Wednesday, 17 June 2026

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (14:13): I would not say I am pleased to rise, but I think it is important that we make a contribution to Mrs McArthur’s motion. It is a grab bag of grievances. It is a description of desperation, of half-truths, really, and recycled attack lines, from a political party that is so bereft of positive plans that it cannot give Victoria and cannot give Victorians anything positive to be inspired by at the upcoming state election. All the Liberal Party have got is a list of grievances that are built on half-truths that are seeking to either demonise or distort the realities that exist and to obfuscate the real plans that the Liberal Party have – the real plans that are being concocted behind closed doors by the Liberal Party to cut fundamental and vital services across the state of Victoria.

We know, based on the track record that the Liberal Party has, that when it comes to the type of leadership that they want in this state, it is a type of leadership that seeks to attack workers rights, that seeks to undermine vital services and that seeks to rip funding out of things like our TAFE system and sack teachers, sack nurses and rip funding out of organisations like the CFA. We know that is what is on the Liberals’ agenda because it is what they have done before. It is what they did when they were last in government. It is the only logical policy consequence from some of the statements that they have made about what they see as being important for the future of this state. The logical consequence of the few policy positions that the Liberal Party under the current leader, their sixth in seven years, have taken to the people of Victoria is setting a blueprint and a framework for cuts. We know that the cuts are going to come because cuts are what Liberals do – they have done it before; they will do it again – and they will be cuts to the heart of the very services that the people of Victoria rely upon. That is the truth of what is going to come from the Liberal Party, not the distortions and obfuscations that exist in Mrs McArthur’s motion before us today.

I did want to take just a little bit of time, given some of the other speakers in this debate have had cause to pause and reflect on those who make comments on the wider political landscape here in the state of Victoria. Mr Mulholland’s contribution was replete with excerpts from learned scribes who seek to give us their views on what is happening. I thought it might be worth sharing the views of some of those from the Liberal Party, who have a contribution to make on how they are tracking. This is not from months ago or years ago when they were cycling through the last set of leaders. This comment is from last week in the Australian Financial Review on 10 June, referring to the challenges that exist for the new Liberal leader and the new Liberal state president. This is what Mr Terry Barnes, who was a former adviser to Liberal governments, said in the Financial Review:

Wilson and Loughnane, however, are also racing against time to get the Liberals battle-ready, which is crucial given that some new MPs must go straight into a Coalition ministry to supplement the existing, largely mediocre, frontbench. Yet preselections are still incomplete; the Liberals and Nationals are losing donor dollars to One Nation, and the membership is exhausted after years of internal conflict and division. It all undermines Wilson’s promise of a fresh start if Liberals remain mired in the same old feuding, fussing and fighting.

I think it is a pretty damning indictment from Terry Barnes in the Financial Review last week, a former senior adviser to both the federal Liberal Party and the Victorian Liberal Party and, I might say, an architect of repeated Liberal plans to gut universal health care in Australia. I cannot say that I am a regular adherent to his perspectives, but I do think it gives a useful insight into where the Liberal Party are today. The Victorian Liberal Party are in such disarray that even their own spear carriers are dismayed by what they are offering. That is the reality the Liberal Party is facing.

We know of course that the Liberal Party here in Victoria is facing an existential crisis. The polling that many have referred to in this place released on Monday – for example, the Resolve poll – showed that the Liberal Party’s primary vote has fallen 13 percentage points since Jess Wilson took over as their leader. From December to now their primary went from 39 per cent to 26 per cent in the poll on Monday. If that does not tell you something about just how on the nose the Liberal Party is in the state of Victoria, I do not know what does.

Mrs McArthur’s motion says that Victorians need a change of government. She posits that things will be better if there is a change of government. What we do know – what is happening to the Liberal Party and that crashing of their primary vote – is that the only prospect of there being a Liberal government in the state of Victoria is one where they are in coalition with One Nation. The Liberal‍–‍One Nation coalition is what is going to be brought to Victoria if Labor does not win this election. The choice in November is between a returned Labor government and a Liberal–One Nation coalition. We have seen today, in the last two hours, just a hint and just a window into the sort of policy agenda that we can expect from a change of government to the Liberals and One Nation. The Leader of One Nation in this country stood up at the National Press Club not 2 hours ago and said that she wants a fundamental industrial relations overhaul in this country and that bosses should be able to sack workers more easily. That is what is coming under the Liberals and One Nation, an IR overhaul where bosses can sack workers more easily.

