Wednesday, 29 November 2023

Matters of public importance

Frontline workers

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

That this house notes the hard work of Victoria’s frontline workers during the holiday and summer season, not just in Melbourne but right across regional Victoria.

Luba GRIGOROVITCH (Kororoit) (16:01): It gives me great pleasure and joy to be speaking to this matter of public importance (MPI), because it is very important. Ultimately, thanking workers is something that we all should be doing all year round, not just during the festive season. Given we are coming towards the end of the year, I think it is extra special to make mention of them, so I am pleased it is today’s matter. As the end of the year approaches, I know that some workers are honestly deserving of a shout-out – more of a shout-out than any of us in here deserve. I am talking about frontline workers: workers who will be working during the holiday and summer season. While the rest of us knock off or go away and enjoy a well-earned break with the people that we love, these workers will be sacrificing their own time with their loved ones and friends so that the rest of us can enjoy a break and do so safely. These are the workers who make our own holidays possible. I am talking about our municipal workers and cleaners; our public transport workers; our aviation and airport workers; our wharfies and maritime and freight workers; our hospitality and retail workers; our army of ambos, nurses, doctors, paramedics, allied health and support staff; and of course our emergency response workers.

I want to single out just a few of these groups of workers, starting off with our frontline healthcare workers. What an incredible job they did during the pandemic – saving lives under the most gruelling conditions – and they continue to do this work, day in, day out. It is extraordinary work, for all of us and all of our community. We understand the toll that the pandemic had on our healthcare workers. The burnout of these workers was absolutely horrendous. It took this Labor government to enshrine in law nurse and midwife to patient ratios, taking this off the bargaining table so that they can concentrate on being paid decent wages.

Now over to our aviation workers. It would be remiss of me not to start with singling out Qantas, and I want to further congratulate these workers and their union – the Transport Workers’ Union – on their stellar victory in the High Court against the greed of Alan Joyce and Qantas in September. We all remember Qantas sacking 1700 of their workers during the height of the pandemic. It was absolutely sickening. Further, they outsourced jobs. It could not get any worse – 1700 hardworking and loyal ground handling and fleet workers were just thrown on the scrap heap for the sake of profits and bonuses. It was one of the most blatant examples of corporate greed in recent Australian history, and frankly, in my opinion, it shows just why Qantas should never have been privatised to begin with. As many of you know, these workers at Qantas united together with their union and fought the giant of Qantas in the highest court of the land. Then what did Qantas do? They appealed the Federal Court’s ruling that their sackings were illegal, and what happened? They lost. These sacked workers and their families won. It was a fight that they never should have had to wage. But they proved once and for all that Alan Joyce’s and Qantas’s sacking of them was both unjust and illegal. The next step of the battle now is ensuring that each and every one of the 1700 sacked workers is granted just compensation from Qantas, and I will be with them every step of the way. It is why we on Labor’s side cannot rest until there are permanent and secure jobs guaranteed across the aviation sector so that this cannot happen again.

Now over to our thousands of frontline public transport workers and of course my old union, the Rail, Tram and Bus Union. My hat goes off to them. Public transport workers literally keep this state moving to where we need to go throughout the holiday season – New Year’s and all the way up until the Australian Open – just as they always do. For anyone who does not know, it has been another huge year for the public transport network. As per usual, our public transport workers have worked tirelessly to keep our trains, trams and buses moving, getting Victorians around our state.

Colleagues may not know this, but this year we saw the biggest week of travel on our regional rail network since before the pandemic. This is no doubt thanks to the introduction of our regional fare cap in March. It is exciting that 13 million trips have taken place since March. There have also been 1000 extra services rolled out across the metropolitan network, including trains, trams and shuttle buses. Just a few weeks ago these were well and truly in force during Victoria’s Spring Racing Carnival. I should give a special shout-out to the station staff and the ever versatile authorised officers who work tirelessly during all major events to help Victoria keep moving so that the punters can get to their destination and then get home safely.

Throughout this year of milestones for our public transport network, Victoria’s public transport workers have continued to deliver a reliable and safe experience for passengers with our train, tram and bus services regularly exceeding their reliability targets in 2023 despite challenges. This is all thanks to the hard work of the frontline staff.

As the former secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, I often get asked about gaining employment in the public transport sector and how one should go about this. I am pleased to say that Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel will be open in 2025. This is a project that will absolutely transform our public transport system. If you are keen to work in public transport, this could be your chance, as I know that staff are currently being sought for Victorians to work across our train network in particular.

I looked into some facts on the latest class of Metro Trains drivers, who recently graduated, and I have something very special to share with everybody: the 550th female driver recently went through the class and was recruited by Metro. Five hundred and fifty female drivers – well, I have got to say, I never thought that I would see the day. I recall starting at the Rail, Tram and Bus Union back in 2010. At that time there were less than 30 female drivers – less than 30. Today, 550. The inequality that too often took place in the workplace was completely unacceptable for that day and age. I, along with Hervinder Kaur and Shelley Barnes, created RTBU Women. This was a women’s committee to try and make change in what was an 88 per cent male-dominated industry. I am so proud of what RTBU women have done and continue to do for equality in the workplace, and I am confident that the spike in female drivers will see these improvements daily.

I digress, reminiscing about the good old days at the Rail, Tram and Bus Union. So back to the matter of public importance – I am glad I did not get a point of order there. I must say it is an incredibly important MPI, and one that I am sure everyone in this place is going to agree with. As I was saying before my trek down memory lane, I want to thank Victoria’s hardworking public transport workers for the key role that they play in helping millions of Victorians get to where they need to go quickly and safely. I just do not think that the effort that they put into keeping the network running and making it a safe journey is ever really appreciated enough by us.

Have you ever gone to a station and seen a station staff member get up and spruik to you, and has it made you smile? I know that I have, and I want to give a shout-out today to one very special station member who is currently going viral on all forms of social media. This is Rail, Tram and Bus Union member Laurence, who works at Flinders Street station. If you have not seen him in person or on TikTok, be sure to go on and check him out. Laurence is providing a unique and engaging customer experience at Flinders Street station for all passengers on their daily commute, and I hope he keeps this up over the holiday season as I know he puts a smile on my face and other commuters’ faces. To each and every public transport worker who keeps the state moving, it is time for us to stop and say thank you – thank you to our public transport workers.

While talking about appreciation, abusive and violent behaviour towards workers, whether it be public transport or any other industry, is never okay. Everyone has a right to be safe at work and to be in a safe work environment. No-one goes to work to be spat at, to be yelled at or to be treated poorly, so please see the human before you see the uniform when you are interacting with people assisting you, especially during this summer and festive season.

As the end of the year approaches and shopping commences – I know that I have already started my shopping – it might be easy to get caught up in the holiday season, but that is no reason to take your frustration out on these workers, many of whom are working long hours. So when you hit the shopping centres for those last-minute items, make sure that you thank your retail workers for assisting you. I remember when I was in my teens working in retail the rush and the countdown to Christmas Eve. It was a real thing – long hours and sore feet but a lot of adrenaline. There was nothing that would put a smile on your face more than a customer who smiled at you and said thank you.

As we all know, our community is growing. Our police officers are there and always willing to protect our growing and proudly diverse community. Policing is often a dangerous and selfless job, and what they sometimes experience on the job most of us can barely imagine. This Labor government is prioritising the safety of all Victorians, having already delivered thousands of additional police more resources so that our police force can keep protecting all Victorians. As well as the police, there are emergency services workers who put their own lives at risk every single day, including thousands of firefighters. As another dangerous bushfire season approaches and as extreme weather events only become more frequent, our firefighters will be on the front line keeping each and every one of us safe and protecting our lives, our homes and our communities. Our police, our paramedics and our firefighters are really the unsung heroes of our community. Thank you to each and every one of you.

Many of us forget how things get to this state. To our wharfies and maritime and freight workers, who work incredibly long hours at times to ensure that everything arrives on time: thank you. It is often a thankless job, but we appreciate all that you have done this year. I note that there have been some disputes on the wharves with greedy bosses, but with the unity of union membership and the will to fight, which the mighty Maritime Union of Australia has, I am confident that maritime workers will be treated with respect and dignity in their workplace.

Now over to our hospitality workers: too many of these workers will not be getting the penalty rates or the conditions that they are entitled to as they work over the break, and that is simply outrageous and completely unacceptable. To these workers giving up their time over Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, I say to each and everyone of you: you deserve your penalty rates. The Liberals and Nationals have already shown what they really think of these workers by encouraging the Fair Work Commission to cut their penalty rates back in 2017. No matter how they try to spin it, we know the truth: every Victorian deserves a good, stable job with a decent wage. It is more than just a pay cheque; it is about the security of being able to build a life and provide for your family. If those workers who keep this state moving over the break cannot afford the ceilings over their heads, to put food on their tables or to keep their kids in school, then what is the point? When we return to this place in February next year, I hope that we will serve these workers as well as they serve us.

To all those workers in Kororoit and across Victoria, I am only going to make one ask of you in return, and that is: if you do not belong to your union, join your union today. Your union makes you stronger together. They are the ones who will actually fight for you. If you do not know what your union is, just go to the affiliated unions page on the We Are Union website and you will be able to find it.

Again, to each and every worker sacrificing their time so that we can enjoy our own: take care and stay safe during this period. I can never thank you enough, but I and others on this side will be here to fight for you. This Allan Labor government is putting Victorian workers and Victorian jobs first, and we thank you for all that you are going to do for us over the summer period.

Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (16:13): I rise to also comment on today’s matter of public importance about hardworking frontline workers. But this side of the house of course sees all Victorians who are giving up their time working in the service of others around the state over summer as frontline workers not just as a cheap recruitment drive for the union movement. It was disappointing to see the member for Kororoit’s biggest priority. The biggest priority she had in this MPI was making sure that her Qantas frequent flyer points would not be hindered when she travels around this summer, when she leaves the luxury of this place and heads off on some glamorous holiday. She was more worried about the frontline workers at Qantas, and that is a huge disappointment to this side of the house, because this side of the house acknowledges that this summer over this holiday period literally thousands and thousands of volunteers in community safety and emergency services workers will be on call.

