said, we will pivot, and we will make sure that our strong community will continue.

Then we move on to the forced closure of our power industry. Labor, back in 2017, without much notice at all, decided that they would shut the Hazelwood power station, and nearly 1000 jobs there were lost. Those thousand jobs, where people were transitioning to other areas in the power sector, going to work at other power stations, have been lost in the ensuing years because Yallourn power station is earmarked to close in three years time.

At the 2022 election, where I stood to become a member of this place, Labor’s election promise was the return of the SEC. We even saw the Minister for the State Electricity Commission standing up today banging on once again about how bringing back the SEC is going to bring back 59,000 jobs. At this stage we have one job in Morwell at the GovHub, and that job is not a full-time job – it is a part-time job where they hot-desk. I have been to the GovHub, walked in through the doors, and asked to speak to the person that works for the SEC. Every time I have gone in they are not there. The people, who are great people, that sit on the front desk at the GovHub, relay that very often that person that works for the SEC – one of these 59,000 jobs that the minister for the SEC keeps telling us about – is just not there. Two years after the announcement, that part-time worker, we really find it hard to find them.

Our community have lost 1000 jobs in the power industry, 300 jobs in white paper and 900 jobs in the timber industry, then on the eve of the election it was let go that, ‘Hey, we’re going to be hosting the Commonwealth Games, and it’s going to go to regional Victoria.’ I am not sure whether they did the numbers down in the Latrobe Valley, but the seat of Morwell – I am not sure if it was to give them a bit more of an extra push in there before the election – was going to be one of the hubs for the Commonwealth Games. We were going to have an athletes village that was going to be built, and then after it was used they were going to repurpose that for community housing, which was a great idea, but it was another one of these broken promises that ended up with local motels and sporting clubs being promised so much.

One of the local motels in Morwell had gone out and engaged with the British team and the Irish team to come and actually stay, and the day that the Premier pulled the rug from underneath the Commonwealth Games, which is a common thread in my speech, they were just about to sign on the dotted line and get these teams to come out. So it was very disappointing that that happened, and at the end of everything we as a collective in Victoria have now paid $600 million as a get-out payment. It just seems so unfair that we are losing jobs down in the Latrobe Valley. But as I keep saying, it is great that my community is so strong and we can work through all of this. I am not sure you would want to be a Labor or a Green candidate in the election coming up in 2026, with everything that has gone on, devastating the power industry and waiting – where are these projects for renewables to come up? They have taken away so much and promised so much, but nothing is there on the ground. So I am not sure how the Labor and Greens candidates will be received down there in the 2026 election.

We in the Latrobe Valley are definitely a place of diversity where community is strong and equality and inclusion are not negotiable. We can see through the mistruths, and we can see the damage that this Allan Labor government has caused. The cost of living, health and housing are at the forefront. Our strong message from the valley will be to vote you out come 2026.

Daniela DE MARTINO (Monbulk) (17:51): It is a pleasure to rise today and speak on today’s matter of public importance:

That this house recognises Victoria as a place of diversity where community is strong and equality and inclusion are not negotiable.

I speak with pride about our government’s record in working to ensure our state is a safe and welcoming place for all, a place where equality and inclusion are most definitely non-negotiable, where people can be who they are without feeling fear or shame and instead feel loved, valued and seen. In the words of Minister Shing from the other place, equality is not a privilege; it is a fundamental right. It is about ensuring that everyone, regardless of their gender, their race, their sexuality or disability, has the same opportunities and is treated with the same respect and dignity.

My mother remembers a time when job adverts were placed in the newspaper in this city of Melbourne that said ‘Catholics need not apply’. Her family and my father’s family also remember being called wogs or dagos, and it was not said with affection – after the good old guys created Wogs out of Work, the sting came out of that word – it was said with hate and it was said with malice. I remember being insulted with that word when I was a child in primary school. I was told to go back to where I came from, which was a little bit confusing, because I was born at the Royal Women’s Hospital. It made me feel small. It made me feel less. It made 11-year-old Daniela cry. It made me feel embarrassed to be who I was.