The putative coalition partner of the Liberal Party here in Victoria also said that we cannot be a multicultural society. She does not believe in multiculturalism and she does not think we can be a multicultural society. She also said that they will get rid of SBS, the Special Broadcasting Service, and will fundamentally and radically gut the ABC, and I quote:

The ABC will still exist, but in a very different form.

The One Nation plan, which the Liberal Party is probably going to have to sign up to, will render the ABC in the cities a subscription service. They then also went in and backed yet again the nuclear power folly and pledged to cut renewables.

So we go from sacking workers to stopping multiculturalism to scrapping SBS and gutting the ABC and putting all of those resources into promoting nuclear power. That is the future. That is the change of government that Mrs McArthur is calling for in her motion. That is the essence of what confronts Victoria if Mrs McArthur’s motion that calls for a change of government comes to fruition. The choice for Victorians in November is between a Labor government delivering for Victorians or a Liberal Party in coalition with One Nation, starting out with, in the words of their leader today, an industrial relations overhaul that makes it easier to sack workers. That is what is coming if the Liberals and One Nation team up to take government here in Victoria at the next election. The only way to stop it is to vote Labor.

 Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (14:23): We see that those on the other side of the chamber, the Labor government – the Labor MPs – are very, very, very concerned about what is happening in Victoria, because for the first time, I think, in the last 10 years, they genuinely know that they are going to lose government in November. They are worried, highly worried, about their seats in the lower house and in the upper house and being removed from this place. The Premier has an approval rating, a popularity rating, of negative 37. It is really going to send her away from Parliament after 27 years. She is at negative 37. She has been in for 27 years, and it will be Andrew Lethlean in Bendigo East that gives her her marching orders. She is that worried –

John Berger interjected.

Melina BATH: I will take up the interjection. First of all, Andrew Lethlean from Bendigo East lives in his electorate. Now, that is a novelty for some members of the Allan government. He is going to take the Premier out. The Premier is that worried that she is doorknocking in her own electorate and trying to sandbag her electorate. The people up there, the people in Bendigo East – and my good colleague Gaelle Broad behind me knows the reality; she lives in the area, she has her office in Bendigo and she knows what they are saying in the seat of Bendigo East – have had a neckful of this Premier.

Going to the point of Mrs McArthur – who I endorse – in this motion that the Premier has failed in the leadership, that Victoria is less safe, less livable and more indebted and that people have less confidence in integrity, this Premier has been at the helm. Either as the right-hand person of the former Premier Mr Andrews or of her own making, she has been there. She has been the architect of the corruption on our Big Build sites. She has been there, hammer and tongs. She made the decision, I am sure, to introduce a vile thing called the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund. Why is it vile? People were demonstrating in Bendigo East over the weekend, and the Liberals and Nationals were standing with those people. They were revolting against a Premier – and it is so disingenuous, and they do it with art – who stands there and says that everything is going to the emergency services. Well, that is right, but what is going to the CFA is not everything that is going to the emergency services. It is going to core government business that should have been funded from the budget, not taken out of the hands of families, not taken out of the hands of small business, not taken out of the hands of farmers – it is coming, and it will impact and has been impacting those farmers – and not taken out of the hands of volunteers who feel cheated or ripped off while they are driving around in their 30-year-old vehicles.

In Ruffy, for example, we heard in the inquiry that my colleague Mrs Broad and others have been on that those volunteers are driving toward the flames in vehicles that are 27 years old. The Premier has been in Parliament for 27 years. Well, that is how long ago this truck was purchased back in the day. It has one cabin, and the volunteers sit outside in the outer carapace, as we say, open to the elements. It is 27 years old. That was the date that the Premier came in. It needs replacing – by goodness, that vehicle needs replacing, and so do so many others in the CFA sector – and so does Jacinta Allan as Premier, and Andrew Lethlean will be the one to do it, there is no doubt about it.

The other point about this is Victoria feels less safe. I raised today a constituency question from my fabulous electorate – from Latrobe Valley, part of my electorate, and indeed it is Acting President Bourman’s electorate as well. Somebody had been to the gym and then they were going to the supermarket in the evening. As they got back into their car, thugs wearing hoodies – allegedly, because we need to say ‘allegedly’ – and carrying a baseball bat approached that lady and harassed her such that she had to drive at risk to get away from people attacking her in our beautiful region. Why? Because we need more police on the beat. Our local police do an outstanding job. We are forever grateful for their presence, their diligence and their commitment to our communities, but there are just not enough of them. If we look across the board, there are 500 fewer police today than there were some three years ago when Jacinta Allan became the Premier. On the books across the board there are 150,000 vacancies in terms of police in our system. The Liberals and the Nationals have made a solemn commitment – that has been budgeted – that should we form government in November, we will ensure that there are 3000 new, additional police on the beat doing the work to protect our communities. How is it that in my patch regional Victorians should feel threatened going to the supermarket? This is not my state, and we need to turn that around; we need to completely turn that around.