They will get up from the Christmas table to attend a grassfire, bushfire, whatever it may be. We saw it in my own electorate in 2015, when literally hundreds and hundreds of local people gave up their Christmas Day to try and keep communities safe. They were not sitting there worrying about what Labor’s prospects were or what the Trades Hall had to say or what the latest recruitment drive for the union movement was – no, they were worried about their fellow citizens. They were worried about the safety of the community, they were worried about community assets, they were worried about making sure that the communities they live in, love and serve were kept safe. That is the clear difference on this side of the house: we think and care about all Victorians, not just those that subscribe to our own very boutique ideology.

This holiday summer season is in fact a time of year all Victorians look forward to very much –

Danny O’Brien: Even outside Melbourne?

Richard RIORDAN: Even outside of Melbourne they do, and outside of Trades Hall. We all look forward to a good, long, sunny, summery Christmas period. Victoria is well known for its at times beautiful summers but also extreme summers. We can think back to 2010, when we were deluged in this state and emergency workers from one end of the state to the other were kept very, very busy over that summer period keeping people out of the water. Of course there is no shortage of summer experiences when quite the reverse happens.

Danny O’Brien: We have got flood warnings now.

Richard RIORDAN: Flood warnings now – exactly right, member for Gippsland South. There are the not-so-happy times when we need our frontline workers and support. When we talk about frontline workers, we do not just talk about those who are in a professional capacity who are actually paid and supported to be in that role; we talk about the volunteers as well. We know very well that our society and our community rely on all frontline workers.

It is also in the good times that we need our frontline workers. We know, for example, this coming holiday season we will have our beaches and our lakes and our rivers packed with visitors and tourists alike who are there for the good times, but they still need those frontline workers. It is the nurses and the doctors at the local ambulance and emergency departments in often small, fairly underfunded country hospitals and urgent care centres that will attend to and help look after those people.

We talk about the SES and we talk about our surf lifesaving community. It is a massive resource that this state has, where city and country people alike come together over their summer period and combine a bit of fun and sun and pleasure and also the serious duty of keeping all sorts of people safe. We know in fact that in summer last year down at Anglesea 11 people from one family group were all sucked into a rip and could have all lost their lives had it not been for volunteers. At that time it was some of the youngest volunteers at the Anglesea Surf Lifesaving Club that were able to jump to the rescue and provide a great service that actually ensured that no loss of life occurred, which could have otherwise happened.

We have got our ocean rescue crews and we have got our coastguard crews, all manned by volunteers here in the state of Victoria. Not only will these people be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week while most of us are having a pretty relaxing break, but they will also be out on other days rattling cans, selling raffle tickets, going about and working with the community to raise much-needed funds for much-needed equipment. Sadly, we have heard, just in recent days in fact, that the much-beloved SES, who have really got off to a very busy start this summer, still have not been paid their SES unit operational funds.

Danny O’Brien interjected.

Richard RIORDAN: Who do we ring when a tree falls down on our house or there is a flood or there is a major car accident – we call the SES. Member for Gippsland South, are you aware that the SES volunteers have not been paid? They are paying for petrol themselves, they are paying for maintenance themselves. They are forced to pay for everything themselves because this lousy government, which wants us to get up and talk about frontline workers today and what they are doing to support them – we heard it was nothing more than a covered-up union recruitment drive, this MPI from the other side. But can I say: this side stands with all frontline workers in Victoria, and particularly the ones that are doing it for nothing. They are doing it out of the love of their community and the love of their state. So it is a great disappointment, it is a huge disappointment to think this government wants to grandstand about its support for frontline workers when it cannot even get the chequebook open to pay the annual subsidy to the SES unit so that they can afford to keep their equipment and machines on the road over this summer period. That is a huge disappointment.

Danny O’Brien: Maybe they should be consultants; then they would get paid.

Richard RIORDAN: Well, that is perhaps right, and FRV ones.

There will of course be others who put in time and effort over the summer, and as I said it is not all volunteers. We have got our 000 callers, we have got our doctors, we have got our nurses, we have got all sorts of people that will be doing the hard yards over that summer period. And from this side of the house we very much thank all of them – all of them, anyone who takes the roster. Particularly in my own family – we have family members who will be working in aged care. In fact my sister-in-law will be missing Christmas lunch this year because she will be making sure that 75 people in the local nursing home in Colac will have people there to be with them over that period, and we thank all people that do those types of things.

But this cash-poor government over recent years has seen fit to cancel the Commonwealth Games and to cancel big projects, particularly those in regional areas. The community health service in Torquay, promised back in 2017, is still a paddock full of thistles. This government has been very slow to deliver the funds and resources. It came as a great concern to frontline workers, particularly those in our wonderful CFA – and we will talk a bit more about the CFA. But when we are talking about the stinginess of the government that cannot pay operational funds to the SES, they have now come out and said to the CFA crews – and we touched earlier on the fact that so many of our volunteer groups, surf lifesavers, CFA, SES, the whole lot of them, will be out in their uniforms at some point over the next few months, madly fundraising to keep our communities safe – this government has now announced to them ‘Guess what, folks? The money that your community raises in your local CFA is no longer to be spent at your discretion’.

Can you believe that? On one hand, they want you to go out and pay for your new ute, your new rubber ducky or your new hoses, they want you to fund the recruitment drives and all the other necessary bits and pieces and they want you to sometimes half pay for your new brigade shed or provide the services inside it, and this government has now said those hard-earned funds that your community has donated to your brigade for the betterment of your community is now no longer going to be at your discretion – you are going to have to seek approval to spend your money. If ever there was an act that said to volunteers and to frontline workers we do not respect you and we do not respect your community, this is the issue. I think people could be rightly concerned. I think volunteers and frontline workers who give up their summer and Christmas periods for the betterment of their communities have every reason to wonder what is next in store for them, because they have seen this government crank up taxes, crank up charges. I mean, we heard today ‘Well, a cruise ship line made too much money and we’re not going to have that on our watch, so we’re going to tax them a bit more’. Is that what this is? Is that what volunteer CFA firefighters can expect – that their hard-earned fundraising is now going to go back to Melbourne to help pay for the over-cost tunnels, the overrun programs and the ballooning bureaucracy that this government is now riddled with? How do we know that this concerns our frontline workers, our volunteers, our CFA, our SES, our lifesavers? How do we know that this attitude of this government, this lack of support that it continually shows, concerns them? The evidence is, sadly, in declining operational volunteers in the state of Victoria.

Danny O’Brien: The figures are pretty damning.

Richard RIORDAN: The figures are in fact very damning, and no matter what spin this government puts on it – on its tireless attack on volunteerism and on regional communities in particular but also on our outer metropolitan communities, who also have very strong and robust SES units and CFA brigades and others – they are looking with despair at the recruitment and the maintenance of volunteers. The government will have us believe times have changed, people are not interested in volunteering. That is simply not true. They are not interested in being puppets of the government. They are not interested in being caught up in the unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape that takes the experience away from the people doing it, and they are certainly not prepared to work within an environment that does not respect them.

This environment increasingly is one that is controlled centrally and controlled by a government that has other agendas. And we know what that other agenda is, don’t we, member for Gippsland South? We heard it before when the government was given the opportunity to lead on this debate and show its support for volunteers and for frontline workers – no, they talked about Qantas airfares and Qantas management, and they talked about union recruitment. That is what their focus is on. It is not about supporting communities and supporting people in them. And if we look at, for example –

A member: It was about supporting workers. That’s what it was about.

Richard RIORDAN: Well, the simple fact about supporting people and communities and our volunteer frontline services is that there was a dramatic attack on operational volunteer members. We have seen, for example, at the CFA only in 2018 – so just when the government really got its heavy tools out to start the attack on volunteers – we went from 34,500-odd operational volunteers, people prepared to give up their day and get out into the field and help support communities, to this year reporting only 28,785, a massive reduction in supporters. Unfortunately, that percentage drop is replicated right across the emergency services, and that is an indictment on this government, because it just has not put the effort in. If it put the effort in to supporting frontline workers and people that keep Victorians safe, we certainly would not be seeing the Victorian police about to go out on strike for the first time in a long time, because they cannot talk to this government. You certainly would not have the fact of CFA brigades right across the state being told that their trucks are so old that they are now no longer able to go on major campaigns and jobs around the state – they have got to stay pretty much to their home territory.

With the minute-odd that we have left, while we are talking about the age of trucks, this government has been absolutely negligent. The government talks about its support even for its friends in the union, but even the United Firefighters Union (UFU) is coming out very strongly and saying, ‘The average age of our trucks is 15-odd years.’ We have got the CFA, the poor cousins, with trucks with an average age of 26. And what is this government’s response to just a supply of decrepit vehicles, some 1900-odd vehicles? It is to replace 43 this year. That is 2.5 per cent of the entire fleet being replaced this year. At this stunning rate Victorians can expect to have fire services vehicles at an average age of some 40 years. Forty-year-old vehicles – that means half the people in the vehicles will in fact be younger than the vehicles are. And when we are talking about the need to have the best equipment, the safest equipment –

Danny O’Brien: Only for FRV, apparently.

Richard RIORDAN: Well, not even for them, sadly, member for Gippsland South. This government are not only neglecting their volunteer base with vehicles twice as old but also neglecting their UFU mates.

This government at every level says it is wanting to support frontline workers, but it clearly is not. This matter of public importance today is a critical one for Victoria in the sense that we need to support our frontline workers. This should not be treated by the government today as a recruitment drive for Trades Hall and the ACTU, and there certainly should not be a focus on the member for Kororoit’s desire for efficient Qantas services over summer.

