PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA

PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES

(HANSARD)

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

FIFTY-NINTH PARLIAMENT

FIRST SESSION

THURSDAY, 15 AUGUST 2019

Internet: www.parliament.vic.gov.au/downloadhansard

By authority of the Victorian Government Printer

The Governor The Honourable LINDA DESSAU, AC The Lieutenant-Governor The Honourable KEN LAY, AO, APM

The ministry

Premier ...... The Hon. DM Andrews, MP

Deputy Premier and Minister for Education ...... The Hon. JA Merlino, MP

Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development and Minister for Industrial Relations ...... The Hon. TH Pallas, MP

Minister for Transport Infrastructure ...... The Hon. JM Allan, MP

Minister for Crime Prevention, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice and Minister for Victim Support ...... The Hon. BA Carroll, MP

Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, and Minister for Solar Homes ...... The Hon. L D’Ambrosio, MP

Minister for Child Protection and Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers ...... The Hon. LA Donnellan, MP

Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Equality and Minister for Creative Industries ...... The Hon. MP Foley, MP

Attorney-General and Minister for Workplace Safety ...... The Hon. J Hennessy, MP

Minister for Public Transport and Minister for Ports and Freight ...... The Hon. MM Horne, MP

Special Minister of State, Minister for Priority Precincts and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs ...... The Hon. GW Jennings, MLC

Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, and Minister for Suburban Development ...... The Hon. M Kairouz, MP

Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services ...... The Hon. J Mikakos, MLC

Minister for Water and Minister for Police and Emergency Services .... The Hon. LM Neville, MP

Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Trade, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, and Minister for Racing ...... The Hon. MP Pakula, MP

Minister for Roads, Minister for Road Safety and the TAC, and Minister for Fishing and Boating ...... The Hon. JL Pulford, MLC

Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Veterans ...... The Hon. RD Scott, MP

Minister for Local Government and Minister for Small Business The Hon. A Somyurek, MLC

Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Agriculture and Minister for Resources The Hon. J Symes, MLC

Minister for Training and Skills, and Minister for Higher Education .... The Hon. GA Tierney, MLC

Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Minister for Women and Minister for Youth The Hon. G Williams, MP

Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs ...... The Hon. RW Wynne, MP

Cabinet Secretary ...... Ms M Thomas, MP

OFFICE-HOLDERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY FIFTY-NINTH PARLIAMENT—FIRST SESSION

Speaker The Hon. CW BROOKS Deputy Speaker Ms JM EDWARDS

Acting Speakers Ms Blandthorn, Mr J Bull, Mr Carbines, Ms Couzens, Mr Dimopoulos, Mr Edbrooke, Ms Kilkenny, Mr McGuire, Mr Richardson, Ms Spence, Ms Suleyman and Ms Ward

Leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party and Premier The Hon. DM ANDREWS

Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party and Deputy Premier The Hon. JA MERLINO

Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition The Hon. MA O’BRIEN

Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party The Hon. LG McLEISH

Leader of The Nationals and Deputy Leader of the Opposition The Hon. PL WALSH Deputy Leader of The Nationals Ms SM RYAN

Leader of the House Ms JM ALLAN

Manager of Opposition Business Mr KA WELLS

Heads of parliamentary departments Assembly: Clerk of the Legislative Assembly: Ms B Noonan Council: Clerk of the Parliaments and Clerk of the Legislative Council: Mr A Young Parliamentary Services: Secretary: Mr P Lochert

MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY FIFTY-NINTH PARLIAMENT—FIRST SESSION

Member District Party Member District Party Addison, Ms Juliana Wendouree ALP Maas, Mr Gary Narre Warren South ALP Allan, Ms Jacinta Marie Bendigo East ALP McCurdy, Mr Timothy Logan Ovens Valley Nats Andrews, Mr Daniel Michael Mulgrave ALP McGhie, Mr Stephen John Melton ALP Angus, Mr Neil Andrew Warwick Forest Hill LP McGuire, Mr Frank Broadmeadows ALP Battin, Mr Bradley William Gembrook LP McLeish, Ms Lucinda Gaye Eildon LP Blackwood, Mr Gary John Narracan LP Merlino, Mr James Anthony Monbulk ALP Blandthorn, Ms Elizabeth Anne Pascoe Vale ALP Morris, Mr David Charles Mornington LP Brayne, Mr Chris Nepean ALP Neville, Ms Lisa Mary Bellarine ALP Britnell, Ms Roma South-West Coast LP Newbury, Mr James Brighton LP Brooks, Mr Colin William Bundoora ALP Northe, Mr Russell John Morwell Ind Bull, Mr Joshua Michael Sunbury ALP O’Brien, Mr Daniel David Gippsland South Nats Bull, Mr Timothy Owen Gippsland East Nats O’Brien, Mr Michael Anthony Malvern LP Burgess, Mr Neale Ronald Hastings LP Pakula, Mr Martin Philip Keysborough ALP Carbines, Mr Anthony Richard Ivanhoe ALP Pallas, Mr Timothy Hugh Werribee ALP Carroll, Mr Benjamin Alan Niddrie ALP Pearson, Mr Daniel James Essendon ALP Cheeseman, Mr Darren Leicester South Barwon ALP Read, Dr Tim Brunswick Greens Connolly, Ms Sarah Tarneit ALP Richards, Ms Pauline Cranbourne ALP Couzens, Ms Christine Anne Geelong ALP Richardson, Mr Timothy Noel Mordialloc ALP Crugnale, Ms Jordan Alessandra Bass ALP Riordan, Mr Richard Vincent Polwarth LP Cupper, Ms Ali Mildura Ind Rowswell, Mr Brad Sandringham LP D’Ambrosio, Ms Liliana Mill Park ALP Ryan, Stephanie Maureen Euroa Nats Dimopoulos, Mr Stephen Oakleigh ALP Sandell, Ms Ellen Melbourne Greens Donnellan, Mr Luke Anthony Narre Warren North ALP Scott, Mr Robin David Preston ALP Edbrooke, Mr Paul Andrew Frankston ALP Settle, Ms Michaela Buninyong ALP Edwards, Ms Janice Maree Bendigo West ALP Sheed, Ms Suzanna Shepparton Ind Eren, Mr John Hamdi Lara ALP Smith, Mr Ryan Warrandyte LP Foley, Mr Martin Peter Albert Park ALP Smith, Mr Timothy Colin Kew LP Fowles, Mr Will Burwood ALP Southwick, Mr David James Caulfield LP Fregon, Mr Matt Mount Waverley ALP Spence, Ms Rosalind Louise Yuroke ALP Green, Ms Danielle Louise Yan Yean ALP Staikos, Mr Nicholas Bentleigh ALP Guy, Mr Matthew Jason Bulleen LP Staley, Ms Louise Eileen Ripon LP Halfpenny, Ms Bronwyn Thomastown ALP Suleyman, Ms Natalie St Albans ALP Hall, Ms Katie Footscray ALP Tak, Mr Meng Heang Clarinda ALP Halse, Mr Dustin Ringwood ALP Taylor, Mr Jackson Bayswater ALP Hamer, Mr Paul Box Hill ALP Theophanous, Ms Katerina Northcote ALP Hennessy, Ms Jill Altona ALP Thomas, Ms Mary-Anne Macedon ALP Hibbins, Mr Samuel Peter Prahran Greens Tilley, Mr William John Benambra LP Hodgett, Mr David John Croydon LP Vallence, Ms Bridget Evelyn LP Horne, Ms Melissa Margaret Williamstown ALP Wakeling, Mr Nicholas Ferntree Gully LP Hutchins, Ms Natalie Maree Sykes Sydenham ALP Walsh, Mr Peter Lindsay Murray Plains Nats Kairouz, Ms Marlene Kororoit ALP Ward, Ms Vicki Eltham ALP Kealy, Ms Emma Jayne Lowan Nats Wells, Mr Kimberley Arthur Rowville LP Kennedy, Mr John Ormond Hawthorn ALP Williams, Ms Gabrielle Dandenong ALP Kilkenny, Ms Sonya Carrum ALP Wynne, Mr Richard William Richmond ALP

PARTY ABBREVIATIONS ALP—Labor Party; Greens—The Greens; Ind—Independent; LP—Liberal Party; Nats—The Nationals.

Legislative Assembly committees

Economy and Infrastructure Standing Committee Ms Addison, Mr Blackwood, Ms Connolly, Mr Eren, Mr Rowswell, Ms Ryan and Ms Theophanous.

Environment and Planning Standing Committee Mr Cheeseman, Mr Fowles, Ms Green, Mr Hamer, Mr McCurdy, Mr Morris and Mr T Smith.

Legal and Social Issues Standing Committee Ms Couzens, Ms Kealy, Mr Newbury, Ms Settle, Ms Suleyman, Mr Tak and Mr Tilley.

Privileges Committee Ms Allan, Mr Guy, Ms Hennessy, Mr McGuire, Mr Morris, Ms Neville, Mr Pakula, Ms Ryan and Mr Wells.

Standing Orders Committee The Speaker, Ms Allan, Ms Edwards, Ms Halfpenny, Ms McLeish, Ms Sheed, Mr Staikos, Ms Staley and Mr Walsh.

Joint committees

Dispute Resolution Committee Assembly: Ms Allan, Ms Hennessy, Mr Merlino, Mr Pakula, Mr R Smith, Mr Walsh and Mr Wells. Council: Mr Bourman, Mr Davis, Mr Jennings, Ms Symes and Ms Wooldridge.

Electoral Matters Committee Assembly: Ms Blandthorn, Ms Hall, Dr Read and Ms Spence. Council: Mr Atkinson, Mrs McArthur, Mr Meddick, Mr Melhem, Ms Lovell and Mr Quilty.

House Committee Assembly: The Speaker (ex officio), Mr T Bull, Ms Crugnale, Ms Edwards, Mr Fregon, Ms Sandell and Ms Staley. Council: The President (ex officio), Mr Bourman, Mr Davis, Ms Lovell, Ms Pulford and Ms Stitt.

Integrity and Oversight Committee Assembly: Mr Halse, Mr McGhie, Mr Rowswell, Mr Taylor and Mr Wells. Council: Mr Grimley and Ms Shing.

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee Assembly: Ms Blandthorn, Mr Hibbins, Mr Maas, Mr D O’Brien, Ms Richards, Mr Richardson, Mr Riordan and Ms Vallence. Council: Ms Stitt.

Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee Assembly: Mr Burgess, Ms Connolly and Ms Kilkenny. Council: Mr Gepp, Mrs McArthur, Ms Patten and Ms Taylor.

CONTENTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS Acknowledgement of country ...... 2675 JOINT SITTING OF PARLIAMENT Legislative Council vacancy...... 2675 Victorian Health Promotion Foundation ...... 2675 Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation ...... 2675 PETITIONS Fire access tracks ...... 2675 DOCUMENTS County Court of Victoria ...... 2675 Report 2017-18 ...... 2675 Documents ...... 2676 COMMITTEES Environment and Planning Standing Committee ...... 2676 Reference ...... 2676 BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Adjournment ...... 2676 MEMBERS STATEMENTS Werribee electorate level crossing removals ...... 2676 Rowville rail line ...... 2677 Mick Miller ...... 2677 Murray Basin rail project ...... 2678 Helping Hands Mission ...... 2678 Presentation College Windsor ...... 2678 The World is One Kilometre: Greville Street, Prahran ...... 2679 Amsleigh Park Primary School ...... 2679 Glen Eira College ...... 2679 Brian Mills ...... 2679 Knox Gardens Primary School ...... 2679 Knox Junior Football Netball Club ...... 2680 Sarcoma Awareness Month ...... 2680 Grain trading ...... 2680 Grampians rock climbing ...... 2680 Lowan electorate roads ...... 2680 Mordialloc electorate level crossing removals ...... 2681 Mildura Senior College ...... 2681 Tyrrell College ...... 2681 Catholic Regional College St Albans ...... 2681 St Albans Primary School ...... 2682 Eid and Bayram ...... 2682 Colac pathology services ...... 2682 Gary Jungwirth ...... 2682 Dr Kem Ley ...... 2683 Silver Blades Adult Ice Skating Group of Victoria ...... 2683 Footscray Lacrosse Club ...... 2683 Rosebud Secondary College Wellness Pavilion ...... 2683 Independence Day of Pakistan ...... 2684 Beit Jala Palestinian Association...... 2684 Teeyan Da Mela...... 2684 National Science Week ...... 2684 Blackburn High School ...... 2684 Diggers Rest Primary School ...... 2685 BILLS Children Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 ...... 2685 Statement of compatibility ...... 2685 Second reading ...... 2692 Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019 ...... 2698 Second reading ...... 2698 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE AND MINISTERS STATEMENTS Waste and recycling management ...... 2708 Ministers statements: transport infrastructure ...... 2709 Solar Homes package ...... 2710 Ministers statements: government achievements ...... 2711

Steelvision ...... 2712 Ministers statements: gender equality ...... 2712 Native wildlife protection ...... 2714 Ministers statements: family violence ...... 2714 John Setka ...... 2715 Ministers statements: government achievements ...... 2717 CONSTITUENCY QUESTIONS Ripon electorate ...... 2719 Melton electorate ...... 2720 Ovens Valley electorate ...... 2720 Carrum electorate ...... 2720 Kew electorate ...... 2720 Box Hill electorate ...... 2720 Shepparton electorate ...... 2721 Wendouree electorate ...... 2721 Brighton electorate ...... 2721 St Albans electorate ...... 2721 BILLS Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019 ...... 2722 Second reading ...... 2722 MEMBERS Member for Evelyn ...... 2753 Personal explanation ...... 2753 MOTIONS Budget papers 2019–20 ...... 2754 BILLS Flora and Fauna Guarantee Amendment Bill 2019 ...... 2767 Second reading ...... 2767 Third reading ...... 2767 Environment Protection Amendment Bill 2019 ...... 2767 Second reading ...... 2767 Third reading ...... 2768 Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019 ...... 2768 Second reading ...... 2768 Third reading ...... 2769 ADJOURNMENT Real estate agents underquoting ...... 2769 Victoria-Greece life preservation accord...... 2769 Korumburra railway station ...... 2770 Flemington Works ...... 2771 North East Link Project compensation ...... 2771 Young People’s Contributions to the Thomastown Electorate ...... 2772 Port Phillip EcoCentre...... 2772 Sydenham electorate Road safety ...... 2773 Mooroolbark and Lilydale level crossing removals ...... 2773 Suburban Rail Loop ...... 2774 Responses ...... 2774

ANNOUNCEMENTS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2675

Thursday, 15 August 2019

The SPEAKER (Hon. Colin Brooks) took the chair at 9.32 am and read the prayer. Announcements ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The SPEAKER (09:32): We acknowledge the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land on which we are meeting. We pay our respects to them, their culture, their elders past, present and future, and elders from other communities who may be here today. Joint sitting of Parliament LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL VACANCY VICTORIAN HEALTH PROMOTION FOUNDATION VICTORIAN RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING FOUNDATION The SPEAKER (09:33): I have to report that the house met on Wednesday, 14 August 2019, with the Legislative Council for the purpose of one, choosing a person to hold the seat in the Legislative Council rendered vacant by the resignation of the Honourable Philip Dalidakis and that Enver Erdogan has been duly chosen to hold the vacant place; two, electing three members of Parliament to the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation and that Andy Meddick MLC, Bridget Vallence MP and Sarah Connolly MP were elected; and three, electing three members of Parliament to the board of the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation and that James Newbury MP, Maree Edwards MP and Tim McCurdy MP were elected. Petitions Following petition presented to house by Clerk: FIRE ACCESS TRACKS To the Legislative Assembly Victoria: The petition of the residents of the Latrobe Valley and wider Gippsland region draws to the attention of the House the fact that during emergency events such as the recent Yinnar South fires many fire access tracks were overgrown and as a result often inaccessible to fire-fighters and first responders which in turn inhibits fire-fighting capacities, is unsafe and increases fire risk to local communities. The petitioners therefore request that the Legislative Assembly of Victoria call upon the State Government to ensure all fire access tracks on public land and within plantations are re-instated, are adequately maintained all year round, and are not constructed as “dead end” roads to therefore improve access for all emergency services vehicles and personnel during emergency events such as bushfires. By Mr NORTHE (Morwell) (1508 signatures). Tabled. Ordered that petition be considered tomorrow on motion of Mr NORTHE (Morwell). Documents COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA Report 2017-18 Ms HENNESSY (Altona—Attorney-General, Minister for Workplace Safety) (09:34): By command of the Governor, I present the annual report of the County Court of Victoria for 2017–18, and I move:

COMMITTEES 2676 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019

That the report be tabled. Motion agreed to. DOCUMENTS Tabled by Clerk: Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984—Notice under s 32(3)(a)(iii) in relation to Rail Safety (Local Operations) (Accreditation and Safety) Interim Regulations 2019 (Gazette G32, 8 August 2019) Victorian Environmental Assessment Council—Central West Investigation Final Report. Committees ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING STANDING COMMITTEE Reference Mr R SMITH (Warrandyte) (09:35): I desire to move, by leave: That this house requires the Standing Committee on Environment and Planning to inquire into, consider and, by no later than 13 November 2019, report on the government’s Solar Homes program, with a focus including but not limited to: (1) what consultation was conducted with the solar panel installation industry to determine the optimum design of the program, and to ascertain what would be the anticipated impacts on the industry of a predetermined rebate cap; (2) what advice the government received from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and Sustainability Victoria and/or any other government department or agency in relation to any anticipated impacts on the industry of a predetermined rebate cap; (3) what consultation was conducted with and what advice the government received from the Clean Energy Council in relation to the design and implementation of the Solar Homes program; (4) the administration of the program, including probity of the rebate selection process; (5) whether the face recognition application process has been effective and if this process breaches any privacy issues; (6) the effect of the program on solar installation business owners and employees in terms of any adverse mental health impacts that have been experienced as a result of closed businesses and the need to retrench employees as a perceived result of the potential mismanagement of the program; (7) whether the $1.3 billion investment of tax dollars has increased or decreased the number of residential solar panel installations per month across Victoria; and (8) whether the design and implementation of the program has unfairly disadvantaged the solar industry in regional and rural Victoria as compared to the industry as represented in metropolitan Melbourne. Leave refused. Business of the house ADJOURNMENT Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure) (09:37): I move: That the house, at its rising, adjourns until Tuesday, 27 August 2019. Motion agreed to. Members statements WERRIBEE ELECTORATE LEVEL CROSSING REMOVALS Mr PALLAS (Werribee—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (09:38): I rise to share with the house some very exciting news for the great electorate of Werribee and the western suburbs. As members know, this government is getting on with the job of