There is another point that I really want to raise. I feel the integrity issue has been very well canvassed, and I thank Mrs McArthur, I thank Mr Mulholland and I thank Mr Welch; I thank all of us that again and again reiterate the concern that people have. I hear it in my area all the time: the $15 billion that has gone into dodgy contracts and into the most shocking channels. Who wants to understand that government money – taxpayer-funded money – could be going to strippers, bikies, drugs and corruption? That is not our state, and we need to turn that around. We have that plan, and we will conduct a royal commission. We will have those follow-the-money powers. We will make sure that these people are held to account, and we will bring integrity back into Victoria.

One of the things that I really want to touch on is Mrs McArthur’s second point:

(2)   notes that under the Allan … government:

(a) Victoria’s health system is closing beds, cancelling surgeries and struggling to pay … bills, while patients wait too long for ambulances, emergency treatment and elective surgery …

68,000 people are on an elective surgery list. That is blowing out. These are people who in a modern society expect their state to provide adequate health care, but we are not seeing it in this state. Again, I was contacted by somebody recently who went to a fantastic hospital in a community that is waiting for a new hospital. Guess where it was? It was in Warragul – the old Warragul hospital, where my grandfather was born. I do not think it is the original one, because he was born 120 years ago, but it is an 80-year-old hospital. It is archaic. The government is giving it a little bit of sprinkle food to fix the leaks and the roofing or whatever it is. This government made a commitment that they would build a new hospital on a piece of land that was donated. They made that back in 2022. This is what the government does. It makes these promises to regional Victorians. It breaks its commitments. I have a whole list. I have only just got started, and I see my time is nearly up. I could speak for an hour on this.

Members interjecting.

Melina BATH: By the way, democracy means fairness. You can have your turn when you are due if you wish to. We need to change this government, and I endorse entirely this motion of Mrs McArthur and the Liberals and Nationals.

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) incorporated the following:

I rise to speak on the motion the liberals have brought forward.

This motion is not a serious attempt to improve outcomes for Victorians.

The opposition has sought to paint a picture of a state in decline.

It is a narrative built on pessimism rather than evidence and one that ignores the investments being made across our health system, our justice system, our infrastructure and our communities.

At its core, The Allan Government is focused on easing pressure on Victorian families while continuing to invest in the infrastructure, healthcare, education and transport systems that our growing state relies on.

Under Allan Leadership this government provided instant relief with $155 million to make public transport free for everyone in April and May, taking the pressure off fuel demand.

Investing a further $278 million to halve the price of public transport until the 1^st of January 2027.

This includes trams, trains and bus services across the state.

I would like to address several of the claims made in this motion.

Firstly, on health.

The Allan Labor Government has made record investments into Victoria’s healthcare system because every Victorian deserves access to quality care when they need it.

This Government has invested in the people who make our health system work. Since coming to government, Victoria has recruited more than 17,000 additional nurses and midwives to strengthen our hospitals and improve patient care.

Those are not empty promises. Those are thousands of additional healthcare professionals caring for Victorian families every single day.

Alongside that workforce investment, this Government has continued to build the infrastructure our growing state requires.

Eleven new hospitals have either been completed or are being delivered, providing modern facilities and increasing capacity across metropolitan and regional Victoria.

Healthcare is also becoming easier to access.

Victorians can now attend one of our free Urgent Care Clinics instead of waiting in a busy emergency department for non-life-threatening conditions.

The Victorian Virtual Emergency Department has become one of the most successful innovations in our health system. The Government is investing a further $437 million to almost triple the program’s capacity by 2028–29, allowing more Victorians to receive expert clinical advice from their own home.

We have also introduced the Community Pharmacy program, allowing pharmacists to provide treatment for a range of common conditions without requiring a GP appointment. That means quicker care, reduced pressure on general practice and emergency departments and better convenience for patients.

These reforms demonstrate a government focused on practical improvements to healthcare delivery rather than simply criticising the system from the sidelines.

Does our health system face pressures? Of course it does.

Every health system across Australia continues to deal with increasing demand, an ageing population and workforce pressures following the pandemic.

But the response of this Government has been to invest, recruit and build.

Not to walk away.

Turning now to community safety.

Every Victorian deserves to feel safe in their community.