Daniela DE MARTINO (Monbulk) (16:28): This matter of public importance is one very close to my heart. Our frontline workers are the people who do keep our state moving along, and the member for Polwarth’s contribution I listened to intently. It did appear, however, that he may have tuned out after the first couple of minutes of the member for Kororoit’s contribution, because I distinctly recall her mentioning our CFA volunteers and our other frontline workers. In fact it was a very comprehensive list which looked at all the people who contribute and front up every day, day in, day out, to make sure that our state keeps ticking along.

Moving on, I join the member for Kororoit in recognising the hard work of all frontline workers, especially as we enter this holiday and summer season. My contribution today will focus on retail and hospitality workers. These are two industries really close to my heart. It is not to detract from the important work of all the others, but it is one that I just wish to highlight.

I am the daughter, originally, of a cafe owner – back then it was called a coffee lounge – who went on to open up and run video libraries; remember those? I worked in retail from the age of 12 and hospitality from 20 in pubs in Manchester until my teaching years. I then worked for the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, the SDA union, for retail and fast-food workers and re-entered the hospitality and retail space when I bought my greengrocery in 2015 and then opened up a cafe in 2017. So these are industries I feel I know very well and care about deeply, both for employees and the small business owners themselves.

John Mullahy interjected.

Daniela DE MARTINO: I was a business owner – thank you, member for Glen Waverley.

As a kid we never had time away over Christmas and the summer holidays. They were the busiest times for my parents’ businesses. Instead of beach holidays away, we worked in our stores, ensuring customers could hire their videos, buy their popcorn and entertain their families on a budget. There was nothing like five weekly videos for $10 to keep the kids happy and from killing each other once school had finished. Those were the days.

I know many of us here are looking forward to the upcoming holidays – it is definitely the chatter in the hallways. It is a chance to take a breather and slow down as the weather warms up. How lucky are we that we can, because so many people in retail, in fast food, in restaurants and in hospitality right across my electorate of Monbulk but also right across the state of Victoria, from Melbourne’s CBD to the far reaches of our regions, will not be winding down; they will be ramping up. Small business owners and employees across the retail and hospitality industries will be working longer hours and at a greater intensity to keep the rest of us well fed and well watered and keep the fuel in our cars, our pharmacy scripts dispensed and the gifts flowing over Christmas and new year. They will be cooking us the fish and chips, the souvlakis, the kebabs and the banh mi to be enjoyed on the beach. They will be sweltering over a fryer. They will be over the hot bakers ovens or the grill while we dip ourselves into the ocean or a river or we go for a nice cool walk in a temperate rainforest.

Many will work on Christmas Day itself, especially across hospitality, so let us spare a thought for those turning up when we are still in our pyjamas and enjoying meals with those we love. Let us hope they will be paid properly too for their efforts on days when we all get to enjoy time off. If you are planning a New Year’s Eve at a fun restaurant or bar, think of the staff who will be serving you, because without them, your night is not going to happen.

For retail workers it is not just the lead-up to Christmas that will leave them with sore feet for the hours that they work at a counter or they stock shelves. The Boxing Day sales will see a huge spike in retail trade, and it will be hardworking employees ensuring that those bargains are processed and sold to people seeking to save some money. I would like to impress upon Victorians to please keep their cool during the sales. If an item is not there or the queue to pay is long, please do not take it out on the staff. Retail, fast-food and hospitality workers are some of the lowest paid across our state and our nation, yet they are there when we need them. Without them our world simply grinds to a halt. How else do you buy your toilet paper?

The retail trade sector in Victoria employs 297,471 or 9.4 per cent of people. It makes it the third-largest employer, effectively equal to construction and behind healthcare and social assistance. The accommodation and food services sector employs about 196,000. Put the two together and we are talking about just under 400,000 people employed across retail and hospitality. So I would like to say to Victorians: when you next go to a supermarket, a retail store, a takeaway shop, a servo or a pharmacy, take a moment to say thank you to the person serving you for working when you do not have to. A smile and an expression of gratitude go such a long way. Fellow Victorians, please remember that people in service are not servants. A wonderful former employee of mine, Suzie, reminded her colleagues of this if ever they were abused by a customer. It became my mantra. In my store the customer was not always right. No member of staff was ever expected to cop abuse.

During 2020 and 2021 the abuse from certain customers who refused to wear a mask in my shop became so regular and so vile that I hired a security guard to stand at our door for eight weeks to ask people to wear a piece of cloth on their face. If they became agitated – and several did every day – I was called forward to deal with the abuser, because I firmly believed that none of my staff were paid enough or trained at a level to cop some of the awful aggression which was on display. Every day when I woke up and got myself ready to turn up at my store I did so with a knot of fear and anxiety in my stomach. It did not know what the day would hold, but I knew that it would not be long until I was abused.

Let me assure people out there who have never worked in customer-facing roles or patient-facing roles that abuse from customers can leave you with a feeling of such dread. It is absolutely unacceptable, and I am proud that the union I had the distinct pleasure to work for, the SDA, have been running their No-one Deserves a Serve campaign for several years now to good effect. They have highlighted some of the atrocious behaviour which retail and fast-food staff can be subjected to, and I would like to share just one example, because I am conscious of the time. This is from a fast-food worker here in Victoria, who said:

A customer called and said he was not happy with one of the burgers in his meal. I offered a replacement or refund but he demanded a full $45 refund on the whole meal, that he had eaten. He then said he was going to come back to the store, jump the counter, smash my head in and kill me.

Retail, fast-food and hospitality workers simply do not deserve to be abused. They do not deserve to be threatened. They do not deserve to be attacked. No-one does.

If I look at the SDA’s survey which they conducted this year of over 4600 workers, unfortunately things are not getting better. In the last 12 months 87 per cent of workers said they had experienced verbal abuse from a customer. In 2016 and 2021 the surveys recorded 88 per cent. Nine per cent of respondents said they had been spat on; 12.5 per cent of respondents said they had been the victim of physical violence from a customer, compared with 8 per cent in the 2021 survey; and 17 per cent of respondents reported the incidents of customer abuse and violence they experienced were of a sexual nature, compared to 10.65 per cent in the 2021 survey. I myself have been sexually assaulted when working, and I can tell you it is something that lives with you forever.

When I entered Parliament, I did so with retailers, retail employees and small business at the forefront of my mind. Ninety-eight per cent of businesses in our state are small businesses, and collectively they are the largest employer. So whether they are in the CBD or Mount Dandenong, Bendigo or Benalla, Torquay or Tatura, we know as a government that when small businesses succeed, Victoria thrives. They are absolutely the heart of our local communities. They generate important jobs, they create local economic activity and quite often they support other small businesses in the region. Many of them form the fabric of our local communities. They sponsor sporting clubs and organisations and they get involved in community events. So I would plead to Victorians out there to support their local small businesses. Choose your strip shops that are part of your community, put your hands in your pockets, spend that money over their counter and support the people working there and those people who form part of the fabric of where you live.

I am really proud to be part of an Allan Labor government which proudly backs small businesses. At this year’s state budget we actually delivered reform to reduce pressure on small businesses by making payroll taxes fairer. From 1 July next year we are going to raise the tax-free threshold to $900,000, with a further increase to $1 million from 1 July 2025. That is going to save 26,000 Victorian businesses up to $14,550 per annum, and around 6000 of those businesses will stop paying payroll tax altogether. We are doing a lot to help. There is so much more that we are doing – and I know I am about to run out of time; I am mindful. But I do just want to say one more time a huge, sincere thanks to all frontline workers, whether they be in retail, in hospitality, transport workers, CFA volunteers or in hospitals. Whenever someone turns up on a day that you can have off, thank them.

Tim BULL (Gippsland East) (16:38): It is a pleasure to rise and make a contribution on this matter of public importance (MPI). Its foundation is recognising our frontline workers over the holiday and summer season. Hence I would like to talk for a few moments about our timber workers, because every summer season they are at the forefront of our bushfire response. They are there protecting not only the people who live in our area but the many thousands who flock from the metropolitan area to holiday within our region over summer. I want to just speak very quickly about the importance of these timber works. This is a quote from Chris Hardman at a recent public meeting in Mallacoota around the importance of our timber industry. Chris is the chief fire officer of forest and fire operations, and Chris nailed this. Here is Chris’s commentary. He said the forest contractors are singly the most important part of his team and that you cannot replace them. They are absolutely gold dust. He cannot do his job properly without them and he is hopeful many will be around for a long time.

These are the timber workers that saved communities in the 2019–20 bushfires. Last summer, almost 12 months ago, they were again protecting communities in East Gippsland from fire – at the forefront. We spoke about the complaints a minute ago, about getting an order wrong and the abuse someone might get behind a counter at a cafe. No abuse should be accepted, and I am in agreeance with that. But these are the people who are cutting firebreaks through flames. They have burning branches dropping on the top of their machinery as they are going through the bush putting in firebreaks to protect communities. These are the people that are getting sparks and embers in their face – not just verbal abuse from environmentalists but sparks and embers in their face as they go about their business.

This MPI talks about thanking our frontline workers. Let me tell you how these workers have been thanked by this government. Weeks after defending communities in East Gippsland last summer, just weeks after being at the forefront, they got told their industry was ending, that it was being brought forward seven years with no prior warning – ‘You’re finished, and you’re going to be out by 1 January 2024’. Weeks after saving towns and saving communities – what a way to say thank you. Now as we progress, the compensation package that has been put on the table for these frontline workers is paltry. It is hopeless. They are in a situation now where we are about to enter December – they are out by 1 January – and some have been asked to put in expressions of interest as to whether they want to keep working for the government in a role of first responders to fire. The contractors have asked, ‘Okay, we’ll put in an expression of interest. Can you tell us where the work is? Can you tell us what the work is so we know what machinery we’ve got to keep, and can you tell us what we’re going to be paid?’ None of those questions have been answered in the level of detail that is required for them to make a decision. What a way to say thank you to our frontline workers.

