Tuesday, 3 March 2026

 Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Women) (12:59): I move:

That, under standing order 94(2):

(1)   the order of the day, government business, relating to the Crimes Amendment Bill 2026 be considered and completed by 5 pm on 3 March 2026; and

(2)   the orders of the day, government business, relating to the following bills be considered and completed by 5 pm on 5 March 2026:

National Gas (Victoria) Amendment Bill 2025

Electoral Amendment Bill 2025

Education and Training Reform Amendment (Free TAFE Guarantee) Bill 2025.

Firstly, can I touch on the very important bill that the Attorney-General has introduced and second read this morning, and which will form the basis of debate for the rest of the day up until the guillotine, and point to how important it is that this bill be before the house today and that we move quickly to make these amendments to the Crimes Act 1958 in order to acquit commitments that were made by the Premier in light of the terrorist attack on Australia’s Jewish community in Bondi in December of last year.

This is a very significant piece of legislation that was unfortunately subject to a political stunt in the other place in the last sitting week. What we have seen again this morning are stunts performed by both the Liberal–National parties and the Greens political party, all of whom have chewed up valuable time in this house this morning when we have got this important bill to debate here so that we can, as we have long committed to, strengthen our laws to combat antisemitism and protect public safety. That includes amending the way that serious vilification offences are prosecuted to address concerns that the current DPP consent requirement imposes unnecessary prosecutorial burden, impacting the offence’s effectiveness. I thank the Attorney-General for her leadership in bringing this here today.

We will also be debating the National Gas (Victoria) Amendment Bill 2025. We are proudly, here in Victoria, well on the way to transitioning away from fossil fuels to cheap and reliable renewable energy, but we have always said that gas is an important part of the transition. To that end, we will be debating this bill today in order to ensure that we have that important transitional supply. We have not just talked about climate change – unlike some in this chamber – but taken real action. Again I want to commend the Minister for Climate Action, who has been the most consequential energy and climate action minister this nation has ever seen, overseeing Victoria’s transition to renewable energy. I might reflect that over this summer what we saw was renewable energy really coming into its own. The facts of the matter are that despite having a record heat over summer – in fact we recorded one of the highest temperature days on record – our electricity generation was maintained through the entire period, which is thanks to the investments that we have made in renewable energy.

The Electoral Amendment Bill 2025 is also to be debated this week, and I am sure members on all sides will have various opinions that they will want to share with the house in relation to that bill.

What I really wanted to save time to outline for everyone is the Education And Training Reform Amendment (Free TAFE Guarantee) Bill 2026. Of course I will take this opportunity to commend the Minister for Skills and TAFE in the other place for her leadership in transforming the TAFE sector here in Victoria. Victorians well remember the cuts, the cuts and the cuts that the Liberal Party made to TAFE colleges across this state, locking the gates to the Lilydale TAFE –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, this is an outrageous abuse – on relevance. Simple sledges have nothing to do with the motion that the minister is moving.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: I was only outlining the facts in relation to TAFE. Across this side of the house many members look forward to talking about how TAFE and free TAFE has transformed the lives of our constituents. This will be a great debate.

I cannot begin to express the gratitude which I have for all of those students right across Victoria who have taken the opportunity to study the diploma of nursing and make a great contribution to Victoria’s public health system. That will be an excellent debate. I commend the government business program to the house.

 James NEWBURY (Brighton) (13:05): I rise to speak on the government business program and oppose the government business program. It is a government business program that has changed. I do want to give a bit of background. When the Attorney-General’s office contacted me in relation to a new bill that the Parliament was to consider today in the Assembly – a new bill which splits off the strengthening of hate speech laws – at that time, on behalf of the coalition, I said to the Attorney I would ask and hopefully see that bill be considered immediately when the house commences. I proposed that the bill be considered today and be acquitted by 5 o’clock today. I asked the Attorney on behalf of the coalition if, by 5 o’clock today, that bill could be taken away from the normal 5 o’clock Thursday finish for bills, and that this particular amendment, through the bill, be considered by 5 o’clock today. I say to the government, in relation to accepting that request from the coalition, that that was a good thing, and I do not think that reflects on our broader views of the government business program.