MEMBERS STATEMENTS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2677 removing level crossings across Melbourne. We are removing 75 level crossings, with 29 already gone for good. I am very excited to say that among those level crossings to be removed are the ones at Old Geelong Road in Hoppers Crossing, Cherry Street in Werribee and Werribee Street in Werribee, and of course the member for Tarneit is very excited about all of those removals as well. Works on these three level crossings are being fast-tracked so that the metro line in Werribee will be free of all level crossings by 2022. In the past month the Level Crossing Removal Project team has held consultations in Werribee about the project. It was fantastic to see Werribee residents take advantage of these consultations and to see how thrilled they were about the benefits the removal of these level crossings will bring to the area. Although we are getting rid of the level crossing at Hoppers Crossing, we will continue to honour its history. The namesake of Hoppers Crossing is Elizabeth Hopper, one of the very few female railway employees in Victoria in the late 1800s. Every day she would manually open and shut the boom gates by the rail line so that trains could pass and cars could cross the line safely. It was Elizabeth who made sure that the only route through Skeleton Creek remained connected— (Time expired) ROWVILLE RAIL LINE Mr WELLS (Rowville) (09:39): This statement condemns the Andrews government’s reckless approach to public transport in Melbourne’s outer suburbs and the lack of planning for the Suburban Rail Loop. More than five years have passed since the Rowville rail feasibility study was finalised by Public Transport Victoria, which proposed extending the existing rail with four extra stations from Huntingdale to Rowville. In May 2018 the federal coalition government announced half a billion dollars for a project delivering rail as far as Monash University. Instead, the Andrews government announced plans for a tramline—can you believe it?—from Monash University to the Caulfield railway station, with a possible future extension to Rowville. More than a year later, the Minister for Transport Infrastructure insists their tram route cannot be finalised until the location of the Suburban Rail Loop station at Monash University can be confirmed. Surely such a vital planning decision, like the best place for a railway station near a major university, is one which the $10 million-a-year Infrastructure Victoria should have advised the minister on at some point in the last five years. I look forward to the minister’s explanation of why she considers Rowville rail incompatible. The so- called strategic assessment on the Suburban Rail Loop recommended community consultation. Residents surely deserve to know why the government thinks building a direct public transport route from Rowville to their jobs or study in the city is less of a priority than providing Glen Waverley residents with a direct train. MICK MILLER Ms NEVILLE (Bellarine—Minister for Water, Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (09:41): Today I pay tribute to Sinclair Imrie ‘Mick’ Miller, who served Victoria Police with distinction for over 40 years, including as Victoria’s 16th Chief Commissioner of Police between 1977 and 1987. On Tuesday I had the privilege to attend Mr Miller’s funeral at the police academy. The ceremony was a fitting farewell to a Victorian revered by the policing community but also beloved by the broader community. In the days leading up to the funeral I had the opportunity to talk to Mr Miller’s family, and I think one of the greatest comforts they had in the days after his passing was the endless tributes and stories from people from all walks of life. So not only did Mr Miller set the gold standard for policing; he also set the standard for decency, dignity and how to lead a good life. His achievements are many and their impact endures. He not only strived for equality at Victoria Police; he also went a long way to achieving it with the greatest percentage of women of any police force in Australia. He introduced task force policing and set up the air wing and the special operations group, all of which are fundamental to policing now. He tackled organised crime and corruption head- on. He understood community policing, setting up Neighbourhood Watch and Crime Stoppers, and he also helped in the establishment of Victoria Police Legacy.

MEMBERS STATEMENTS 2678 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019

As a police minister I had the very good fortune of meeting and talking to him on a few occasions, and each of those conversations left a mark. Mr Miller’s awards and honours are many and tell of a life spent in service to others. I want to pass on my condolences to Geoff, Graham and Jenny, and all of the grandkids, all of whom were his best friends. An outstanding police officer and an exceptional man—we are all poorer for his passing. MURRAY BASIN RAIL PROJECT Ms BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (09:42): I rise today to call on the Minister for Transport Infrastructure to give a guarantee that the Labor government will proceed with the Murray Basin rail project as originally planned and not sell off our Victorian network to the federally controlled Australian Rail Track Corporation. The Murray Basin rail project is vitally important for the whole of Victoria. Regional Victoria is where much of the state’s wealth is generated, and without those goods heading to the world markets, the state’s finances would be in a very different shape. To put this in perspective, for what it is costing this government to remove one level crossing in Melbourne, it could complete the Murray Basin project to its original scope—no shortcuts with dual gauge, just proper standardisation across the whole network—for $240 million. But in true city-centric Labor government style, rather than trying to save our tracks and finding the money to finish the job properly, the government’s first thought is to blame everyone else for its stuff-up and then think the best option to fix up the mess is to off-load it to somebody else. The focus of this government remains squarely within the tram tracks of Melbourne. This is a vital project for our entire state. It must be done and it must be done to the original scope. There is no point trying to blame other ministers. This has been your project from start to finish and the mess it is in now is your doing. HELPING HANDS MISSION Mr CARROLL (Niddrie—Minister for Crime Prevention, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (09:43): Last week was Homelessness Week, and I rise today to acknowledge the wonderful work of a local charity in my electorate, Helping Hands in Airport West. Helping Hands is a not-for-profit organisation that provides emergency aid and emergency food to hundreds of local families across my community every week. One of the services that they do provide to our community is a helping pantry. This provides food and toiletries to those that cannot afford it and to those that are most in need. Unfortunately, though, of all weeks during Homelessness Week—on the first day of Homelessness Week, in fact—Helping Hands was broken into. The footage was very distressing to see. The dining room was smashed up, phones used to call for emergency food were stolen and donations throughout the shop were stolen. To see this happen to a local charity, much less one that is so active in my local community, was very distressing to say the least. If only the offenders had asked Helping Hands for some help, they would have only been too willing to support them and help them. I have got to say that out of the terrible incident that occurred the response from the community has been overwhelming. Right across social media and people right throughout the Niddrie electorate have been popping in and donating all sorts of food, items and money as well to Helping Hands. Indeed last Thursday I also popped in with a bag full of groceries to help support this wonderful local charity. I want to commend Melanie Kent, the leader of Helping Hands, the 300 volunteers, Maddy Kirby and the whole team. They do a wonderful job and will continue to do so. PRESENTATION COLLEGE WINDSOR Mr HIBBINS (Prahran) (09:45): I rise to express sympathy to the students and parents at Presentation College Windsor (PCW), who were shocked and heartbroken at the news that their school would be closing at the end of next year. I fully support the efforts of the parents and the school community to either keep the school going or find an alternative solution. I urge full transparency from the school owners and from the Catholic Education Office as to the reasoning behind the closure and

MEMBERS STATEMENTS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2679 their financial situation, and I would urge the government to do what it can to ensure that the site that PCW is on remains solely for education and is not sold off for any residential or commercial purposes. THE WORLD IS ONE KILOMETRE: GREVILLE STREET, PRAHRAN Mr HIBBINS: I recently attended the release of Dr Judith Buckrich’s new book, The World Is One Kilometre: Greville Street, Prahran. This was held at the new Prahran High School and was very well attended. Greville Street has a fantastic history—Indigenous, civic, political, artistic—and counterculture for music, clothes, food and lifestyle. It has got an incredibly rich history. I hear a lot about what a fantastic place Greville Street used to be. It is still a fantastic place, and I support all efforts by the council, the community and retailers to make Greville Street such a great place. AMSLEIGH PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL Mr DIMOPOULOS (Oakleigh) (09:47): When we called Victoria the Education State it was not just a slogan. In 2014 Labor promised to upgrade Amsleigh Park Primary School. Funding was delivered in year one. It was built in two stages and now has been officially opened, with the welcome addition of a sanctuary garden. This is an incredible renovation of a 90-year-old school. I thank the Minister for Education for his support and his constant positive reception of my many requests. As well, I would like to thank principal Michael Cormick, school council president Gregory Dellas and all the teachers, staff and students. GLEN EIRA COLLEGE Mr DIMOPOULOS: I was also very pleased to join the member for Mordialloc and Parliamentary Secretary for Schools at Glen Eira College to open their new sensory garden. This is a school that is going places, and I have been incredibly pleased that over the last four years we have provided Glen Eira with over $10 million in upgrades. Again, my thanks to principal Sheereen Kindler, president of the school council Ruth Gordon and all the team at Glen Eira for what they do to educate and nurture the kids of today. BRIAN MILLS Mr DIMOPOULOS: I would also like to send my best wishes to the retiring principal of Clayton North Primary School, Brian Mills. I have had the pleasure of working with Brian since coming to this place. It is hard to beat the passion he has for the school and the broader Clayton North community. He has been a terrific advocate for this school, and I thank him for his commitment to education in Victoria and wish him all the very best for his deserved retirement. KNOX GARDENS PRIMARY SCHOOL Mr WAKELING (Ferntree Gully) (09:48): I would like to firstly congratulate the school council committee of Knox Gardens Primary School for all the great work they do and also all the staff for what they do for a great school community. I was recently contacted by school council president James Washfold and school councillor Daniel Sorell. They contacted me seeking assistance for funding for a new school roof. The school was built in 1986 and still has its original corrugated iron roof, which leaks every time it rains. The school uses a local plumber, who has been able to provide stopgap measures to date. However, the school is also spending money on replacing electrical fixtures, new plasterboard, painting and sometimes replacing whole rooms of carpet every time it rains. It is estimated that approximately $50 000 has been spent on repairs to date, along with a large investment in the school council’s time and energy in attempting to resolve these issues. With student enrolments expected to be in the vicinity of over 470 students by 2020, Knox Gardens Primary School needs a new roof. I fully support Knox Gardens Primary School council’s call for funding, and I call on the education minister to listen to the concerns of this school and to provide the necessary funding that this school desperately needs.

MEMBERS STATEMENTS 2680 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019

KNOX JUNIOR FOOTBALL NETBALL CLUB Mr WAKELING: I would like to also take this opportunity to congratulate Daina Mactier and her committee at the Knox Junior Football Netball Club on a fantastic year. She and Jane Barbanti are the only two female captains of the senior and junior clubs of the Eastern Football League. SARCOMA AWARENESS MONTH Ms KILKENNY (Carrum) (09:49): Last month was Sarcoma Awareness Month. But before I met a wonderful young person by the name of Julijana Todorovic I had no awareness of this cancer, let alone that sarcoma is one of the most common cancers in children, making up 20 per cent of childhood cancers and 10 per cent of cancers among young people aged 15 to 25. Those statistics are big. Unfortunately, though, sarcoma cancer receives only a very small proportion of philanthropic and public funding. While the three-to-five-year overall survival rate has improved over the decades—it now sits at between 50 and 70 per cent—survivorship issues after completion of treatment, limited therapy options beyond first-line therapy and poor outcomes for metastatic sarcoma remain really significant challenges. So what is sarcoma? Sarcoma cancers can form anywhere in the body arising from bone, cartilage or soft tissue such as fat, muscle or blood vessels. Unfortunately they are often misdiagnosed as a benign lump, a sporting injury or growing pains in young people. Julijana was diagnosed with an 8-centimetre bone tumour in her chest when she was just 22. She underwent 10 months of treatment, including chemotherapy, surgeries and a bone marrow transplant. She is now 25. She is absolutely remarkable. I cannot even begin to imagine the terror, fear, anger and sadness that she must have experienced, not to mention the mental and physical toll from such extensive treatment and ongoing recovery procedures that she no doubt is still going through. But now here she is, wanting to make a difference, and I know she will. So for people like Julijana and so many other young people, it is important we raise awareness about sarcoma and not just during Sarcoma Awareness Month. GRAIN TRADING Ms KEALY (Lowan) (09:51): The recent collapse of GrainPro is just another example of the high exposure of grain and hay producers to losing significant amounts of money due to grain trading companies entering administration with no government protections in place. This follows the collapse of Lempriere Grain earlier this year and other grain trading companies recently, sometimes with the same people running a series of failed grain trading companies. Unfortunately Labor have not taken any action to better protect farmers from grain trading risks, which is disappointing for some growers and absolutely disastrous for others. I have heard many stories of local producers losing a lot of money, some up to $80 000 in a single transaction. There are many examples of governments providing better protections for farmers across the world, including a mandatory code of practice to be introduced for grain traders or a licensing system. I urge the Minister for Agriculture to urgently provide better protections for our grain producers before the next grain trader goes broke, bringing local growers down with them. GRAMPIANS ROCK CLIMBING Ms KEALY: I again call on the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change to listen to our local traditional owners of the land, the rock climbing community and locals, and immediately reverse the ban on rock climbing in the Grampians National Park. Further, I ask the minister to immediately rule out any further rock climbing bans in the Grampians area or at Mount Arapiles. LOWAN ELECTORATE ROADS Ms KEALY: The appalling state of our roads is the biggest issue in my electorate. The Andrews Labor government have turned their back on country roads, and our roads are just getting worse and worse. It is unacceptable to have to wait for an accident to happen before the Minster for Roads will release urgently needed funds to fix roads, as was the case on Blue Ribbon Road. We need to shift to

MEMBERS STATEMENTS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2681 a positive road maintenance program rather than wait for months or years to fix potholes, narrow shoulders or broken road edges while vehicles are damaged, accidents occur and lives are put at risk. MORDIALLOC ELECTORATE LEVEL CROSSING REMOVALS Mr RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (09:52): Recently I had the pleasure to join the Premier and the Minister for Transport Infrastructure to make an exciting announcement about the fast-tracking of the Chelsea level crossing removals. Of course it was the Andrews Labor government that took a positive plan to remove 75 level crossings from our community by 2025, and it included the Chelsea level crossings. To celebrate with our community the fast-tracking of those level crossings, and the incorporation into those removals of the Edithvale Road level crossing removal and the Bonbeach level crossing removal, was extremely exciting. We will see new stations built at Edithvale, at Chelsea and at Bonbeach, and we will be taking Thames Promenade through to the Nepean Highway, creating a new intersection there and straightening out traffic movements. When you consider the building of the Mordialloc Freeway in our community as well, something that was talked about for decades but is very soon to be getting underway after an environment effects statement, we are setting up our community for the future. We are ensuring that we are delivering the vital infrastructure that people need in our local community to get members of our community home safer and sooner and, along that journey, creating thousands of jobs and ensuring that we are planning for generations to come and into the future. When you consider that we have already removed in our community 29 level crossings out of the 75 to be done by 2025, and when you consider that along the Frankston train line more than half of all level crossings will be gone, this is an exciting time. Along with the Melbourne Metro rail tunnel, we are setting up our community for the future. MILDURA SENIOR COLLEGE Ms CUPPER (Mildura) (09:54): Recently I witnessed an extraordinary piece of theatre called Boundless Plains to Share performed by talented VCE students at Mildura Senior College. Based on true events, they tackled challenging material with great skill, depicting the lives of local refugee teenagers and the racism they face. The difference between ignorance and humanity is empathy and education, and with young leaders like these students rising through the ranks, supported by teachers like Jane Moglia and Jade Kemp, our future is in very safe hands. To students Liv Daymond, Lily Jacyna, Hayley Kerridge, Joshua Maloney, Breeanne Marks, Lily McAlice, Ethan McNair, Tiggy Nasoufis and Phoebe Tinetti, who performed in Boundless Plains to Share—well done! I could not be prouder. And to students Shan Sulaxshan, AJ Santos, Vincent Nguyen, Mortaza Azizi, Raihana Hashimi, Ahmad Reza, Saadat Ibrahimi, Mustafa Al Rubayee, thank you for courageously sharing your stories. TYRRELL COLLEGE Ms CUPPER: I also want to congratulate Tyrrell agricultural college, who are semifinalists in the Victorian Regional Achievement and Community Awards in the innovation in agriculture category for their agricultural program. Teaching students from prep to year 12 about agriculture, they are inspiring young leaders who will emerge to have a positive impact on the agricultural sector. The college is working towards being a centre of excellence for agricultural education in Victoria, an amazing vision that I am proud and excited to support. CATHOLIC REGIONAL COLLEGE ST ALBANS Ms SULEYMAN (St Albans) (09:55): Recently I met with Augustine, Rhanel, Jessica and Samantha from the student leadership team of Catholic Regional College (CRC) St Albans. I had the opportunity to hear their well-researched proposal for students to travel free on public transport. We also had a fruitful discussion in relation to concessions offered for students and the record investment by the Andrews Labor government in relation to public transport and transport infrastructure, in particular in the electorate of St Albans—the level crossing removal at Main Road and Furlong Road,

MEMBERS STATEMENTS 2682 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 the new stations at St Albans and Ginifer, of course the electrification and duplication of the Ballarat and Geelong lines, and the exciting project of the airport rail link and super-hub station at Sunshine. The electorate of St Albans will not only be connected to Melbourne and regional Victoria but will also be globally connected, about which we are very excited. I want to thank the students at CRC St Albans for meeting with me, and I look forward to hearing much more in relation to their endeavours. ST ALBANS PRIMARY SCHOOL Ms SULEYMAN: I would also like to congratulate St Albans Primary School on their 130-year anniversary. St Albans Primary School was first built in 1889. I know that there will be some celebrations on Friday with the school community that I am looking forward to joining. EID AND BAYRAM Ms SULEYMAN: On another matter, I take this opportunity to wish our Muslim community a very happy Eid and Bayram during this week and look forward to joining their celebrations. COLAC PATHOLOGY SERVICES Mr RIORDAN (Polwarth) (09:57): I rise to raise a very grave matter before the house, because it appears that no amount of media or letters to the Minister for Health seem to be able to make any difference. The simple problem is that this government, despite its rhetoric on improving health services, is doing a great disservice to country Victoria by not supporting pathology clinics around rural and regional Victoria. I have had sent to me this past month a letter from Australian Clinical Labs, who are one of the main providers of in-hospital pathology services, who make it very clear that due to the increased and rising business costs of operating pathology services in country hospitals they will be withdrawing their pathology services from Colac. Colac of course is one of the larger regional acute hospitals, providing a full range of surgical, acute, maternity and urgent-care services, and without a functioning pathology service onsite, the best solution this government and private pathology operators have given to local doctors, surgeons and emergency practitioners is ‘Call an Uber’. Now, imagine that as a health policy—that you have to call an Uber in order to get urgent pathology results back. What does an Uber mean for the people of Colac and district? Under the previous system that operated for 100 years, you could get your pathology results within 1 hour from the scientists onsite. It now requires us to call an Uber. It will be 2 hours to Geelong, a couple of hours for processing and 2 hours back. (Time expired) GARY JUNGWIRTH Ms SPENCE (Yuroke) (09:59): On 13 July we lost a great man, Gary Jungwirth, a humanitarian, political advisor, former councillor and mayor, life member of the Labor Party, diehard Richmond supporter, and dedicated husband and father, who announced to the world just three months earlier that he had incurable and untreatable cancer. On 25 July hundreds gathered to farewell him and reflect on a life well lived. I would normally say they had gathered to celebrate Gary’s life, but that happened on 26 April, when he hosted his own wake—‘Gaz Fest’. I was unable to attend on that day but I caught up with Gary a week later, when a few of us, including the member for Yan Yean, went with him to vote early in the federal election, Gary knowing it would be the last time he would cast his vote—and there was no question of who he was voting for. We then caught up a few weeks later when Hume councillor Drew Jessop arranged for former Labor mayors of Hume to join in on a visit. Ten past mayors and the current mayor in one room is a pretty good effort, and some great yarns were told. Gary’s 11 years as councillor and twice mayor of Hume City Council, as well as his time before that at the City of Preston, were very special to him. The community will reap the benefits of his service for many years to come—the importance of lifelong learning, social justice, human rights and community development both here and Alieu in East Timor.

