Tuesday, 31 October 2023

Global Victoria

Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:42): (552) My adjournment matter is for the minister for trade and investment Minister Pallas. Global Victoria attended the International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin earlier this year and even held their own stall, apparently championing Victoria’s medicinal cannabis industry. This conference is Europe’s longest running and biggest business-to-business trade show and provides what it describes as a ‘premiere cannabis business networking environment’. It is fantastic to see the Victorian government take such an opportunity to attract investment into the future of cannabis in the global economy. We know that Victoria spends millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars every year criminalising cannabis – money spent on policing, the criminal justice system and criminal records. What a waste.

Since the Victorian government are so interested in the business of cannabis, I am sure that they are aware that there are hundreds of millions of dollars that we could funnel out of criminal organisations and into a regulated market. We commend the government on taking steps to get a seat at the table of the international business community’s conversations on cannabis. The action I seek is that the minister provides information on what Global Victoria learned at this conference and what steps this government is taking to embrace the business opportunities that arise from a regulated cannabis market.