The equipment: the first draft that came out said they will be compensated for equipment one to 10 years old only, up to a level where the budget for the equipment criteria is exhausted. That is in the document. How is that fair? How do you get fairly compensated for your equipment when the government puts a cap on the budget that they are going to compensate them for? If that is not a big enough doozy from this minister, they then got told equipment over 10 years old will not be compensated. There is a lot of equipment more than 10 years old of forestry workers worth hundreds of thousands of dollars with low hours, worth a lot of money, and the initial offer, which I hope is reversed – I have not had confirmation of that yet – is we have got nothing there for you, that is not going to be compensated. They also asked contractors who they are booting out the door to pay for the retraining cost of their members – again, it is just wrong, absolutely just wrong. What a way to say thanks to our timber industry workers who have done so much for our community. They are families who have been on call – they race to the fire front – and now they are fairly much getting shafted.

I will also add the recent Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearings last week revealed that the state has only burnt 70,000 hectares in fuel reduction burns in the last year. So when the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission suggested that to keep communities safe we have to burn around 400,000 hectares and last year we burnt 70,000 hectares, I would like a member in this chamber, anywhere, to tell me how that is ever going to end. When you are not keeping on top of fuel loads and every summer we have hot weather, and it is getting hotter, and we have lightning strikes that start fires and you do not do the fuel reduction burns, how is that protecting our frontline workers? You are increasing the chances of them facing another mega-fire. It is an absolutely hopeless situation – an absolutely hopeless situation. If we are going to have MPIs about recognising the importance of our frontline workers and respecting them, I reckon a good place to start would be the timber industry. They have done so much for so long over summer periods protecting our communities.

I turn to the CFA in the couple of minutes I have got left. There are three vehicles in my area of Gippsland – Tyers East, Valencia Creek and Clydebank, Tyers East being just out of my electorate – where the vehicles are too old to be part of a strike team. They are too old to travel any level of distance to be in a strike team. What sort of first line of defence is that? You are getting rid of our timber industry and you have got vehicles almost older than some of the members of Parliament we have got in this chamber. The SES has just been told they have got a 10 per cent cut. Units have received a letter this week while we have been in Parliament saying they have got to have a 10 per cent cut. The Lakes Entrance police station – we have just been told it is having its opening hours cut in half, from 16 hours to 8. When that town’s population is going to grow from 5000 to 25,000 as of next week, opening hours at the station get cut to 8 hours – absolutely hopeless.

We have had 16,000 nurses leave the health system in the past two years. The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office report – not a political comment – says that in addition to this, one in four hospital workers is suffering high to severe stress levels. That is the Auditor-General. In 2020 the healthcare and social assistance sector was absolutely decimated in relation to funding to match the number of claims and the increased workload that they were experiencing. The levels of support that have been put in place to try and help those that are the most vulnerable in our community just are not there.

There is a lot that can be done in relation to frontline workers. I have got timber workers and contractors in my office not knowing what their future holds because they have been booted out of their sector. There are grown men in tears, and their wives are in tears. I am sick of dealing with them because this government will give them no certainty on what their future is going to be beyond 1 January. They are not trained to do anything else. They only know about working in the bush. They cannot get any level of detail from this government. If they put in an expression of interest, are they going to get sent to the other side of the state? What is the pay going to be? Will it pay their mortgage? What sort of gear do they have to hang onto? What can be sold? And we are about four weeks away.

This was policy done on the run. It is a sham and a shambles. I tell you the one thing that this Parliament and the government can do: in the next four weeks, just give them all the detail that they need so they can make a basic decision about their future. There is even talk of if they want to go on and work for the government, they will not get the full benefits of their package. They should be treated separately. Their exit package should be given to them, and then they should be able to make a decision on whether they want to continue – they should not be linked. They should be compensated for getting the boot, and then if they want to continue working for the government, that should be treated separately – not ‘If you want to keep working for us, we’re going to diminish your exit package’. How is that looking after frontline workers in this state? We want to talk about other things of relative insignificance – Qantas and the like. Let us get into the real stuff and look after these workers.

Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (16:49): I am delighted to rise to speak today on this matter of public importance (MPI):

That this house notes the hard work of Victoria’s frontline workers during the holiday and summer season …

What I pick out here is that this is across regional Victoria. We have had some wonderful contributions from both sides of the house, acknowledging all of our frontline workers. CFA and health workers are wonderful, wonderful people, all. I think I am going to concentrate a little bit on the lighter side of life. Regional Victoria is an absolutely fantastic place to visit, and summer is a really beautiful time. We have beaches, we have bush and we have warm summer nights. A lot of us use it to get some rest and relaxation – to catch up with our families that we have not seen and to go and visit friends and sit around and have some Christmas cheer together.

As we head into the festive season I am here to give a particular shout-out to the many people across regional Victoria who will be working to make our holidays fun-filled and enjoyable. We see the regions absolutely swell in summer as holiday-makers head to the many attractions that regional Victoria has to offer, and of course there is an even better reason now – with the train fare cap you can visit anywhere in regional Victoria for just $10. With more and more visitors, though, coming into the regions, that does put pressure on our hardworking tourism and hospitality staff. In preparing for today’s MPI I was chatting to the wonderful Tara Cunneen, who is my adviser, and she was telling me about her first job at McDonald’s in Torquay and that when summer would come that would just increase the workload by an enormous amount. I really want to thank people that work in retail, hospitality and tourism in our regions.

This government works hard to support workers in many practical ways. Just from a business perspective, we have got the lowest payroll tax in the country in regional Victoria – it is a quarter of what it is in Melbourne. That means that businesses are able to hire more people. And of course we now have the lowest unemployment rate we have ever seen in the regions. But this government has been really keen to support tourism infrastructure, and a $2 billion package is going to be rolled out for tourism infrastructure and increasing regional workforces as a consequence of the money that came from the regional package at the end of the games. A part of that is the worker accommodation package. That is a $150 million fund, and it is really to look at easing the stresses. For example, the member for South Barwon is not with us, but I know that people in his electorate struggle to find accommodation, which then has the effect that people are lacking in the hospitality industry. A package like this is incredibly important, but it is not just in the tourism sector. I know the member for Ripon talks very passionately about the need for worker accommodation in some of the towns in her region, which is less about hospitality than providing those really important services like health services.

Free TAFE has just been an absolute game changer, and we know that over 150,000 Victorians have taken part in that. There was an article in the Ballarat Courier last week about the extraordinary number of people that have gone through Fed Uni TAFE. I was delighted to stand with the member for Wendouree and our federal member quite recently to announce some extra courses. They are the certificate IV in kitchen management, the diploma of hospitality management and the certificate III in tourism. These are ways that we can really support workers in our regions. It means that they have free access to an education for some professional development. It economically benefits everybody as well as those students.

The next bit is not going to go down well with the Speaker, but I have to let her know that Ballarat was voted the top tourism town in 2023. My apologies, but –

The SPEAKER: Member for Eureka, that is only temporary.

Michaela SETTLE: Oh! Well, them’s fighting words, but I have got the member for Wendouree on my side and the member for Ripon. You have got the Premier, I know. But I am very, very proud of the fact that Ballarat was voted the top tourism town. It has been some of those extraordinary investments. I know something that was very close to the member for Wendouree’s heart was the Foto Biennale, which has been an extraordinary tourism event locally, but over the summer there are many, many things to do in Ballarat. I would just like to use a quote from the wonderful new chair of the Tourism Midwest Victoria board – who will be known to some in this house – John Pandazopoulos. He is working very closely with us to make sure that many, many more people come to Ballarat. But what I would like to flag is a quote that he made, and he said:

This win is a recognition of the talented businesspeople and their staff who make up our region’s visitor economy ecosystem.

It’s our people who make Ballarat and Midwest Victoria what it is, and whose innovation, creativity and friendliness continually give visitors a compelling reason to visit, and to return time and time again.

So really what he is saying there is it is all about those people, those frontline people in tourism and hospitality; it is their warmth in Ballarat that made us the winners of the tourism town award, so I would suggest that people get on a train and get up to Ballarat. Sovereign Hill, what a fantastic experience that is, but when you are there please just take a moment to think about having to earn your living dressed in crinoline in the middle of summer. Those fine workers at Sovereign Hill really go the extra mile to keep us entertained and happy. But then of course there is the Ballarat Wildlife Park and the lion feeder there, that is another job that we have to really thank.

If you are coming up to Ballarat without the kids, we have got some fantastic distilleries in Ballarat, and I know that my good friend the member for Wendouree may have stayed a little later than she ought at the launch of the Itinerant Spirits gin distillery. Myself, I spent a bit too much time at Kilderkin. I would suggest people get on the train and come and enjoy it. And of course there are the festivals that we have in the region, so the Meredith Music Festival I will be heading off to as the local member, but I am also delighted I will be joined by the member for Eltham. But spare a thought for the people there that keep the loos clean for 12,000 people over a weekend. They are the people that are really making our experience such a wonderful, wonderful time.

But my hot tip if you get out into the regions is also to stop in those smaller towns. I know the member for Ripon and I have talked about the joy of the Tiny Towns grant system. We have wonderful little towns, they are the best places to visit, the bakeries are the best, and we are going to make them even better, supporting them with the Tiny Towns grants. This government is absolutely committed to regional Victoria.

I have got a wonderful, wonderful patch, but there are plenty of other places to go and we have to acknowledge all of the people along the way. I recently went to along the silo art trail – it is 200 kilometres and a really fun thing to do. This government really got behind it in 2021 with the then Minister for Regional Development investing in accommodation along the way. A particular favourite for me was stopping at the Stick Shed. If anyone has not visited the Stick Shed, you really should. It is fabulous, and this government spent $350,000 refurbishing it.