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Gary lived his values. I am honoured to have known Gary, and I am thankful for the assistance he gave to me over the years. My condolences to Anne, Edwin and Tom, and Gary’s extended family. He is very sadly missed. DR KEM LEY Mr TAK (Clarinda) (10:00): On 21 July hundreds of Cambodian Victorians gathered to commemorate the third anniversary of the brutal murder of Dr Kem Ley. Dr Kem Ley was Cambodia’s fiercest government critic, and in 2016 he was gunned down in broad daylight at a petrol station in Phnom Penh. I joined the member for Mordialloc and the federal members for Hotham and Bruce at Wat Buddharangsi Melbourne to share my condolences with his wife, Mrs Bou Rachana, and their five sons. Fleeing Thailand as refugees, the Ley family resettled in Victoria in early 2018 and have become beloved members of the Cambodian-Victorian community. We will never forget Dr Kem Ley’s legacy and will continue to support his family in their pursuit for justice. SILVER BLADES ADULT ICE SKATING GROUP OF VICTORIA Mr TAK: Lastly, thank you to Rosey, Kelly and Prue for inviting me along to the Silver Blades Adult Ice Skating Group in South Oakleigh. Established in 1971, the group members range in age from 25 to 72 and skate every Wednesday at the Olympic Ice Skating Centre. It is such a wonderful group with such a wonderful history. I encourage everyone to come along. FOOTSCRAY LACROSSE CLUB Ms HALL (Footscray) (10:01): Footscray has produced some of Australia’s best lacrosse players, and I rise to congratulate the Footscray Lacrosse Club for hosting the 2019 Australian Lacrosse Association Senior Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse National Championship. The championship allowed nine teams from across Australia—162 players, 38 team personnel and 24 officials—to participate at the highest level of Australian lacrosse. I would like to extend my gratitude to the community of players, coaches, officials, volunteers and families who came together to make the championship the spectacular event that it was. I would also like to commend Mal Lovell in particular for his extensive efforts and contributions to the Australian championship’s success. An estimated 7500 people visited the Footscray Lacrosse Club to view the games, and 7000 people watched the final matches through a live broadcast. I would also like to congratulate our under-19 Australian women’s lacrosse team, who took out the bronze medal in the World Lacrosse Championship this week. I have enjoyed catching team updates throughout the championship, and I was very excited to see Madison Copeland get selected for the all- world team. It is wonderful to have such talented athletes, particularly female athletes, training and playing hard in Footscray. ROSEBUD SECONDARY COLLEGE WELLNESS PAVILION Mr BRAYNE (Nepean) (10:02): On Wednesday of last week the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and I announced the final funding needed to begin construction of the Rosebud Secondary College wellness pavilion. Since being elected in November I have been made aware of projects that have been longstanding issues within our community. I first heard about the wellness pavilion plans at Rosebud Secondary in February when I sat down with the student leaders and the school leadership team, but this project has been worked on well before February. Indeed for more than four years assistant principal Geoff Seletto has been working tirelessly to see this project get off the ground. We announced the final funding needed to a school hall full of year 7s and 8s, the students who will be some of the first beneficiaries of this facility when it has been built. Geoff told me, ‘The real winners today are our young people as this facility provides the opportunity for good people to do good work, to build their skills for managing their mental health’.

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I also want to personally thank the federal government, who put in $300 000 to support this project a few months before me. Obviously it is a shame it took the politicians on the Mornington Peninsula so long to realise how vital this project is. Only eight months into my term I can proudly say we are going to finish this project under the Andrews Labor government and the Victorian School Building Authority. Congratulations to assistant principal Geoff Seletto, principal Lisa Holt, Bendigo Bank, the local Rotary club and the school community. Time for work to begin. INDEPENDENCE DAY OF PAKISTAN Ms HALFPENNY (Thomastown) (10:04): I would like to wish the Pakistani-Australian community a very happy birthday. The anniversary of independence is on 12 August, and I was very fortunate to celebrate this occasion with the Australia and New Zealand Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent, an organisation that of course supports doctors and other medical practitioners of Pakistani descent. They do a lot of both welfare work and humanitarian work. BEIT JALA PALESTINIAN ASSOCIATION Ms HALFPENNY: I would also like to congratulate the Beit Jala Palestinian Association (BJPA) on their 30th anniversary, which was a few weeks ago. The Beit Jala Palestinian Association was established in 1988 to support Palestinian migrants to Australia. The organisation represents the needs and interests of the Victorian Palestinian community through assisting with the integration of migrants into Victorian society, promoting Palestinian cultural heritage in Victoria and building relationships with other cultural communities. BJPA, as it is known, has supported humanitarian projects, provided opportunities for the acknowledgement of Palestinian commitment to their original homeland and provided educational and social activities. It has also hosted in the past international academics, economical leaders and artists. TEEYAN DA MELA Ms HALFPENNY: One quick last final one was the Teeyan Da Mela celebration for the rainy season in India. This is now celebrated in North Epping, Australia, and it was great to be there with Nikki Jain and others. NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK Mr HAMER (Box Hill) (10:06): I rise today to acknowledge the importance of this year’s National Science Week. Throughout this week hundreds of science events have been held across the country and many schools are celebrating the theme of ‘Destination Moon’. This year’s focus is on past lunar programs and missions that made impossible issues solvable and current and future space programs, operations and missions. Students are being encouraged to use science, technology, engineering and maths to design new solutions to space operations, earth observations and communications. This is especially important to me because as a trained engineer I know how important STEM training is in our schools. Right now students are learning the skills they need to solve our future technological and engineering challenges. BLACKBURN HIGH SCHOOL Mr HAMER: Schools across the Box Hill electorate are passionate about fostering STEM learning and none more so than Blackburn High School, led by principal Joanna Alexander, who herself has a STEM background. Among its many features the school has a whole room dedicated to design and 3D printing. I would particularly like to thank Blackburn High School student Alana Saunders, who completed work experience in my office this week and assisted in drafting this speech. Alana is an incredibly bright young woman and has a bright future ahead of her. The students who are being trained today will work on some of the projects we are building in the future, including the Suburban Rail Loop. This project will take decades to complete, and a strong STEM education system will help make sure we get it right.

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DIGGERS REST PRIMARY SCHOOL Mr J BULL (Sunbury) (10:07): It was terrific to catch up with staff, students and friends of Diggers Rest Primary School last week, a terrific school in my electorate. Students were asked to come dressed as a version of their 100-year-old self. There were some terrific dress-ups and some great conversation. It was an absolutely outstanding morning. This is a terrific school in my community. I look forward to working hard with this school well and truly into the future. Bills CHILDREN LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2019 Statement of compatibility Mr DONNELLAN (Narre Warren North—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers) (10:09): In accordance with the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006, I table a statement of compatibility in relation to the Children Legislation Amendment Bill 2019. In accordance with section 28 of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Charter), I make this Statement of Compatibility with respect to the Children Legislation Amendment Bill 2019. In my opinion, the Children Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 (Bill), as introduced to the Legislative Assembly, is compatible with human rights protected by the Charter. I base my opinion on the reasons outlined in this statement. Overview of the Bill The Bill amends the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 to include people in religious ministry as mandatory reporters, confer power on the Secretary to make authorisations in relation to non-Aboriginal children in certain circumstances, amend information-sharing powers between community-based child and family services, and clarify that routine medical care for children in out of home care includes immunisation in certain circumstances. The Bill also clarifies an exemption under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 to ensure that information can be used or disclosed by information sharing entities for relevant purposes without breaching that Act. The Bill amends the Crimes Act 1958 to remove the current exemption relating to religious confessions from the ‘failure to disclose’ offence. It also amends the Evidence Act 2008 to provide that the religious confessions privilege no longer applies to proceedings for the failure to disclose offence, or the mandatory reporting offence under the Children, Youth and Families Act. The Bill also amends the Working with Children Act 2005 to further strengthen protections for children by limiting the appeal rights of people with the most serious offending for the purposes of the Working with Children Act. Under these reforms, people who are charged with, convicted or found guilty of a category A offence (which includes murder, rape and serious sexual offences committed by an adult against a child) will no longer be able to apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (‘VCAT’) for a working with children check. The Bill also amends the Limitation of Actions Act 1958 (LAA) to allow a court to set aside past judgments concluded after a limitation period had expired and causes of action relating to child abuse that were settled before limitation periods were abolished in 2015. Under these reforms, survivors of institutional child abuse who previously accepted or received unjust or inadequate compensation for abuse they suffered can have a judgment or settlement set aside in order to pursue appropriate compensation. Human rights issues The human rights protected by the Charter that are relevant to the Bill are the right to freedom of movement (section 12), privacy and reputation (section 13), freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief (section 14), protection of families and children (section 17), children in the criminal process (section 23) and fair hearing, right to be presumed innocent and right not to be tried or punished more than once (sections 24, 25 and 26).

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Amendments made by Part 2, 5, 6 and 7 of the Bill Right to privacy and reputation Section 13(a) of the Charter provides that a person has the right not to have their privacy, family, home or correspondence unlawfully or arbitrarily interfered with. Section 13(b) provides that a person has the right not to have their reputation unlawfully attacked. An interference will be lawful if it is permitted by a law which is precise and appropriately circumscribed, and will be arbitrary only if it is capricious, unpredictable, unjust or unreasonable, in the sense of being disproportionate to the legitimate aim sought. Authorisations to Aboriginal principal officers Clauses 4,5 and 6 of the Bill amend the Children, Youth and Families Act to provide that the Secretary may authorise the principal officer of an Aboriginal agency to perform specified functions and exercise specified powers under that Act in relation to a non-Aboriginal child who is the sibling of an Aboriginal child subject to an authorisation. This power is an extension of the Secretary’s power under section 18 of the Children, Youth and Families Act to make such an authorisation in respect of an Aboriginal child. The aim of the amendment is to enable sibling groups to be managed together, rather than one sibling being managed by the principal officer of an Aboriginal agency and the other being managed by the Secretary. Before giving an authorisation, the Secretary has an obligation to provide the Aboriginal agency with all information that is known to the Secretary and that is reasonably necessary to assist the agency to make an informed decision as to whether or not to agree to the authorisation. This information may include information that would otherwise be prohibited from disclosure under the Children, Youth and Families Act. This information sharing obligation—which is already present in the Act, but which will now apply to any non-Aboriginal child in relation to whom the Secretary seeks to make an authorisation—will engage the right to privacy. However, any interference with a person’s privacy resulting from the information-sharing provision will be neither unlawful nor arbitrary. The purpose of the provision is to enable the Aboriginal agency and the principal officer to make an informed decision about whether to accept an authorisation. It also enables the principal officer to perform the functions and exercise the powers that the Secretary would otherwise perform and exercise for the child’s protection, if an authorisation is given. Information disclosed under these provisions is prohibited from being disclosed for any secondary purpose by section 18D, which is a penalty provision. Further, once an authorisation is made, the principal officer is bound by the existing confidentiality provisions in the Children, Youth and Families Act. Having regard to the circumstances in which information may be shared and the safeguards that exist in the Children, Youth and Families Act, in my view the information sharing provisions are compatible with the right to privacy. Identity of a reporter or referrer Clause 7 of the Bill amends the Children, Youth and Families Act to enable information about the identity of a person who reports a significant concern for the wellbeing of a child to the Secretary, or refers it to a community-based child and family service, to be shared by the Secretary with any community-based child and family service, and between a community-based child and family service and any other community-based child and family service. Currently, the identity of the reporter or referrer can only be disclosed to the Secretary or to the community-based child and family service to which the referral was made. By permitting reporter and referral details to be shared between the Secretary and any community-based child and family service, and between a community-based child and family service and any other community-based child and family service, clause 7 engages the right to privacy. I consider that the ability to share reporter and referrer details between the Secretary and community-based child and family services and between those services is necessary for the proper assessment and management of referrals between services within and across different locations. This is because knowledge of the identity of a reporter or referrer may assist the Secretary or relevant service to prioritise and determine how best to respond, to understand the level and nature of the concerns held for the child or children, and to be informed about whether the reporter or referrer has previously made a report or referral. Further, I note that sharing any identifying information about the person who made the report or referral to a person other than the Secretary or a community-based child and family service will still be prohibited. In my view, clause 7 is appropriately circumscribed and tailored to achieving a legitimate aim. Therefore, to the extent that clause 7 interferes with the right to privacy, it is neither unlawful nor arbitrary, and is therefore compatible with the Charter. Exemptions under the Information Privacy Principles Clause 19 of the Bill amends section 15B of the Privacy and Data Protection Act to clarify that nothing in any Information Privacy Principle (IPP) applies to the use or disclosure of personal or sensitive information for the purposes of Part 6A or Part 7A of the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act to the extent that the IPP requires the consent of the relevant person. Part 6A relates to the sharing of confidential information between specified persons and bodies for the purpose of promoting the wellbeing or safety of children. Part 7A relates to the

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Child Link Register. Section 15B already displaces the IPPs with respect to the collection of such information by information sharing entities and restricted information sharing entities. This amendment ensures that the collected information can be used or disclosed for the relevant purposes without breaching the Privacy and Data Protection Act. The displacement of the consent requirements in the Privacy and Data Protection Act is essential to the successful operation of Part 6A and Part 7A of the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act, which are aimed at promoting the wellbeing and safety of children. A requirement that entities obtain consent from relevant individuals prior to using or disclosing the information would seriously undermine the capacity of those entities to exchange information in the proactive, efficient and collaborative manner envisaged by that Act. Accordingly, I consider that clause 19 is lawful and not arbitrary, and is compatible with the right to privacy. Freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief Section 14 provides that every person has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief, including the freedom to demonstrate one’s religion or belief individually or as part of a community, whether in public or private, through worship, observance, practice and teaching. A person must not be restrained or coerced in a way that limits their freedom to have a belief. Religious confessions privilege Clause 9 of the Bill includes people in religious ministry as mandatory reporters under the Children, Youth and Families Act. Mandatory reporters are required to report to the Secretary if they form a reasonable belief, in the course of practising their profession or carrying out the duties of their office, that a child is in need of protection because of physical injury or sexual abuse. Clause 10 provides that for the avoidance of doubt there is no exemption from the requirement to report on the basis that the information would be privileged under the religious confessions privilege in section 127 of the Evidence Act, which entitles clergy members to refuse to divulge that religious confessions have been made, and the content of those confessions in courts and proceedings to which that Act applies. The requirement will apply even if the person’s belief that a child is in need of protection was first formed before the commencement of the provision when the person was not a mandatory reporter. Clause 16 amends the Crimes Act to provide that information that would be privileged under the religious confessions privilege is not exempt in relation to the offence of failure to disclose a sexual offence committed against a child. The effect of this provision is that clergy members who form a reasonable belief that a sexual offence has been committed in Victoria by an adult against a child under 16 years must disclose that information to a police officer as soon as practicable even if the information was obtained in confession, unless they have a reasonable excuse or another exemption in section 327 applies. These amendments are reinforced by clause 18, which amends section 127 of the Evidence Act to provide that the religious confessions privilege does not apply in proceedings for the above ‘failure to disclose’ offence in the Crimes Act or the mandatory reporting offence under the Children, Youth and Families Act. The practice of confession is a fundamental aspect of some religious practices, and maintaining confidentiality is instrumental in supporting those religious confessions. The practice of confession therefore falls within the scope of the right to practise one’s religion, and will be limited by the mandatory reporting requirements, as these requirements will mean that certain parts of confessions can no longer be kept confidential. Section 7(2) of the Charter provides that a human right may be subject under law to reasonable and demonstrably justified limitations. There is an issue as to whether this limitation on the right to exercise religious freedom is proportionate, having regard to the nature of the right, the importance and purpose of the limitation, the nature and extent of the limitation, and the relationship between the limitation and its purpose (including whether there are any less restrictive means reasonably available to achieve the purpose). The amendments in clauses 9, 10, 16 and 18 are intended to give effect to two recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. They serve an important purpose of protecting children from physical and sexual abuse and, in this context, must be balanced against the right of every child under section 17 of the Charter to such protection as is in their best interests and is needed by them by reason of being a child. I note that the confidentiality of confessions is affected only with respect to information that a sexual offence has been committed against a child (under the Crimes Act) and information that a child is in need of protection (as set out in the mandatory reporting requirements of the Children, Youth and Families Act). Consequently, the majority of confessions, and the content of such confessions, are likely to remain confidential. Further, the Crimes Act provisions only apply in respect of information obtained after the date of commencement. In my view, the mandatory reporting requirements strike an appropriate balance between the freedom to practice one’s religion and the rights of children to protection from abuse. I do not consider there to be any less restrictive means reasonably available to achieve this purpose. For these reasons, I consider that any

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limitation imposed by clauses 9, 10, 16 and 18 are justifiable and therefore compatible with the freedom of religion under the Charter. Immunisation as routine medical care Clause 8 clarifies that the Secretary may authorise a person who has care of a child in out of home care to make decisions about immunisation (on the recommendation of a registered medical practitioner, nurse, midwife or pharmacist in the lawful practice of their profession). This is because immunisation is considered to be ‘routine medical care’ rather than a ‘major long-term issue’ under section 175C of the Children, Youth and Families Act, which would require a parent’s agreement. These provisions may interfere with a parent’s right to freedom of conscience, religion or belief, if the parent has a ‘conscientious objection’ to vaccination and their child (in out of home care) is vaccinated against the parent’s belief. However, I consider that any limitations imposed on section 14 by clause 8 of the Bill are justifiable having regard to the factors set out in section 7(2) of the Charter. The Bill does not purport to prevent a parent from holding a belief that their child should not be vaccinated. Further, these provisions apply in a context of out of home care, where the Secretary has a statutory responsibility to ensure that children in out of home care receive appropriate health care. I consider that it is in the best interests of children to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases, which can have serious, even fatal, consequences. The weight of scientific evidence demonstrates that vaccines are safe and effective, with the benefits greatly outweighing the risks. In my view, clause 8 of the Bill is a reasonable and proportionate method of ensuring that children in out of home care have their health needs met, and is consequently compatible with the freedom of conscience and belief under the Charter. Amendments made by Part 7 of the Bill The overarching purpose of the Working with Children Act is to assist in protecting children from sexual or physical harm by ensuring that people who work with, or care for, them are subject to a screening process. The Working with Children Act establishes that the protection of children is paramount and, under section 1A, when the Secretary or VCAT makes a decision or takes an action under the Act, the protection of children from physical harm must be the paramount consideration. This fundamental principle promotes the right of every child to such protection that is in his or her best interests and is needed by them by reason of being a child. This right is reflected in section 17(2) of the Charter. To the extent that some provisions of the Bill may impact on other human rights protected by the Charter, it is necessary to be aware of the fundamental principle on which the working with children check scheme is based—that the protection of children is paramount. All human rights protected by the Charter may be subject to reasonable limitations that can be demonstrably justified in a democratic society in accordance with section 7(2) of the Charter. Legislation that assists in the protection of children from abuse may impose limitations on Charter rights where they are reasonable and demonstrably justified. A recommendation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, in its Working with Children Checks report, forms the basis of these amendments to the Working with Children Act. Recommendation 29 calls on states and territories, as a minimum standard, to restrict the appeal rights of individuals who have committed certain serious offences. The Royal Commission based this recommendation on a view that a person convicted of certain offences will always pose an unacceptable risk to children. These recommended offences are murder of a child, indecent or sexual assault of a child, child pornography offences and incest where the victim was a child, and are narrower in scope than the category A offences in the Working with Children Act. The reforms in this Bill respond to the Royal Commission’s recommendation but exceed the minimum standard by extending this limitation of appeal rights to all people who are charged with, convicted or found guilty of a category A offence if they were aged over 18 years at the time of the commission of the offence. Category A offences are the most serious offences for the purposes of the Working with Children Act and in addition to the offences in recommendation 29 of the Royal Commission, also include murder and attempted murder and rape and attempted rape of an adult. Exceeding the Royal Commission recommendation enhances the protections afforded by the Working with Children Act, recognising the seriousness of the additional offences under the Act as well as acknowledging that an adult charged with such a serious offence should not have a right to work with children unless their charge is finally dealt with other than by way of a conviction or finding of guilt. Protection of children and families Section 17(1) of the Charter recognises that families are the fundamental group unit of society and are entitled to be protected by society and the State. Section 17(2) provides that every child has the right to such protection as it is in his or her best interests and is needed by him or her by reason of being a child.