This is a government business program, as I have said for a couple of weeks in a row now, is so mismanaged that the government is seeking to pull stunts every single Thursday. Every single Thursday the government pulls stunts. Each week the government say in this debate they will not pull stunts. I note that the second item on the notice paper is another sledge motion which just bells the cat that Thursday we will see another sledge. What this government business program is about is management of time of this chamber. When we have bills listed for consideration before 5 o’clock on Thursday, it would be fair for Victorians to assume that debate in this chamber until that time was on the bills that are listed, unless the Leader of the House raised another matter that could be considered through the week. It is fair and reasonable for Victorians to assume that. In fact when there are other motions that are to be considered, often the Leader of the House, especially when they are bipartisan motions, will note in her contribution on the government business program that, in addition to the bills of the week, we will be dealing with whatever the other thing is. What we have seen over recent weeks is the government seeking to use the whole of Thursday afternoon to deal with motions that attack the opposition, and of course on every occasion –

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, the government business program clearly outlines the four bills that are being debated, and I ask that you ask the member to come back to discussing the government business program, which is the four bills that are on the program.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Leader of the House, you were allowed context, and I will allow the member for Brighton the same courtesy.

James NEWBURY: Of course the Leader of the House does not want me to give context – which is completely reasonable in the debate on the government business program and how the time of the week is apportioned. I give context because not only have the government, each week on the government business program debate, said that they would not be debating other motions and then done so, but the notice paper today lists a sledge motion as the second item, which shows that is what the government will do.

It is worth noting that on each of those occasions on Thursdays the Leader of the House has never spoken. The Leader of the House has never had the courage to speak and has always sent out backbenchers. Then, on moving the substantive motion initially, the government minister last week spoke for 8 minutes of the 30-minute allocation – very short. To the minister who is at the table, in no way am I reflecting on the quality of the debate, but it did not go for the full time.

And so I will say that, as much as I enjoy procedural debates and speaking on these motions, I do not know why the government wants to keep giving me the best part of an hour of debate time every Thursday afternoon rather than dealing with substantive matters. So of course we are going to oppose the government business program, because the government is misusing chamber time. It is shameful. It reflects on them, and sadly, every Victorian is let down.

 Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (13:10): It gives me a great deal of pleasure to rise and speak on this week’s government business program, and I have to say it is great to follow the member for Brighton. I feel like I should refer to him as the fall guy. We know he is no Ryan Gosling, but the stunts he pulls here in this chamber each and every single week are just as funny.

We have a really busy week before us. We have four major pieces of legislation being debated in this house – really, really important pieces of legislation that we know that Victorian people, busy people, working mums and dads want us to bring to this place, debate, pass and get on and deliver for their communities. Our government is focused on getting on and delivering with these much-needed legislative changes. To start with we have the Electoral Amendment Bill 2025, which aims to make a range of improvements to the way that our state elections are run, and it makes good on a number of recommendations and a number of reports made on Victoria’s electoral system and processes since the previous review of the act in 2018, which was some time ago. I will be speaking on this one, and I cannot wait to share my thoughts on the changes in this legislation. I have a lot of thoughts on this.

We also have the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Free TAFE Guarantee) Bill 2026, which is going to thankfully enshrine our government’s free TAFE program because we do not want to have those opposite – God forbid they ever get into government – come and cut free TAFE, because free TAFE has saved hundreds of thousands of Victorian tradies and apprentices over $3000 in course fees to upskill and get qualified for the jobs that they need. Just while talking about tradies, here is a fun fact that a lot of people did not know: more than 80,000 apprentices and trainees have now had the support to build real skills and real careers thanks to this government. Would you believe that is enough to fill a stadium.

