Tuesday, 9 December 2025

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (13:30): It is that time of year when Victorians start thinking about what they would really like for Christmas. Very few are asking Santa for another government inquiry, ministerial taskforce or fresh regulatory framework. Nobody wants mandatory awareness training, stakeholder engagement processes or another costly commissioner, and there is certainly no demand for new taxes, levies or state-owned enterprises. What do they really want? A government that costs less than a small mortgage, one that stops treating every paddock, shopfront, rental and family home as a tax opportunity waiting to happen. Integrity under the tree would be nice, and a government that does not need constant stage-managed inquiries to explain where the money went. Some trust in local democracy would not go astray either. Ratepayers deserve representatives, not referees, and an economy allowed to breathe where entrepreneurs do not need a lawyer, an accountant, a crystal ball and a Labor Party contact just to get started. Farmers are not asking for much either, just the freedom to feed the state without green tape ideology, punitive taxes or lectures from people who think food grows in supermarket aisles. Sadly, we may have to wait until next November for the Christmas present we really want. Still, at least then we will get to choose it ourselves.