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As I have stated, the main purpose of the Working with Children Act is the protection of children from physical and sexual harm. By limiting the VCAT appeal rights of people charged with, convicted or found guilty of the most serious offending and who are identified as the greatest risk to the safety of children, these amendments, specifically clauses 20, 22 and 25(2), further promote the rights under section 17(1) of the Charter. An individual who has their charge finally dealt with other than by way of conviction or finding of guilt will be eligible to re-apply for a working with children check under section 25 of the Working with Children Act. In ZZ v Secretary, Department of Justice & Anor [2013] VSC 267, the Supreme Court observed that the Working with Children Act seeks to achieve its main purpose by establishing mechanisms for preventing certain people from performing work which is likely to bring them into unsupervised contact with children. The court held that these mechanisms protect and promote the human rights of children in significant ways. The technical amendments to the Working with Children Act in clauses 21, 23, 24, 25(l)(b), 26 and 29 of the Bill clarify the treatment of emergency detention orders under the Serious Offenders Act 2018 for the purposes of the Working with Children Act, ensure that any individual subject to such an order is treated in the same way as a person who is subject to other orders under the Serious Offenders Act as well as orders and obligations under other Victorian sex offender legislation. This ensures consistency with amendments made to the Working with Children Act by section 369 of the Serious Offenders Act. These clauses further promote the rights under section 17(1) of the Charter by ensuring serious offenders cannot work with children. Right to Privacy Section 13(a) and (b) of the Charter provide, amongst other things, that a person has the right not to have his or her privacy unlawfully or arbitrarily interfered with and to not have his or her reputation unlawfully attacked. In ZZ v Secretary, Department of Justice & Anor, the Supreme Court observed that section 13(a) of the Charter may be engaged where employment restrictions impact sufficiently upon the personal relationships of the individual and otherwise upon his or her capacity to experience a private life. Restricting an individual’s right to apply to VCAT for an assessment notice following refusal by the Secretary may engage this right. Some individuals, the subject of a category A assessment, may have limited scope for employment, without which they may be at risk of becoming unemployed, welfare dependent and socially isolated. As noted in this case, these impacts are highly personal in nature. However, in my opinion, any interference with a person’s right to privacy which may arise from these provisions, specifically clauses 20, 22 and 25(2), will be neither unlawful nor arbitrary. The Working with Children Act only applies to individuals who engage in child- related work, through which their contact with children is direct and at or for a service, body, place or that involves an activity listed in section 9(3) of the Act. The limitation of appeal rights for this small cohort of individuals will be specified in legislation and will apply to VCAT only. The changes do not impact on an individual’s right to seek remedy in the Supreme Court on matters such as jurisdictional error, unlawful delegation of power and human rights issues. Freedom of movement The effect of receiving a negative notice under section 12(2) and 21AB(2) of the Working with Children Act and subsequent limitation of VCAT appeal right introduced by clauses 20, 22 and 25(2) of the Bill for a cohort of these negative notice holders may be relevant to a person’s right to freedom of movement under section 12 of the Charter. A negative notice may have the effect of interfering with a person’s capacity to enter, or move through certain public premises, engage in certain activities and will prohibit them from undertaking employment in child-related industries. However, any resulting limitations on this right is reasonably justified under section 7(2) of the Charter on the grounds that a person who has been given a negative notice has been assessed as posing an unjustifiable risk to the safety of children. Murder, attempted murder and serious sexual offences captured by category A in the Working with Children Act are amongst the most serious criminal offences in our society. People who have been charged with, convicted or found guilty of such offences are already considered an unjustifiable risk to the safety of children under the Working with Children Act, and must be given a negative notice. Restricting the VCAT appeal rights of these individuals is for the legitimate purpose of further promoting the protection of the most vulnerable members of our community, our children. Fair hearing, right to be presumed innocent and right not to be tried or punished more than once Clauses 20, 22 and 25(2) of the Bill will amend the Working with Children Act to limit the grounds upon which a person who has been charged with, convicted or found guilty of a category A offence can apply to VCAT. These amendments are relevant to the rights to a fair hearing and due process under the Charter for a person who has been charged with a criminal offence or a party to a civil proceeding. Although a category A applicant or working with children check holder will no longer be able to apply to VCAT, this change will not prevent this cohort from seeking a judicial review of the decision in the Supreme

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Court. This provides applicants with a more restricted right to address fundamental errors with category A decisions such as jurisdictional error, unlawful delegation of power and human rights issues. The restriction of appeal rights for this narrow cohort of individuals does not limit the rights set out in section 25(1) (presumption of innocence) or section 26 (right not to be tried or punished more than once) as they do not necessitate criminal proceedings or impose penalties for a criminal offence. The purpose of preventing a person from engaging in child- related work is not to penalise that person, but is rather to assist in protecting children from sexual or physical harm in those situations where the criminal history of a person poses an unjustifiable risk to the safety of children. The Supreme Court recently affirmed the protective jurisdiction established by the Working with Children Act, where it held that the paramountcy provision in the Act means the Secretary is in a position of ‘parens patriae’, where the State assumes a protective jurisdiction for vulnerable children (Secretary to the Department of Justice and Regulation v McIntyre [2019] VSC 105). The person’s right to a fair hearing under section 24 is not infringed as anyone charged with a category A offence and who subsequently has their charge finally dealt with other than by way of a conviction or finding of guilt (such as being acquitted), may, at any time, reapply for a working with children check under the relevant change in circumstances provisions in section 25 of the Working with Children Act. The restriction of appeal rights only affects an adult who has committed the most serious offences for the purposes of the Working with Children Act. Any measures imposed by the Act, resulting in a negative notice and subsequent limitation of appeal rights in respect of category A offences, are clearly protective rather than punitive. Given the protective purposes of the legislation, and given the reasons outlined above, including the retention of judicial review, the Charter rights in section 24, 25(1) and 26 are not limited. The technical amendments in clauses 21, 23, 24, 25(l)(b),26 and 29 clarify the treatment of emergency detention orders for the purposes of the Working with Children Act. They similarly do not limit the right to presumption of innocence or right not to be tried or punished more than once as they do not necessitate criminal proceedings or impose penalties for a criminal offence, nor do they limit a person’s right to a fair hearing as anyone who becomes no longer subject to an emergency detention order, may, at any time, reapply for a working with children check under section 25 of the Working with Children Act. Clause 28 clarifies that the offence of bestiality as well as interstate offences that are equivalent to the current Victorian category A offences are also offences that are assessed as category A. These provisions do limit the rights set out in section 26 of the Charter (right not to be tried or punished more than once) because preventing a person from engaging in child-related work who has committed such a serious crime cannot properly be called a punishment for a criminal offence as the purpose and effect of a working with children check is not to punish persons for their criminal offending, but rather to protect children. Children in the criminal process Clause 25(2) of the Bill ensures the limitation of appeal rights only applies to individuals aged over 18 years at the time of the commission of the offence. Section 23(3) of the Charter states that a child who has been convicted of an offence must be treated in a way that is appropriate for his or her age. The Bill protects this right by ensuring that it is consistent with the way we treat child offenders in the criminal justice system. Amendments made by Part 8 of the Bill Protection of children (s 17(2)) Section 17(2) of the Charter provides that every child has the right, without discrimination, to such protection as is in his or her best interests and is needed by him or her by reason of being a child. The Bill promotes the right of a child to protection by ensuring victims of institutional child abuse have a basis for seeking to overturn historical judgments and settlements if they were entered into after the expiry of a statutory limitation period or, in the case of settlements, were entered into before the statutory limitation period was removed. While this does not refer directly to an expired time limit, the vast majority of settlements were reached outside the statute of limitations. The Bill recognises the difficulties child abuse plaintiffs faced due to past statutory limitation periods and other barriers to seeking compensation in the courts, and that in some cases this led to child abuse survivors accepting inadequate compensation. The Bill will enable those child abuse survivors to ask the court to overturn past judgments and settlements if it is just and reasonable to do so. The Bill will apply to causes of action founded on death or personal injury resulting from physical or sexual abuse, and any child psychological abuse that arises out of that sexual or physical abuse. By applying to both physical and sexual child abuse, the Bill acknowledges the harmful effects that both forms of abuse have on a child’s physical and psychological well-being, and promotes their ‘best interests’ by assisting them to pursue adequate compensation if past statutory time limits applied and it is just and reasonable to do so.

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The right to property (s 20) Section 20 of the Charter provides that a person must not be deprived of his or her property other than in accordance with law. This right requires that powers which authorise the deprivation of property are conferred by legislation or common law, are confined and structured rather than unclear, are accessible to the public and are formulated precisely. Like all rights conferred under the Charter, section 20 only applies to individuals. Clauses 27QC and 27QE allow for courts to set aside past judgments or settlements concluded after a limitation period had expired or, in the case of settlements, were entered into before the statutory limitation period was removed, relating to child abuse, if it is just and reasonable to do so. The right to property only applies to human beings, and not entities such as non-government organisations, corporations or corporate trustees. To the extent that the property of an individual is affected by clauses 27QC or 27QE, the deprivation would be authorised by an accessible and precisely formulated law and would not be arbitrary: • The Bill clearly and unambiguously provides that an action may be brought in some cases in relation to death or personal injury arising from child abuse that was the subject of a judgement concluded when an applicable limitation period had expired or settlement agreement entered into before the statutory limitation period was removed. In order to set aside the past judgment or settlement agreement, the court must determine that it is just and reasonable to do so. • In an action on such a re-opened cause of action, the court may take into account any amounts paid or payable as damages or costs. Any deprivation of property would only be triggered by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction made in a proceeding. The Bill will only apply to past judgments made when an applicable statutory limitation period had expired and previously settled causes of action that were settled before the statutory limitation period was removed. As statutory limitation periods were abolished in respect of child abuse causes of action from 1 July 2015, the Bill will apply to past judgments and settlements. The Bill does not alter the legal principles that a court will apply when, having set aside a past judgment or settlement on the ground that it is just and reasonable to do so, it then determines the claim and any associated liability. As in any other case, a plaintiff who has a past judgement or settled cause of action set aside and pursues a new civil claim will still have to prove that the defendant is liable for the abuse. The Bill will simply deal with the unjust product of previous time limits which led to survivors accepting inadequate settlements and releasing the institution from future liability. For these reasons, the Bill does not constitute an arbitrary deprivation of property. The right to privacy (s 13) Section 13 of the Charter provides that every person has the right not to have his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence unlawfully or arbitrarily interfered with, or reputation unlawfully attacked. Nothing in the Bill will limit the right to privacy and reputation. There is no mechanism in the Bill to compel disclosure of personal information for the purpose of the proceedings. The Bill will not enable unlawful attacks on a person’s reputation. Where a court finds it is just and reasonable to set aside a previous judgment or settled cause of action under clauses 27QC or 27QE, any subsequent allegations of child abuse made against a person in the context of proceedings will still need to satisfy the ordinary legal requirements of any claim founded on or arising from child abuse, for example, negligence. The right to a fair hearing (s 24) Section 24 of the Charter provides that a party to a civil proceeding has the right to have the proceeding decided by a competent, independent, impartial court or tribunal after a fair and public hearing. The Bill is consistent with the right to a fair hearing. Firstly, proper safeguards have been put in place to ensure that a past settlement or judgment can only be set aside where a court finds that it is reasonable and just to do so. Secondly, the Bill does not place any obstacles in the way of a defendant having the right to be heard and to respond to any allegations made in a proceeding. This will include the defendant’s right to seek a summary dismissal or permanent stay of proceedings where the lapse of time has a burdensome effect on the defendant that is so serious that a fair trial is not possible. The right to recognition and equality before the law (s 8(3)) and freedom of religion (s 14) Section 8(3) of the Charter provides that every person is equal before the law, is entitled to the equal protection of the law without discrimination and has the right to equal and effective protection against discrimination. Section 14 of the Charter provides that every person has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief.

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The Bill is consistent with the rights in both section 8(3) and section 14. Nothing in the Bill could be characterised as distinguishing between people or groups based on an attribute set out in section 6 of the Equal Opportunity Act 1995, including religious belief or activity. The problem faced by child abuse plaintiffs in bringing proceedings identified by the Royal Commission and Betrayal of Trust was the result of a complex and confusing array of legal barriers to child abuse claims, which discouraged victims from bringing their claims in court, and reduced their bargaining position in settlement negotiations. The Bill rectifies this injustice, without targeting any particular organisation. The Bill therefore does not discriminate—instead it focuses on ensuring that child abuse victims are able to pursue appropriate compensation. Furthermore, there is no clause in the Bill which would interfere with or restrain the right of people to have or adopt a religion or belief in worship, observance, practice or teaching. The right not to be tried or punished more than once (s 26) and protection from retrospective criminal laws (s 27) Section 26 of the Charter provides that a person must not be tried or punished more than once for an offence in respect of which he or she has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law. Section 27 of the Charter provides that a person must not be found guilty of a criminal offence because of conduct that was not a criminal offence when it was engaged in. The Bill is consistent with the rights in both section 26 and 27. Like all rights conferred under the Charter, sections 26 and 27 only apply to individuals, and not entities such as non-government organisations, corporations or corporate trustees. Additionally, sections 26 and 27 do not extend to civil trials that result in civil liability, including negligence or breach of duty of care in the failing of an institution to protect a child from abuse. The Bill allows for courts to set aside past judgments and settlements concluded after a limitation period had expired, or in the case of settlements, were entered into before the statutory limitation period was removed, relating to child abuse, if it is just and reasonable to do so. Where a court finds it is just and reasonable to set aside a previous judgment or settled cause of action under clauses 27QC or 27QE, any subsequent allegations of child abuse made against a person in the context of proceedings will still need to satisfy the ordinary legal requirements of any claim founded on or arising from child abuse. The Bill will apply to historical judgements, insofar as they were entered into in respect of child abuse and concluded after a limitation period had expired. These reforms under the Bill do not form part of the penalty or punishments of an offender, or to changes in procedural law, for example, shifts in trial practice or changes to the rules of evidence. Hon Luke Donnellan MP Minister for Child Protection Second reading Mr DONNELLAN (Narre Warren North—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers) (10:09): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time. I ask that my second-reading speech be incorporated into Hansard.

Incorporated speech as follows: This government has a proud record of reform and improvement to services that promote the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children. Investment is at record levels and significant reforms have been, and are being, implemented. The reforms and investment have been targeted to address a range of issues, including many identified in official inquiries. For example, the Royal Commission into Family Violence has led to unprecedented investment in prevention and early intervention services for both vulnerable children and vulnerable women, while information sharing legislation has been updated to prioritise children’s right to safety over other people’s rights to privacy. This Bill makes amendments to several Acts to provide better protection for children and delivers on the government’s public commitments to include people in religious ministry as mandatory reporters to Child Protection, to remove the religious confessions exemption from the ‘failure to disclose’ offence about informing police about sexual abuse of children under 16, and to better support survivors of institutional child abuse to access compensation they deserve. The Bill will:

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• amend the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 to include people in religious ministry as mandatory reporters to Child Protection without exemption for religious confessions • amend the Crimes Act 1958 to remove the exemption for religious confessions from the ‘failure to disclose’ offence whereby adults must report information about the sexual abuse of a child under 16 to police • amend the Evidence Act 2008 so that the religious confessions privilege does not apply to proceedings for the ‘failure to disclose’ offence or for failing to make a mandatory report under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 • amend the Limitation of Actions Act 1958 to provide that a court judgment or settlement agreement that was concluded when a cause of action was outside the statute of limitations may be set aside by the court if it is just and reasonable to do so • amend the Working with Children Act 2005 to limit the appeal rights of people with category A offending • make technical and clarifying amendments to the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005, Children Legislation Amendment (Information Sharing) Act 2018, and Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 to enable effective operation of the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 and Child and Family Violence Information Sharing Schemes. I will deal with each aspect of the Bill in turn. Including people in religious ministry as mandatory reporters to Child Protection Including people in religious ministry as mandatory reporters to Child Protection arises from Recommendations 7.3 of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (McClellan Royal Commission). The Commission’s report noted that all States and Territories, including Victoria, mandated teachers, police, medical practitioners and nurses to report child abuse. The report also noted inconsistencies in the extent to which other groups were mandated in each jurisdiction, and the unarguable right of children to benefit from the same level of protection no matter where they live in Australia. As a first step to creating greater consistency in reporter groups, recommendation 7.3 is that—at a minimum —the following groups also be mandated to report child abuse in all jurisdictions: • out-of-home care agency workers (excluding foster and kinship carers) • youth justice workers • early childhood workers • registered psychologists and school counsellors, and • people in religious ministry. In response, in Victoria, out-of-home care workers, youth justice workers, early childhood workers and psychologists became mandatory reporters on 1 March 2019 as a result of regulatory changes, and school counsellors will be mandated by regulation on 31 January 2020. This Bill will complete the response, by amending the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 to add people in religious ministry to the list of groups who are mandatory reporters. Recommendation 7.4 of the McClellan Royal Commission is that laws concerning mandatory reporting should not exempt people in religious ministry from reporting knowledge or suspicions formed, in whole or in part, on the basis of information disclosed in or in connection with a religious confession. Amendments contained in this Bill will also implement this recommendation. The Evidence Act applies to specified courts and proceedings and provides that it does not affect the operation of the provision of any other Act. However, to avoid any doubt, this Bill includes an amendment to make clear the religious confessions privilege in the Evidence Act does not provide an exemption from mandatory reporting. It is an offence under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 to fail to make a mandatory report. To give full effect to including people in religious ministry as mandatory reporters, the Evidence Act will be amended to provide that the religious confessions privilege does not apply in a proceeding for the offence of failing to make a mandatory report.

