Wednesday, 23 September 2026

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (17:02): I rise to speak on the Victorian Multicultural Commission’s annual report for 2024–25, which allows me to speak broadly on our fabulous multicultural and multifaith communities across Victoria. I want to briefly mention some of the things that have been going on in multicultural communities. I know the new Premier has been very busy introducing himself to multicultural communities, so I want to speak on a round table the Premier held last Monday with Middle Eastern Christian leaders. I happened to speak to several priests and leaders that were at that meeting. Something I found curious that I heard from multiple sources was the Premier was asked about gender ideologies in schools, voluntary assisted dying and a number of other contentious social issues, and the Premier replied on repeat that, ‘I’m a new Premier, I’m going in a new direction, and we are going to return to Christian values.’

What you have in this Premier is someone who has been quite dishonest and two-faced, a Premier in Ben Carroll who is willing to say one thing to communities in Greenvale and Broadmeadows and another thing to communities in places like Melbourne, Richmond and Albert Park. I encourage the Premier to be honest with all Victorians. Do not try to narrowcast. I know the Premier’s office are doing sit-down videos, with one for Christian communities and one for Muslim communities, and not putting them on the Premier’s social media but sending them via WhatsApp in the hope that no-one else will see them except for those specific communities – I happen to have received both – with very specific, similar language in both.

There is also some other narrowcasting going on that I need to call out, particularly from the member for Laverton, who put up a video entirely in Urdu and Arabic attacking and fearmongering about both One Nation and the Liberal Party. You have heard all the attacks on repeat. It was completely unnecessary for the member for Laverton to make a reference to Israel in that. She said something about Gina Rinehart and that Queensland land should be used by the Israel Defense Forces. Why is that relevant in a Victorian election? We have a royal commission underway, social cohesion is important for our state and you have a member of the other chamber whipping up fear in Muslim communities to try to win votes, using Israel and our Jewish community as weapons to try to win votes in the Muslim community. I have great friends in the Muslim community that were shocked at this video and were shocked that a politician would try to make that link to whip up fear for votes in our Muslim community. I am sure there are members on the other side of the chamber that are going to go and have a look at Ms Connolly’s Facebook page and be ashamed of what they see and hear. Go look at it. Go translate it. You have a member of the other place whipping up fear in our Muslim community, trying to link Israel and the Israel Defense Forces and our Jewish community to try to win votes in our Muslim community. As I said, I have many friends in our Muslim community that were shocked to see this particular video, and it is honestly shameful that we have a member of Parliament in the other place whipping up fear while a royal commission is ongoing into antisemitism following the horrific Bondi terrorist attack. Yet we have one member who thinks it is okay to wield the state of Israel and our Jewish community to translate into votes, with a voiceover in Arabic and Urdu and captions only in Arabic. She thinks no-one is going to see and no-one is going to translate this.

This narrowcasting must stop. This government must be able to say one thing to one community that is exactly the same in another community, not tell one community that you are going to return to Christian values and you do not agree with gender ideologies in schools and then go to another community and say, ‘Of course we agree with that, and the Liberals are going to cut it.’ I am going to call that out and I am going to continue to call it out, because this dishonest Premier, dishonest government and dishonest member for Laverton should be ashamed of themselves.