Because we are coming into International Women’s Day I will give a big shout-out to women who are doing apprenticeships on the tools. We are going ahead and helping more women get into trades with mentoring, wage subsidies and tradie boot camp. Tradie boot camp is giving our young women apprentices the real hands-on experience and skills to go ahead and get an apprenticeship. But like I said, this bill had to come before this place because we know those opposite will cut free TAFE, and that message of cutting free TAFE is going to be one that I am going to be taking all the way to the election, member for Lowan – all the way to the election.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Through the Chair.

Sarah CONNOLLY: TAFE matters to people, and I cannot wait to speak on this bill. We also have the National Gas (Victoria) Amendment Bill 2025, which will empower the minister to make some much-needed augmentations so that our state’s transmission gas pipeline has the flexibility and the capacity it needs to meet the energy needs of Victorian consumers. Because we are talking about energy and energy transition, I do want to give a big shout-out on a personal note to folks in Braybrook, Tarneit and Truganina. They are getting a brand new neighbourhood battery. There are 79 that we are rolling out across the state. I think it is 79; it could be 129. I need to check that. But folks in my local community are going to benefit from having a community neighbourhood battery. It is a big deal, and I know they cannot wait to see it switched on.

These are all really important changes and important amendments that are before the house this week, and I am sure that they will be accompanied by robust debate, because we know those opposite want to cut and shut down these sorts of important institutions like our TAFEs, like they did last time they were in government. It will be a very interesting debate to watch on these three pieces of legislation.

The fourth one that we are bringing before this place is the Crimes Amendment Bill 2026, which is really important. We are going to get that job done today. I am very much looking forward to speaking on that. By the looks of this week we are certainly not going to be slowing down with our legislative program and delivering the changes that all Victorians need. As the former Premier, one of the member for Brighton’s favourite people, liked to say in this place – let me say it, member for Brighton; it might bring back some memories – every day of government is a precious gift, an opportunity to make real and lasting change. I think if anything, debating a bill that is going to enshrine free TAFE into law to protect it from the Liberal Party and those opposite, who will cut it if they get into government, is about making lasting change – the change that people really, really want and that matters to busy people and working families. That is why I will be supporting the government business program and getting on and delivering exactly that.

 Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (13:15): Look, I am more than happy to speak on the government business program today. But as the Manager of Opposition Business pointed out, we will be opposing this week’s government business program, not because of the bill that was added to the program but just because of the mismanagement that we have seen since the beginning of this parliamentary year. It has been persistent. It has been a circus – I have said that before – and it is happening every week. I am sure that whilst there is the news of taxpayer dollars being funnelled into the pockets of bikies and organised crime, the taxpayer in Victoria certainly does not want to see more time wasted playing games to sledge the opposition in this place, which is exactly where we should be doing work to make life-changing legislation that can actually improve the lives of Victorians.

I am talking about improving lives of Victorians, and with the indulgence of the house, Deputy Speaker, I must send a shout-out to the Mildura SES, who did an amazing job over the weekend and up until last night, which is when I think they stood down – 192 call-outs in Mildura alone, after receiving 159 millimetres of rain in 36 hours. I am not quite sure what that is in inches – I should have looked at the rain gauge more closely – but that was just shy of our total rainfall for the entire of 2025. There were an incredible amount of rescues conducted, sandbagging, Bunnings was flooded – it is a travesty.

A member: Not Bunnings!

Jade BENHAM: Bunnings. Every golf course in Mildura is closed. The Swing Society tournament on Sunday has been postponed – it is a golf tournament, just to be clear. So I did want to send a huge shout-out to the Mildura SES. I have trained with them before. They taught me to tie some fancy knots for rescues at height, and they are a magnificent bunch. So thank you, Mildura SES, sincerely.