I guess what I am trying to say here is that this government is utterly committed to the regions, it is utterly committed to tourism and economic development in the regions, but we know that that rests on the backs of these wonderful, wonderful people who get out there every day. While we are all having Christmas with our family, they are working to make sure that we can have a wonderful Christmas. On that note I really just want to thank every hospitality worker, every person working in tourism across the whole of regional Victoria, for all that they are going to do for us over summer so that we can have a wonderful summer experience. Thank you very much.

Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (16:58): I am pleased to rise today on the matter of public importance (MPI) to talk about the hard work of our frontline workers during the holiday and summer season not just in Melbourne but across regional Victoria. I am going to lead off from where the member for Gippsland East left and talk about our timber workers. I would also like to talk about the fact that the member for Kororoit was talking about union membership; well, unfortunately union membership did not help our timber workers one bit. In fact they were totally ignored by the CFMEU. So any union member out there in the timber industry I think would find that pretty hollow to say ‘Join a union, they’ll protect you’, because they obviously do not, especially when it comes to this government.

I want to start talking about our real frontline workers, and I am going to start with our police. Our police are out there every day protecting our community – us, our kids, our parents. They will go through the Christmas period and they will see some horrific things; we all know that. They will be there no matter what the weather, what the conditions, whether it is 40 degrees or whether it is 40 millimetres of rain. That is their job. They generally put us first and their needs second. That is what they do. They are a great credit to themselves. As I said, they are there to serve and protect us, and that is something that should always be applauded for anyone in those services.

It is a shame, coming I think Friday, that 99 per cent of Victoria Police probably will not feel the love that this MPI is meant to share. Ninety-nine per cent of Victoria Police union members have decided they are going to paint their cars. So that is telling me that no matter what you put in an MPI, if you sit up there and say how good they are, you need to back it up. You cannot turn around and say you care and then rip stuff away from them. I mean, police numbers have declined for the last three years. At the moment there are over 800 vacancies on rosters. At the moment there are 43 police stations that have gone from 16 hours a day to 8 hours a day. At the moment we have single-man police stations being cut. So when you put an MPI forward to say how important they are, back it up. In my electorate I have the town of Rawson, which has a single-man station that will go, and the closest police response now to that town is nearly an hour away.

When we talk about these frontline workers, they should be honoured. Every time we stand up in this place they should be honoured. Let us talk about the CFA and what they do. Again, these guys are just pure volunteers. That is what they are. They do not get paid. They will jump out of bed at 4 am, and they will try to make that response time. There is a threshold that they have to meet, and they will do their darnedest to make that response time. I mean, bushfires are horrific at the best of times, if we go back to 2009 and 2020, and these guys are out there all day trying to protect our communities. Again, if we are going to honour what they do, let us back it up. As mentioned earlier by the member for Polwarth, their fleet is old. There is no investment in it. In fact when the government says let us honour our frontline workers, do not cut $300,000 out of their community engagement fund. It is hypocritical. You do not say this over here and cut it over here. It is absolutely hypocritical.

The two CFAs of most concern in my electorate are Nar Nar Goon and Bunyip. Nar Nar Goon have over 400 call-outs a year, Bunyip not quite as many, just down the road, but the conditions of these stations are terrible. If you want to honour your volunteers, invest in the infrastructure. If you want to know why volunteer numbers are declining, it is because they do not have the infrastructure to house any more volunteers. They do not have turnout rooms. They go to a fire covered in asbestos and they come back to the station, and they are meant to, what, just leave the asbestos lying around? Do not be hypocritical. Do not try and honour our frontline workers and then not invest in their infrastructure. The Nar Nar Goon CFA are trying to honour a CFA volunteer that died in the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires by putting a seat up in – I am not quite sure of the area, to be perfectly honest. But they cannot get approval to put a seat there to honour a CFA volunteer that died on Ash Wednesday, because Parks Victoria are making a big deal about it. For goodness sake, honestly.

Then we talk about our true heroes in orange as well, our SES. Our SES, again, are volunteer based. When that tree comes through your roof and there is a thunderstorm and your house is flooded, who turns up? The SES. They turn up with their gear, they turn up with their chainsaws and they turn up with their tarps. They do not whinge that it is cold, and they do not whinge that they are getting hailed on. They are there to help us. They are there to help every Victorian.

The Warragul SES, as the member for Polwarth said earlier, are still waiting on their money. They are still waiting on their money, but now it has been cut by 10 per cent. Do not honour people and then cut their infrastructure. The Warragul SES have to go between two pretty crappy stations, one in Warragul and a shed in Drouin, to house their gear. It is ridiculous. It is absolutely ridiculous that in 2023 I cannot get an SES station in Warragul, which is one of the fastest growing towns in Victoria. The population is growing and growing. The Warragul SES serve a very big area, and I cannot get this government to invest in the infrastructure, again, for them to have all their stuff in one spot and to increase their volunteer base. You should see the change rooms – it is chipboard and concrete. That is what they get changed in.

Steve McGhie: You should have built it in 2010–14, when you were in government.

Wayne FARNHAM: Well, maybe you have had a decade to invest in it, so why haven’t you done that?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Through the Chair. Member for Melton, you will have your chance.

Wayne FARNHAM: I tell you what, you go down and visit it and you tell me it is acceptable, at any point in time.

Steve McGhie interjected.

Wayne FARNHAM: You have been in government for two decades.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Melton, you will have your chance. Member for Narracan, through the Chair.

Wayne FARNHAM: My apologies, Deputy Speaker. This is what I am saying: if we are going to honour our frontline workers, we must invest in our frontline workers.

I am going to talk about our ambos too, who see absolutely horrific stuff. They really do. I shared with this house not long ago a story about a good friend of mine that has been through an absolute nightmare and PTSD, and she is still going through a hard time. The problem we have with the ambulance service at the moment is that as much as we are trying to invest in it, we are not. We do not have the ambulances on the road and do not have the staff, and ambos are burning out. People have left through COVID. They have left these emergency services, and now we have got a declining workforce that has to travel further and work longer hours. It is not unusual for ambulance drivers to do a lot of overtime. They do a fantastic job. I mean, they are the people who turn up to look after our loved ones when they are in trouble. They are the people who turn up to some pretty horrific scenes and have to talk to families when they are dealing with an emergency situation.

If we are truly going to have an MPI that honours the work of our frontline workers and what they have to do over summer, then we truly have to back that up. It is no use having empty words. It is a waste of time. Our emergency services are suffering. They are the ones who will give up their Christmas dinner without even a second thought. So my suggestion to the government is: if you are going to bring forward an MPI, back it up and invest in our frontline workers and our emergency services.

Steve McGHIE (Melton) (17:08): Clearly there should be no surprise of my appreciation for frontline healthcare and emergency services workers, given that I have had some extensive experience as a frontline healthcare worker as a paramedic for 15 years and then the assistant secretary and secretary of the ambulance union for 23 years. So I have had 38 years involvement with ambulances, and I think I know the types of work that they do and the pressures that they are under – and also the other emergency services workers. Whether they be paid employees or whether they be volunteers, they work well together and they look after us in the community, and I appreciate everything that they do. Of course I am pleased to stand here today to talk about these extraordinary people that assist our community members. They are running towards the danger when we are running away from it, and they are dealing with the traumas of what individuals and families go through.

I also want to extend my appreciation and thanks to our 000 heroes out at ESTA for the work that they do. I know with the upcoming festive season their workload absolutely goes through the roof, particularly over that Christmas week period. New Year’s Eve is one of the busiest nights of the year for 000 calls and obviously for ambulance and police responses, so I want to extend my thanks to them. What we have done is grow a 340,000-strong healthcare workforce, the largest workforce in the state. One in 10 Victorians are healthcare workers. Nearly one-quarter of these workers live in regional and rural Victoria, and they ensure access to health care and economic opportunities and keep our communities strong and safe. Since we came to office in 2014 we have grown this healthcare workforce by 40 per cent, which is quite amazing. There are now 36 per cent more nurses and midwives and nearly 50 per cent more paramedics. I will just remind the member for Narracan that there has been much employment of new paramedics. When I left the union job in July 2018 there were 4200 paramedics. There are now well over 6000 paramedics in the state of Victoria.

Wayne Farnham: How many in Narracan?

Steve McGHIE: There are plenty in the Gippsland region and the Latrobe Valley region. There are plenty down that way in the south-east of the state, and I was one of the advocates of increasing the numbers. In excess of 2000 additional paramedics is quite an amazing figure, and there are more to come. There has to be more to come with the growth of the population.

Clearly we have had some challenging times of late and these people – these workers, the healthcare professionals, the frontline emergency service workers, the paramedics – clearly face challenges. Their dedication is amazing. Their skill in dealing with issues just shines brightly. Again, I have nothing but appreciation for what they do, and I do understand what they go through and the burdens that they carry in their own individual lives because of what they do and see. I have raised this previously. As a frontline worker, in particular a paramedic and someone that is dealing with death and dying and trauma, you never lose that. You will never get that out of your head. Sometimes it will flash up like a movie – a particular event will flash up in your head – so you take it with you right through the rest of your life.

On nursing and what we have done in support of our nurses, we are making nursing and midwifery free to help train the next generation of nurses. More than 10,000 students will have the cost of their nursing or midwifery undergraduate studies paid for, while scholarships will be available for thousands more who complete postgraduate studies in areas of need, including things like intensive care, cancer care, paediatrics and the nurse practitioner specialties. Of course these workers make sacrifices, along with their families, and it is through the support of their families that they can continue to work in these professions. I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to have family and friends support these frontline workers.

It is a difficult period that we will be going into, and it does get busier. Of course for the healthcare profession and the paramedic profession there will be incidents over the Christmas period that will be so traumatic and tragic, as we saw only a few weeks ago in Daylesford. We never want to see that again. But unfortunately, we will see multiple fatalities in some situations right through the Christmas period, and these workers will have to deal with that, along with others such as the SES and the CFA. Again, we compliment all of those supporting the system.

