Wednesday, 4 February 2026

 Lauren KATHAGE (Yan Yean) (17:46): I grieve for the people of Victoria if the misinformation and conspiracies peddled by those opposite were ever to be the framework by which this state was governed. I do not have any zingers today. Actually, I do want to talk about something serious, because what the Leader of the Nationals was saying in his contribution about our SES and our fire services is demonstrably wrong. I think that any chance that we get in this place to correct the record when it comes to our emergency services we must take. We cannot let them continue to discredit and befuddle what are purely increases in funding to our emergency services, which is something that only happens under a Labor government.

The Leader of the Nationals referenced ROGS, the report on government services, and he was looking at a section on the SES. Can we say that on SES funding the Liberals failed to include funding for the SES when they introduced the fire services property levy. The Leader of the Nationals was comparing two years of funding for the SES. We know over the last years of this government being in place funding for the SES increased. One year there was a particular bump. There was a reason for that particular bump, and that was because we delivered five brand new units for the SES, and there were less disasters. Those five brand new units in the year referred to by the Leader of the Nationals were at Port Fairy, Cranbourne, Aintree, Point Cook and Wonthaggi. If you spoke to the members of those communities, I think they would be very happy that there was a bump that year in the funding.

When I think of Whittlesea SES, who have been turning out with our CFA and supporting them in responding to fires, I absolutely do not accept that we can have those opposite just lying, because we will always support the SES. The Leader of the Nationals might like to look at the graph above the one he was referencing, which is the emergency services fire services funding graph, which clearly shows that everything they have been peddling here and in the media and that they have been seeding into different communities is false. Funding for the CFA goes up and up and up under this government. In fact that very same report shows that our firefighting workforce is the largest and highest funded in Australia. If he wants to refer to that report, how about he refers to that? But that is a fact, and they do not seem to like the facts over there. They are going into fringe issues and conspiracy theories, and they are just focused on themselves.

We know that they are divided. I do not want to dwell on the news of the day because it is sad news for that person and their family – but better news for the people of Nepean. They are all singing a different tune. The Leader of the Opposition is seeking to bring them together to make a band, but they sound terrible because everyone is off on their own thing and their own tune. To keep them together the Leader of the Opposition has to appease people and has to make decisions not on merit but on keeping the extreme wing happy and elevating people with extreme views. In essence that means that her leadership is compromised by that very fact. What we see as a result are policies based on ideology instead of what helps Victorians. I am being generous there because we know they do not actually have any policies.

I want to flag an indicator that I think will be really interesting to watch for to see who is winning that ideological tug of war over the Liberal Party, and I think that is going to be their power policy. Their power policy will show us who has won and who has control of the party. We are focused on making power work for Victorians. We are focused on bringing down power bills through renewable energy. We are focused on the Victorian energy upgrades program. I met a man in Doreen who has replaced most of the appliances in his house with no thought at all for ideology or any natural preference for one type of power over another but simply because it was cheaper in the long run, so he made the switch. That is just the sensible way of viewing it. Under those opposite things that are under threat include the SEC, which we heard just today from the minister is powering the Peninsula hospital in Frankston. It powers trams and schools cheaper than they would be powered for otherwise and allows them to have extra funds for other services.

What will their policy be? I was a bit mean to say before that they do not have any policies yet because the Leader of the Opposition has announced one policy. This is how she announced it: she said, ‘Current spending is simply not sustainable. That means we’re going to have to make cuts when it comes to our health services. Schools aren’t going to be built or even fixed.’ That was the first policy announcement, I would say, of those opposite. Is it really surprising? In 2023, when the Leader of the Opposition was the Shadow Minister for Education, she asked 18 education questions in question time. Guess how many were about state schools? None. The Shadow Minister for Education did not ask any questions about state schools in 2023. She seeks to be in charge of them now as Premier, yet at the time her focus was not even on them at all – 18 questions, not a single one about the government education system.