Getting to the bills that we have on the program this week: the Crimes Amendment Bill 2026, we have a few speakers on that. That is the one that was added late to the program. Again, just to run you through this, we are all very busy in this place. We all work very, very hard, I am sure of that – some harder than others, I am sure. Although I am not a rigid or scheduled person, when it comes to my job as the Nationals Whip in this place, I do have a rigid schedule. Thursday we get the government business program – and this may lead to my schedule being thrown out the window – and Thursday night I put it all together and send it out to my Nationals colleagues. When things change early in the week or over the weekend and I am out, busy at community events or community events have been cancelled – also a shout-out to the Sunraysia drag racing club, who had their event cancelled after it had started, which was, again, an awful thing to happen – it really throws my whole organisational schedule into chaos. That is why we are opposing the government business program – because of the mismanagement in this place.

A member interjected.

Jade BENHAM: And because, yes, I need to stay up late and do my paperwork and administration, and I do not like administration. I would much rather be out talking to people in my community, attending community events and finding out exactly what the top issues are in the Mildura electorate. At the moment it is an abundance of rain. But I would much rather be doing that and using the time in here when we come here every second week to the best of our ability, and since the beginning of this parliamentary year, we have simply not been able to do that because of the shambolic management that has gone on within this government that does not know what it is doing from one week to the next. They are splitting. It is just absolute chaos, which is why we are opposing the government business program this week.

 Dylan WIGHT (Tarneit) (13:20): It gives me great pleasure to rise this afternoon to speak in favour of this fantastic government business program. But before I do, I would like to take a moment to apologise to the member for Mildura for her having to do paperwork on a Sunday.

Members interjecting.

Dylan WIGHT: No, no, no, fair crack, I would like to sincerely apologise to the member for Mildura for messing up her weekend. It is a pretty good insight into what this place would be like if they were ever given the gift of government. The state just stops on a Sunday. We will stop running the state because it is a Sunday– I mean, really?

This government business program is a pretty clear demonstration of the priorities of this government, that the priorities of this government are in the right place and that we are here to represent the Victorian people and to be on their side. It is a pretty jam-packed program. Judging by the member for Brighton’s contribution, it is going to be a bit of a week. He is in a sassy mood – ‘sassy’ I think is the best way to describe it – but it is going to be a jam-packed government business program all the same.

We have the Electoral Amendment Bill 2025 here, which is in response to, as I think the member for Laverton said, several recommendations across several reports over the last little period to make some amendments and changes to the Electoral Act 2002 to give the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) the tools that they need to be able to run fair, unbiased elections, as is a pretty fundamental pillar of our democracy. I do not think it will be a surprise to anyone that it is my view that this election coming up is probably going to be one of the grossest, most unstable and nastiest elections that we have seen in this state, perhaps ever.

James Newbury: Well, just ask Jacinta not to do it.

Dylan WIGHT: Not to have an election?

James Newbury: No, not to be so nasty.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Through the Chair, member for Tarneit. Without assistance, member for Brighton.

Dylan WIGHT: As I said, sassy. It is going to be a long week. These amendments may seem minor but I think are going to play a pivotal role in making sure that the VEC have the capacity to deliver an election as they need to, and those amendments are on the government business program this week.

We have obviously got our Education and Training Reform Amendment (Free TAFE Guarantee) Bill 2026. When we came to office in 2014 we were faced with former TAFE campuses that were locked up, that had chains on the gates and that had been closed by the previous government. What that meant was not a generation but a litany of people, particularly in our outer suburbs and particularly vulnerable people, did not have the capacity between 2010 and 2014 to undertake tertiary education or to go and get a trade certificate. It was hard to get into trade school when you were an apprentice. It was hard to do TAFE courses because the previous government ripped funding out of TAFE and closed campuses.

I would like to acknowledge the contribution of Minister Tierney in the other place in respect to free TAFE and the power of work that she has done in this space. It took a Labor government and it took Minister Tierney to have the leadership and the foresight to deliver free TAFE, which is a huge cost-of-living saving to hundreds of thousands of Victorian families, to hundreds of thousands of Victorian tradespeople and to hundreds of thousands of Victorian workers that had the capacity to go and get the training that they needed for the job that they wanted and had the capacity to do it for free. Why is it on the government business program? Why do we have to legislate free TAFE? Because we know that, if they are ever given the chance, a coalition government would once again rip funding out of TAFE and close campuses. It is too important and it means too much to Victorians to allow that to happen, so we have to legislate it.