I just want to go on about some of the investment that we have made in things like scholarships for postgraduate nurses to complete their studies in specialty areas – as I said before, intensive care, emergency medicine, paediatrics and so on. The scholarships average about $10,000. There are also scholarships for enrolled nurses to become registered nurses, and again those scholarships are worth about $11,000. There are scholarships to support the training and employment of 100 new nurse practitioners, and that is really important. Why nurse practitioners are really important is because they will be able to do some of the duties that previously a GP would have done. Where GPs may not be available to be able to provide the service, nurse practitioners can fill that gap, and it will be fantastic to have another 100 nurse practitioners and of course more than $20 million to provide more support to the growing numbers of graduates and postgraduates as they transition to working in our hospitals.

We have also provided a sign-on bonus of $5000 for student nurses and midwives. We know that evidence shows a direct correlation between nursing staffing levels and better patient outcomes. We know that, and that is why we are proud to have the first legislated nurse-to-patient ratios making sure our incredible nurses can give the patients the care that they need. You know, if anyone here has been in a hospital or in a healthcare setting, about having a direct relationship with a nurse and not having the nurse run off their feet, because they are dealing with more than a number of patients – four patients, two patients, whatever the ratio is depending on the area that they work in.

We are going to be strengthening those nurse-to-patient and midwife-to-patient ratios in law, and we will boost nurses on duty in our intensive care units, which are some of the most incredible units – if anyone has ever been in there – the high-dependency units, the coronary care units and the resuscitation bays. These are all areas of the fine line between life and death, and the greater the expertise and skills of people that we have in these areas, the greater the outcomes for patients and their families.

Of course I talk about the paramedic workforce, and I alluded before to how it has grown since I left in 2018. But since this government has come into office, as I said before, we have recruited over 2000 – I think it is 2200 – paramedics. The numbers now are about 6500 paramedics across the state, and that is growing. I should just give a bit of a brief history. We have MICA paramedics, and MICA in regional Victoria was introduced by the Bracks government, which was fantastic, in the major regional centres. Now we have MICA single responders in a number of areas, and the most recent one is out at Ararat in the seat of Ripon. I can tell you the Ararat paramedics and MICA paramedics are so pleased that they have a MICA responder in their area, and right around the state we see MICA single responders but also MICA units in the major regional centres.

I have only got a short time left. We have opened a new Melton West ambulance station, which is fantastic, and there is another one to come down in Melton South, so to suggest that the government are not putting in and pulling their weight is a complete joke. I do remind the member for Narracan that they had four years to build the branch or station that he was referring to, back in 2010–14, and what did they do in their term? Nothing. They went to war against paramedics. It was absolutely shameful. You can criticise what our government have done, but we have delivered on the figures and we have delivered on the workforce. We will support our frontline healthcare workers. It will be a busy period going into the Christmas period. I thank them for all that they do, and I just hope that they stay safe.

Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (17:18): I rise to support the matter of public importance submitted by the member for Kororoit:

That this house notes the hard work of Victoria’s frontline workers during the holiday and summer season, not just in Melbourne but right across regional Victoria.

First and foremost, let me take a moment to express my profound gratitude to the exemplary police officers who serve our community with unwavering dedication. In my election of Warrandyte we are fortunate to have outstanding individuals like Inspector Carlie Kohler, Sergeant Stewart Henderson, Acting Senior Sergeant Janine Saunders and Acting Senior Sergeant Mark Morgan, to name a few who collectively represent the epitome of professionalism and commitment. It was my pleasure to meet with some of them just last week. Sergeant Henderson’s 10 years of service locally, Inspector Kohler’s local area command and acting senior sergeants Saunders’ and Morgan’s leadership in Doncaster highlight the calibre of individuals who stand on our front lines ensuring our safety.

I was in attendance when Inspector Kohler delivered a poignant and eloquent speech at Doncaster East RSL’s recent Remembrance Day service, skilfully honouring the sacrifices of those who served with heartfelt words that resonated deeply with the audience. Her articulate expression and sincere tribute underscored the significance of the occasion. Thank you, Inspector Kohler.

Sergeant Henderson, through his unwavering dedication and leadership as a local police officer, has become a true hero in our community, embodying courage and commitment to the safety and wellbeing of the residents. It has been 10 years that he has served as the officer in charge at the Warrandyte police station. Thank you very much, Stewart.

As we extend our thanks to these brave men and women, we must acknowledge the sacrifice that they make during the Christmas period. While many of us are surrounded by the warmth of family, our police officers are often attending to the most challenging incidents, confronting the harsh realities that punctuate what should be the best time of year. It is with deep appreciation that we recognise the difficulty that they face, particularly when they deliver heartbreaking news to families, a task that becomes even more devastating during the holiday season. Importantly, we must recognise the toll that their responsibilities take on their mental health. The challenges of the last few years, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have added a layer of pressure that cannot be ignored. It is our duty to support these men and women not only in times of crisis but in the aftermath as well.

However, the matter at hand is not just a celebration of our frontline workers, it is a call to action. I stand here today because we believe that mere words of gratitude are not enough. We must address the concerns that loom over our police force. The decline in police numbers over the last three years, the staggering number of vacancies across the state and the impending closure of 43 police stations for hours at a time are alarming indicators of a system that requires urgent attention. The current industrial action undertaken by police officers is not a sign of ingratitude; rather, it is a desperate plea for support. The neglect of the Allan Labor government cannot be ignored, and the absence of the Minister for Police in addressing these concerns is deeply troubling. It is our responsibility as representatives to ensure that our frontline workers receive the support they deserve. Let us not wait for a crisis to recognise their worth; let us act now to secure the safety and wellbeing of our communities.

One group in my community that deserves our utmost recognition is the CFA – heroes within our community and also our state. Our CFA volunteers embody the spirit of selflessness and courage. These individuals stand ready at a moment’s notice, even on Christmas Day when the rest of us are celebrating with loved ones, and it is crucial that we express our deepest thanks to these heroes who often witness horrific accidents and scenes that most of us cannot fathom. These dedicated individuals – from Wonga Park to South Warrandyte, from Chirnside Park to North Warrandyte – selflessly dedicate their time and energy to ensuring the safety of our communities. The courage and commitment displayed by our CFA captains Aaron Farr, Cam Mackay, Shane Murphy, Ben Cash, Trent Burris and Will Hodgson is truly commendable. Can I also take a moment to thank their partners and families, who enable them to serve our community. Your sacrifice does not go unnoticed. Thank you.

One shining example of community support for our firefighting heroes was the annual Fireball held at Bramleigh Estate in Warrandyte. This event, initiated in 2014, has consistently raised significant funds, including contributions for much-needed vehicles for the local CFAs. I was fortunate enough to attend this year’s ball with our wonderful former member the Honourable Ryan Smith and his wife Avril and with my amazing husband Fraser. The Fireball raised an impressive $60,000, a testament to the generosity and solidarity of our community. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the outstanding individuals whose dedication and hard work made this initiative possible. Julie Quinton of Quinton’s IGA, Warrandyte, started the Fireball after being so moved by the firefighters fundraising outside of her IGA. She knew the community needed to do more, so she started the Fireball. To Mary-Anne Lowe of Bramleigh Estate and Greg Kennedy of the Grand Hotel, Warrandyte: your commitment to supporting our community also does not go unnoticed. Special recognition is due to the committee members: Michelle Lambert, Jaime Noye, Leasa Dyason, Angela Germech, Dinah Ward, Deanne Dickson, Geri Overberg and Katie Murphy. Your tireless efforts made Fireball a great success, ensuring that the four CFAs in our area receive the support they need.

Furthermore, I extend my appreciation to Freya Dugan and Rohan Thornton, who served on previous committees, laying the foundation for the event’s success. With these lessons Fireball will transform into the Thunderball for the SES, showcasing the spirit of collaboration and innovation. Well done to everyone involved in making the Fireball a fabulous success but also a source of great inspiration for community spirit.

However, amidst these commendable community efforts we must delve further into the funding challenges confronting our CFA and address them with urgency. One pressing concern lies in the ageing state of our firefighting fleet. Warrandyte CFA’s current fleet of pumps is in desperate need of updating ahead of the upcoming bushfire season. The 20-year-old-plus vehicles are well overdue for an upgrade, and we owe it to our brave volunteers to provide them with the best possible equipment, ensuring that they can continue to safeguard our communities with the utmost effectiveness.

Furthermore, we must confront the issue of declining volunteer numbers. I extend my gratitude to Victoria’s frontline heroes, especially our SES members in orange, who work tirelessly across Melbourne and regional Victoria during the holiday and summer season. Let our gratitude be more than words. We need to make a commitment to supporting our SES heroes by ensuring their operational capabilities remain intact. They deserve not only our thanks but our unwavering support.

Finally, while we are speaking of frontline workers, if the house will indulge me, I would also like to take the opportunity to thank my amazing team, who are the first point of contact for my community as the newly elected member for Warrandyte. My team Diti Vedagarba, Lenny Shepherd and Anna Laird have worked tirelessly to ensure that my first three months have been so effective. We have had many wins for our community, so I thank you for your hard work and for how you care for our community. Further to that, may I also thank the amazing staff here at Parliament, who keep this place running and make it an incredible place to work.

As we approach the festive season, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to each and every frontline worker, whether in a paid or volunteer capacity, for their unwavering dedication to safeguarding our communities. This motion serves as a testament to our appreciation for the sacrifices made by these individuals, and it is, as I said, a call to action.

