Wednesday, 12 August 2026

 Alison MARCHANT (Bellarine) (17:16): I rise to speak on this grievance debate. I suppose, with an election coming up in only a few months, what has been weighing on my mind is what kind of Victoria we would have under a very different government – a government from the opposition and, with that, a government that would only be able to govern with One Nation. I think today in the grievance debate I will not be grieving for a political party; no, I actually will be grieving for the Victorian people, who could end up with a government that would dismantle everything that we have built in this state.

I think about what is at risk here. When I look around my own community in the Bellarine, I get to see the things that we have invested in – the things that we have chosen to invest in and not walk away from – because we know the privilege and the responsibility of being in government and having not to waste a moment in doing the things that the Victorian people need us to do. Although I have only been in this position for a term, the Labor member before me, Lisa Neville, was certainly a huge and hard worker for the Bellarine electorate. I think I have continued to do that work for the Bellarine, because when I drive around the Bellarine I get to see the CFA stations we have, the new schools that have been built and the upgrades of classrooms.

I see that the Geelong hospital and the Geelong healthcare system have had the biggest health investment we have ever made in the region. The women and children’s hospital is being constructed and being fitted out at the moment, and that is going to absolutely change the way health care is delivered in our region. We have also opened up a dedicated children’s emergency department. Families tell me all the time what it means to take a sick child into emergency and to have a safe and family-friendly area dedicated to them and services, doctors and treatment rooms where children feel a lot safer and a lot more comfortable to get the care that they need. It has absolutely changed the way that our region has health care.

I have seen surf lifesaving clubs upgraded. We are supporting our volunteers, our emergency services. Soon we will have a new St Leonards Pier, which will start to be built – an absolutely incredible project for that community. We are building an indoor aquatic centre right now. Drysdale have got a new sporting precinct at stage 2, and you can only do stage 2 when stage 1 has been completed. There are new soccer pitches and soccer room clubs for that community. At Collendina there are safety upgrades for their footy oval and a new pavilion. Wallington Reserve is having upgrades to its pavilion to ensure that it is disability-compliant but accessible for everyone. They run wonderful programs there with Bellarine Bears Baseball and the Wallington Cricket Club, inviting children with all abilities – children who would not normally be able to be part of a sporting club. It may be autism; it may be that they have physical disabilities. They now can have access to sport but also in a club environment and a pavilion that will make them feel as comfortable as they need to. Those things make a difference in my community. These things matter. It is more than lines in a budget; it is more than items in a report. It is actually about people, and that is what this government has continued to do. I grieve for what it might look like under an opposition government, because so much that we have built will be undone with the stroke of a pen. We have people who turn up every day to make our communities great, and I worry that they will not be supported.

When the opposition go to talk about the things that they may do, the question remains: what are they going to cut to do that? We know that they have said that they will need to cut to make budget decisions, but what does that mean? Does that mean that someone waits longer for hospital care? Does that mean that a child does not get a kinder place? I worry because eventually that reaches the frontline services and it reaches deep into the heart of the community. When you live in a regional community like the Bellarine, they are just not numbers but actually real people. They are people that are doing jobs and people who are building our communities. I think there is a difference, and our Premier has talked about this – that the dollar that he spends will be respected. I really believe that there is a difference between finding efficiencies and just simply cutting your way out of a problem.

It is easy to cut. It is absolutely easy to cut. What is harder to do is govern and build, and what we have been able to build over the last decade is a system and reforms that actually have made a huge difference to this community. We need to continue to go forward. What is at risk, and what I would grieve for, is a Victoria that would look very different. We have seen this before. It is not new for the Liberals to talk about cuts. When they were last in government they cut health, TAFE funding was cut ‍– 22 campuses were closed and staff lost their jobs – school funding was cut and regional rail projects were not built. Nothing happened. The economy stopped. The state stopped. It was not until a Labor government came in to say that government has the privilege and the responsibility to get on with it that we started to actually do things and deliver things. We are absolutely committed to that.

I suppose, in talking about that contrast between what the opposition may offer and our government and what we have delivered, it is really about why I am here as well. I think there is a fundamental difference between us and the opposition. For us, there is absolutely a set of values behind this – the values of having a fair go, aspiration, that we support our businesses and that people look after each other when they need a hand up. We use that privilege of government and responsibility to make our communities better than we found them. That is why we are all here. We also believe that no matter where you come from, no matter your background, no matter your postcode, no matter what you are born into, you have the opportunity to thrive.

