Wednesday, 21 September 2022

 Ms TAYLOR (Southern Metropolitan) (10:44): I was thinking about life in the upper house. It certainly is a wild ride, isn’t it? I think everyone here can agree with that. There are a lot of late nights and a lot of very intense conversations. Speaking for myself and my colleagues—I do not want to reflect on other people, but I will say what I can reflect on from the heart—it is very much all about our progressive values, caring for the vulnerable and understanding that people go through all sorts of phases in life; that is part of being human. It is really driving forward our progressive agenda in terms of social and affordable housing and really aggressively transitioning—in the best sense—to a clean energy future and the jobs that go with it. Also very ambitious but also to be fulfilled is our LGBTIQA+ 10-year strategy, protecting the very vulnerable trans community as well. Also very bold but necessary reforms are our forthright and forward advancements in terms of transport, whether it be the Suburban Rail Loop, whether it be Metro Tunnel and low-carbon travel too. Millions of trees are being planted as we speak; I am so excited about this. The social reforms I have not even gotten to, and of course so beautiful are the First Nations reforms and really empowering our First Nations people and progressing towards treaty. Go Labor!