Wednesday, 23 September 2026

 Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham) (18:01): Could I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land that we are all gathered on, paying my respects to the Wurundjeri and Bunurong of the Kulin nation and acknowledging all traditional owners across Victoria. To some of our special guests who are here joining us in the gallery today, who have been absolute pillars of strength to me, in particular during my time as Minister for Treaty and First Peoples – Antoinette Braybrook, Paul Briggs and Ngarra Murray – and others that might be joining us outside, thank you.

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Can I also acknowledge His Holiness Shri Radha Manohar Das Swamiji – thank you for being here – and Uros Rasic, Labor Party president and Labor candidate for Sydenham. I have leaders from across Sydenham here tonight, particularly out in Queen’s Hall, from across our schools, our sports clubs and even our Taylors Lakes Lions Club. I have leaders from the Australian Nepalese community, the Australian Indian community, Australian Irani community, Australian Serbian community, Australian Macedonian community, Australian African community and many, many friends from the Australian Muslim community from a range of different countries, all here joining us tonight. Can I also acknowledge my colleagues from Brimbank and Melton city councils, who I have had the pleasure of working with over the last 16 years, and former members of this place that are here.

Love has kept me going for the last 16 years – the love from my family; the kindness and the love from my friends and colleagues in this place; the love and mutual respect from my staff, my local ALP members and my AWU family; and the love from my electorate and its unique landscapes and unique people.

My late husband Stephen Patrick, who I was with for 16 glorious years, has now passed on, and I have been without him for the last nine years. But that is only physically, not spiritually. He has never left my heart or my head for all those years. His voice of political experience and reason would always whisper in my ear in the last few years when I had to face tough times or doubted myself or even when I was on the edge of blowing a gasket, as he would say. He was there to keep me on track. The strength and depth of his love he demonstrated and taught me made me a better person and definitely a better politician.

I want to thank some of his friends who have always supported Xavier and me – to Michael Lee, Leo McLay, John and Tony Sheldon, Terry Zeniros, Wayne Forno and Mark and Fran Bishop, thank you – and of course, my sister-in-law Linda, who recently passed away and who I know is in the big bar in the sky having a red with Steve, and my brother-in-law Duna.

I want to say thanks to my amazing stepchildren, who I love with all my heart. They could have chosen to walk away from their evil stepmother after their dad died, but in fact we have built even stronger bonds and relationships. I look forward to having the opportunity to spend more time with them in the Blue Mountains after leaving this place: Lauren, our fierce unionist – the Health Services Union is lucky to have you as an assistant secretary; Julia, our bright feminist, sassy teacher; Michael – intelligent, witty, loving, kind and a total smart-arse; Georgia – gorgeous Georgia – the boss lady and teacher; and Madeleine – M-A-D-E-L-E-I-N-E, because she has to have her name spelt right – is our angel and our NICU nurse.

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All of my stepchildren are now parents. Nine years ago when Steve passed away there were six grandchildren: Jacob, William, Eadie, Rory, Nate and Audrey. But since then another six children have joined our family: Marcellin, Frederick, Theodore, Reuben, Eleanor and Hamish. I love them all very much.

To my beautiful son Xavier: you are my source of pride and joy. Your political wit and intuition is out of this world. Your ability to sign anyone up to the Labor Party is phenomenal. You are smart, charismatic and smooth, and you are able to con me out of yet another $20 every day of the week. I think you have been made for union leadership or perhaps even politics. But whatever you do, darl, just finish your bloody degree. You were only five years old when I got preselected, and you have had to endure both a mum and a dad in politics your entire life. When Dad was going to Canberra and that suitcase would be in the hallway, you would cry because you knew he was going. When I sat late nights in here – because we used to sit till 10:30 or 11 – I would get home and pull up in the driveway of our Keilor home and you would be there with your little face looking out the window because you could not go to sleep until Mum got home.

I know that losing your dad at such a critical time in a young boy’s life – when you were 13 – has a profound impact on so many people, but you rose above the trauma, and you make him and me proud every day. Thank you for being by my side at rallies, during campaign launches and during the longest days at pre-poll. On four different occasions you were by my side on polling day and of course on late nights you have been with me in Parliament, particularly when we did the voluntary assisted dying bill and you came in and stayed the night. In recent years you have listened to my debriefs about a hectic day in Parliament or just let me have a bitch about someone while we walk the dogs. You have always been by my side, and I will always be by yours.

