Thursday, 30 July 2026

 Melissa HORNE (Williamstown – Minister for Ports and Freight, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Prevention of Family Violence) (17:33): The member for Footscray is right: words do matter. What members in this Parliament say carries weight, and those with the privilege to serve in this place should carry themselves to a standard that Victorians rightfully expect.

Those on the other side are all about words. In fact there was a 297-word ‘plan’ to tackle family violence, released just in time for an election – no funding, just 297 words. And where were they last decade when Labor called the nation’s first royal commission into family violence? They had nothing to contribute. When we delivered every single one of its 227 recommendations, they stood by idly. Now, weeks out from an election, they have printed a pamphlet, and they have called it a plan.

Let us talk about what Labor has actually done. We have built a 24/7 crisis model. We have built the Orange Door network so that any Victorian anywhere has a front door to safety and support. We have funded Safe Steps to deliver support services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We have delivered new crisis accommodation for women and children escaping violence, and we have trained more than 400,000 workers to identify family violence risk before it turns deadly. We have built the only central information point of its kind in Australia, so services can see the risks early and keep perpetrators in view rather than letting them slip through the cracks, and we have invested tens of millions of dollars to change the behaviour of men who use violence. The list goes on.

But these are not just words. This is a world-leading system. It is a system that has been built over a decade, brick by brick, and it has been built by a government that treats the prevention of family violence as an absolute priority, because we know that a woman is killed every 11 days by her intimate partner. Let us compare that to those on the other side. They are a party committed to billions of dollars worth of cuts, and history tells us it is the frontline services that are keeping women and children safe that pay the price. You cannot claim to care about family violence while planning to strip the funding that underpins the entire system. Victorians know the difference between a government that builds and an opposition that cuts. But to the member for Footscray: please know that our government has never treated women’s safety as a talking point, and we never will. There is more work to do, absolutely, about keeping women and children safe, but it is only a Carroll Labor government that will do it.

 Anthony CARBINES (Ivanhoe – Leader of the House, Minister for Police, Minister for Community Safety, Minister for Victims, Minister for Racing) (17:36): The honourable member for Bulleen, who I think is no longer with us, raised a matter for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure seeking the very best preventative measures with regard to extraction filtration on the North East Link Program. I was certainly doorknocking up there in the Macleod area in my electorate, on the border with the member for Bundoora, and met people there who are excited about that project. They are enduring some challenges with a very significant project getting 15,000 trucks off the road every day, but they are excited about the significant investment and what that will mean for them and our community. It is a project that our community has supported over these past three elections.

The member for Preston raised a matter for the Minister for Planning, and the action he sought was with regard to the removal of covenants around the Merrylands development, particularly around type 3 covenants being in place, and he provided details on those matters. The member for Ovens Valley raised a matter for the Minister for Education, who is also the Premier, and the action that he sought was with regard to young Blake and his capacity to be supported to attend the Queenscliff camp in August–September. The member for Monbulk raised an action for the Minister for Renters with regard to an update on measures being taken to help inform renters across her Monbulk electorate when they move into a disaster-prone area before they sign on the dotted line.

The member for Berwick raised a matter for the Premier with regard to section 10 of the Victoria Police Act 2013 and some actions for me to take as Minister for Police in relation to the Premier. I will be sure to pass that on to the Premier. The member for Thomastown raised a matter for the Minister for Energy and Resources with regard to the need to take action and investigate fully the provision of services for customers and residents in her electorate being affected adversely by the lack of action being taken by AusNet on those matters. The member for Melbourne raised a matter for the Minister for Industrial Relations in relation to wage theft cases, particularly affecting 13 workers, and I will be sure to pass that matter on.

The member for Pascoe Vale, the Parliamentary Secretary for Community Safety, raised a matter for the Minister for Industrial Relations with regard to updates and action that the Carroll Labor government is taking to support workers, particularly transport workers, in our state. It was good to be with the Transport Workers’ Union with the member for Pascoe Vale and many of our colleagues and with both Sam Lynch and Michael Kaine and many of our transport workers. We were there with the Premier to understand some of the challenges that they face to make sure that there is not wage theft for them and the way in which they go about their work safely but also for them to be supported to do that, both here by our government and also in Canberra. I was very pleased for us to be able to meet with them today.

The member for Hawthorn raised a matter for the Minister for Public and Active Transport, and the action that he sought was with regard to accessibility for people on the public transport network across the state. And the member for Footscray had her matter responded to by my colleague. I think that covers it. Go Cats!

The SPEAKER: Go Pies! Thank you, Minister. Thank you, members. Can I, as always, thank the clerks and our parliamentary staff for their support this week. The house now stands adjourned.

House adjourned 5:40 pm.