Wednesday, 23 September 2026

 Ella GEORGE (Lara) (17:46): I rise today to grieve for Victorians and for their future under a One Nation–Liberal coalition. I grieve for residents in the Lara electorate who cannot afford a One Nation–Liberal coalition. They cannot afford $40 billion of Liberal and One Nation cuts: $40 billion of cuts to health care, to education, to public transport and to the services that the residents of the Lara electorate rely on. I would like to know, and I think Victorians would like to know, what will the One Nation–Liberal coalition cut first? Which hospital will they close? Which train station will they close? How many TAFE campuses will be locked up? Because with $40 billion in cuts, you can say goodbye to free TAFE. They have got form on that, because the last time the Liberals were in government they closed TAFE campuses. They closed TAFE and they locked students out.

We already know that they have a plan to close schools. The One Nation–Liberal coalition announced that this week. They have announced that they will close six government schools. I am actually quite shocked by this. I have never heard of an opposition taking a policy to close down government schools into an election campaign, but that is what you get with a One Nation–Liberal coalition. This is disgraceful. Imagine being a parent of a child in grade 6 who is excited to start year 7 at a great government school, only to have the One Nation–Liberal coalition come in and close it and convert it to a select entry school that your child cannot go to. Converting six existing schools to select entry means massive disruptions to six already thriving communities of students and parents. If a student is already in a government school where they are settled, where they have friends and a routine, play sport, where they know the bus route, and they do not pass a select entry test at year 9, then they are out. Parents will have to find them somewhere else to go, away from their communities, separated from their friends, further from home with longer commutes.

You cannot trust the One Nation–Liberal coalition on education. All they offer is false hope. Their plan for $40 billion of cuts will devastate schools, and I think it is a lot more than six schools that are coming that will end up being closed under a One Nation–Liberal coalition. Do you know what the worst thing is about their plan to close the six schools? The One Nation–Liberal coalition will not even come clean on which schools they are closing. They will not tell us which six communities they are going to devastate by ripping out a state secondary school that every student can attend.

Schools are the hearts and souls of our communities. My mum was a primary school teacher at an incredible government school, and she taught me so much about what schools can offer young Victorians beyond learning. Schools are safe havens. They are places where children feel like they can belong. Schools are a place where our youngest Victorians can be nurtured to grow and thrive, and I am so proud of this government’s investment in our state schools.

We have delivered record funding. We have opened over 100 new schools and upgraded thousands of schools. In the Lara electorate that means upgrades to schools like Northern Bay College’s Goldsworthy campus, where we have delivered a $20 million project that has delivered an entirely new school entrance, a performing arts centre, an administrative building and incredible classrooms and learning spaces for the students there; upgrades to schools like Northern Bay’s Hendy campus, a school that was burnt down with a terrible fire about 18 months ago and a school that this Labor government is rebuilding; upgrades to schools like Nelson Park School, a beautiful school community and a specialist school in the Lara electorate that supports children from prep to year 12, and I am so proud that we have upgraded both campuses; upgrades at schools like Western Heights College, which runs an incredible specialist sports program, and up until recently, the students there did not have a gym – but that is right, this Labor government came in and built them a gym; and upgrades to Lara Secondary College, where we are upgrading the toilets, and to Lara Lake Primary School, where we have installed traffic lights out the front to make it safer for students as they are coming to and from school. All of that is at risk under a One Nation–Liberal coalition, because if the One Nation Liberal coalition is cutting $40 billion, there will not be any money to upgrade any more schools anywhere in Victoria.

Only Labor is investing in education, and the results speak for themselves, with Victoria achieving the best NAPLAN results in the nation two years in a row and a record pay deal for teachers. But all of that is at risk under a Liberal–One Nation coalition. So I grieve for every Victorian who relies on our great government schools for a great education, because the future is grim with a One Nation–Liberal coalition. I grieve for those six communities where the One Nation–Liberal coalition has a secret plan to close six schools, and I call on those opposite to own up to what they plan to do and tell Victorians which schools they plan to close if they are elected in November.

In her contribution, the member for Footscray noted that she can hold a grudge and reflected on the actions of past Liberal governments where they closed down and sold off our schools. Well, I can also hold a grudge. As I said earlier, my mum was a public school teacher, and she lived through those Kennett years. I was in primary school then, but I remember them too. They stick with you. I could not understand why anyone, let alone the leader of our state, could think that closing schools and selling them off was a good idea. At that young age I already knew just how important our state schools are, and I heard from my mum about the uncertainty of Liberal cuts, with schools being closed and sold off around Victoria, with teachers being sacked. I have a long memory, and I will always hold a grudge against the Liberal Party for what they did to Victoria’s education system in the 1990s. And while it is shocking that they now have a plan to cut $40 billion from Victoria’s schools and hospitals, we should not be surprised, because this is who they are. They have cuts in their DNA.