To my mum, Diane, and stepdad Mark: I could not have done it without you. Thank you for being on this crazy journey with me and supporting me. Mum, you were so young when you had me. You were only 18, and our lives were tough. We never had any money, and we moved house 19 times in 20 years. But your strength, determination and unconditional love have helped me reach the really fantastic career heights that I have reached. I recently heard my friend Antoinette speak about her relationship with her mum and a spiritual sign that she has in the dragonfly, and I thought to myself, what is that spiritual sign that Mum and I have? I cannot help but think it is an Aperol spritz, Mum.

To my brothers Glenn, aka Mummy’s little meatball, and Brent, aka car wash social media extraordinaire: whilst I still think the Roos are a much better club than the Swans, I still think that Taylors Lakes is better than Sunbury and I think Mum’s spag bol is better than both of yours, I do concede that without the encouragement, support and pride of both of you, and both of you always standing up for me – thank you – I would not be here today.

To my nephew Gus: you are a legend. That is all I need to say. My niece Tara: I am really proud of you. To my friend Sidarshan: thank you for your support and for introducing me to meditation to keep me sane and for keeping me focused on my end goals always. And to Uros, who has been dubbed many a time as my political son – he is now the son of Sydenham; everyone owns him – I want to say thanks for your years of support, and to Catherine as well.

I love this quote: ‘I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realised that I was somebody.’ That was said by Lily Tomlin, and it is something that I know all too well as an MP and a minister. Some of the proudest things that I have worked on in my time, alongside my staff, are things like getting 50 per cent women on government-paid boards; becoming the first state government to achieve 50 per cent women in the Parliament and more than 50 per cent women in our cabinet; establishing Respect Victoria; eliminating the use of NDAs; boosting women’s rights and entitlements in the workplace; establishing working women’s centres; and in the public sector supporting and implementing family violence leave and superannuation and long service leave entitlements being paid on parental leave. These are world-changing and life-changing legislative changes. We have also had gender equality legislation, gender budgeting legislation, a women’s pain inquiry and a massive investment in women’s health and reproduction clinics. Our family violence investments have totalled over $4 billion, and the rollout of the Orange Door and increasing the family violence workforce are some of the things that we should all be so proud of.

Unfortunately, the death of women still continues at the hands of men. Last Friday, a man was killed by a shark in WA; it was all over the news. Yet over the weekend in New South Wales, three women were murdered by men, including a 90-year-old grandmother who was murdered by being stabbed to death by her grandson. None of that got major coverage, and none of that is a barbecue conversation. Fifty women killed in Australia so far in 2026, 43 by someone they knew, seven killed by strangers, 18 killed by ex-partners, nine killed by their sons – none by their daughters – and 12 of those murders here in Victoria. Look behind every single number and there is a real woman with a whole network around her who is grieving. To the survivors of family violence that are here joining us today: I see you and we all see you. I am proud to be part of a government with a tough-on-crime Premier who is willing to put the safety of women and children at the centre of this government’s agenda and who is committed to doing the work to end family and sexual violence in this state. Tougher penalties for partner murder, rape and sexual offences are something that have long been called for in this state. This is complemented by our investment in police and reservists and of course the recently passed laws into criminalising coercive control and banning character references in sentencing. Victim-survivors should not have to relive their trauma in court or watch their perpetrators’ reputations rubbed in their face. Women and children absolutely deserve to be safe.

The polls show, unfortunately, that the Liberals and One Nation are surging ahead of us at the moment, and I want people to be very, very aware we contemplating a government that would cut $40 billion. What does that mean for the services that support women and children? And what does it mean for the future of legal abortions in this state?

One of the other key things that I am really proud of is the respect for First Nations that this government has shown with our work on treaty, truth-telling and forming the First Peoples’ Assembly with real power and real resources. Fighting racism is at the forefront of our work, but of course there is a lot more to do.

Only a few weeks ago there was a far-right, neo-Nazi rally here on the steps of Parliament and a comedian who, by pretending to be Aboriginal, mocked an Acknowledgement of Country. She is a disgrace and just a racist with a microphone. I want to thank leaders like Travis Lovett, who called this stuff out. Racism is alive in Victoria. Just ask many of the people that are here to support me tonight sitting in the gallery and in Queens Hall. Islamophobia is real. Antisemitism is real. Anti-black is real. Aboriginal and African Victorians face racism on a daily basis. Of course having a multicultural society is absolutely integral to Victoria’s profile, and one does not take away from the other. It adds to a better society. We need to have respect for all religions, cultures and ethnic backgrounds.