Finally, to my electorate and people in my community, it has been my great honour to serve as the member for Warrandyte. I love our community and all the people who make it great. To you and your families, I wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Emma VULIN (Pakenham) (17:27): I am thrilled to make a contribution on this matter of public importance today: that this house notes the hard work of Victoria’s frontline workers during the summer season. I would like to acknowledge all the speakers that we have had in the house before me thanking our incredible Victorians for the work that they do each and every day. There are plenty of them that work through tirelessly to protect us and to keep us safe.

My main focus today is the CFA – surprise, surprise – and our SES volunteers, who service our communities all the time. We know that they are facing potentially a very busy summer season ahead. Many operational members in the fire brigade are busy doing their pre-summer hazardous trees training and burnover training and making sure that they know how to draught and do all the operational things that are needed when things hit the fan. It is also a reminder for Victorians to prepare for the bushfire season ahead by cleaning up their properties and by having a fire plan, which should not just include a plan A but also a plan B, C and D. I would strongly suggest that people, particularly those living in more rural areas, have a conversation with their families and their local brigade and make sure that they have a plan in place and a back-up plan, because sometimes things do not always go to plan.

There are 51,738 volunteers in the CFA getting ready for the fire season. 28,909 are operational members. I am one of the 4425 women, and so is the member for Bass – although I have not made it to very many training sessions or jobs lately; I think this job has kept me a bit busy. There are 21,775 support volunteers and 1054 junior members. My children were both part of the CFA juniors at Beaconsfield fire brigade when they were a bit younger. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the people in many brigades across our state that have juniors in particular – children aged between 11 and 16 – and teach them things about being a part of the community but also about fire and fire preparedness.

The CFA also has 879 permanent CFA staff and nine operational rest support. I think people often forget how time consuming being a volunteer is, especially for our CFA vols, who not only attend trainings, meetings, education courses, group meetings, group training exercises and community events but do it all on top of responding when the pager goes off any time of the day or night. It is a massive sacrifice that these dedicated and incredible firefighters make but also a massive sacrifice for their families and friends.

There have been a few occasions where I have come to understand the impact this role has had on my family. During the Bunyip fires I was on shift for 16 hours straight, and that fire was actually the scariest one I had ever been at. My family were trying to call and message me after seeing news about crews being stuck and cut off up in Tonimbuk and surrounded by fire. I was in one of those strike teams that was surrounded by fire. There was another strike team that was in a worse position than we were, and they could not get out and we could not get to them. So it was at that point where we moved to a burnt-out paddock. We could see the fire all around us. My phone was going crazy, but my focus was on the crews that I was with and the residents to whom we were trying to say, come and stand with us, this is the safest place to be. I was thinking ‘Oh, my gosh, this is going to be the first time I’m in a burnover’, and I was so frightened. It was quite interesting because I had this big build-up, thinking ‘Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh’, and then the fire got to us and we were in a paddock that had been eaten out by cows. Some of the more experienced CFA people were kind of giggling, saying ‘You’ll be okay’, and the fire came under our feet and burnt out. I was a bit frightened and then they all laughed at me and said, ‘You’ll be okay’.

But this is not about me; this is about recognising the friends and family of firefighters and how they selflessly give up so much to make sure that firefighters can do that job in helping our communities. It is things like walking out of a family dinner or when the pager goes off and saves you from doing the dishes – ‘Oh, sorry, the pager is going’ and then you run – or when the pager goes off in the middle of the night and the dog starts barking and then everyone is awake. It wakes up the whole family. You are running out the door, and they are thinking, I wonder what she is going to. They have got no idea what I am facing, whether it is something horrible or whether it is just a washaway. But I suppose you need to recognise the fear that loved ones feel when you are so focused on doing what you are trained to do. It is a massive sacrifice for families, so I think it is important that not only are we thanking our firefighters but also the families.

There are other things that firefighters miss, often missing big celebrations. In 2019 I went on deployment to East Gippsland. I put my hand up and it was the five days over Christmas. I spoke to my children, and said I have been asked to be a commander’s aid in East Gippsland and so it would mean that I am missing Christmas. I am so lucky that they understand that, although I am not with them, I am out there helping a community in need, so I am very grateful to my kids for that. It was funny because when I was at the camp I ran into the member for Bass there, and that was when I found out that she was a firefighter. So we worked together on the peat fire in Sarsfield. But anyway, it is not about me.

I just want to say that our government has invested quite heavily in our CFA. In the 2023–24 budget we included $15.1 million for 35 heavy rescue trucks for VICSES, which is in addition to 21 heavy rescue trucks and seven medium rescue trucks funded last year. We are backing the dedicated volunteers to protect life and property and have provided $12.8 million for 29 new CFA ultra-heavy tankers that are currently being rolled out to brigades across regional Victoria. The CFA is also rolling out 48 heavy tankers and two light tankers funded as part of our government’s $126 million CFA capability package.

Last week I had the honour of ringing one of my local brigades, the Officer fire brigade, and telling them that they had been successful in their volunteer emergency services equipment program grant to purchase a rehabilitation unit. They were quite thrilled. My partner said to me, ‘What’s a rehab unit?’ and I said, ‘It’s a rehabilitation unit.’ He said, ‘Very funny. What is that?’ It is a truck that they take away to big jobs. If they have had a big structure fire or they are going out to campaign fires, it is where they have a truck where they have medical things on board, they have chairs, cooling – it is quite incredible, really. They were really pleased with that.

We are also building a brand new SES in Officer. We have one in Pakenham. I want to thank our volunteers that work at the Pakenham unit. I went for a drive last week and I saw the progress being made on the Officer SES, which will be a welcome addition to Officer with our massive growth corridor. There are a lot of people moving in.

The SES has 4869 volunteers and 222 staff, and it is another opportunity to thank them for their work, not just with storms and floods, but they also help us at campaign fires. They are often there helping us in all different facets of their job. Another thing that the SES and CFA do a lot during summer is you will see often Santa might be on the back of a fire truck. We have a lot of our local brigades that go around and do the Santa run and attend different community events and parties and things. I put my hand up for a couple of weeks time. I think I am going to be helping Santa at one of our local events. I want to give a shout-out to Pakenham fire brigade, Toomuc fire brigade, Pakenham FRV, Officer fire brigade, Upper Beaconsfield fire brigade, Pakenham police and Pakenham ambulance, who I visited last week with the minister.

There are a lot of wonderful people around our state that work to keep our community safe. Another shout-out too for summer would be to our surf lifesaving. They do an incredible job, and I know how busy they get. Although we do not have any beaches down in the Pakenham district, I know a lot of people from my area do go to beaches, and I want to thank them sincerely. Thank you, everyone. To our frontline workers: we are very grateful for you.

Sam HIBBINS (Prahran) (17:37): I rise to speak on this matter of public importance that has been put forward to thank and acknowledge our frontline workers, particularly during the summer ahead. I want to do that because we can all speak to this motion because obviously over the years, whether it has been various crises, like the pandemic, or various natural disasters, we have all said thanks to our frontline workers and our essential workers. But what is really important is that we actually demonstrate our thanks to those workers, whether it is people across a wide range of sectors – healthcare; teachers; emergency services, including our firies; those in the public sector; the community sector – because right now they are absolutely under the pump.

We have got teacher shortages in our schools – in fact teacher shortages right across the board – we have got social and community sector workers unable to help the increasing number of people in need, and healthcare workers and mental health care workers straining under the pressure. The reason why they are struggling is because on top of the cost-of-living crisis that is creating so much pressure out there – people just literally cannot afford the basics, which is putting a lot of pressure on our government services and community services – there has been a continued underfunding of these services, there has been a deliberate policy by the government to keep wages low, and we are going through right at the moment cuts to thousands of public sector jobs and cuts to funding. On top of this now, despite being overworked, overstretched, increasingly stressed and burned out, we have got a government proposal on the table to cut that from the workers compensation scheme. What makes this all the more galling is that during the pandemic – this incredibly difficult time when so many workers, essential workers, were on the front line in our hospitals, in our communities and services, keeping society functioning, helping people in need, putting themselves in harm’s way when there was the real risk of catching COVID, particularly within our health system – was there anything we can take away from those very difficult years?

We all said thank you, but there was a need to demonstrate that thanks, to value our frontline and essential workers with higher wages, with better working conditions and with more support for people in need. Instead, we have had for some time now a deliberate policy to keep wages low with the public sector wage cap, which has been under inflation for some time. That depresses wages not just within the public sector but across the economy and the private sector as well – it sends a signal there. This is at a time when low wage growth has been one of the most significant economic issues that people and workers have been facing.

We have now got cuts to thousands of public sector jobs. The idea that you can somehow isolate frontline workers from the impact of these cuts when they are already stretched – many government departments are already stretched in their ability to meet the increasing needs of our community – is just ridiculous. The idea that you can just cut billions of dollars from the public sector without it having an impact is simply ridiculous. As I said, to add insult to injury, we have now got these WorkCover changes, which thankfully will now be the subject of much further scrutiny.

I am concerned that they are doing this. Why are they doing it? Well, we have got an economic approach that is saying we need to make the savings. This is coming at a time when you have got profiteering corporations. We put on the table an alternative view: instead of cutting from the public sector and from much-needed government programs, what they should be doing is making sure that those profiteering corporations pay their fair share of tax. I am also concerned about the approach to addressing inflation now – I am just concerned after coming out of recent Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearings. I obviously respect the apolitical public service, but when asked what the government’s approach to addressing inflation is, the secretary simply put on the table that the only thing that the state can do is just manage its fiscal strategy, and that is to look at spending. Again, that approach is in my view short-sighted, and it is one that will simply mean that all those people in need who are struggling with the cost of living, pushed to the margins and struggling with hardship will not get the help they need.

