Thursday, 24 September 2026

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for Environment, Minister for Climate Action, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (18:29): There were 18 matters raised by members tonight that will be passed on to the relevant ministers. Thank you for your kindness in not having any of them directed to me this evening.

I have a few short words in relation to the end of the 60th Parliament. I put on the record my gratitude for everyone in this chamber, of course starting with the clerks. Thank you, Robert, and thank you, Richard, and the rest of your team, for your immense work commitment and ability to just keep the show going. To the table office and in particular Hansard, thank you so much. It is a tough job that you guys do, and we appreciate your efforts, particularly with some of the late nights that we have kept you here and the dinner breaks that we have tried to deny you. The same goes for the cleaning, kitchen and garden staff. I want to give a particular shout-out to the staff that assist with the committee stages in here but also the committee work of the upper house. We know that we work much harder than the Assembly, and there is no clearer evidence than in relation to the work that the committees do.

I would really like to thank Mrs McArthur, Ms Crozier and Mr Davis as the three leaders of the opposition for this term. You have always been very good to work with as the opposition leaders. You have always been very up-front. We have not always agreed, but the place functions because we have managed to be mature enough to tell each other what is going on and the like. It is a credit to the chamber that we have managed to keep up that consistent relationship. To all of the coalition members, again, I think we can have fun in here. We can argue, we can laugh and we can all say hello to each other outside the chamber, which is something that I think we should all be very proud of. I know everyone is here for the right reasons: representing their constituents and putting up the good fight.

Dr Mansfield, you are always consistently here at the end of adjournment. Good on you. None of the other crossbenchers ever hang around. Likewise, as a Leader of the Greens, you have been very constructive to work with, and I really appreciate the way you go about the work that you do. The other crossbenchers are not here. They have all got pros and cons, but again they have been consistently, most of the time, looking forward to doing the right thing.

To Lee in particular, as someone who has been a whip, he is the best whip the government has ever had. He is amazing at the job, and I know that he makes everybody’s ability to do their job across all of the parties that much easier: thank you, Lee. To my colleagues, we are friends. We are like a family. We see so much of one another. We like being in each other’s company. We are looking forward to not being here for a little while, I am sure. Particularly to those here on behalf of the others: Mr Batchelor, Mr Galea, I love ya guts heaps, so thanks so much. To everyone, the campaign will be –

Bev McArthur: Fun!

Jaclyn SYMES: It will have fun times. It is a challenge, and I wish everyone well.

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (18:33): Thank you, Minister, for your words. I can endorse most of them, actually – like thanking all the staff. Of course we are indebted to them. We could not operate without them. Across every area of this Parliament they do an amazing job and put up with us not knowing things or getting it wrong or asking for changes all the time. We are indebted to you.

It is a great honour to be here, and it is an enormous privilege. We can work constructively and also combatively but for the right reasons, because we all want this place to be a better state and we want Victorians to have a better life. We all are here for the right reasons, I believe, and we will get there via whatever route we choose.

I endorse the minister’s comments to Dr Mansfield, who is a colleague of mine in Western Victoria Region. We have been able to work extremely cooperatively together. I thank her very much for her efforts in accommodating whatever we have tried to do together, so thank you. Thank you, everyone.

I absolutely endorse the comments about the whip, but we have also got a fabulous whip, who has doubled as a shadow minister in a dual role. They are both indispensable. Who knows what is going to happen into the future, but thank you both so much for looking after us. To our fabulous President, who has kept us all in the chamber – in the other place they seem to be pitched out. I think you do a fabulous job, Shaun. Thank you so much for everything. Thank you to my colleagues. It has been great working with everybody and an enormous honour to be a leader in the chamber.

David Davis: I have got two points of order, very quickly. The first relates to the lifts. You know my views on this, but it may be that the clerks can find a solution to the risk with the lifts – which a number of us were nearly caught in today again – in the interim period before the next Parliament sits. The second one is something that the Leader of the Government may be able to assist with. Do we have an assurance that all of the annual reports will be tabled before the writs are issued?

The PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order. The house stands adjourned.

House adjourned 6:36 pm.