Wednesday, 23 September 2026

 Katie HALL (Footscray) (16:46): I am pleased to make a contribution to today’s grievance debate and would like to start by setting out how long it is I can hold a grievance: it is a long time. I am going to go back to 1998. In 1998 young Katie was a high school student. I was in year 10. Often we are asked by school students, ‘What made you get into politics?’ In 1998 I was one of the school students who helped organise a school strike against Pauline Hanson. And I know, Speaker, you would not condone this sort of behaviour, but I actually got caught wagging school because I was on TV, and I know my father, my beautiful late father, was actually secretly quite proud of his daughter that day. That was one of the reasons I became politically interested as a young person, because I was shocked to see the demonisation of our migrant community from Asia that Pauline Hanson was targeting in her rhetoric at that time. The other issue that made me quite political at that time was the Liberal Party’s cuts to education. Of course Footscray High was one of the schools that they closed down. I came from a family of teachers and nurses, and what I saw was family members losing their jobs, teachers going into a teaching pool, and schools being closed down and sold off to developers, as we had in Footscray.

I still hold the same grudges that I held in 1998 when I attended that school strike against Pauline Hanson, and it is quite scary that the more things change, the more they stay the same. We are now entering the election period. This is indeed the last sitting week of the 60th Parliament, and One Nation have emerged as a force yet again in Australian politics. I am not shocked; I am disappointed to see that the Liberal Party will not rule out forming government with One Nation, and I am genuinely scared and concerned for what that could mean for my community of Footscray.

We heard just before the member for Gippsland South say with some pride that treaty will be one of the things that they scrap – that they would be happy to save money by scrapping treaty after the decades of work it has taken us to get to this point, to be leaders in this nation in reconciling with our First Peoples and providing autonomy for our First Peoples through treaty. I am shocked and appalled that the Leader of the Opposition could be a supporter of the Voice to Parliament referendum but then come in here and say that under her government she would scrap treaty. I do not think the people of Kew would be very supportive of that either.

We know that the opposition has announced that they will cut $40 billion from the state budget, indeed that there will be a mini budget before Christmas. I think about the many thousands of public servants who might be worried heading into Christmas about whether they will have a job. What will this mean for our nurses and for our teachers? The Liberal Party have already announced that they will close six schools without consultation so that they can create three select entry schools, abandoning the children and young people who would otherwise be going to a high-quality local state school.

I am proud that I have been part of a government that has upgraded every school in Melbourne’s inner west in the Footscray electorate. We have invested more than $130 million across the schools in Footscray, and of course we reopened Footscray High, the very school that the Liberal Party under the Kennett government closed, leaving the young people – at that time the school was in Yarraville on Wembley Avenue – and those without a local high school.

It is scary to think that One Nation will be shaping the politics and policy of a Liberal–One Nation government, that they will do anything and say anything to get into power, including a deal with One Nation. This election is a real choice: Labor’s plan to fight for working people, as we always do, or the Liberal–One Nation plan to cut services and to hurt working people. We know that there are ruthless cuts coming. The Liberal Party cannot do this alone. The Liberals and One Nation can only form government in Victoria together, and under a Hanson–Wilson government we know that One Nation will not stop the cuts. They will vote for every single one of them. In the Victorian Parliament the One Nation member in the other place has already voted with the Liberals for a spending cap requiring those deep cuts to public services that we saw during the Kennett era and are now resurfacing again.

One of the other things that made me a political young person was women’s rights and women’s healthcare rights. Something I wanted to reflect on, which I think is a very real risk of a Liberal–One Nation government, is women’s rights that we have fought so hard for on this side of the chamber being clawed back. They need to come clean with Victorian women about what they will say goodbye to. Will they agree to a deal with One Nation to stop women having access to safe and legal abortion? Will they get rid of paid parental leave, something that stops thousands of women from being trapped in poverty? And do they agree with Pauline Hanson’s disgusting assertion that family violence is something that women make up? How will they make it even harder for women to report this?

It is shocking to think that in this day and age, after all of the work that we have done, we could be taking such backward steps. Voluntary assisted dying and all of the extraordinary social reforms that have meant so much to Victorians: it will be very easy for the Liberal Party and One Nation to tear those down. But what I wonder even more is where the moral line is, where the ethical line is, in terms of the corrosive impact that this will have on our democracy. I think it is important when we have the opportunity to be in this place that we reflect on the kind of society that we want as Victorians and the importance of having kind leadership and civility in politics. I know that when I open my Facebook page as a member of Parliament, I see horrendous commentary from One Nation supporters flooding my social media channel. It is disgusting. I think that that is a concern that we really should be speaking about: what will happen to public discourse in Victoria if One Nation get a foothold in this place.

I would like to conclude my contribution to this grievance debate, perhaps my last of the 60th Parliament, by focusing on civility in politics. Whatever side of politics you are on in this place, I have thought in the 60th Parliament we have all come here with an aspiration to do good things. Representing Footscray and our community in this place has been the honour of a lifetime for me. There have been extraordinary days of joy. There have been hard days too, because people often come to their member of Parliament when they are experiencing the most difficult of circumstances. Some of the best moments we have among my team are where we resolve a problem, perhaps for a single constituent seeking help. To that end, to counter some of the negativity in public discourse, we set up the ‘nice wall’ in my office, and we have filled it with cards, letters and words of gratitude for my staff who do so much and work so hard to make lives better and make our community stronger. Sometimes, too often, when someone wants to direct a casual cruelty in my direction, it lands on my staff.

Every single member of my team lives locally. They are passionate inner westies who care deeply, and I could not do this without them. Sel Sanli has been by my side every day for eight years. I will be grateful for his friendship and stewardship of team Footscray forever. Linden Nelson joined my team after COVID, and her articulate and tireless advocacy and her flawless attention to detail have undoubtedly changed local lives. Patty Cashman’s previous work as a disability worker shines through in his quiet and kind approach to his work. Patty, your future is very bright. Zerin is new to my team. She is kind and cheerful and she is a champion for small business. She is an accomplished communicator. My parliamentary secretary advisers Luke and Cat are both local, and they have thrown themselves into my mission to reform the way music education is delivered in government schools. It has become their mission too, and I am confident the body of work we have produced together will ensure that children, whatever their background, have the life-enriching opportunity to learn an instrument or learn how to read music from singing. Every day I am mindful that I come to this place representing the shared values of the Footscray branch of the Labor Party. I get to stand on their shoulders, and I hope that our successes – the school upgrades, the new hospital, the truck bans – have made them proud.

When it comes to civility in politics, sometimes your family feels the harshest criticisms the most. To my partner Joseph Ischia, I am not sure where you came from but thank God you are here. All of us in this place choose this life, but the people we love are conscripts. I thank him for picking me up and providing me with perspective on those tough days. To my children who also did not choose this life, one day I hope you realise that I pursued this path to make life better, fairer and more equitable for future generations. I love you more than anything.

In my first speech in this place I said I would give this job everything I had, and to quote again the wise mantra of Friday Night Lights, ‘Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose’. So as we head into what will be undoubtedly an unedifying and brutal election, I hope that everyone can reflect before they write a nasty comment on social media, before they pick up the phone and ring my electorate office to abuse one of my hardworking local staff members, that we are all here to do something good for our communities, that we can be kinder and that we should encourage civility in politics. That does not mean we cannot call out the things we disagree with, but we should always do it with respect.