In terms of other essential workers, people who are also on the front line, our supermarket workers, people who work in transport, in logistics, again during the pandemic turned up to work, day in and day out, in harm’s way and kept society functioning. Recently I spoke at the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union rally at the Coles AGM – the first strike by supermarket workers in history, I have been told – and really called out the behaviour of the supermarket duopoly. At a time when people are struggling to afford the basics, at a time when there is economic upheaval, at a time when we should be recognising our supermarket workers for all the hard work that they have done over the past few years and everything they put up with – let us face it, they have to put up with a fair bit of BS in their job as well – are they seeing how they can pay their workers a decent wage? Are they seeing how they can keep their prices low so that at least their workers – people who work in supermarkets – can afford their products, which they are telling me actually they cannot? There was probably a time in history when even a large corporation might have thought that their workers being able to afford their own products would be something to aspire to – not anymore. Are they looking at how they can keep their workers safer? As I said, some of the safety issues that many of our supermarket workers face are not being addressed adequately. But are they doing those things? No, they are not. They are thinking, ‘How do we make a buck? How do we exploit the economic crisis? How do we profiteer?’ And it is absolutely appalling. Instead, they need to pay their workers a decent wage so that they can at least afford what the supermarket is selling. They need to stop price gouging, and if they do not, the government needs to step in and stop it for them.

I also want to just touch on the SES, which has been raised. Obviously there is another tough summer ahead, and previously it was not seen as the right thing to do in a time when there are disasters to talk about climate change. Well, now I think we are getting to the point where it is almost misplaced if you do not mention it. Our SES volunteers, our firies and those who are dealing with fires and with storms because of the increasing impacts of climate change – we need their help more than ever. We obviously need to take the drastic action of stopping burning fossil fuels. But when I visit a local SES, whether it is out in Malvern or in Port Phillip, again the conditions are just absolutely appalling. They do not have the stations or the locations to meet the needs of our community. Across the board the SES are very poorly funded. This is a significant issue. The SES often feel like they are the poor cousin of our greater emergency services network. There needs to be much greater funding for the SES, and I would urge the government, particularly within the areas of Port Phillip and Malvern – they desperately, desperately need new stations to meet the growing needs of those particular branches and to meet the needs of our community.

Other members have addressed our electorate office staff. My goodness, they are often doing quite a challenging job. As someone who worked in social services, I have taken that sort of thinking towards being an MP in the electorate office, making sure that there is no wrong door. If someone comes to you with an issue big or small, whether it is –

A member interjected.

Sam HIBBINS: Sorry? Oh, right. Is that you? Did you bring in the cards?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Through the Chair.

Sam HIBBINS: Taking that, whether it is a significant issue – you know, if someone has got a housing crisis or what have you – or whether it is that the street needs to be cleaned, it is making sure that that person is assisted and helped in every way possible. That is a big job for electorate office staff. It is a very vast job, and certainly I want to acknowledge and recognise the work that they do in their area. But ultimately, with so many people struggling and so many of them being frontline and essential workers, we need to demonstrate our thanks – not just say thanks but demonstrate our thanks – properly fund services, pay them a decent wage and provide better working conditions. This is the way that we will demonstrate respect for them and value their work as frontline and essential workers.

Darren CHEESEMAN (South Barwon) (17:47): It is with some pleasure that I rise this afternoon to make my contribution on the member for Kororoit’s very excellent matter of public importance that she has presented to us and to this Parliament today. I have the great fortune, as a member of this place, to represent a part of the Victorian coastline that many Victorians and indeed many international tourists love coming to to enjoy our fabulous beaches and our amazing national parks that are literally right on the boundaries of my seat. Indeed within my community there are many thousands of workers who, in supporting our fabulous tourism sector that thrives across the Geelong and greater Surf Coast communities and right throughout regional Victoria, will play a significant role through their employment and through the activities that they engage with to enable us to have an amazing summer holiday.

Down in my part of the world there are a significant number of surf lifesaving clubs, and I raise our surf lifesaving clubs because they play a significant role in keeping all of us safe when we take that great opportunity of going to the beach through the summer months. Indeed if we get into trouble in the surf, they make sure that we can be retrieved from that circumstance – hopefully in a healthy way.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the 57 surf lifesaving clubs that serve our coastline through the summer months, and indeed the 36,000 men and women of Victoria – and often boys and girls and teenagers – who participate in our surf lifesaving clubs. I also want to take the opportunity to thank the many, many thousands of people who volunteer with the CFA and the Victoria State Emergency Service, again volunteering and keeping our communities safe. On behalf of, I am sure, many colleagues in this place I would like to take the opportunity to thank and acknowledge them for the profound contribution that they make to the state of Victoria.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank, particularly from a regional perspective, the many, many hundreds of thousands of people who work in the hospitality sector – people who slave away providing us with drinks and providing us with the meals that we enjoy through those summer months. Many of us very much like to take up the opportunity to spend time with our loved ones, and I would like to acknowledge the hard work of those who work and make their living in the hospitality and retail sectors, which are of course significant parts of our economy.

I think we should also take the opportunity, as others no doubt have, to acknowledge and to thank those that work in so many different ways for the state of Victoria – those who work hard, often in all sorts of different situations, keeping us hopefully healthy and safe through the summer months – our doctors, our clinicians, our nurses and of course our teachers, who have worked so hard over the last few years in educating us, keeping us safe and healing us when we get unwell. Many of those workers are not provided the choice of having summer holidays or taking Christmas Day off because the nature of their work requires them to be at work.

The Allan Labor government, and before the Allan Labor government the Andrews Labor government, has recognised the contribution that these workers have made. We have recognised the contribution of their unions and we have negotiated where we can – where we have a direct role – to make sure these people get strong conditions and have strong rights and when they get unwell, they have the opportunity of taking sick leave and all of those things. I would like to acknowledge and thank the ministers and indeed my colleagues for supporting those workers with those rights.

I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the investments of our government in giving the Victorian community and the Victorian economy the skills that they need to make sure our hospitality experience is world class. I particularly want to acknowledge and reflect on the free TAFE arrangements that we have put in place in this state to make sure that we are providing amazing training opportunities for Victorians to get the world-class skills that they need to ensure that we have a wonderful offering in our Victorian tourist economy. Again, I would like to acknowledge and thank those ministers who have played such a fundamental role in that.

Our government has also of course made a massive contribution to our culture and our arts. If you just look at the broader Geelong region or indeed the whole of Victoria, you will see major event after major event that puts us on the world stage. That could be the Formula One Grand Prix. It could be things such as the Rip Curl Pro, which proudly takes place in my region, drawing many thousands of people to our region. Again, we are driven by these events and festivals and opportunities because we know so much of Victoria’s reputation is built on these events, and we have indeed made those investments. We have also made huge investments into our creative and arts industries, whether that be the Geelong Arts Centre, the Art Gallery of Ballarat, the Bendigo Art Gallery or indeed the cultural offerings of Melbourne. We have made record investments. That is about providing those workers with an opportunity to work in a world-class environment, but it also of course ensures that all visitors and the international community have a wonderful experience when they come to Victoria. That is something that I am very proud of, and it is good to see the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events at the table who will continue to play such a pivotal role going forward.

I do not think there has ever been a more generous government anywhere in this country in supporting our regions than our government. That record of investment is profound. That is creating economic opportunities, it is creating arts and cultural opportunities and it is providing us with the opportunity to provide real jobs in this state – real jobs that pay well and that support people’s aspirations in this community and this economy. We will continue to make those investments. We will continue to support them in their jobs. As I make – (Time expired)

Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (17:57): I rise to make some comments on the matter of public importance today submitted by the member for Kororoit that this house notes the hard work of Victoria’s frontline workers during the holiday and summer season. But where I think this motion falls short is that we should be paying tribute to our frontline workers each and every day of the year – 365 days of the year. Some of our emergency first responders and our healthcare workers look out for members of our community right around the clock right around the year.

I would like to pay tribute to some of the emergency first responders in our community – the CFA fire brigades, all volunteer firefighters and auxiliary and other volunteers that support the CFA and the amazing work that they do. They go to the danger. Whether it is fighting fires, bushfires, house fires, industrial fires or road trauma incidents, they do an amazing job. In my electorate I have many brigades – in Lilydale, Mooroolbark, Mount Evelyn, Montrose, Wandin, Seville, Silvan, Gruyere, Coldstream and Chirnside Park. We have so many CFA fire brigades, and they do a fantastic job.

The Lilydale SES, the Lilydale State Emergency Service, has been particularly busy over the last couple of years with the significant storm events that we have had across the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges. Again, they go to the danger. 365 days of the year they look to protect our community, and I would like to pay tribute to Shaun Caulfield, Louise Andrews and all of the volunteers at the Lilydale SES.

Of course our Yarra Ranges police are an amazing group of individuals. I know many of them locally. I see many of them socially at local football clubs and sporting events. They do amazing work in the Yarra Ranges police, and I particularly want to pay tribute to all of the police officers at Yarra Ranges but particularly Inspector Gerry McKenna and senior sergeants Mel Woods and Mark Knight for the work that they do and the support that they give. These emergency first responders work together as one, even with some of the local FRV stations in adjoining electorates.

They work together as one whether it is, as I say, a bushfire, a car accident or a traumatic house fire. At any of these types of events they work together as one, and we owe them a great debt of gratitude for the work they do to keep our community safe and protect us in times of emergency and danger.

I would also like to pay tribute to our health and mental health workers right across the electorate and in fact right across Victoria but particularly those at our closest public hospital for the work they do, at the Maroondah Hospital, and also at some of the local health services: Inspiro; Anchor Community Care, who provide both mental health services and services for people who are experiencing homelessness and other challenges; Oonah Health and Community Services Aboriginal Corporation; Cire Services; and of course the team at Bridge Builders Youth Organisation. Bridge Builders, with Beck Mitchell, Phil Stenhouse and Bonnie Knight, do amazing work looking out for the young people in our community, from Lilydale right through the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges – those young people that just need that boost, that confidence and to care for their wellbeing and mental health. They have done an amazing job. So to all our frontline workers, right across the year, thank you.