Parliament

I begin with a huge congratulations to Northcote Primary School, which over the weekend celebrated 150 years. It was fantastic to join their school fete and even contribute a photo of my own to the historical archive: a snap of me as a prep student with my teacher Wendy. 

My question is to the Minister for Environment, and I ask: when can my community expect to see further drop-off locations for the Victorian container deposit scheme?

I rise in support of this bill chiefly because it represents another critical step in the Allan Labor government’s work to ensure every Victorian has access to fair and secure housing.

My adjournment is to the Minister for Carers and Volunteers, and I ask that the minister joins me in Northcote to visit with our wonderful network of neighbourhood houses. The inner north is home to a hardworking and tight-knit community of neighbourhood houses run by a mix of staff and volunteers.

What an exceptional occasion we have before us today with the bringing forth of the Constitution Amendment (SEC) Bill 2023, a bill that holds within it the promise of a brighter and more sustainable future for our state: one in which energy is returned to the hands of Victorians, where our energy sector is rapidly transformed to deliver us our target of 95 per cent renewables by 2035, where 59,000 clean energy jobs are created through monumental wind and solar projects, where profits are reinvested in the people, where our state is propelled towards net zero in the next two decades and where we as Victorians do our bit on the global stage to safeguard our climate.

Speaker in Northcote we’ve hit the ground running with some major milestones kicking off the year.

My question is to the Minister for Public and Active Transport in relation to the Alphington link project. I ask the minister to update my community on what steps are being taken by the government to deliver on our commitment to build a safe connection for Alphington residents to the Darebin Yarra trail.

My adjournment is to the Minister for Education, and I ask the minister to join me in Northcote for a tour of some of our wonderful local schools. The inner north is of course home to the best schools in the state. Innovative, creative and compassionate, they reflect the values of our community, and it has been my absolute honour to work with them over the last five years to support their aspirations for the future.

It is a pleasure to rise today to speak on this very important motion, which is about our government’s support for Victorians starting or growing their families and in those critical early years of their children’s lives.

As we wind up the year I would like to take a moment to thank my community of Northcote for what we have achieved together. Since the state election we have hit the ground running, securing funding for every single election commitment and kicking off critical projects to make our community stronger.

Victorians cherish our democracy as the foundation of a strong multicultural and multifaith community, yet as the ongoing crisis in the Middle East unfolds, we have seen unacceptable displays of hate threaten this foundation.

It gives me great pleasure to rise and speak in support of the government business program. Once again we have some very serious and substantive pieces of legislation coming before the house for debate, which speak to our Labor government’s commitment to making Victoria safer and fairer.

I rise to wish a happy Diwali to all those celebrating in my community of Northcote.

My question is for the Minister for Community Sport, and I ask: what are the opportunities for local sports clubs in my community to benefit from the Allan Labor government’s Local Sports Infrastructure Fund?

It pains me to speak on this incredibly serious bill, which will make non-fatal strangulation a standalone offence in Victoria, pained because violence against women still haunts us. It still permeates across our communities. It follows us into our homes, where we should be safest. I say ‘it’, but violence against women is not perpetrated by a nondescript ‘it’. Violence against women, the murder of women, is perpetrated by a ‘who’, and it is important that we are self-aware in our language, attributing the deliberate action to the perpetrator who commits it, in most cases a man known to the victim.

My question is to the Minister for Children and I ask what is the impact on communities when Councils move to increase charges, shorten leases or privatise not-for-profit early learning services?

Residents of the inner north are outraged as Darebin Council has moved to cut our 18 community centre leases to a mere two years under the guise of developing a new council-wide leasing policy.

Thank you Speaker, it’s my pleasure to rise today in support of the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023.

This legislation is not just about policies or practices. It is about values.

The values that drive us to prioritise our environment, our communities, and the sustainable future of Victoria.

Because it’s easy to talk about climate action – but it’s quite another to do the work to get on with the real policy and legislation that will make a tangible difference.

I rise to congratulate the mega success of the biggest and best party a tram line has ever thrown, the mighty Eighty-Six music festival.

My adjournment is to the Minister for Children, and I ask the minister to join me in my electorate of Northcote to see and experience the bush kinder program run by Alfred Nuttall Memorial Kindergarten in the Darebin Parklands.

 I am delighted to rise today to speak on this matter of public importance (MPI), which is all about our littlest Victorians – and rightly so, because though our youngest Victorians may not have the voting rights which elect us as members of this Parliament, it is nevertheless the decisions that are made here which will impact on them and their opportunities into the future.

My question is to the Minister for Housing, and I ask: how will the reforms in the Victorian Housing Statement ease housing pressure in the electorate of Northcote?

My question is to the Minister for Public and Active Transport and I ask how is the Allan Labor Government working to deliver better and safer public and active transport options in my electorate of Northcote?

Trams, trains, buses, cycling and walking are central to our way of life in the inner north.

Right now the ballot boxes are open for Australians to cast their votes in the Voice referendum. It will be the first time many Australians have voted in a referendum.

It is with a sense of vexation that I rise to speak in support of this bill to ban the Nazi salute in Victoria – vexation because in our modern multicultural state, a state which prides itself on equality and respect, it is nevertheless apparent that we are again having to strengthen our laws simply to ensure Victorians can live free of bigotry, hate and violence.

My constituency question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, and I ask: what is the process for determining the future of the Fulham Grange spur in Alphington?

My adjournment is to the Minister for Energy and Resources, and the action I seek is that the minister arrange a briefing for me with Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) to discuss the current regulations for electrical line clearance.

My question is to the Minister for Education. I ask the minister what the Victorian Autism Education Strategy means for students and families in my electorate of Northcote. Across my community I have spoken to parents, carers and students about how our education system supports students with autism and indeed all forms of neurodivergence.

It gives me great pleasure to rise in support of the government business program today. Once again we have got an incredibly important piece of legislation coming up for debate, which speaks to the real and rapid transition our state is making to deliver a clean energy future.

My adjournment is to the Minister for Planning, and I warmly ask the minister to join me in the Northcote electorate to speak with members of my community about some of the planning challenges we are facing in the inner north. Northcote, like so many other parts of Melbourne, is grappling with the housing crisis, and there are many planning matters that are of immediate and paramount importance to us.

Thank you to all of the previous speakers in this debate so far, although I do think that the win for best performance goes to the member for Richmond. I mean, seriously, we have all had the opportunity to witness her confected outrage before in this chamber, but I think she may have taken it to a new whole level today. Unfortunately, though, theatrics do not build the safe and secure homes that Victorians desperately need right now, and neither do simplistic tweets and neither do catchy slogans, the other weapons in the Greens arsenal, yet we have seen them plastered all around our inner-city suburbs and on fancy cupcakes paraded by the member for Richmond