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Removing religious confessions exemption for ‘failure to disclose’ offence The Bill delivers on an election commitment made by the Victorian Government to ensure that the ‘failure to disclose’ offence in section 327 of the Crimes Act 1958 does not exempt information disclosed in the context of a religious confession. The failure to disclose offence requires an adult who reasonably believes that another adult has sexually abused a child under 16 years to disclose that information to police, unless they have a reasonable excuse for not doing so. A maximum penalty of three years imprisonment applies to this offence. Under current laws, priests and other religious ministers do not have to comply with this offence where they obtain the relevant information during a religious confession, as long as there is no criminal purpose involved in the confession. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended that the religious confession exemption be removed from failure to disclose offences. It found that children often disclose sexual abuse suffered by them during confession, while members of the clergy also disclose their abusive behaviour during confession. It received evidence that some perpetrators would admit to sexually abusing children during confession, obtain absolution for their sins and later reoffend. The Royal Commission found a ‘significant risk’ that perpetrators of child sexual abuse may continue to offend if they are not reported to police. It concluded that, given the importance of protecting children from sexual abuse, there should be no exemption to reporting laws for information received during confession. Following these recommendations, the Bill will remove the religious confession exemption from the failure to disclose offence. This means that if religious ministers hear information in confession that leads them to form a reasonable belief that child sexual abuse has occurred, they will have a clear legal duty to report that belief to police, even where this means breaking the seal of confession. This reform places the safety and protection of our children as the highest priority. Under these new laws, the sanctity of religious confession will be no excuse for religious ministers failing to disclose child abuse to authorities. The Bill also makes related amendments to the Evidence Act 2008 so that the religious confession privilege does not apply to court proceedings for the failure to disclose offence. This will not force religious ministers to give evidence of information obtained in confession during proceedings for the failure to disclose offence. As the minister would be the accused person in such proceedings, the privilege against self-incrimination will continue to operate to ensure that he or she could not be compelled to give evidence. If, however, a minister decides to give evidence, this reform would ensure that the minister could not invoke the privilege in court. There will be sections of the community who may oppose these changes, particularly as they relate to religious confessions. The Roman Catholic church has publicly stated its opposition to ‘breaking the seal of the confessional’ in order to protect children. Confession, properly known as ‘the sacrament of penance and reconciliation’, is an important feature of Roman Catholic practice. Many other religions also practice forms of confession, although in some cases confession may be made collectively and silently in general prayer. Some forms of individual confession in the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Anglican, Mormon, Lutheran churches currently also attract confidentiality that will be removed by this Bill. The Methodist church, which is subsumed within the Uniting Church in Australia, also offers individual and confidential confession in certain circumstances. This Bill does not over-ride the confidentiality of all information disclosed in confession. It does, however, remove the exemption for information about a child likely to have been a victim of sexual abuse or not to have been protected from physical injury by their parents. It has been argued that removing the exemption that applies to information disclosed in confession will deter perpetrators of abuse from confessing to that abuse. However, current disclosures do not lead to effective action to protect children because of their confidentiality. In effect, if not in intent, the confidentiality of this information prioritises the needs of perpetrators for absolution or forgiveness over the child’s right to protection. This may lead to further offending against a child or against other children, as documented by the McClellan Royal Commission. The Commission’s report described one case of a priest who had confessed more than one thousand times to dozens of priests about his abuse of children, and who had not been reported because of the confidentiality of his confession. It was the view of the McClellan Royal Commission that the child’s right to protection must take precedence over confidentiality to protect the perpetrator. The Commission’s report noted that the United Nations

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Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that the freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be limited by law for various reasons, including to safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. The government accepts the views and findings of the Commission on this matter and these amendments give effect to the resulting recommendations. The outcome will be to offer better protection for children from abuse. Amendments to the Limitation of Actions Act to allow certain judgments and settlement agreements concluded following the expiry of a limitation period to be set aside by the courts The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non- Government Organisations, Betrayal of Trust, and the Royal Commission, made numerous recommendations relating to civil litigation. The Victorian Government has implemented all of these recommendations, through a suite of reforms introduced to remove a range of hurdles faced by child abuse survivors seeking compensation from organisations associated with their abuse. In 2015, Victoria became the first jurisdiction in Australia to completely remove the statute of limitations for civil claims founded on child abuse. Amendments to the Limitation of Actions Act 1958 removed the limitation period for all relevant child abuse claims regardless of the time or context of the alleged abuse. Before this reform, time limitations were one of the major barriers faced by victims of child abuse who wished to pursue legal action. Limitation periods often discouraged victims from bringing their claims in court, and the expiration of a limitation period was commonly used against victims in negotiations — often to reduce the settlement amount offered. In 2017, the Victorian Government introduced an Australian-first duty of care for organisations exercising care, supervision or authority over children. Amendments to the Wrongs Act 1958 created a new duty of care to hold an organisation responsible for child abuse that occurred in their organisation, unless the organisation proves that it took reasonable precautions to prevent the abuse. In 2018, the Victorian Government introduced new laws to close an unfair legal loophole preventing child abuse survivors from suing some organisations responsible for their abuse. The Legal Identity of Defendants (Organisational Child Abuse) Act 2018 commenced on 1 July 2018. The reform prevents unincorporated organisations from relying upon a legal technicality—known as the ‘Ellis defence’—to avoid being sued. The Ellis defence resulted from a 2007 New South Wales Court of Appeal decision that found unincorporated organisations using trusts to conduct their activities did not legally exist and could not be sued in their own right. The reform enables an institutional child abuse plaintiff to pursue damages against an unincorporated non-government organisation that controls one or more associated trusts, either by the non-government organisation nominating an entity to be sued or by the court appointing the non-government organisation’s associated trusts to be responsible for any liability. While these reforms have removed significant barriers to civil litigation for survivors of institutional child abuse, they do not deal with the unjust product of previous barriers, which led to survivors accepting inadequate settlements and releasing institutions from future liability. The Royal Commission found that survivors of child sexual abuse take an average of around 22 years to report the abuse that they have suffered, due to the significant power imbalances between survivors and perpetrators, along with deep feelings of shame, guilt and embarrassment. Once ready to commence proceedings, survivors were confronted with barriers to civil litigation which have since been removed, including time limitations, difficulties in identifying a proper defendant and establishing organisational liability, which led to formal settlements that may be considered inadequate. To overcome this, the Bill proposes to amend the Limitation of Actions Act 1958 to allow a court to set aside past judgments and previously settled causes of action relating to child abuse concluded after a limitation period had expired, if it is just and reasonable to do so. The proposed amendments will apply to all causes of action founded on the death or personal injury of a person resulting from child abuse. The proposed amendments will allow the court to take into account any amounts paid or payable as compensation, damages or costs under a previous judgment relating to the cause of action or the previous voided settlement agreement, if the court is satisfied that it is just and reasonable to do so. In determining what is just and reasonable a court can take into account a number of considerations, informed by the Royal Commission. Many survivors of child abuse were not able to obtain justice even with independent legal representation, because of the barriers to civil litigation which existed at the time and the conduct of institutions at the time to deny responsibility for abuse and exploit legal loopholes. As a result, many survivors accepted inadequate compensation and entered into deeds of release. Community expectations and understanding today recognise the lifelong impact of child abuse and the key responsibility of institutions in protecting children from abuse. Where survivors faced significant disadvantage in pursuing compensation due to legal barriers such as the statute of limitations, the Ellis defence, or the deficiency of the

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law regarding the duty of care of organisations, settlements entered into should be set aside in the interests of justice, to allow victims to obtain compensation which is deemed adequate by today’s standards. An applicable time limitation period must have applied at the time that the judgment was concluded, or, in the case of a settlement, it must have been made while a limitation period applied (that is, prior to 1 July 2015). While this does not refer directly to an expired time limit, the vast majority of settlements were reached outside the statute of limitations. For any settlement reached within time, the court could take account of that fact when determining if the agreement should be set aside on the basis that it is not just and reasonable. It is not necessary that the existence of the limitation period be the predominant reason as to why the agreement was entered into. There may be a number of reasons that a plaintiff entered into such an agreement, including but not limited to unequal bargaining power, barriers to identifying a proper defendant, feelings of guilt and shame compounded by the burden of giving evidence and being subject to cross-examination, or the behaviour of the relevant institution. Amendments to limit the appeal rights of serious offenders under the Working with Children Act 2005 As a community, ensuring the safety and protection of our children is amongst one of our most important functions. The Working with Children Act 2005 plays an important role in this by establishing a process to screen people who are engaging or intending to engage in child- related work. At its core, the Working with Children Act 2005 ensures that the protection of children from sexual and physical harm must be the paramount consideration. When the working with children check commenced in April 2006, it represented a significant change in the way Victoria treated the care of children, introducing minimum, statewide standards for those who worked with children, whether paid or voluntary. Now some thirteen years later, the working with children check enjoys a level of support far in excess of expectations. Over this time, the working with children check has needed to evolve to stay in touch with community expectations. In 2016, the Victorian Government amended the Working with Children Act to implement key recommendations of the Royal Commission, noting at the time that many of the Royal Commission’s recommendations on working with children checks already closely aligned with Victorian processes. The Victorian Government remains committed to addressing the issues raised by the Royal Commission, including working with the Commonwealth and state and territory governments to progress minimum standards for working with children checks. These amendments to the Working with Children Act further strengthen protections to children by limiting the right of those with serious charges and offences on their records who are refused a working with children check to apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for a working with children check to be given to them. In its final report on working with children checks, the Royal Commission found that a person convicted of certain serious offences such as murder of a child and sexual assault of a child, will always pose an unacceptable risk to children. The Royal Commission recommended, as a minimum standard, that individuals convicted and jailed for such serious offences should be refused a working with children check and prohibited from appealing this decision. The reforms in this Bill address this recommendation and go further. Under the Act, the Secretary to the Department of Justice and Community Safety must give a negative notice to any person who is charged with, convicted or found guilty of a category A offence. These offences include murder, rape, sexual offences committed by an adult against a child and child abuse material offences. However, a category A applicant can currently apply to VCAT for an assessment notice to be given to them, in spite of their serious offending. Of course, any person subject to a sex offender order or reporting obligation does not have this right. This Bill will limit that right of appeal. Any person who has, as an adult, been charged with, convicted or found guilty of a category A offence, will no longer be able to apply to VCAT for a working with children check. This new limitation will not extend to a person charged with a category A offence and later acquitted, or in circumstance where the charges are dropped. A person will be able to reapply for a working with children check in these circumstances. Nor does the limitation extend to a person who was under 18 years of age at the time the offence was committed. This is consistent with the way we treat child offenders in the criminal justice system. The reforms exceed the Royal Commission’s recommendation by extending the limitation of appeal rights to charges as well as convictions and including a broader list of offences, such as murder and rape of an adult,

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as well as of a child. These amendments will provide a level of certainty that people with the most serious criminal offending will not be able to work with children. Category A applicants and working with children check holders will retain a limited right of judicial review in the Supreme Court, which provides a more narrow right to address fundamental errors with category A decisions such as jurisdictional error, unlawful delegation of power and human rights issues. The limiting of appeal rights for individuals charged with, convicted or found guilty of the most serious offences for the purposes of the working with children check represents a further step towards strengthening the scheme and acknowledges that some individuals will always pose a risk to the safety of children. The Bill also includes some minor technical amendments to clarify the categorisation of certain offences, specifically that the offence of bestiality is a category A offence if committed by an adult and that interstate offences equivalent to Victorian category A offences, are also category A offences for the purposes of the Working with Children Act 2005. The Bill also ensures that emergency detention orders under the Serious Offenders Act 2018 are appropriately captured for the purposes of the working with children check, consistent with changes made by that Act to the Working with Children Act 2005 in 2018. Technical and clarifying amendments The Bill also includes several amendments of a technical or clarifying nature regarding the operation or interaction of various pieces of legislation related to protecting and promoting the wellbeing of children. These amendments will address ambiguities and unanticipated obstacles, removing barriers to the intended operation of existing legislation. Preventing delay in meeting the health needs of children in out-of-home care The Bill will remove doubt and prevent delay in meeting the health needs of children in out- of-home care through amendments to the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005. It will confirm the Secretary’s power to consent to medical treatment for children under a Children’s Court interim accommodation order where the child is placed in a secure welfare service. The Bill will also clarify that immunisation, on the recommendation of a relevant practitioner, constitutes routine medical care, and the provision of routine medical care is not a major long-term issue. This will enable the carers of children to arrange routine childhood immunisations for children in their care without delay. Facilitating the operation of legislated information sharing schemes as intended It is important for professionals to be able to share information about vulnerable children. It has been a frequent finding of inquiries into the injury and death of children in Victoria and elsewhere that available information is often fragmented and not shared between professionals, with none having a complete picture of the circumstances of the child in the lead up to their injury or death. Victoria’s legislation regarding sharing information about vulnerable children has addressed this through the introduction of the Child Information Sharing Scheme and related amendments to the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005. The intent is for relevant information to be shared more readily in order to better promote children’s safety and wellbeing and enable them to be protected from harm. The Bill will amend the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 to confirm protection for people who disclose information to Child Protection in good faith from contravention of the Health Services Act 1998 and the Mental Health Act 2014. The Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 will also be amended by the Bill to clarify that reporter and referrer identity information may be shared between child protection and community-based child and family services, and between different community-based child and family services. This will support effective assessment and service provision where reports and referrals have been received in relation to child wellbeing. The existing strong protection requiring the identity of reporters and referrers to be kept confidential by these services will be maintained. The Bill will maintain the judicial independence of courts and tribunals while allowing them to be prescribed as Information Sharing Entities under the Child Information Sharing Scheme, so that relevant information can be shared as intended. This requires amending a yet-to-commence consequential amendment provision of the Children Legislation Amendment (Information Sharing) Act 2018 that would otherwise inappropriately include courts as information holders under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005. The Bill will amend the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 to ensure the consent of a person to whom personal or sensitive information relates is not required if the information is being collected, used or disclosed under the Child Information Sharing Scheme, or by a Child Link user.

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Clarifying the scope of the Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care program Under section 18 of the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005, the Secretary may authorise the principal officer of an Aboriginal agency to perform specified functions and exercise specified powers conferred on the Secretary in relation to a protection order for an Aboriginal child. Such authorisations are occurring through the Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care program which is gradually being implemented by agreement with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations. Sibling groups of children in need of protection are usually best managed together. However, responsibility for non-Aboriginal siblings of Aboriginal children cannot currently be authorised to an Aboriginal agency, and there are circumstances where such a transfer would be in the best interests of an Aboriginal child’s non- Aboriginal sibling. The Bill will amend the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 to permit authorisation of the non-Aboriginal sibling of an Aboriginal child who has been authorised under the Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care program, where all other requirements for authorisation of the non-Aboriginal sibling have been met. As with all decisions relating to the protection of children, the paramount consideration will be whether the authorisation is in the best interests of the children. In summary, the Bill contains significant substantive amendments, as well as some technical and clarifying amendments. These will offer greater protection to children, implement recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse and facilitate the intended operation of current legislation directed to promoting the wellbeing and safety of children and protecting them from harm, as well as support for survivors of institutional child abuse. I commend the Bill to the house. Mr WAKELING (Ferntree Gully) (10:09): I move:

That the debate be now adjourned. Motion agreed to and debate adjourned. Ordered that debate be adjourned for two weeks. Debate adjourned until Thursday, 29 August. BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES REGISTRATION AMENDMENT BILL 2019 Second reading Debate resumed on motion of Ms HENNESSY: That this bill be now read a second time. Ms STALEY (Ripon) (10:10): I rise to speak on the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019. The Liberal-Nationals oppose this bill. I oppose this bill. I oppose this bill because the government has failed to consult with the largest group of people affected by this bill— namely, females—women and girls. In the bill briefing for this bill I specifically asked about the consultation with the broader female population. The bureaucrats undertaking the briefing told me the consultation had been through the Victorian LGBTIQ task force. I was further informed that females, both lesbian and heterosexual, outside that group were not consulted. My contribution will focus on the impact of this bill on females, both adults and children. I will in the main talk about trans women, trans girls and trans boys. This should not be taken to mean that I in any way deny the existence or the lived experience of trans men. Given the profound implications for women’s safety, sexuality and opportunities created by this bill, the failure of the government to consult with females is unacceptable, and the government must remedy these deficiencies before this bill goes to the other place. This bill seeks to amend the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996 to remove the requirement for a person to have undergone sex affirmation surgery before being able to apply to alter the sex recorded on his or her Victorian birth registration or to obtain a document acknowledging his or her sex from the Victorian registrar of births, deaths and marriages. Further, the bill seeks to allow for an adult to apply to alter the sex recorded on his or her birth registration to a sex descriptor of his or her choice, and it introduces a new process to allow the parents or guardian of a child to apply, with the child’s consent, to alter the sex recorded in the child’s birth registration to a nominated sex descriptor.

