Wednesday, 23 September 2026

 Ros SPENCE (Kalkallo – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Victim Support, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Community Sport) (19:25): I would like to thank the member for Glen Waverley for his question about how the government is supporting community sport in his electorate. I acknowledge the work and commitment of volunteers within community sports groups, those who provide opportunities for Victorians to get involved in sport and access the many benefits of participation, particularly women and girls. I am proud that this year’s budget is providing more than $24 million to support the development of high-quality accessible community sports infrastructure across the state, including through the Local Sports Infrastructure Fund. This brings the Labor government’s investment in community sport and active recreation to more than $2.4 billion since 2014. As the member for Glen Waverley has highlighted, this investment includes $750,000 towards the delivery of facilities upgrades at Vermont Reserve, including improved lighting and change room upgrades; $300,000 towards the delivery of service upgrades at Central Reserve’s south oval; $500,000 towards the delivery of a new pavilion to replace the current facility at Brandon Park Reserve; and $200,000 towards the installation of new 500-lux LED floodlighting to the velodrome at East Burwood Reserve.

The Local Sports Infrastructure Fund recently closed for applications. I note that both the City of Monash and Whitehorse City Council lodged applications, and I look forward to announcing the successful outcomes in the coming weeks. Round 11 of the Get Active Kids voucher program is currently open, and that is another fantastic initiative of this Labor government to increase participation in sport and active recreation. Basketball has always been hugely popular in this program, and I am pleased to note that the Nunawading Kangas accepts these important vouchers through its association with Basketball Victoria. I thank the member for Glen Waverley for raising this matter and for his tireless advocacy for community sport in his electorate.

 Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Premier) (19:27): I thank the member for Cranbourne for her question, because Victoria, like Cranbourne, is a diverse and great place to live and work. Our difference and our diversity is our secret sauce – different languages, different cultures, different peoples. Victoria was diverse before European settlement, when Indigenous Victorians spoke more than 30 languages; Victoria was diverse at the birth of our democracy, when people from 19 different countries fought at the Eureka Stockade; and Victoria has been increasingly diverse since post-World War II and millennial migrant booms. It is no coincidence that Victoria has become more prosperous as we have become more diverse. That is because the more open we are as a community to new ideas and new people, the more likely we are as a state to stay ahead of the shifts in the global economy. That is why – and I am speaking as a son of a migrant mum – I believe our diversity is one of our greatest strengths.

Victoria was built on the back of migrants, and it is why I will always back our multicultural and multifaith communities. After all, migrants drove the gold rush, which turned Victoria into the wealthiest colony in the British Empire. Migrants drove Australia’s industrialisation after World War II and in the process helped create our middle class. And now migrants are driving critical industries such as aged care and agriculture, helping secure our food security and care for older Australians. The point I am driving home is this: Victoria has never been and never will be monocultural. This has always been a great place, a great place of great diversity, and it is that diversity that makes us so great.

There are flat-earthers and others out there – and here too – who want to scapegoat diversity. They claim to believe that some Victorians are more Victorian than others. What that will do is divide and make sure we are more divided than ever before. There are some in politics who like to talk down our multicultural communities based on where they were born, how they pray or the language they speak at home. This is simply not acceptable. As Premier, I will always fight against division. I will always stand behind our community. I will always fight to protect the democracy and freedoms that we hold dear as Victorians. That is why I am calling out the scapegoating of multicultural and multifaith communities to stop at once.

Hardworking members of our multicultural communities can be found in every part of our state and every part of our society and economy, from police stations to schools to hospitals to farms to construction. They come here to make a better life for their families and in the process make a better life for all of us. They give far more than they take, and they have earned the right to call themselves Victorians.

I meet with people from faiths and communities from all over different parts of Victoria. Regularly I listen to their concerns, and I hear what they are saying. What I tell them is that I am a new Premier and the government I lead is taking a new direction. We are making every dollar count, reducing unnecessary spending, delivering better value and focusing on the things that matter most to Victorians. That is why we are tackling crime, as well as introducing tough laws that target violence in the home and on the street. That is why we are tackling cost-of-living pressures, halving public transport fares, keeping kinder free and making dental free too. That is why we are backing frontline services, employing 17,000 more nurses and midwives, as well as ensuring Victoria has the best paid teachers in the nation. That is why we are helping workers get around, upgrading the Western Freeway, delivering the Bellarine link and fixing 500,000 potholes. We are fighting for working people, including the hardworking families of multicultural and multifaith communities.

This approach stands in stark contrast to the opposition, who plan to deliver $40 billion in cuts and sack thousands of frontline Victorian workers. Those $40 billion in cuts will threaten the safety and wellbeing of every single Victorian and every single Victorian family. Only Labor will fight for working people, and only Labor can be trusted to back our multicultural and multifaith communities.

 Paul EDBROOKE (Frankston – Minister for Police, Minister for Crime Prevention, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (19:32): I thank the member for Morwell for that question. There is a lot that goes into the allocation of police resources, and it is not up to politicians to allocate those resources. We rely on the independence of the Chief Commissioner of Police to allocate resources. However, I am more than happy to speak with the member for Morwell about his requirements and see if we can work out what they would be and speak to the chief commissioner about that. Certainly, knowing that area very well, having grown up in Churchill and attending school at Traralgon and having parents that still live in Morwell – I know they might be watching now, and they would be rating my performance as well, member for Morwell – if you are around tomorrow, I am certainly happy to answer this question in person and work out what we can do to come to some kind of agreement that would satisfy you.

 Ros SPENCE (Kalkallo – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Victim Support, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Community Sport) (19:33): The member for Mornington raised a matter for the Minister for Education, and the action being sought is for the minister to secure ongoing funding for Victorian local learning and employment networks before the current agreements expire. The member for Point Cook raised a matter for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action being sought is for the minister to visit Point Cook roadworks at Central Avenue in his electorate now that the lights are on and the next stage begins. The member for Hawthorn raised a matter for the Minister for Public Transport, and the action being sought is for the minister to provide a detailed update on the Box Hill to Hawthorn bike trail.

The member for Mulgrave raised a matter for the Minister for Mental Health, and the action being sought is for the minister to relocate the needle and syringe bin opposite St Joseph’s Primary School in Springvale and that the outreach alcohol and other drugs support be bolstered. The member for Laverton raised a matter for the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, and the action being sought is for the minister to provide an update on the government’s work to address vilification and discrimination against multicultural communities. The member for Nepean raised a matter for the Special Minister of State, and the action being sought is for the minister, in the lead-up to the election, to use every measure available to protect Victorians from dangerous electoral misinformation.

I note that a number of members who raised matters are not in the chamber at the moment. There are some valedictories taking place in the other place this evening, so this should not be seen as a reflection on their interest in these matters. They all did advise me that they would be taking a moment to go and be respectful to those valedictories. I will refer all of these matters to the relevant ministers.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Stay classy, Victoria. The house stands adjourned until tomorrow.

House adjourned 7:35pm.