I grieve for Victorians and for the people of the Lara electorate who rely on our public health system, because with $40 billion of cuts planned, no hospital, no health service and no community in any part of Victoria is safe. In Geelong we remember what happened the last time the Liberals were in government. The Labor Party committed to building a second public hospital. So did the Liberal Party, but when they were elected, that was one of the first promises they broke. Instead of a public hospital, guess what they built? They built a private hospital, a private hospital that is not accessible for everyone in our community. And it gets worse, because public services at Barwon Health were shifted to the new private hospital, leaving Geelong residents with poorer health care. I grieve for Victorians because that will happen again under a One Nation–Liberal coalition. With One Nation as the coalition partner, it gets even worse, because One Nation want to Americanise our health system. That would be devastating for Victorians.

One Nation’s health policy includes withdrawing Australia from the World Health Organization and scrapping the regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Victorians cannot afford an American-style health system. Residents in the Lara electorate cannot afford that, because they rely on great local health services, like the services at Barwon Health North, a massive health facility in Norlane built by this state Labor government. It provides dental care, dialysis programs, medical imaging, allied health care and an urgent care clinic. Hundreds of local residents are visiting Barwon Health North every single week for their appointments. It is always full. I recently visited with the Premier when we dropped in to see their dental clinic. It was a morning, and in the mornings they operate as an emergency clinic. You can show up without an appointment and be seen to, and let me tell you this: that waiting room was packed because Victorians rely on public healthcare services.

Labor is building the new women’s and children’s hospital in Geelong. This is a $500 million investment, the largest investment in regional health in Australia. It will deliver a new children’s inpatient unit, a new neonatal and parent care unit and expand the special care nursery capacity, expanded maternity inpatient beds and birthing suites, a dedicated operating theatre and specialist outpatient clinic rooms. It is an incredible facility, and this is vital for residents in Geelong, particularly as our region grows. All of that is at risk under a One Nation–Liberal coalition, and I grieve for Victorians should that day come.

I am so proud to represent one of the most multiculturally diverse electorates in Victoria. For decades Geelong’s north has welcomed migrants and refugees with open arms – people from Croatia, Macedonia, Vietnam, Greece and Ukraine. More recently we have welcomed families from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to name a few. We have flourishing Karen and Karenni communities. For many, the journey to Australia has not been easy, particularly for those who arrived as refugees, leaving everything behind in search of a better life. But they have been welcomed in Geelong, and we have embraced their culture, their faith and their traditions. On this side of the house, we are committed to the belief that our strength in Victoria lies in our diversity and that the contributions from people of all backgrounds have made our state better. Under our Labor government it does not matter where you were born, where your family came from or how you practise your religion, you are valued here and you are part of the wonderful multicultural community that makes our state so great. The divisive rhetoric that is all too frequent in political discourse in 2026 concerns me. I am sick of deleting racist comments from my social media. I am sick of listening to my friends talk about how the policies of One Nation make them feel. I am sick of people thinking that in 2026 it is okay to divide our community and tell people to go back to where they came from. I will always stand up against racism in our community, and I grieve for my community and a future where this behaviour is not called out.

One thing is clear: the Liberals have no solutions, just cuts for Victorians. They have announced that they are going to be cutting $40 billion from the state budget, and behind that are jobs – jobs for hardworking Victorian families. Now we have heard from independent economists that have confirmed that their plan is not credible and does not add up. Part of their plan includes cutting one in seven public sector jobs. That includes health workers, disability workers and child protection officers, and we all know they will not stop there. It will be teachers and nurses next, and we know that because they have done it before. This report is clear: the Liberals will need to cut 30,000 jobs. That is 30,000 jobs that Victorians cannot afford to have cut. This is a real One Nation–Liberal plan that will hurt working people and will hurt working families. Their $40 billion of cuts will devastate the services that people in Victoria rely on. It will mean longer hospital wait times, fewer nurses, fewer hospital beds and no new hospitals, like the one we are building right now in Geelong. It will mean cuts to schools and cuts to teachers and no new schools like the over 100 we have built across Victoria. Victorians cannot afford the real risk of a Liberal–One Nation government, and this election is a choice between Labor’s plan to fight for working people or the One Nation–Liberal plan to cut $40 billion worth of services, to cut 30,000 jobs and to hurt working Victorians.

Question agreed to.

The SPEAKER: The time has come for me to interrupt business in accordance with the resolution of the house today for the members for Sydenham and Murray Plains to make their valedictory statements. I remind visitors in the galleries that no photography or filming is allowed.