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The bill and the government’s rhetoric equates sex and gender. Equating sex and gender is a mistake. The human species has two biological sexes: male and female. The division is evolutionary and relies on chromosome differences. All humans have at least one X chromosome, males at least one Y, with the extremely rare—one in fewer than 40 000 births—de la Chapelle syndrome being the exception, which in no way invalidates the division of humans into male and female sexes based on biology. A birth certificate in Victoria is a certificate of the sex of a person at birth. Such a document of a person’s sex at birth should only be able to be altered if the designation of the sex at birth is later found to be incorrect. In these days of instant genetic testing such an error is even less likely than on the infrequent occasions it may have occurred in the past. However, this bill before us is not an attempt to correct such errors. The bill before us is designed to allow a person to change the sex on his or her birth certificate to the gender with which he or she identifies. The bill is fatally flawed. The principal arguments put forward in support of this bill from the Attorney-General cover the clauses allowing a person to choose their sex descriptor on a birth certificate. The Attorney-General, in her second-reading speech, noted that unamended birth certificates might mean trans people suffer:

high barriers ... to be thrown up against them in their daily lives. As a result, organisations and institutions may query the person’s sex by asking inappropriate and intrusive questions, for example when providing a service or amending documentation such as bank accounts, insurance details, credit cards, and university records. However, the government’s solution to this purported problem is to introduce legislation that allows for an adult to apply to alter the sex recorded on his or her birth registration to a sex descriptor of his or her choice. At the bill briefing I asked what this means in practice and was told the births, deaths and marriages registrar would have a list developed in consultation with the transgender community of acceptable sex descriptors. The first purpose the Attorney-General talked about in her second-reading speech is to reduce current discrimination against trans people when they are outed as trans when they present a birth certificate with a sex descriptor different to how they present themselves to the world. Having someone turn up to a bank for a credit card with agender, pangender, neutrois or genderqueer as their sex descriptor is not going to solve that problem. A more considered response would have been to restrict changes to male, female and X, as the federal legislation for passports does. The proposed bill also allows children to have their sex changed on their birth certificate to any non- prohibited term. Again, this is not solving a problem of the sex on a birth certificate not matching how a child presents to the world. A second primary aim of the bill is to remove the requirement for a person to have undergone sex affirmation surgery before being able to apply to alter the sex recorded in their Victorian birth registration. Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland currently require sex affirmation surgery. There are many reasons why surgery is neither appropriate nor, in some cases, possible. As the Attorney-General said in her second-reading speech: Sex affirmation surgery is a serious and invasive surgical procedure that involves a number of health risks, is not covered by Medicare, and not always available in Australia. However, the government’s approach to fixing this problem is at best muddle-headed and at worst dangerous. Instead of any clinical diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a medical practitioner, the bill before us opts for a simple affirmation by a person that this change is what he or she wants. In the bill briefing I asked if a man could come to the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages presenting as male, with a friend he has known for a year, affirm that he is a woman and receive a new birth certificate saying that. The answer was, ‘Yes’. So I now come to why this bill is unacceptable in its current form. This bill allows a male to change his birth certificate to female with no evidence at all that he lives as a woman, even part-time; no evidence that this change reflects who he is; and no proof that he will not use the issued birth certificate to harass and harm women in women-only spaces. It is dangerous and wrongheaded to create law on the basis of self-affirmation when so doing affects others. The government would like us to believe

BILLS 2700 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 that this bill only affects trans people. The government would like us to accept that all trans people act with the utmost integrity and goodwill. If that were the case, trans people would undoubtedly be a strange group of people and different from every other group, which invariably contain well- intentioned and nefarious members. The government would like us to think of the trans women who are pillars of the community, who are striving for trans equality and who are deeply impressive humans. As Holly Lawford-Smith, of the University of Melbourne—who I recognise is in the gallery today—explains, for some, the imagined trans woman: … is on hormone therapy and presents in a feminine way, who transitioned fairly young, who tends to be conscious of feminist issues, and who has suffered a lot from the experience of dealing with gender dysphoria from a young age. Many trans women fit this description. Many trans women suffer such profound gender dysphoria that their lives are intolerable as men. I recognise that for most trans women, and trans men as well, being trans is in no way a choice; it is who they are. I also recognise and completely accept that being trans is so phenomenally hard because one is at best treated as an ‘other’ and at worst violently attacked for living as one is to the very essence of one’s consciousness. However, having empathy for individual trans people cannot blind us to the reality that not all trans women are either so well-intentioned, so mentally stable or such upright citizens. The government does not want us to think about Evie Amati, Paula Denyer or Jessica Yaniv. The Age reported, on 4 August 2019, that Ms Amati is in jail, where she is serving at least four and a half years for a brutal axe attack she inflicted in a convenience store in Sydney’s inner west in 2017. She has also begun the process of de-transitioning from jail. Wikipedia records:

Paula Denyer … is an Australian serial killer currently serving three consecutive sentences of life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 30 years for the murders of three young women in Melbourne, in 1993. Denyer has claimed that feelings of gender dysphoria are what led her to seek revenge against women by murdering them. In a letter from jail dated 4 February 2004, she wrote: I committed these disgusting crimes … not because I ever hated womankind, but because I have never really felt that I was male In the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, Jessica Yaniv, a trans woman who has not undergone gender reassignment surgery, is suing over a dozen beauticians for refusing to wax her scrotum at their female-only salons. As observers of the case note, most of the waxers were poor immigrant women with no power. It is simply not good enough for government members to ignore the real and documented risks to women from allowing self-identification to be the only criterion for changing a birth certificate. The government has not fully considered how to deal with a Yaniv-type case occurring in Victoria. It is also a suitable time to rebut the flawed notion that anyone who opposes this bill—or trans women entering some female-only areas, or competing as female athletes et cetera—must be denigrated as transphobic or a TERF. The Labour Party in the UK is grappling with the implications of self- identification for their all-women short lists, their way of implementing female quotas for Parliament. The UK Labour Party has refused to confirm self-ID as a criterion for participating in all-women short lists. New Zealand’s Labour government and Scotland’s Scottish National Party government have withdrawn self-ID birth certificate bills for further consultation. Other progressive parties and governments are listening to their women’s caucuses when those women point out the dangers and flaws of self-ID with no medical opinion or hormone transition. It is not a binary choice between requiring sex affirmation surgery or self-ID, as this government seems to believe. Tasmania is the only state with self-ID by simple statutory declaration. In the UK, for instance, a person must have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, have lived in their chosen acquired gender for at least two years and

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2701 have stated a commitment to live in their acquired gender for the rest of their life. This would be a better model, rather than self-identification that can be changed every 12 months. The critical problem with self-ID birth certificates is that not all people who avail themselves of the opportunity will be acting in good faith, and not all people will be mentally well. Even if the vast majority experience gender dysphoria and are not, for example, schizophrenic, this bill only requires a simple statutory declaration and a letter from a supporter. Last week I attended a seminar at the University of Melbourne on the future of sex-based rights, hosted by the Victorian Women’s Guild. Edward O’Donohue, the Shadow Attorney-General, and I braved the cold Melbourne night and the rabble of protesters outside to listen to four academic speakers voice some of their concerns with this bill and the broader issues for females in a world of self-ID trans. Hayden Opie, AM, senior fellow at the Melbourne Law School, presented on his area of expertise, which is sporting law. As Mr Opie noted, discrimination in sport is generally unlawful except for competitive sports where strength, stamina or physique are relevant. The Equal Opportunity Act 2010, section 72, and the commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act 1984, section 42, make carve outs to permit single-sex sport. A person can be excluded despite his or her gender identity, and we have recently seen Cricket Australia codify the rules for inclusion and exclusion in that sport. The exceptions in competitive sport exist because the generic male has a 10 to 20 per cent physiological advantage over a generic female. The exceptions are there to create a space for biological females to compete. However, the legal exception does not apply for non-competitive social sport or where women are not disadvantaged— for example, lawn bowls, equestrian sports and motor racing. As Mr Opie said, the bill before us does not amend the equal opportunity or sex discrimination acts and the impact of this bill, if enacted, is a probable increase in the number and diversity of people wishing to participate in single-sex sports for women covered by the exception. What is competitive sport? Is it only at the elite level where testosterone testing attempts to alleviate the 10 to 20 per cent physiological advantage of biological males? Does C-grade netball count? What is the real impact on females of trans women playing local district grades of cricket, netball, basketball and competing in the swimming or athletics? We are back to biology. It is inescapable when there are physiological differences between the sexes. We are also creating a situation where volunteer local sporting administrations are put in the invidious position where a trans woman seeks to play women’s sport. Do the administrators have to allow it because the potential sportsperson is brandishing a female birth certificate? Do the administrators have to allow it even when it means the greater strength of the trans woman means she wins every race—how is that fair—or just when it is based on biological differences between the sexes? Alternatively, do we say it is okay only when trans women lose, because they are just bad at the sport or they have individual strength and physiques clearly within the female range? It is not only in female sport where the brandishing of a birth certificate can be problematic. Female- only spaces exist in the main to protect women from men. The most obvious place is women’s refuges, set up as places of sanctuary for females fleeing male violence. Many such women are terrified of all men, at least while they are in the first shock of trauma. Of course, because most men are not violent, over time this terror subsides. Trans activists and this bill hold to the idea that gender and sex are the same, a construct rejected by biology. This matters when trans women who are themselves fleeing male violence appear at a women’s shelter. A trans woman may trigger the terror of males in another victim of violence, even though the trans woman is in no way violent and is herself a victim. I now turn to the severe problem that self-identification among children poses and the fact that this change to birth certificates, while seemingly a small personal change, has bigger implications for girls, particularly lesbian girls. The most respected research suggests that in an adult population about three- quarters of transgender people are trans women—that is, born male. This has been stable for years. However, in recent years this is not the pattern experienced in children. The most recent data from the

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British National Health Service shows 929 girls and 490 boys were referred to the gender identity development service in 2015–16. Lisa Littman investigated this phenomenon in parent reports of adolescents and young adults perceived to shows signs of rapid-onset gender dysphoria. Before discussing why Littman’s study is important in the context of this bill, no reference to the study can be made without confronting head- on that the study was subject to sustained attack, which caused it to be further reviewed by the respected journal that published it and led to its title changing but its conclusions remaining unchanged. Dr Littman is best placed to summarise her research for a non-academic audience, and she did so in a 19 March 2019 Quillette interview. This research explores, through the reports of parents, a phenomenon where teens and young adults who did not exhibit childhood signs of gender issues appeared to suddenly identify as transgender. This new identification seemed to occur in the context of either belonging to a group of friends [in which] multiple—or even all—members became transgender-identified around the same time, or through immersion in social media, or both. The findings of the research support the hypotheses that what I— Dr Littman—

have described could represent a new type of gender dysphoria (referred to as Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria [or ROGD]); that, for some teens and young adults, their gender dysphoria might represent a maladaptive coping mechanism; and that peer and social influences might contribute to the development of gender dysphoria. More research will need to be done to confirm or refute these hypotheses. Crucially, what led Dr Littman to undertake this research were parents of these children saying:

… that the clinicians they saw were only interested in fast-tracking gender-affirmation and transition and were resistant to even evaluating the child’s pre-existing and current mental health issues. Such comments need to be investigated rather than being dismissed as transphobic. As the Economist noted on 1 September 2018, amid the controversy: Squashing research risks injuring the health of an unknown number of troubled adolescent girls. Anecdotal evidence presented to me while I undertook the consultation for this bill—that the government has not done—frequently noted the pressure potentially lesbian girls are placed under to transition. Teachers and counsellors in schools are taught students presenting with comments such as, ‘I feel different’, ‘I am androgynous’ or, ‘My body is not right’ are encouraged to explore transitioning. I doubt it will surprise any woman in this place that 13-year-old girls, perhaps particularly girls who are lesbian or might be, will fit the criteria of feeling different and not liking their bodies. Littman’s research confirms peer pressure as a factor for identifying as a trans boy. Is it too much to consider that many of these girls are lesbian instead? Perhaps that would not matter if these female children— girls—were not being encouraged to delay puberty and then go on hormone therapy. As Courtney Finlayson, MD, a paediatric endocrinologist at the Ann & Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, said on 24 June 2015: If a trans teen goes directly from using puberty-suppressing medication to hormone-replacement medications, they have not ever undergone puberty, and it may render them infertile in the future. Additionally, as Katherine Rae Clyde of the Royal College of Psychiatrists notes in the BJPsych Bulletin of February 2019:

We do not know yet know that those experiencing dysphoria in childhood will go onto experience dysphoria in adulthood. Indeed, we know that 80% of individuals referred to GIDS do not proceed to transition. Some will say, ‘What’s this got to do with this bill?’, so I will answer them. When social contagion may cause gender dysphoria in teen girls and the remedy for gender dysphoria may cause otherwise healthy girls to become infertile and we as a Parliament enable such social contagion by making it merely a matter of self-identification, we are perpetuating an attack on these girls, and that is wrong. This is a wrongheaded bill. I oppose this bill for its actual and potential harm to female Victorians, both adults and children. Other progressive jurisdictions have paused at this point and recognised that

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2703 legislating for self-ID in official documents creates more problems than it solves. Progressive women in other places have demanded similar bills be sent back to the drawing board. Victorian Labor women who are so proud of the strides their party has made for women should do the same. For Victorian Labor women MPs to be complicit in the harm to females arising from the consequences of this bill shows how far they are distanced from ordinary women’s lives, whether those ordinary women are fleeing male violence and going to refuges, playing local competitive sport or making their living as beauticians who do waxing. I urge these Labor women MPs to have this bill paused between the chambers so that full and proper consultation with an extensive cross-section of women can occur. Without such consultation and the required consequential amendments to this bill highlighted in this contribution, I and the Liberal Nationals will oppose this bill. Ms Green interjected. Mr Wells: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, can I just ask you as Acting Speaker to caution the member for Yan Yean. If the member for Ripon is giving her contribution on her views, then she should have the right to do that without the member for Yan Yean just yelling out inappropriate comments. This is a very sensitive debate and it should be conducted with goodwill on both sides. Mr Foley: On the point of order, Acting Speaker, the member for Yan Yean’s contribution was measured, but I do agree with the Manager of Opposition Business that what this debate calls for is measured and respectful contributions from both sides, and that is something the government fully supports. It is questionable if in fact the honourable member for Ripon’s contribution of political advice to the Australian Labor Party qualified that particular benchmark. Let that go through to the keeper. Let us perhaps just take the honourable member at his word and look forward to this debate being in fact respectful and mindful of the implications it will particularly have on trans and gender- diverse people listening and watching and reading. The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Carbines): While not upholding the point of order from the Manager of Opposition Business, I will say this is a house of debate but at the same time I have been present throughout the opening statements and the contribution of the lead speaker from the opposition and I believe the house has been very mindful of, in particular, the debate that we are undertaking at this time. If we continue to uphold those standards through this debate, then the house should not be too much further troubled. Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Equality, Minister for Creative Industries) (10:36): This is a bill that allows people, particularly trans and gender-diverse people and their families to be who they are and to make sure that one of our society’s foundation key identity documents reflects that reality and therefore their identity. Victorians who were born with either a male or female record on their birth certificate and those who are transgender or whose non- binary identity conflicts with that record, have now, should this bill pass, the opportunity to have their true self reflected in that document. The importance of that outcome should not be underestimated in terms of its wider impact on the wellbeing of not only those people but the community that they are a part of. It is a sensible, moderate and thoroughly overdue reform. It is one that will practically make life easier for thousands of trans and gender-diverse peoples to live their lives in an ordinary manner that the rest of the Victorian community takes for granted. The examples that the Attorney-General referred to in her contribution, whether it be in employment, whether it be in dealing with medical arrangements, universities or a host of other day-to-day existence measures, give effect to that. It removes, equally, the illogical and sometimes harmful inconsistencies that we see in how different levels of public service and private business operation deal with identity issues—the little absurdities that make sure that one’s gender appearance is aligned with one’s gender identity and one’s identity

BILLS 2704 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 documents. It gives government forms and opportunities to make sure that we can make life less humiliating and difficult and more practical for thousands of people and their families. In fact it brings us into line with other jurisdictions. Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT are mostly in line with the applications of the commonwealth and numerous other jurisdictions around the world. It brings us into line, as the honourable member in her contribution pointed out, when it comes to reforms passed by the commonwealth in 2013, at least insofar as some of the principles in the bill reflect. Could I also use the opportunity to reflect on the issue of mandates and consultation in this process. There is a clear case for the government to have this bill supported. It is part of our long-term strategy, it is part of our record funding and our deep engagement with LGBTIQ communities to claim that this policy proposal has been thoroughly tested and consulted about widely particularly within the LGBTIQ community but through the ultimate test, the ballot of the Victorian community. Having passed this house almost in identical terms last Parliament, the bill failed at that stage by one vote in the other place. We made it clear at that time, and subsequently in the 2018 election campaign, that we saw this as unfinished business, that we would reintroduce this bill, and that is precisely what we are doing. Since the election we have also undertaken widespread consultation and confronted some of the mythmaking that was perhaps reflected in the honourable member for Ripon’s contribution. Indeed having consulted widely through various forums, including extensively with the Department of Justice and Regulation, the Department of Health and Human Services, health networks, academics and numerous community organisations over the particular content of the bill, overwhelmingly we have seen the bill gain support. I concede that this might not be universal, but no change that reflects the wellbeing of people who are marginalised, discriminated against and stigmatised in our community has ever had universal support, and when the history of this bill is written we will see a similar outcome, I am sure. We do not let our fears and uncertainties divert us from this course. We need to make sure that deeply long-held cultural views that are homophobic and transphobic are recognised as such and dealt with such. We do not let our views on what best defines those issues hinder us or prevent us from making sure that we make necessary social reforms, and in this instance we need to make sure that our trans and gender-diverse Victorians are supported by having the opportunity for their birth certificates to reflect who they are. If you do not insist on continuing, frankly, with what could be seen as antediluvian views on this bill, then be mindful of how your views on these issues and debates will impact on the fate and the lives of those we are dealing with here. Be mindful of the incitement and signalling you will give to those who occupy the political fringe and who engage in deliberately hurtful and destructive speech and activities, and be mindful of the impact that this will have on the real lives of Victorians and their families. Look to the role you play, not only as legislators but as custodians of the role that you have as members and leaders of our civic community to lead change and to ensure that government operates to reflect the change in reality of the diverse world that we live in. Can I say: also be mindful of one of the most significant reasons this bill needs to pass. Despite the significant progress that the trans and gender-diverse communities have made, particularly with the support of the Andrews Labor government with, as the Premier rightly points out, our position on equality not being negotiable, we need to make sure that the voice and the opportunities for trans and gender-diverse people and the wider LGBTIQ community are at the heart of what we do. We do so because that community continues to be disproportionately over-represented in so many negative measures of social and community wellbeing: in self-harm, in homelessness—especially youth homelessness—in addiction and, sadly, in suicide and suicide attempts, where well and truly trans and gender-diverse Victorians are disproportionately over-represented. Half of young trans and gender- diverse Victorians have reported on their journey of this particular painful reality.

