Wednesday, 29 July 2026

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:38): (2632) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Carers and Volunteers. Minister, demand for food relief has more than doubled in the past year in some areas of the City of Casey. Meanwhile this Labor government is wasting taxpayer money: $15 billion on corruption; $589 million on Commonwealth Games in Glasgow that Victoria is not even hosting; $13 million on machete bins, which, to no-one’s surprise, did nothing to curb the escalating crime in this state; and $1.2 million every hour on interest thanks to Labor’s almost $200 billion debt.

Let me make this crystal clear: the money of hardworking families who are doing arithmetic gymnastics trying to make ends meet is being poured down the drain by this Carroll Labor government. Think about what the struggling families could do if they had even a portion of the money that this government has handed over to criminals. Instead families are standing in line, out in the winter cold, hoping to get enough free groceries to get them through the week. Thanks to the Carroll Labor government Victoria now leads the nation in food insecurity. Eighty per cent of charities are overwhelmed by demand. Nearly six in 10 charities are running out of food. A third of Victorians are now accessing help for the first time. Food relief organisations in the south-east report that they are now seeing new bunches of people every week and that their biggest worry is whether they have enough food to meet this growing demand.

I personally visited the OzHarvest hub in Hallam not long after it opened and was there during a food distribution time. The hub delivers 6000 extra meals each week across Cardinia, Casey, Frankston, Greater Dandenong, Knox, Monash and Mornington Peninsula, yet this is not enough. More recently I visited Transit Soup Kitchen & Food Support – in fact I was there with Jess Wilson, our leader – which feeds around 1700 people per week with free three-course meals twice a week and fresh groceries three times a week. These organisations are reporting that nowadays it is not only low-income families who are seeking their support as higher income families are also being pushed into financial pressure.

Families who just a couple of years ago would have had no trouble paying their bills and buying their groceries are experiencing financial challenges; money which the Labor government is costing them is blowing out, and they are struggling. Finances in this state have been mismanaged for far too long, so the action I seek, Minister, is for you to clearly demonstrate the steps that this government is going to take to stop the financial mismanagement in this state, get this money back where it belongs – to Victorians – including how it will support food relief organisations such as those in the south-east which are meeting rising demands.