Wednesday, 12 November 2025

 David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (14:19): My question is to the Premier. On 17 December last year the Premier said:

We’ll ban the use of face masks and balaclavas at protests.

One of the members of the Premier’s own Anti-Hate Taskforce, Jeremy Leibler, has come out and said the government’s proposal has fallen well short of this promise. Why has the Premier broken this promise?

The SPEAKER: I remind members about pre-empting legislation that is currently before the house.

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:19): I thank the member for Caulfield for the opportunity to talk once again about the additional powers we are giving Victoria Police to keep our community safe, particularly when it comes to strengthening the powers of police around people who clearly in this state have the right to protest and to protest peacefully. But the moment that they become violent or hateful there must be consequences, which is why we did commit to introducing stronger police powers to give them additional tools to deal with the violent extremist behaviour that we have seen associated with some protests here. It is not just in Victoria – I will acknowledge it has been an issue around the nation – but we are responding to the issues here in Victoria. We said we absolutely want to address people who wear masks, and what we are doing, alongside the powers around banning terrorist symbols and flags, the prohibition of the use of dangerous attachment devices –

David Southwick: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, I would ask you to bring the Premier back to the question. The Premier has been on her feet for a fair time now, and not one word of banning masks has been mentioned. This is a backflip, and I ask the Premier to come back to answering the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier will get to the question and answer it.

Jacinta ALLAN: Also of course there are important new offences for obstructing religious worship or intimidating worshippers, which will be punishable by jail. When it comes to giving police the additional powers to unmask protesters, this gives police the tools that they need to ban masks from those who they reasonably believe will be bringing hatred and violence to a protest. The point I make here is of course: why does Victoria Police have additional powers –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is required to be direct. The question was very specific around her broken promise in relation to masks, and I would ask you to bring her to that specific question. It was a very direct question.

The SPEAKER: I cannot direct the Premier how to answer the question, but she was being relevant.

Jacinta ALLAN: I thank the Manager of Opposition Business for the reminder that I reject the premise of the question that was put. I say very clearly that what we have done is give police the powers to ban those wearing masks who come to protests to bring violence and hate.

Brad Battin interjected.

Jacinta ALLAN: Thank you to the Leader of the Opposition for giving me the opportunity, through his interjection, to remind the house: why do police have additional powers to crack down on hate speech? Because we passed in this place anti-vilification legislation that those opposite opposed.

David Southwick: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating the question. The question was specifically about the Premier’s own words about banning face masks at protests. The Premier has backflipped, and I ask you get her to come back to answering the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I absolutely reject that characterisation. We are giving police the powers to ban from protests those who come to attend protests with hate and violence. The member for Caulfield referred to a prominent member of the Jewish community who is a strong leader in the Jewish community. The Jewish community pleaded with the member for Caulfield to pass the anti-hate laws, and he rejected those pleas.

David Southwick: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is misleading the house by quoting a prominent member of the Jewish community who said that these laws fall well short of what the Premier promised. I ask you to bring the Premier back to answering the question.

The SPEAKER: Member for Caulfield, that is not a point of order. The Premier has concluded her answer.

 David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (14:24): The police association secretary has described the government’s mask laws as ‘pretty please’ changes. Why hasn’t the Premier given police the powers they need so they can do their job to deal with masked offenders before the violence occurs?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:24): As I said in my answer to the earlier question, the new laws we are bringing to this place give police the tools that they need to ban those who are wearing masks at protests and who bring hate and violence to those protests. I note that the police association have called for workable powers. This bill delivers workable powers, because there is no additional power for Victoria Police with a law that is found unconstitutional. That is not supporting Victoria Police. But of course we know the Leader of the Opposition is all up for reckless behaviour, so that may be consistent with their approach.

David Southwick: On a point of order, Speaker, again the Premier is debating the question. I ask the Premier to come back to answering the question. The police association calls them light laws, ‘pretty please’ laws, and I ask the Premier to come back to answering the question.

The SPEAKER: Premier, come back to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: The police association called for workable laws. That is what we are delivering. And of course those laws work in concert with the anti-vilification laws we put to the Parliament that were opposed by those opposite.