We are always thinking about our government schools and about our teachers. We love our teachers in Victoria. When those opposite were in power, they tried to make teachers work longer for less. In fact in the last year that those opposite were in government the number of Victorian registered teachers went backwards by 1038. Teachers were leaving the workforce under a Liberal government. Who would be surprised when the people that led them could not care less about government education? On the other hand, this government has worked really hard to support teachers, reducing the admin burden for teachers and providing high-quality lesson plans that teachers can use to help reduce their workload. Another of the former Shadow Ministers for Education for those opposite set out their focus, and you could almost hear his excitement to get into government and what their first thoughts would be. He said, ‘How much do you cut? What do you cut? What services can you live without?’ That was the former Shadow Minister for Education in the other place, who will not be seeking re-election – more good news for Victorians.

‘How much do you cut? What do you cut? What services can you live without?’ This is not some scare campaign from me, because we know that when they are given the chance, they do cut. I can give you an example of that which is particularly egregious, and that is that when the Liberals were in power they cut the program to help kids who were having trouble learning how to read. To save a measly million dollars in the north, where my schools are, they cut the program that helps kids having trouble learning to read and write – just to save it. They have got an $11.1 billion black hole in their budget now. If to save $1 million they are willing to cut support for kids who cannot read, what are they going to do for $11.1 billion? Think of all that we will lose under those opposite.

I remember walking through Mernda Central College and the former principal proudly showing me their special intensive reading support area that they had established, where dedicated teachers work with small groups of students to support them in their learning. They have seen great results as a part of that. I think about this government introducing phonics and explicit instructions into state schools and the improvement and the fantastic learning I see in my community and in my own children through that approach. I think about the disability inclusion funding that this government has rolled out across all schools in Victoria, meaning if kids are having trouble learning how to read and write – or having trouble learning at all – we do not cut funding to them like those opposite. We wrap around them and we give them the supports they need so that they can continue to learn in the classroom.

The member for Narracan – I wish he was here because I am about to enter the part of my contribution about crime and cost of living. We know that investment in education is actually the best crime prevention, and that is why we are working really hard on crime prevention in schools. We are helping at-risk kids stay away from a life of crime by placing more youth workers in schools and delivering early intervention out-of-school programs. Talking to a local principal in my area, we spoke about a student who had started to go a little bit off the tracks. He was a good kid, but he was mucking up. His mum was a solo parent. She was working three jobs and she was so obviously stretched herself. He was not a bad kid. They got him involved in a school sports program, the rugby academy, and they have seen a massive turnaround in him. So we know that the investment we are making in out-of-school programs is going to have a real impact on families and it is going to have a real impact on crime prevention. All of these types of programs are at risk under the Liberals.

We know that crime prevention is really important. We have to address the root cause of violence. That is why we established the violence reduction unit, engaging directly with the community and young people, connecting kids with reform defenders, using police intelligence and data to find and address the root causes and joining up all our crime prevention programs under one tent to make sure there are no gaps. It is not just focusing on education but also housing and mental health. It is really important that we address those root causes and at the same time have consequences for those who commit serious crimes. That is what we do.

On those kids that we are talking about who might be having difficulty in school, another reason that can be is if they are having difficulty seeing. We know that kids with vision difficulties, if it is not picked up, can start to muck up in class, and once you start to muck up in class, it can go on and on from there. Under this government we have tripled funding for the Glasses for Kids program in the 2024–25 budget, making it available for an extra 70,000 students. This program has already delivered 10,000 pairs of glasses. My daughter benefited from that program. She had an eye test at school, and we discovered that she had a vision problem we were not even aware of and neither was the teacher. Having the support of that program has been really important.

Kids can get to school for free, we are making uniforms cheaper for families, we are making sure families do not have to buy a device and we are giving free dental support and free pads and tampons to kids at schools. I go back to those opposite cutting a reading support program to save a million dollars. I just want to highlight that through our cost-of-living support for kids and through our excellence in education program, Victoria now has the best NAPLAN results in the nation. When those opposite were in power, Victoria slipped down the national NAPLAN rankings and results fell by a third.

We get the results, we do not leave kids behind, we make sure that the root causes of crime are addressed to make our communities safe and we give people cheaper power in a way that supports the planet. If all this were to be taken away by those opposite – and we know they love to cut; we have seen the evidence – I would grieve. We do not want to let that pass in Victoria.

Question agreed to.