People do not choose to become sick. People do not choose to have the barriers that they do. Some people work incredibly hard and some people just need a hand up, and I believe that is where government needs a role. It is not for government to do everything for people, and it is not to tell people how to live their lives, but it is a role of government to be there when they need it. I think that is that fundamental difference. What happens, for example, if you lose your job? What happens if you do become sick? I believe the answer should never be ‘You’re on your own’ or ‘You should be able to afford health care’, like in the American system where you have to pay when you go to the emergency department. We certainly, on this side, do not believe in that type of government. We believe we can build, we believe we support our communities and we believe that we can make reforms to create opportunity but also to make sure that those people that otherwise would be left behind are not forgotten.

I also believe that when government acts, it should be acting with absolute purpose. We have reformed in so many areas in this state, and I will just touch on a few. If you have a think about what you can make better or how you could give a child the best start in life, well, you give them opportunity in free kinder. You reform three- and four-year-old kinder so they can have a great opportunity and families can have the opportunity if they want to go back to work as well. It is opening doors for families and supporting families so that children get their best start in life. How can we make education more accessible? What is the purpose of investing in our education and making sure our students and young people have opportunities? Well, you build TAFEs, you build tech schools, you create reforms like the VCE vocational major, an absolute game changer for young people who may not want to go to university or would like to do a trade or not even have a HECS debt and go into workplaces and start an apprenticeship and get a job after they leave school. The VM has absolutely transformed. Now, what do they do? Do they cut it? Do they support something like that? It is things that we have done that are building upon building blocks that we have built, and I really grieve for communities that would face those types of cuts.

How do you make health care more accessible? What is the purpose of investing in health? Making life easier for people to access health care. We have done the virtual women’s health clinics – absolutely game changing. The virtual emergency department – absolutely world leading. The fact that I can be at home if I have got a sick child, if it is not life threatening but I am really not sure what to do, and I can call the virtual emergency department and have a video call with a doctor – absolutely incredible. Chemist Care Now – I can go to my chemist to get support without going to a GP for certain conditions. And urgent care clinics – we know that the federal government have picked them up around the country.

How do we make housing more attainable? Housing has been a huge reform that we have undertaken more recently. You know how you reform? You build. You do not block, you build. You actually go and build housing, you make sure that your communities are wonderful places to live, you invest in police and you invest in strengthening our laws. How do you create opportunities in regional Victoria? Well, you support tourism, particularly in the Bellarine. We support tourism operators, and we support businesses that encourage more tourists to stay. You do workers accommodation to ensure that workers can now be in areas that were struggling with mainly seasonal industries. That is the role of government. How do you make it a bit fairer for people who are doing it tough? You have rego rebates, you cap the regional V/Line fares, you do half-price public transport and you do free youth Myki cards for youth to have free transport. These are the things you do to make life easier for Victorians. These are the things, as I mentioned, that we are doing and are continuing to build upon.

With the time left I want to talk a little bit about representation. I am really proud to be a fierce advocate for the Bellarine. I suppose I could say I do not take no very well as an answer, and I like to advocate for the community on their behalf, and if the answer is no at the first instance, well, then I go back and think about other ways that we can maybe get things done. But it is something that I think people are thinking about: ‘Who’s going to fight for me? Who’s going to represent me? Who’s going to actually have my back? Who’s going to be able to invest in my family to make my life that bit easier?’ And absolutely our government has shown that we do that. We understand, we listen to our communities and we absolutely fight for them as well. This is all under risk.

When I hear about $40 billion in cuts, I think Victorians are entitled to ask where those cuts are going to go and where those cuts are going to come from. At some point choices will have to be made, and those choices affect people. As a former teacher, certainly education is one that particularly concerns me, and I want to make sure that children get the support that they need. One of the biggest reforms that I certainly advocated for and certainly am really pleased this government put in place was phonics in early years. Explicit teaching changes the way that young people now will build foundations in their literacy to go on and build a love for learning. Really, it is a love of learning so they can have this success and build upon that. I have spoken in this place about my son, who has dyslexia. He missed out on that, and we will have to do that when he is in the older classes. But it is going to absolutely transform families, how their children are supported in those younger years. I know we have made some reforms around testing as well so teachers can have the best tools to test their students and understand the things that they need in those younger years.

As I conclude, I am really proud to be in a state that deeply supports our multicultural community. We are a state that is open and inclusive, and we can be optimistic. We do not use fear and we do not use division to solve complex problems. I would absolutely grieve for a state under the opposition, and I really think that people doing it tough need Labor governments.