We have obviously got the Crimes Amendment Bill 2026, which is a new addition today to the government business program. It is incredibly important. As I have said in this place before, community safety is our number one priority. That is why we have had two different legislative packages to make sure that we can keep the community safe and make sure that we can hold people that are doing the wrong thing in our community accountable. As I said, it is a jam-packed government business program that shows that this government has the right priorities, unlike those opposite.

 Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (13:25): I rise to speak on the government business program as well. I very much take exception to the member who just spoke about the government getting their priorities right, about the priorities of Victorians and talking about being on their side, when we know that there are members from the government that have already spoken out publicly and said that one of the priorities of Victorians is the $15 billion in corruption money that is out there that Victorians are incensed about. They are incensed about this level of corruption that belongs in a Third World country. The government’s own members have spoken about the fact.

Mathew Hilakari: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, it is disappointing that the member for Warrandyte considers Victoria a Third World country, and that should be on the record. That is quite a disgraceful statement.

James Newbury interjected.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Brighton, if I cannot hear the point of order, it is going to take longer.

Mathew Hilakari: On relevance, of course, she has strayed well beyond the debate that is in front of us.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Members have been giving context, and I encourage the member to continue on the government business program.

Nicole WERNER: As I am able to do according to the standing orders, I would like to correct the record. The member absolutely misled the house on my statements. I said that the Allan Labor government are treating Victorians like it is a Third World country with their level of corruption. That is what I said, just so we do not continue to gaslight in this house.

I continue to say, the reason that we are opposing government business on this side of the house today is very clear. It is very clear that the government is not taking this time in the chamber seriously. They are spending week after week after week with sledge motion after sledge motion and talking about the fact that this is the priority to Victorians. Is it the priority to Victorians for the government to be talking about the opposition day in, day out when there are major issues, when we are facing the greatest corruption scandal in history in our state? We are hearing about this day in, day out – every day in our communities. I commend the member for Mildura. She is working hard in her community every single day. There have been floods in her community, there have been fires in her community, yet there are members on that side of the house that would dare to speak against –

Pauline RICHARDS: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, again, this is a government business program debate, so I would be looking forward to the member for Warrandyte responding to the program that is being debated.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member to continue on the government business program.

Nicole WERNER: Absolutely. The reason that we are opposing the government business program this week is because this chamber has descended into madness under the government’s watch. It is shambolic, it is a circus, and they have spent the entire time in this Parliament –

A member interjected.

Nicole WERNER: It is a shemozzle, absolutely. They have spent this time –

A member interjected.

Nicole WERNER: I did hear that, but I am not going to take issue with it. It absolutely has been a waste of time, trying to spend the time sledging the opposition, talking about that being the priority. What the government have done is turned this into a circus where they have used the chamber – abused the Parliament – to deflect, to gaslight, to make a mockery of what the truth is and to duck and weave and hide when there is the greatest corruption scandal facing our state here in Victoria. That is why we rise to oppose the government business program. Again –

Paul Edbrooke: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, could you please bring the member for Warrandyte back to the motion.

Sarah Connolly interjected.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Laverton is warned. The member was actually on the government business program.

Nicole WERNER: Again, we are here opposing the government business program. I do not understand the members opposite. It is like, ‘Where are your hearing ears?’ I do not even know because we are talking about opposing the government business program here today because it is just ridiculous the way that the government have just been playing games in the chamber and opposing the things that matter to Victorians, opposing the things that are priorities to Victorians, opposing private members bills on this side of the house and also shelving their own legislation. We were meant to talk about the Justice Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2025.

The justice bill was meant to come back to the house this week, but instead what they have done is they have killed their own bill. They have killed their own bill because they refuse to talk about corruption in Victoria. They refuse to investigate. They refuse to actually take it seriously – when $15 billion of taxpayers money has been spent on corruption under their watch.

Assembly divided on motion: