Wednesday, 18 March 2026

 Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (16:16): I too rise to grieve for Victorians today, and I grieve for Victorians looking to find a home should those opposite ever, unfortunately, return to government and implement their so-called housing policy. One of my favourite colleagues here in this place earlier on the housing motion talked very eloquently and sensibly about the impact of the Liberal Party’s housing policy and the ramifications that would have in the outer suburbs, including in our favourite shared community of Wyndham. But I want to talk about something else that is incredibly serious and affecting my community as we speak when it comes to the Liberal Party’s so-called housing policy. It is something that I see and that we need to address here in this place, because we are seeing it more and more and it must be called out. When it comes to housing, we are seeing people starting to blame migrant communities for the lack of housing and the housing crisis, blaming them for the rising house prices and blaming them for the pressure on housing. But let us be clear: this side of the house and many, many people around us know that is absolutely not true. It is not right, and today I want to talk a bit about that.

Families who come to this state are not the cause of the housing challenge. They are part of building and improving this great state of ours. They are focused on real solutions, but we are seeing the Liberal Party – those opposite, including the opposition leader – continually siding with Pauline Hanson and One Nation. I call them the Liberal–One Nation misinformation coalition. That is exactly what they are, and they must be called out for it. What is happening is that they are trying to shift the conversation to blaming migrant communities for the lack of housing supply. Instead of fixing housing, they are blaming migrants. In my patch in Melbourne’s west we are a community that is built by families from all over the world – every corner of the globe. You could probably see someone in Melbourne’s outer west and give them a wave, and they are from far-off lands. But they come together to call Wyndham home, to call Melbourne and Victoria home. And yes, many, many of them are Australian citizens and many of them in coming months will become Australian citizens. Their children who are born here are born Australian citizens. They are people who have come here. They are people who have worked hard. They are people who are raising their kids. They are people building a life. They sound kind of like people like us. You see it in our schools and you see it in our shops and our workplaces each and every single day, and that is what makes this place what it is. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia – an incredible place to live. I say to my community, ‘I will always stand up for you. I will always stand up for that.’ But right now families in my community are telling me that something is not quite right. It does not feel quite right, and I know exactly what it is.

I am going to tell you a story. I always tell stories in the matters of public importance and the grievance debates. I have a great local school, Truganina P–9, and they came up here at the end of last year and they had the most incredible group of leaders there at the school. Due to really unfair, unfortunate circumstances, they had – on their own initiative, not their principal’s, but their own – they had gotten together and they had set up an anti-racism taskforce. I am talking about children aged 13, 14, 15 years old. Racism that they see at school and out of school was so bad, they set up an anti-racism taskforce on their own initiative, and the goal is to stamp out racism in their school, to call it out and encourage people to call it out, and let people know what to do when it happens to them, to report it. Because what we know is many of our migrant community, when they are adults, they actually do not know what to do when it happens to them and it happens to them far too often. So it is teaching them at a young age what to do.

I was so proud of these kids and their teachers. I was so proud. But I was actually devastated that young teens have to go ahead and set up an anti-racism taskforce. It is something that should never have to happen. Kids were being picked on and harassed at school just because of their name, because their name was different. Their name was not Sarah or a Connolly. Their name was different. Their background was a bit different, and they wanted to be who they are. If you are a parent like me, that hits you and it hits you hard. Because what I know is that this does not just stay at school and the kids have worked it out. It seeps out into the community. It comes home with you. You are sitting there at dinner and they are having to talk about it at night-time with their parents. We have had kids asking, ‘Why does this happen? Why is this happening to me?’ And we know that these kids are still sitting there at school thinking about it the next day and the next day and the next day. Because let us face it, as adults, we know that is exactly what hate does. Racism is hate. That is exactly what hate does. That is what fear does, and that is not who we are. That is not who we are here in Victoria. It is not who we are in Wyndham. These kids, they were standing up for themselves. They were learning to find their voice and call it out. I think it is important that leaders here in this place start to call it out, because if you have got kids being taught from prep – like I said, Truganina P–9 College is from prep to year 9 ‍– you have really young kids learning how to call it out. It is time that leaders in this place start to call it out for what it is.

In my patch of Melbourne’s west, it is our Vietnamese family that works hard for their kids. That is who we are. It is our Indian small business owner backing themselves in. That is who we are. It is the Filipino workers who have helped build the community that makes it so wonderful. That is who we are. They are this community. They are welcome here. But all of this kind of racism stuff, it does not just come out of nowhere. Let us be honest, it is people like Pauline Hanson – and we have had openly people in the federal Liberal Party come out and blame migrant communities. They blame them for everything, constantly. But the real problem is this: when the Liberals keep standing alongside Pauline Hanson and One Nation, and they do not come here to this place – this is a very special place, and our migrant communities need to hear its leaders call it out for what it is. It is racism in its most blatant form. Time and time again, I have come to this place and I always feel sad having to do it, calling out those opposite for doing secret deals and standing alongside –

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, ‘The grievance debate is not an occasion to personally attack members of the opposition.’ I refer to Speaker Maddigan’s ruling at page 83 of the Rulings from the Chair.

The SPEAKER: The member has not referred to any particular member.

Sarah CONNOLLY: Let me say that again, and let me say it very clearly, because I think my community deserves to hear this. Not once has the Leader of the Opposition stood here in this place and called out racist behaviour and racism in our community and called it for what it is.

Bridget Vallence: Speaker, on a point of order, again I refer to Rulings from the Chair, Speaker Maddigan, page 83. ‘The grievance debate is not an occasion to personally attack members of the opposition’ with baseless accusations, which the member on her feet has been doing to the Leader of the Opposition and to members on this side generally. I would ask you to ask her to desist from doing so. They are baseless accusations.

The SPEAKER: I remind members that Rulings from the Chair is proportionate to rulings from the Chair from other Speakers. The member was not necessarily making an accusation; she was making a point. But I do remind members about reflections on other members in the chamber.

Sarah CONNOLLY: Sadly we saw it when Peter Dutton – remember him – singled out Lebanese Muslims; we saw it when Jacinta Price singled out Indian Australians; and we saw it only weeks ago when Renee Heath from the other place stood in this Parliament talking about who is a good Muslim and who is a bad Muslim. Can you believe that? It is that kind of language from those opposite that is divisive and divides people. It feeds exactly the same kind of politics that One Nation thrives upon. One Nation spreads fear and it spreads division, and those opposite continue to stand behind them by not calling it out for what it is. They might use softer words, but they are chasing the same votes.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, I really think that the member on her feet has not considered the advice that you provided before. She is making reflections yet again on members of the opposition which are seeking to attack members of the opposition and which are baseless.

The SPEAKER: I do not uphold that point of order, and I would ask you not to resume on the same point of order. I have ruled on it.

Sarah CONNOLLY: Let me make this crystal clear to the multicultural communities here in Victoria: they might use softer words, but they are still chasing the same votes, they will rely on the same preferences and when you chase the same votes as One Nation you give life to the same politics: the politics of fear, the politics of division, the politics of blaming communities. One Nation shouts it ‍– it screams it – and it has for far too long. The Liberal Party softens it, but the direction, let me make this clear, is still the same: division and fear. I want to say this to my fabulous and diverse community in Melbourne’s mighty west: you should never feel like you have to hide who you are. Your children should feel safe, and they should feel proud of who they are. I want you to hear this clearly: you belong here. That is something that this side of the chamber has only ever talked about. You belong here. This is your home, and we will not let the Leader of the Opposition and the Liberal–One Nation misinformation divide our community. We will not. We will fight back. Labor will stand with you. We will stand up against hate, and we will stand against haters. We will stand up for your safety. We will stand up for your children. We will stand up for your grandchildren. This is exactly why I am speaking on this grievance debate in relation to the housing policy and what those opposite fail to address: the blatant racism in blaming migrants here in this country for Australia’s housing crisis. They might blame Labor but they also blame migrants, and it needs to be called out.

Wayne Farnham: On a point of order, Speaker, I am starting to find this offensive, as my partner is actually from the Philippines. I would ask her to refrain from –

The SPEAKER: It is not a point of order. It is a point of debate.

Sarah CONNOLLY: What I will say is at any time those opposite can call out racism for what it is. Call it out. Join us. Stand with multicultural communities here in Victoria. Stand up for Melbourne’s west. You talk a lot about Melbourne’s west. Open your eyes. It is multicultural. Stand up. The answer to housing is not blaming migrants. It is about building more homes. It is about planning properly. It is having a plan; it is executing that plan. Do you know what else it is? It is also backing families, supporting families, supporting the families of the kids – I will come back to them again because they are just so wonderful, and I cannot wait to share this video with them – and students at Truganina P–‍9 College that are part of that anti-racism taskforce. That taskforce does not dissolve as those kids go on to their senior college. It will be passed down to future leaders for many, many years until we finally stamp out racism in this state, and that is exactly what the Labor government is doing.

I would welcome those opposite at any stage today calling it out for what it is and calling it out when they see it, because it seems to be happening a lot. It is intertwined with their policies and their values, who they are and what sits in their DNA. Labor will always stand up for our multicultural communities here in Victoria. We will always have their backs. We will always stand up for their families and to ensure that Victoria is a safe place for them to live and raise their children for many, many generations to come.