Community safety has always been, and will continue to be, a priority for the Allan Labor Government.

The opposition often presents crime as though government has done nothing.

The facts tell a very different story.

Victoria now has the largest police force in the state’s history because this Government has continued investing in frontline policing.

Earlier this year this Parliament passed some of the toughest bail laws anywhere in Australia.

These reforms ensure stronger consequences for serious and repeat offending while placing community safety at the centre of bail decision-making.

Already we are seeing those laws working.

Bail refusals and bail revocations have reached record levels.

In the Magistrates’ Court, bail revocations have increased significantly following the reforms.

This Budget presented under Allan backs in those policies, with investments including:

$62 million to recruit up to 200 police reservists for police station counter duties

$55 million to support Victoria Police operations.

$51 million to deliver 50 new PSOs

$229 million to increase capacity in the corrections system, including youth justice

$43 million to deliver programs within prisons to reduce reoffending

This Budget also invests $81 million to respond to and prevent youth crime.

This Government has also strengthened our youth justice system by recruiting more than 1,000 additional staff across corrections and youth justice over the past year.

Importantly, our approach recognises that strong enforcement must be accompanied by long-term prevention.

That is why the Allan Labor Government has established a permanent Violence Reduction Unit.

This initiative works with children and young people who are at risk of offending by connecting them with mentoring, education, employment pathways, sporting opportunities and community support.

International evidence demonstrates these approaches work.

Violence Reduction Units have contributed to significant reductions in violent crime in cities such as Glasgow and London.

Strong policing and tough laws are essential.

But if we genuinely want fewer victims tomorrow, we must also invest in preventing young people from entering the criminal justice system in the first place.

That is exactly what this Government is doing.

The motion also makes claims regarding integrity.

Integrity is far too important to become a political slogan.

It is fundamental to public confidence in democratic institutions.

Victoria’s integrity framework exists precisely because governments should never investigate themselves.

Independent agencies perform that function.

The Allan Labor Government respects that independence.

It does not direct investigations.

It does not determine findings.

It does not interfere with statutory responsibilities.

That independence is protected in legislation.

This Government has strengthened the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission through legislative reforms and record funding.

The 2025–26 Victorian Budget delivers $65.5 million to IBAC so it can continue carrying out its work independently and effectively.

Following independent reviews across government, recommendations have been accepted and reforms continue to be implemented to strengthen governance and accountability.

That is what responsible government looks like.

It is not achieved through political commentary.

It is achieved through strong institutions, transparent processes and independent oversight.

The opposition also raises the issue of state debt.

No government should ever borrow irresponsibly.

But there is an important distinction between borrowing to fund day-to-day operating expenses and borrowing to build productive assets that will serve Victorians for generations.

The infrastructure being delivered across Victoria is exactly that.

New hospitals.

New schools.

The Metro Tunnel.

Regional rail upgrades.

Road improvements.

Level crossing removals.

These are investments that improve productivity, reduce congestion, create jobs and support economic growth long into the future.

Every major economy invests in productive infrastructure.

The budget shows that the government is on track to deliver five consecutive surpluses between now and the end of the forward estimates.

with an average surplus of $1.7 billion over the budget and forward estimates years.

The last budget 2025/2026, was able to deliver a surplus of $700 million, the only one among the eastern states.

That demonstrates a government balancing responsible fiscal management with investing in the infrastructure that Victorians rely on.

What this budget demonstrates is a government focused on practical support while continuing to invest in the long-term needs of the state.

The alternative consistently presented by those opposite is simply to cut.

Cut services. Cut projects. Cut investment.

Cut the very infrastructure that growing communities rely upon.

Victorians deserve better.

No-one in this House would deny that families are facing pressure.

Cost-of-living pressures are being felt right across Australia and indeed across much of the world.

The responsible response is to provide practical support while continuing to invest in the services that people rely upon.

That is precisely what this Government has sought to do through investments in healthcare, education, transport and community services.

Strong public services reduce household costs.

Accessible healthcare reduces out of pocket expenses.

Reliable public transport saves families money.

Quality public education gives every child the opportunity to succeed regardless of their background.

Government is about making difficult decisions.

It is about balancing immediate pressures with long-term investment.

It is about strengthening the services Victorians depend upon while continuing to plan for future generations.

That is exactly what the Allan Labor Government is doing.

Rather than engaging in political point scoring, this Government continues to recruit nurses, build hospitals, strengthen our justice system, invest in police, deliver major infrastructure and maintain independent integrity institutions.

Those opposite may choose to focus entirely on criticism.

This Government remains focused on governing.