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If we are serious, as we should be, indeed as the Prime Minister is and indeed as is his hand-picked commissioner on suicide prevention, the Commissioner for the National Mental Health Commission, if we are serious in reducing those prospects of self-harm and suicide, as the Prime Minister wishes to, to zero, then one of the realities that we have to deal with is how we deal with LGBTIQ and trans people’s self-harm and suicide—one of a very complex field. By supporting this bill we are making sure we send the message that you as a trans young person or as a trans Victorian or as a trans old person are respected and that your identity is supported by how government and community operate in defining your identity in practical, day-to-day lives. It also sends a much deeper message that you are valued, as are your outcomes and your prospects for an ordinary life that all Victorians rightly seek through their hard effort and through their aspirations for a decent outcome for themselves and their families. That is a prospect for you that you should rightly be able to be afforded. Could I perhaps close by quoting not the words of public policy leaders or others but parents and families who live the real life of how we go about dealing with trans and gender-diverse Victorians. I quote from the soon-to-be-released book, with the rights of the author acknowledged, by Rebekah Robertson. Rebekah Robertson is the parent of Georgie Stone, a Young Victorian of the Year a couple of years ago and a remarkable trans woman. And she says in her book: … it’s my fervent hope that people with open minds and hearts can … better understand the issues surrounding transgender people … I want readers to understand the power of authenticity, of being true to yourself. Transgender people are human beings. Their rights, dignity and humanity need to be protected by family, friends, schools, medical practitioners, people of faith and governments. Rebekah and her remarkable self-funded support organisation, Transcend, have saved lives without doubt. This bill will make a contribution to saving lives. Do not underestimate the power of the reform that this Parliament is considering. Mr HIBBINS (Prahran) (10:46): I rise on behalf of the Greens on the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019, which will provide for the self-determination of sex marker on a person’s birth certificate and remove the requirements for surgery. This bill is such an important step forward for Victoria to become a much more inclusive society for our trans and gender-diverse communities. You just had to be on the steps of Parliament yesterday at lunchtime to see what a big difference it will make, how important this is to the trans community and just how many people this will affect. This will have a positive impact on their lives. Allowing Victorians to self-determine the sex recorded on their birth certificates will ensure that the law is in line with how people actually live their lives, and this will affirm and support our gender- diverse communities. It will also have a positive impact on our intersex Victorians. The current law as it stands is a barrier. It is a barrier for trans and gender-diverse Victorians to fully participate in our society. It creates a situation for gender-diverse people where they are required to provide their birth certificates—it could be for work, for school or for myriad other reasons—that do not actually reflect their gender identity. This can create all sorts of issues but it is mainly a barrier to participation in society. And so it is so important—so important—to have this document. Other agencies have various different administrative practices regarding these matters, but it is so important to have the birth certificate, that important document that is so crucial to a person’s sense of identity and their recognition and their participation in society. It is something that many of us take for granted—to have our gender identity on our official documents—but the current law, as it stands for someone who wants to change the sex marker on their birth certificate, is unjust and is impractical. We saw changes last year that got rid of forced divorce and removed the need to be unmarried, and that flowed on from marriage equality legislation passing at the federal level. So now it is incredibly important that we have a process where someone can alter their birth certificate to reflect their identity. The requirement to have surgery is unnecessary. A person’s gender identity is not necessarily defined

BILLS 2706 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 by their physical body. That is something that de-legitimises the experiences of people who cannot or choose not to have surgery as part of their gender affirmation. It is something that people either do not want or cannot do, and it is not something that people should use to determine a person’s identity. There have been some concerns within the trans and gender-diverse community that the bill does not go far enough. Young people under the age of 18 need their parents’ approval to change their birth certificate, which can be problematic in some instances where often it is parents who do not accept or who reject the person’s need to transition gender. There are provisions in the bill to allow for where there is a difference of opinion between parents; there could be, I think, a referral to a magistrate to make that decision. But of course if these sorts of matters are ending up in the courts, I think that is highly problematic and that would be a highly distressing circumstance for the young person involved. Just as we saw previously when it was required for young people to go to court to get stage 2 hormones, that could be an incredibly distressing process. I think if we see matters ending up in courts, we will certainly need to revisit this aspect of the legislation. There are concerns about the ability not to see descriptors where that could not be approved, where that could actually be someone’s legitimate gender identity and it could be rejected. So again we may have to look at this, and there are concerns that, in terms of people in prison, they need the approval of the secretary, and if they are on parole, the parole board. Again there are concerns that that could represent an unjust barrier. So our commitment is to just look at the implementation of this bill should it pass, and I hope it does pass, and look down the track to see how it may need to be strengthened. With a similar bill having been defeated in the previous Parliament, Victoria is now playing catch-up with other states that have passed similar bills—Tasmania, the ACT, Western Australia and South Australia. We have seen changes in other countries that provide for self-determination and removal of the need for surgery. And the sorts of suggestions that are going around, that people are variously changing gender to access women-only spaces, are simply not occurring. It is just not occurring. These sorts of criticisms of this bill are deeply rooted in transphobia. They are delegitimising the experiences and lives of trans and gender-diverse people and it is really disappointing. It is one thing not to be comfortable or not to understand, but it is another thing entirely to run a hate campaign, and that is what we are seeing from the Australian newspaper, which is running this so- called gender campaign. It is a hate campaign. We saw it with the Safe Schools program, which was also run by the opposition. We saw it during the marriage equality debate. You have got people out there who are obsessed with people in the bathroom. It is appalling and it is so damaging to the trans and gender-diverse community, particularly young people. The debate in the previous Parliament was particularly hateful, and it was particularly hurtful. I would urge the opposition, if they are not going to support this bill—and I do actually urge you to reconsider that position when it goes into the other place—that they do not engage in the sorts of appalling debate we heard last time, because as the minister said, this has a profound effect on the health and wellbeing of so many people in the trans and gender-diverse community. This bill has been a long time coming. It is near identical to what was introduced last time. You know, you cannot come here and not understand what this is actually about, so I would urge all members to engage in a respectful debate, acknowledging the impact that it has on the trans and gender-diverse community, and I would urge them to reconsider their opposition to this bill. The Greens support this bill. I urge all members to support this bill. It is certainly consistent with our commitment to ensure that intersex and transgender people are able to easily alter their sex on official documents so it is consistent with how people live. I want to acknowledge all those in the trans and gender-diverse community who have fought so hard for this bill and have had to endure this bill being defeated and the appalling debate last time, but I certainly want to acknowledge them for all the hard work they have done to bring this bill back into this Parliament. But I also want to acknowledge that there is a lot more to do.

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Hopefully when this bill passes this Parliament, hopefully when it passes this chamber, we have also got to acknowledge that there is a lot more to do for trans and gender-diverse Victorians. Last year there was seen to be a national consensus when people were outraged when they realised that we had the laws in this country, including in Victoria through the Equal Opportunity Act 2010, that allowed faith-based schools to kick out kids or sack teachers or staff because they were transgender and because of their gender identity, and certainly it is time now to act on that. These are insidious laws that create a power imbalance. They create an unspoken risk, and it means that a difficult time in a person’s life can be absolutely untenable, and this goes further—from schools to other services, to housing services. I do also want to touch on homelessness, as it was Homelessness Week last week. We have got trans and gender-diverse young people being overrepresented in homelessness, and these exemptions that exist in the law—just having these exemptions regardless of how an agency or a service may actually act—themselves represent a barrier to trans and gender-diverse people from accessing housing services. So these laws need to be changed. There is a lot more to do. I would urge all members in this Parliament to support this bill. This is a step in the right direction for a more inclusive Victoria. Trans rights are human rights, and this is a step in the right direction, and there is much more to do. I would urge all members to support this bill. Ms WILLIAMS (Dandenong—Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Minister for Women, Minister for Youth) (10:55): It is my great pleasure to rise in support of this bill here today, primarily because identity is linked intrinsically to wellbeing, and if your birth certificate does not reflect your identity, the way you look and feel, we know that impacts on your sense of self-worth and that in turn impacts on your health and wellbeing. For trans Victorians the inability to have their identity reflected in that paperwork essentially leaves them in a position where they are having to constantly explain themselves, constantly out themselves to total strangers and to constantly feel as though they do not belong in our community. I think for any fair-minded person that should be an unacceptable outcome. That is ultimately what this bill is all about: it is about making it easier for trans Victorians to have a document that reflects who they truly are. At the outset I would like to address some of the mistruths that have arisen since the announcement of this piece of legislation, and particularly those mistruths that pertain to my portfolio responsibilities. To put it very bluntly this bill does not contradict our government’s commitment to drive and achieve gender equality in Victoria, indeed it enhances it. Certain groups in our community have suggested that our proposed changes made jeopardise safety in women-only spaces. That is a lie. I want to be really clear about that—that is a lie, and it is a harmful lie that perpetuates the stigmatization of our LGBTI communities. Let us be clear: schools are already required to make inclusive arrangements for trans Victorians, and healthcare providers are offering inclusive services for trans Victorians as we speak. Single-sex service providers already have policies in place for trans women. Trans people exist and are accessing these services, and there has not been any increase in a risk to women’s safety through those practices. It is really clear that all of us need to understand that. These claims are a distraction. The claims about women’s safety are a distraction, and they are being used as a distraction. We need to bring the discussion back to what this bill is actually about, which is respecting people’s true identities. As was said by the previous speaker, the member for Prahran, this is about a recognition of human rights, and the recognition that trans rights are indeed human rights. It is also about having a legal document that matches your gender, that matches your identity, so that every time you are required to produce ID, you do not have to explain intimate details about yourself to a complete stranger. The bill makes no change to existing legal protections, which means that the police can and will take action should any person attempt to enter a women-only space in order to commit an offence. It does not change any of that.

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The availability of a more accessible process for trans and gender-diverse Victorians to change the sex registered on their birth certificates will also not affect existing arrangements around access to single- sex spaces, because no-one stands at the door of a bathroom or a gym or a family violence refuge checking birth certificates on the way in. That does not happen. The circumstances in which you have to produce a birth certificate are usually much more mundane. They are things like opening a bank account, applying for a drivers licence. Trans and gender-diverse Victorians are already able to access services and spaces which are appropriate to their gender identity, regardless of whether they have changed their registered sex. Excluding trans and gender-diverse Victorians from such services and spaces is discrimination, and it is currently against the law. The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Carbines): The minister will have the opportunity to continue when debate resumes on the bill. The time has come for me to interrupt business under sessional orders for question without notice and ministers statements. Business interrupted under sessional orders. Questions without notice and ministers statements WASTE AND RECYCLING MANAGEMENT Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (11:00): My question is to the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change. Yesterday in Legislative Council question time the Minister for Local Government, Adem Somyurek, said, when asked about the government’s recycling debacle, and I quote:

I have got to say what we are dealing with is a bit of a crisis at the moment. We admit that. Does the minister agree with her cabinet colleague that Victoria’s recycling industry is in crisis? Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (11:01): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for their question. No-one can be in any doubt that what we have got here is a serious matter that is at a national level, and that is why we were delighted as a state, together with other states, to agree with Prime Minister Scott Morrison that we needed a national approach to what is a significant national problem. We will continue to work with the federal government, as we are with local governments and industry—all key stakeholders— to get through this significant problem. Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, the minister was asked to specifically confirm or not confirm: does she agree with her colleague that the recycling industry is in crisis? I invite you to invite the minister to actually address that question. The SPEAKER: Order! The minister is being directly relevant to the question that has been asked. The minister has concluded her answer. Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (11:02): When asked during Legislative Council question time yesterday, Minister Somyurek refused to endorse the minister’s $11.3 million in emergency recycling funding as adequate to, in his words, fix this crisis. If the minister’s own cabinet colleague has no confidence in her ability to fix this recycling crisis, why should Victorians? Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: Order! Too much noise! The member for Mordialloc and the Leader of the Opposition! Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (11:03): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for the supplementary question. Victorians can be absolutely confident that it is this government that will work through the significant

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE AND MINISTERS STATEMENTS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2709 national challenges and problems that we are facing that are represented right here in Victoria. I have been working with the Minister for Local Government. Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Essendon! Ms D’AMBROSIO: We have been working collegially together on solving— Members interjecting. Ms D’AMBROSIO: We do that on this side of the house, unlike you. And look at all your backbench there; they are looking for you to fail. Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: Order! There is too much shouting across the chamber. I warn members not to shout. MINISTERS STATEMENTS: TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure) (11:04): The Andrews Labor government delivers on our election commitments. We are delivering on those projects we told the Victorian community we would deliver. We are not reviewing everything. Everything is not up for review on our side, unlike the Leader of the Opposition. We are too busy delivering what we said we would deliver. Of course an example of this is the Metro Tunnel. Just this morning the Premier and I were at Arden to mark the start of tunnelling by our first TBM—tunnel boring machine—Joan, and we met with many excited workers ready to get to work, who cannot wait to dig out the Metro Tunnel. Of course we might remember—there will be many that do remember—that the Liberal Party went to the last election with a commitment to renegotiate the contract on the Metro Tunnel, which would have delayed it by two years. Thankfully the Victorian community reviewed this policy and rejected it. We are also delivering on our commitment to remove 75 of Victoria’s most dangerous and congested level crossings. There is absolutely no review here, just action—29 gone and many more soon to follow. Pleasingly, this was also a policy. There was an alternative policy that was around that the Victorian community reviewed, one that would have— Ms Hennessy interjected. Ms ALLAN: Thank you, Attorney-General. It was one that would have ground to a halt the removal of our level crossings—a shocking policy. That was the policy of those opposite. Thankfully the Victorian community reviewed this and also rejected it. And I would suggest in his big Liberal policy review that the Leader of the Opposition review this one as well, otherwise the Liberal Party will always be known as the lovers of level crossings. They do not want to remove them; they just want to keep them. And finally— Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: Order! I have warned members against shouting across the chamber. I ask the Premier for his assistance in the smooth running of the house. Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, if the government expects us to comply with the standing orders, why can’t they? The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the House should know better than to use a ministers statement as an opportunity to attack the opposition. The minister will come back to making a ministers statement.

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Ms ALLAN: Thank you, Speaker. In the time available I can talk about how we are delivering the North East Link Project, the missing link. We are planning for the airport rail. We are planning for the Suburban Rail Loop. What we took to the election we will deliver on, in stark contrast to those opposite. SOLAR HOMES PACKAGE Mr R SMITH (Warrandyte) (11:06): My question is to the Minister for Solar Homes. Ben from East Gippsland has been running a successful solar installation business and undertook additional training in preparation for the introduction of the Solar Homes program. Despite repeated applications for the rebate scheme, he has been unsuccessful in obtaining a single rebate, which means that in the last three months he has not installed a single domestic solar system. How is the minister’s solar scheme not a failure when the operator of a successful renewable energy business is suddenly without work, without customers and without income? Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (11:07): I thank the member for Warrandyte for the question. I can absolutely assure the member and all those in this house that this is a program that is absolutely successful. We are seeing— Members interjecting. Mr R Smith: On a point of order, Speaker, how could it be a success when these businesses are without work, without customers and without income? Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my right will come to order. Members interjecting. Mr R Smith: Thank you, Premier, for your assistance. If you would like to take the chair I am sure the Speaker will vacate it for you. The SPEAKER: Order! I warn members that if they continue to shout across the chamber they will be removed from the chamber without warning. The member for Warrandyte is raising a point of order. He is entitled to be heard in silence, but I do ask the member for Warrandyte to make a point of order rather than a point of debate. There is no point of order. Ms D’AMBROSIO: Let me say this: with the program we have more installations which cannot occur without more work actually in the system, in the market. We know that this is a transformational scheme. It is helping more Victorians put downward pressure on their energy bills, with more installations for the whole industry to be able to benefit from. It is a transformational program. We are working with, and will continue to work with, the industry as they work through adjustments and adaptations to what is a nation-leading program that goes to the heart of saving Victorians significant dollars off their energy bills each and every year. Mr R SMITH (Warrandyte) (11:09): Ben from East Gippsland has also said: The Solar Homes program has left me and my business smashed and broken. I have lost the will to attempt to work. What’s the point when government interference destroys the business you built with hard work? Will the minister now release the criteria by which solar rebates are allocated so that Ben can have a real chance of getting work before he goes broke? Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (11:09): I thank the member for the supplementary question. The criteria are absolutely clear and transparent for everyone to see. For whoever wishes to get onto the portal, it is absolutely clear. Industry are able to upload draft quotes that they provide to consumers that knock on

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE AND MINISTERS STATEMENTS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2711 their door for a system, and then it becomes a matter for the individual customer to actually choose and submit their application formally when the system opens up for applications. It is a fair, transparent process, and in fact Solar Victoria has worked diligently and to a great extent with the industry over many, many months in the design of the program, accepting suggestions for any improvements to the way that the portal operates and always with a very strong keenness to make any adjustments that would make it easier for industry and Victorian families to get the most out of this program. The SPEAKER: On a ministers statement I call the Minister for Racing, Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Trade, and Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events. MINISTERS STATEMENTS: GOVERNMENT ACHIEVEMENTS Mr PAKULA (Keysborough—Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Trade, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Minister for Racing) (11:10): Those portfolios which you refer to, Speaker, are in many respects at the heart of Victoria’s economic future but, more importantly, at the heart of our potential to share that growth amongst all Victorians in our state. It is an opportunity to talk about many of the projects and many of the programs within those portfolios that allow that prosperity and allow the sharing of that wealth. The Major Projects Skills Guarantee and the Local Jobs First requirements have delivered tens of thousands of local jobs and millions of apprenticeship hours. We wonder, on this side of the house: are those sorts of things up for grabs as part of the Leader of the Opposition’s review into all policies? Is it the Jobs Victoria Employment Network or indeed the social procurement policies that ensure that some of our most vulnerable citizens benefit from our infrastructure agenda? Mr Wells: On a point of order, Speaker, you warned the Leader of the House about straying into attacking the opposition, and now the minister is doing exactly the same thing. It is obviously going to be a theme for the day. I am wondering whether you as Speaker are able to pull the minister back to talking about government business and what they plan to do, not what the opposition is supposed to be doing. Mr PAKULA: On the point of order, Speaker, it shows enormous sensitivity, in fact a glass jaw, for the opposition to be so sensitive that the government outlining its policies and asking whether those things might be at risk is somehow an attack on them. It is not an attack on them. It is simply the government questioning whether these things would survive a change of government. The SPEAKER: Order! It is entirely in order for a minister to countenance a range of policy positions, but he should not link that to the opposition during question time. Mr PAKULA: Thank you, Speaker, for your guidance, and I will of course abide by your ruling. I will talk about the fact that the government in recent times through our industry support measures delivered the new Nissan facility which will make parts for the Leaf and expanded Trajan in Ringwood, GreyScan in Port Melbourne and APM in my own electorate of Keysborough. I will focus on the fact that our outbound trade mission program is delivering a massive increase in exports. I will focus on our major events effort bringing in Harry Potter and Moulin Rouge and UFC and the Presidents Cup, and that there are 35 new hotels either under development or in planning right now with close to 7000 new rooms. I will focus on the extension to the grand prix and the Australian Open and the AFL Grand Final, and indicate to the house that they might all be under risk if this review does what we think it will do. The SPEAKER: Order! Before calling the Leader of The Nationals, I would like to welcome to the gallery and indeed to the Parliament the delegation from the Philippine Center for Young Leaders in Governance, who are here for an Australian Political Exchange Council delegation. Welcome to the Parliament.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE AND MINISTERS STATEMENTS 2712 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019