I do not know how it feels to be a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. I do not know how it feels to be Indigenous and have my health concerns dismissed because of prejudice. I do not know how it feels to have political leaders castigate me and my fellow community members as violent gang members because my skin is black or I come from the African continent. I do not know how it feels to have a visible disability and be judged on my mental or physical capability. I do not know and I do not pretend to know, but I do know that discrimination, be it overt or be it insidious, creates profound harm. It hurts. Sometimes it profoundly damages people. Sometimes they take their own lives. It always, always rips at our social cohesion and our fabric as a society.

Fundamentally, our government believes in kindness. It is a simple concept, but it means a lot. When that underpins and informs the decisions, the policies we develop and the legislation that we introduce here, when we believe in equality, diversity and inclusion and when that is wrapped around in kindness, then I can only state how fundamentally proud I am to be a part of this government. When we speak, we consider our words carefully. I have said it many times in here. I will continue to say it until it breaks through: words have power and potency. They matter. What we say, how we say it, the intention behind it – it can make all the difference. They can tell people one way or another that they are valued or they can tell people one way or another that they are not. I reflected on the member for Frankston’s contribution – I have been reflecting on many contributions today – and he stated quite simply ‘Do no harm’. It is the fundamental principle for those in the medical profession, to first do no harm. I believe that is the principle that we carry into this chamber, and I sincerely hope it is the principle that everyone who has the privilege to have a seat in this chamber or the other place also holds. Yes, there are times when words are slung across this chamber and it gets pretty unedifying, but I do hope that fundamentally we choose to do no harm in all that we do.

We are a government who have enacted the laws that ensure fair treatment in the workplace, we have improved access to services for marginalised communities and we have supported so many initiatives to close the disability gap. In terms of disability, we have provided $24 million in this budget to continue to deliver a number of programs, including the Victorian disability advocacy program, supporting Victorians with disability who are ineligible for NDIS and autism assessment grants. Neurodivergence is something that I live with myself, as do some people close to me. It has been quite a journey actually, learning about my ADHD. It answered a lot of questions for my parents too, when they reflected on me as a child who would not sit still or shut up, so there you go. But there are superpowers that come with it too, along with the challenges, and I am very proudly a person in the neurodivergent community. This is the first time I have openly spoken about that. I was not expecting to. This place is amazing sometimes.

There are some amazing other programs and funding that we have created when it comes to disability as well. There is $630 million in services for people with disability outside the NDIS that we invested in 2021–22 and recently $1.56 billion for disability inclusion reforms in schools. I have the most amazing school, Eastern Ranges School. I had the privilege of having the Premier there a few weeks ago to see the transformation the school is undergoing in the building works and the pride that the students and staff feel there and the pride that the families and community feel. We said, ‘You deserve this. You actually deserve to have beautiful facilities where you can learn and thrive and grow.’ It really warms my heart.

There is so much else that we have done here too. I always worry at 10 minutes. Now I am looking at the clock and there are only 3 to go, and I have got probably 30 minutes worth of talking I could continue with. Can I have an extension of time?

When it comes to multicultural affairs, we are a really proud state. We know nearly half of all Victorians were born overseas themselves or have a parent who was, and clearly I have been on the record here that I am part of that category. Our budget this year invested over $102 million into initiatives that directly support our multicultural communities. It includes an additional $17.2 million into the Victorian African Communities Action Plan, supporting programs to help people into work and to get the assistance they need as well for alcohol and other drug issues. We have also invested over $8 million in health, legal and social supports for recently arrived migrants and refugees and over $9 million for community language schools. The work we have done here I could keep listing, but if I do I will not get the chance to acquit myself of all the long, long list.

In terms of equality for LGBTIQA+ communities, we were the first state in this nation to establish an equality portfolio in 2014, followed by the appointment of the first commissioner for LGBTIQA+ communities in 2015. We have walked the walk. We do not just talk the talk, no matter what some may say.

Being trans and gender diverse – it is really important to make this distinction – is not an inherent vulnerability or risk factor for suicidality. It is the repeated experiences of discrimination and stigma and violence directed to people in these communities that lead to those tragic outcomes – which means we can change them. We can change them with everything we do. With the kindness behind every decision we make and with the policies we support we can make profound and lasting impacts on them.

There is a beautiful quote that I want to share with everyone here today, and it is by a leader in inclusion and equality. Vernā – and her surname escapes me at the moment – says:

Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.

This government asks everyone to join in the dance. We do not say ‘Stand on the sideline and just watch the rest of us have fun’; we hold our hand out and we say ‘Join us’.