Tuesday, 14 October 2025

 Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (14:16): It was an honour to be invited to participate in a United Nations Development Programme event last week in Fiji as part of the longstanding partnership between the Victorian and Fijian Parliaments, and I particularly want to thank the President for the opportunity and Sally West for her support in making it all happen. John Pesutto from the other place, New Zealand MP Camilla Belich and I joined Fijian parliamentarians from across the political spectrum to share knowledge and ideas about bill analysis and committee processes. Not only did I learn so much about Fijian history and how their Parliament works, the opportunity to come together in the spirit of knowledge sharing meant we found that despite our very different contexts, we are grappling with some of the same challenges: how to hold governments to account and, crucially, how to make representative democracy work for the people, better engaging with and empowering civil society. Vinaka to everyone who was involved, particularly our Fijian hosts, who made us feel so welcome. I hope we continue to build on this really valuable partnership for many years to come.