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (14:33): Can I thank everybody for their contributions, and particularly my colleagues Dr Heath, Mr Mulholland and Ms Bath, because we on this side of the chamber know what really matters for Victoria. I heard one of the people on the other side talk about the things that matter. The thing that matters to Victorians is being kept safe in their homes, in their businesses and on the streets. They are not safe to walk around in this city particularly, but even outside the city. This is the crime capital of Australia. People do not feel safe. That is what matters to the people of Victoria. That is what we will fix. What other things matter? Yes, housing matters, but you have managed to apply so many taxes, charges, regulations and cultural heritage assessments, plus the cost of labour courtesy of the CFMEU corruption in Big Build projects and the shortage of materials because you are soaking them all up – they add almost 50 per cent to the cost of any dwelling in this state. Inquiry after inquiry that I have been on has demonstrated that there is no capacity for developers to produce a dwelling that anybody can afford, especially in this city. You have imposed housing targets on every municipality – 79 of them around this state. They do strategic plans to produce proper numbers of housing that they can deliver with social licence in their area. You have applied the top-down approach, but not one house or dwelling or flat or apartment will end up being produced. The thing that matters to people is getting off a ramp and into a hospital bed. That is a major problem in this state. You cannot get the health care when you need it. You are lucky if an ambulance picks you up on time so that you do not die en route, it is so bad, and then you have to get into a hospital bed.

We have in this state the highest level of taxation, from a Premier and a Treasurer at that time that we heard say, ‘There will be no new taxes under my leadership.’ Well, welcome to Victoria, the highest taxing state in Australia. We pay more taxes than anybody else. You have introduced 65-plus new or increased taxes, and you promised not to introduce any. You have completely broken the trust of the people of Victoria. The level of indebtedness in this state: there is more debt here than in the whole of the east coast states put together. These are the things that matter to the people of Victoria, and that is what we have addressed in this motion – what matters to Victoria and the solution to it, which you have opposed, which is a royal commission into the corruption of the CFMEU. You opposed our bill which would have given IBAC the powers to follow the money that has been lost, that has been absolutely abused in this state – $15 billion and probably counting. You opposed that.

You oppose every facet of transparency and accountability. We cannot get documents when we call for them – documents motions that pass through this chamber. You do not provide the information so that we can properly assess where money is being spent, what the outcomes are, who was involved and what level of corruption existed. We constantly hear that the document is commercial in confidence or they need more time or they just cannot deliver it. Well, that is not good enough. In a democracy we need proper accountability of government, and we need a new government. That is the only thing that is going to fix this state – a new government in Victoria, one that will be led by Jess Wilson and the coalition. We will deliver the outcomes that Victorians want. I once said Jess Wilson will be Victoria’s best friend and Jacinta’s worst enemy, and that is exactly what has happened in this state under the leadership of Jess Wilson. And you are all paying the price. You could not organise a new leader yesterday. You are probably not going to get one till the election. We will absolutely deliver for Victoria, and this motion actually demonstrates that.

Council divided on motion:

David Davis: On a point of order, President, I have raised this in the chamber previously, but there is a problem with the lifts, coming from the annexe, and the 4-minute cycle. The lifts sometimes freeze, and in this case, as a number of MPs – four of us in fact – discovered, the lift was frozen on the second floor, and the other lift was also not moving.

Members interjecting.

David Davis: No, this actually is quite a serious point. And it is not a partisan point in any way. This could happen to any member of the chamber, being caught in a lift that is just frozen and will not move. It is almost certainly the case, we concluded as we came up the stairs, that in fact somebody was holding the lift higher up. There may need to be better signage, but the lifts themselves are extremely slow, and MPs will eventually be caught in this. Somebody will not get to the chamber, through no fault of their own, for a division. That is a direct intervention on democracy if that is to occur, and I am alerting you to deal with it.

The PRESIDENT: After the last time you alerted me, I do not think that the speed of the lifts can be altered. Having new lifts, that might be the new standard. I cannot control if someone is going to hold a lift at one level. They should not be doing that. Maybe signage is the answer. The other answer is a 5-minute bell.

David Davis: Further to the point of order, President, I am not sure that that is the only other solution. I think there are technical solutions with the lifts, but further, people holding the lift is a problem. Somebody will be caught, and a vote may well be affected in the chamber.

The PRESIDENT: I am not disagreeing with you. If someone holds the lift and people are waiting for the lift, it is a problem. I am trying to find a solution. Because we cannot control everything, maybe we will go to 5-minute bells. We will have a discussion at the Procedure Committee.