I have a huge list of what we have achieved in Sydenham, and I just want to touch on the fact that as part of the 121 new schools across this state we have had three new schools built in Sydenham. We have had every single school during my 16 years upgraded. We have had six new kinders built. We have invested in teachers and made sure teachers are the best paid in the country. We have new schools with Aboriginal names. We have Aboriginal history being taught in our curriculum, and we have inclusive funding for students with disabilities. And if re-elected, the Labor government has committed to a $20 million upgrade of Copperfield College at Sydenham and Delahey.

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I want to do a quick shout-out to my favourite principals, Simon McGlade from Delahey; Gab Zorko from Springside public school; Andrew Atherton Mary Chiodo, Michael Gruis and Nick Adamou from Copperfield; Robert Kotowski from Parkwood Green; Paris Spencer from Wiyal; and all the local residents and principals and teachers in my electorate, in particular Andrea Markham from Ardeer South Primary; Anne-Maree Kliman, the principal of Parkwood college and always my number one principal; and Jane Mason from Melton Secondary College.

To all the volunteers in my community who make the sports clubs tick, thank you for all your work. To the Friends of Sydenham Park and Taylors Lakes Lions Club, and to the ALP members that have come in tonight to support me, thank you. One of the proudest things that I have done in Sydenham is to save 12 parks that were going to be sold off by council back in the first year that I was an MP. I am glad that those parks are still there, and many of those parks have been upgraded.

Lastly, can I thank my current and former staff, my excellent electorate office team, who have worked their butts off today. Aleks, Nicole, Jared, Anya and Gus, thank you. Thank you for the love and attention you have given constituents. Former EO staff Raquel, Natalie, Catherine, Yiros, Elvira, Christopher and Lachlan, you have all been not just staff but friends to me.

To my former ministerial staff: Robert and Madeleine, the two best chiefs of staff in the whole of the government. Izmini, Rachel, Sarah, Lawrence, Rebecca, Passer, Tilly, Mikala, Hannah, Susan, Emma, Gab, Dylan, Rita and Mel: I was privileged to work with some of the sharpest minds and most talented writers that I will ever work with in my life, and we worked across 12 different portfolios – education, treaty and First Peoples, women, family violence prevention, local government, industrial relations, victim support, corrections, youth justice, government services, jobs and industry and crime prevention. And if anyone wants to know why I am retiring, that list says it all. But this was done during some of the hardest times, and those hard times were during COVID sustaining just really nonsensical, aggressive abuse online.

The other really difficult time in this place was saying goodbye to colleagues who passed – like we did yesterday – particularly Fiona and Jane. Losing them was really hard and picking up their portfolios was even harder. My beautiful friend Sarah Carter was someone that I was extremely close to – losing her at the age of 45 was devastating, and my beautiful friend Simone Stevenson, who passed away as well.

To my union Labor sisters Nicola Roxon and Sarah Ralph, thank you for always holding me up – and Liberty Sanger. To my best friends from high school – Carolyn, Gabby, Rachel, Martin, Matt, Lara and Barbara – and to Megan, Sarah, Hanadi, Julia, Rae, Monica, Monty, Charlie, Phil and Madonna, thank you for all your support. To Luke Donnellan, my bestie in Parliament when he was here, get another sausage on the barbie, why don’t ya? To Robin, Jala and Cesar, thank you for being my friends. To Ronnie and Sarah from the AWU, thank you for being such a great support to me. To all the many friends in this place that I have made, I am going to miss you so much. I am not going to read out a list because I will leave somebody off, but there are friends on both sides of the chamber, and I want to say thank you for your support to me. Thank you to the clerks, the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, parliamentary attendants, parliamentary services, ministerial drivers and the staff and leaders of all of our government departments that I have had the privilege to work with. We have some unbelievably talented people in our public service.

I want to finish on this: 10 things I have learned in 16 years of being a parliamentarian. Here we go. Believe the unbelievable. Words do matter. When in a battle for something that you believe in, do not blink. Surround yourself with the best people and trust them. Lead by example and take people with you. If you cannot articulate the path, particularly when formulating policy, then others cannot walk beside you. People will betray you. And revenge is a dish best served cold – which brings me to the book that I am writing after. This is my second final point: if someone works with you and they leave, always wish them well and support them, because you never know where they are going to end up. And always – always – stand up for justice and equality.

I would like to finish on this quote, which was actually a centrepiece and written by my friend Rita in Our Equal State, the second gender equality strategy:

We need to ensure the girls of today are empowered to be the women of tomorrow regardless of the colour of their skin, religious beliefs or cultural upbringing.

Members applauded.