STEELVISION Mr WALSH (Murray Plains) (11:14): My question is to the Treasurer. On 31 July 2018 the State Revenue Office applied to the Supreme Court for Steelvision to be wound up for failing to pay $135 173 in payroll tax. Yet the very next day then Minister Carroll approved a Latrobe Valley Authority grant of $400 000 to Steelvision. Why did the government hand out $400 000 of taxpayers money to a business that another arm of government was trying to wind up for failing to pay payroll tax? The SPEAKER: I am going to call the Treasurer, and a general reminder for the Treasurer not to stray into areas that might be before a court. I do not know about the court case that you are referring to. Mr PALLAS (Werribee—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (11:15): As you have quite rightly said, Speaker, I am not going to stray into those areas that might be relevant to any consideration that might be before a court or be the subject of investigation by Victoria Police. Might I also say that we make no apology for continuing to invest in in Latrobe Valleyians. The $266 million that has been put into the Latrobe Valley is growing jobs and growing industries. In fact I believe the unemployment rate in the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland region is something in the vicinity of 3.2 per cent at the moment as a consequence of— The SPEAKER: I ask the Treasurer to resume his seat. The Leader of The Nationals on a point of order. Mr Walsh: On a point of order, on the issue of relevance, Speaker. I would ask you to draw the Treasurer back to actually answering the question that was asked. The question was: why did the government give a grant to a company that another part of government was trying to wind up for not paying their payroll tax? That is the issue that I asked about, not about the Latrobe Valley Authority and what is going on with the whole authority. It is a very particular question about Steelvision and the lack of due diligence around giving a grant to a company that had not paid their payroll tax. Please bring him back to answering the question. The SPEAKER: I do ask the Treasurer to come to answering the question. Mr PALLAS: In broad measure I suppose I would make this point: after the company entered into voluntary administration Minister Symes’s department undertook a review of the process leading to the awarding of the grant to Steelvision. The Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions engaged KPMG to audit this process and suspect fraudulent conduct by the company was identified as part of the audit. In terms of the specific question that you ask around the interaction between the provision of the grant and the non-payment of the payroll tax issues, I will make further inquiries into that and I will get back to the member directly. Mr WALSH (Murray Plains) (11:17): After receiving the $400 000 from the Victorian government on 1 August 2018, Steelvision then paid its $135 000 payroll tax bill to the State Revenue Office on 12 September 2018. I ask the Treasurer: why did the government allow Steelvision to use taxpayers funds to pay its overdue payroll tax? Mr PALLAS (Werribee—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (11:17): I think I have just answered the question, that in respect of the matter I will take advice on it. It may well be in fact a matter that is the subject of a police inquiry, and as a consequence I am loathe to make any specific comment. But you have asked a relevant question and I will make the appropriate inquiries. MINISTERS STATEMENTS: GENDER EQUALITY Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Equality, Minister for Creative Industries) (11:18): I rise to update the house on the Andrews Labor government’s equality portfolio achievements. Whilst many in this place continue to put the politics of divisiveness ahead of

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE AND MINISTERS STATEMENTS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2713 what is right for Victorians, we are making sure that every LGBTIQ Victorian feels safe, supported and valued in our community. Only yesterday I was proud to stand with hundreds of trans and gender-diverse people as well as their families to show support for that community. We know that that community faces disproportionately high rates of negative outcomes in mental health issues and other wellbeing indicators, predominately driven by issues around stigma and discrimination. We know that that support for that community extends well and truly into this Parliament, and that is why we are making sure that those who ‘certainly agree’—to quote certainly some of those opposite who when given the opportunity to consider the rights of gender-diverse Victorians at a Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing not that long ago came out in support of precisely that. I would urge the member for Mornington, who made that principled contribution in PAEC in 2015, to use the opportunity that the forthcoming debate in this place will give us to make sure that that principled support extends. I would urge all of those in this place, particularly those opposite, to use their current review of all policy positions to reflect on how they can go about making sure that the opportunities for a Parliament and a process of policy renewal uses the opportunity— The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat for a moment. The Manager of Opposition Business, on a point of order. Mr Wells: With respect to what the minister is saying, surely we are not going down the path of anticipating the bill before the house. The SPEAKER: The minister came close to anticipating. Mr FOLEY: On the point of order, I am certainly not anticipating any bill that is currently before the house. Reflecting more widely on the proposition of how this government has a portfolio responsibility around LGBTI equality and a proven track record of supporting that community, as opposed to those opposite, who would pander to divisiveness— The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has made his contribution to the point of order. The minister should be careful not to anticipate debate on legislation before the house. Mr FOLEY: Thank you, Speaker. I note the ‘humbling experience’—to quote the Leader of the Opposition—that the 2018 election gave those opposite and urge them to just use that as a prospect of reflecting on how that policy renewal gives— The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order. Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, I renew the point of order made by the Manager of Opposition Business previously. It is not within standing orders for any government minister to start using ministers statements to cast their own thoughts about opposition policy. It is completely out of order, yet minister after minister after minister— Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr M O’Brien: Minister after minister after minister has been doing that, and there has been no sanction. I ask you to take action. Ms Allan: On the point of order and on the contention that it is not appropriate for the government to canvass alternate policies, it has been a long-held practice in this place that alternate policies that may include opposition policies— Members interjecting.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE AND MINISTERS STATEMENTS 2714 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the House has the call. Ms Allan: Alternate policies, whether they are put by the opposition or others—I know it probably disappoints the Leader of the Opposition to know he is not the only show in town; there are other people out there who may have policies. But as the Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Trade pointed out earlier, it is entirely appropriate for the government to canvass alternate policies and contemplate their consequences in relation to its own policy settings. That has been a long-held approach of this Parliament and should be allowed to continue. The minister was also being entirely relevant in relation to sessional order 11. The SPEAKER: Order! I renew my earlier ruling around ministers not using ministers statements as an opportunity to attack the opposition. It is quite within the realms of the standing orders and sessional orders for ministers to countenance other policy positions, but that should not be used as an opportunity to attack the opposition, so I uphold the point of order. The minister has concluded his statement. NATIVE WILDLIFE PROTECTION Mr HIBBINS (Prahran) (11:22): My question is to the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change. Minister, one of the reports that came out recently about Crown partnering with junket operators backed by Asia’s organised crime syndicates included evidence that high rollers were hunting and killing wombats in Victoria, which also highlights that Victoria is the only state where there are areas where wombats are an unprotected species—and where they are protected, almost 4000 are being killed per year. What is the minister doing to protect wombats from being shot and killed in Victoria? Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (11:23): I thank the member for Prahran for his question. Like all Victorians I was alarmed by the reports and made very clear statements publicly about the alarm that I felt on behalf of Victorians with respect to the allegations that have been ventilated through the media. What I have done as a consequence of that is I have instructed my department to undertake a full investigation into the allegations and reports of what appear to be some very, very disturbing practices that have been ventilated, as I said, in the media. That investigation by my department will be quite extensive and will canvass a number of issues that go to that very question of whether there are other things we can do as a state to ensure that we have sufficient levels of protection for our wonderful native species in this state, and we will certainly have more to say once I receive that full report from my department. Mr HIBBINS (Prahran) (11:24): Minister, if an investigation review is taking place, I assume into both the illegal and legal killing of wombats, will you act now, while the investigation is taking place, to put a halt to any legal wombat killing by declaring wombats a protected species across the entire state and not issue any permits to kill wombats until this investigation is completed? Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (11:25): I thank the member for Prahran for the supplementary question. What I will say is that we will not be—and I will not be—pre-empting any advice to me from the department, but I will remind all members in this house that it is an offence to kill, take, control or harm wildlife, including wombats, under the Wildlife Act 1975 without authorisation. I understand the point that the member is making with respect to authorisations, but again, my department will be undertaking—and is now undertaking—that full investigation. I am looking forward to receiving their full report and any recommendations that may arise from that. MINISTERS STATEMENTS: FAMILY VIOLENCE Ms WILLIAMS (Dandenong—Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Minister for Women, Minister for Youth) (11:26): I rise to update the house on our government’s work to keep Victorian women and children safe. Fifty-thousand: that is how many Victorians have received support through

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE AND MINISTERS STATEMENTS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2715 the Orange Door support and safety hubs. That is 50 000 in only 12 months. This includes some 20 000 children who have been connected with the support that they need. I recently had a chance to visit the Morwell Orange Door. The Morwell Orange Door has helped more than 5000 Gippsland residents since only November last year. Morwell is one of five hubs that are already up and running, with 12 more on the way. We have invested $448 million in the Orange Door services as a part of our record $2.7 billion investment to address family violence, but if those opposite had had their way this could all have been at risk. Family violence is the number one law and order issue facing our state, and every week a woman dies— Mr Wells: On a point of order, Speaker, I would put to the minister that the prevention of family violence has strong bipartisan support in this Parliament, especially from this side of the chamber. I would caution the minister against going down the path of attacking the opposition when it comes to the prevention of family violence, because it is totally inappropriate. The SPEAKER: Order! I uphold my previous rulings. The minister, to continue. Ms WILLIAMS: Thank you, Speaker. When family violence reform is described as ‘nothing more than a financial impost’, I would take umbrage at the claim that that is in fact bipartisan support for this. But I diverge, and I am keen to continue, because family violence is the number one law and order issue in our state. Every week a woman dies at the hand of her partner or former partner. It is also a significant health issue. It is an economic issue. I hear that those opposite are considering a wholesale review of policies that they took to last year’s election, and here is a start— Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Lowan! I warn the minister that she should not use ministers statements as an opportunity to attack the opposition. Ms WILLIAMS: Thank you, Speaker. It would be really wonderful to see true bipartisan support for this reform—a commitment to making action on family violence truly bipartisan—because it was the Andrews Labor government that established the Royal Commission into Family Violence, it was only the Andrews Labor government that agreed to implement all to 27 recommendations and it is no coincidence that it is the Andrews Labor government that is sitting on these benches here today. JOHN SETKA Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (11:28): My question is to the Premier. The CFMEU secretary, John Setka, was convicted recently of family violence offences against his wife. Following Mr Setka’s conviction, the Premier’s former staff member and current secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, Luke Hilakari, was caught on video chanting, ‘John Setka, here to stay’. Given Mr Hilakari’s endorsement of a convicted criminal and family violence offender, does the Premier support his continued membership of a number of government bodies, including the family violence social services task force? Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (11:29): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I have made my views very clear about the completely unacceptable conduct of Mr Setka and the fact that anyone who does not regard the safety of women and children, and act accordingly, as paramount should feel the full force of the law. My views on that have been very clear. If the Leader of the Opposition is suggesting that somehow I am not serious about acting on family violence or that any member of the government, which extends all the way around to there, is not serious about acting on family violence, I have got 2.9 billion reasons—

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE AND MINISTERS STATEMENTS 2716 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019

Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, it is a simple question. Mr Hilakari has said, ‘John Setka, here to stay’. He is backing John Setka. The question is: is the Premier going to back family violence reduction, or is he going to back his mate Luke Hilakari? He cannot do both. The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. Mr ANDREWS: If he is so central to this question of keeping women and children safe, you would think he would be able to pronounce his name properly, wouldn’t you? The Leader of the Opposition, who wants to put questions around and call into question who is for— Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: The Premier will resume his seat for a moment. The member for Gembrook will leave the chamber for the period of 1 hour. Member for Gembrook withdrew from chamber. Mr ANDREWS: And it was without warning that we learned that those opposite would not commit to every single one of the 227 recommendations made by our government’s royal commission into this issue. It was without warning that we heard, via Twitter actually, from the shadow minister of the day, moments after I announced that if we were given the great gift of government we would institute Australia’s first and only royal commission, it was described as a ‘lawyers picnic’. There are some people who pretend on these issues and others who— Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: The Premier will resume his seat. The member for Frankston can leave the chamber for the period of 1 hour. Member for Frankston withdrew from chamber. Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, relating to relevance, the question relates to Mr Hilakari’s continued membership of government bodies, having stood up and supported convicted domestic abuser John Setka. I ask the Premier to answer that question. Will he back Mr Hilakari or will he sack him? The SPEAKER: Order! I ask the Premier to come to the question. Mr ANDREWS: Again, you would think he would get the guy’s name right, maybe, but apparently not. That is how serious an issue it is for those opposite. The issue is this: $2.9 billion beats the rhetoric— Members interjecting. Mr ANDREWS: As for Mr Setka’s leadership of his union, that is entirely a matter for the members of that union. The Leader of the Opposition thinks that it should operate differently. The law, our system, the way registered trade unions work, is that members of that union determine who their leader is. Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, relating to relevance, this question is about the membership of government bodies, which is government business, and the Premier is in charge of it. Will he continue to stand by somebody who has said, ‘John Setka, here to stay’, after he was convicted of family violence offences? That is the question. The Premier should answer it. The SPEAKER: Order! I understand the point of order of relevance, and I ask the Premier to come back to answering the question. Mr ANDREWS: As the head of Trades Hall, the secretary of Trades Hall serves on a number of different bodies, and I support Trades Hall’s involvement in those bodies and that important work. As for who leads the CFMEU, that is entirely a matter for the members of the CFMEU. What I would

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE AND MINISTERS STATEMENTS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2717 add, though, is that those opposite may seek to criticise the government’s efforts in terms of keeping women and children safe; I would simply point to the record over the last four and a half years. Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (11:34): The Premier has said about family violence, ‘There can be no more excuses or second chances’. Given Luke Hilakari’s public support for a convicted domestic abuser, why won’t the Premier now sack him from all government positions? Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (11:34): The Leader of the Opposition seems to be equating someone supporting another individual to remain as a leader of a union with that person having actually committed acts of family violence— Members interjecting. Mr ANDREWS: No. A member: He has! He has! Mr ANDREWS: I do not think Mr Hilakari has, which is the inference you are drawing. Members interjecting. Mr ANDREWS: Well, I tell you, of all the days to be providing me with a lecture on the protection of children! I will not be taking a lecture from the Leader of the Opposition—not today or any day— when it comes to protecting children, women or any Victorian. MINISTERS STATEMENTS: GOVERNMENT ACHIEVEMENTS Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (11:35): I am delighted to rise to update the house on the raft of different commitments that the government is delivering in full to the people of Victoria. There has been a lot of talk about reviews of late. Well, we had a big review in November last year—a very big review that delivered a very big result, one that we were pleased and humbled by and one that calls on us to continue to work— Members interjecting. Mr ANDREWS: I thank you for your electoral analysis. Thank you so much. I thank you so much for your analysis on the verdict of the Victorian community. We know you did not like it, but whingeing about it now will not change it, I am afraid. The SPEAKER: Order! Through the Chair. Mr ANDREWS: We had a very big review, and you were reviewed to the rump that you are now—the rump that they are now. Despite all the talk of reviews, there will be no review into a number of commitments that we are pushing forward and delivering in full. We do not need to review, for instance, because we are very clear on free TAFE, we are very clear on school dental, we are very clear on rolling out universal three-year-old kinder and we are very clear on renewable energy and the jobs and savings that come from renewable energy. We are very clear on removing dangerous and congested level crossings. We are very clear on a treaty for Aboriginal Victorians. We are very clear on a royal commission into mental health and rebuilding that system from the ground up. With that clarity, there is no need for reviews, and we are particularly clear on delivering all of these commitments every day we are in office. Mr Wells: Speaker, on a point of order, for the second day in a row the member for Gembrook has been asked to leave for a period of 1 hour. My understanding is that yesterday he was not warned and again today he was not given a warning before he was thrown out. My understanding of the situation today is that he was retaliating to someone— Members interjecting.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE AND MINISTERS STATEMENTS 2718 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019

Mr Wells: Responding or retaliating to a person from the government side, and yet he seems to have been singled out again, for the second time in two days. We are asking if you can review your process of throwing people out, because it seems to be that he is being singled out. Maybe it is because of the position where he is next to you, but it does seem to be unfair. Ms Allan: On the point of order, Speaker, I acknowledge the Manager of Opposition Business did indeed raise this issue yesterday. As you have made clear to the house previously, there are matters on which you will remove members from the chamber. If my memory serves me correctly, during question time today you also removed the member for Frankston, on the government side, from the chamber and, if I also recall, you did not provide him with a warning either. He was removed from the chamber shortly after the member for Gembrook. So I think the point of order raised by the Manager of Opposition Business should be ruled out of order and not taken any further. There are very clear provisions around the Speaker’s discretion on this issue. You have made it clear to the house previously that there are certain matters on which you will remove members from the chamber, and I think if the Manager of Opposition Business is in the business of giving advice, if I could return some to him, he might want to move the member for Gembrook a little bit further around on his side of the chamber and perhaps also counsel the member for Gembrook about his actions in the house. Mr Walsh: On the point of order, Speaker, and I support the Manager of Opposition Business in his point of order, this side of the house has worked to give you the respect as the Speaker for the smooth running of the house, and I think there is an element of concern about bias coming into some of your rulings— Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr Walsh: For the smooth running of the house, I would ask you to reflect on some of your rulings, and particularly the way you treated the member for Gembrook in these two particular issues. A lot of noise comes from the other side of the house and, except for the member for Frankston today, there seems to have been very little movement on them being removed from the house, but you are very quick to remove people from the opposition side of the house. For the smooth running of the house in the future and the respect shown to the Speaker, I would ask you to reflect on that, please. The SPEAKER: Some members may not have heard it amidst the noise: I provided a general warning to all members that if they continued to shout across the chamber, they would be removed from the chamber without warning, so I do not see the need therefore to warn members individually following that warning if they are shouting across the chamber during question time. The member for Gembrook was indeed shouting across the chamber but also reflected directly on the Chair so he was removed from the chamber for 1 hour and, as has been pointed out, the member for Frankston was shouting across the chamber and he was removed from the chamber for 1 hour also. Mr R Smith: On a further point of order, Speaker, and I guess it follows on from the Leader of The Nationals’ comment about respect for the Chair, there seems to be a growing practice amongst ministers to remain standing and continue talking when you have asked them to take their seat. We are not talking about just a few words; we are talking about another sentence or two. It seems to be continuous. The Premier is a regular offender of that, and even today the Minister for Mental Health on three occasions, when you asked him to take his seat, continued to speak over you while you were on your feet in some cases. If that ever happens on this side of the chamber and someone is speaking when you are, we can rest assured we are probably going to be leaving the chamber for a period of 1 hour under standing order 124, but it seems that ministers regularly disrespect you, regularly disrespect the practice of this— Ms Allan interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Warrandyte has the call.

CONSTITUENCY QUESTIONS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2719

Mr R Smith: It helps if you are not smirking while I am making the point. Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Warrandyte can resume his seat. I try to maintain deliberations in this place with a level of goodwill and humour at all times. That applies to both sides of the house, and I will not have those sorts of comments from the member for Warrandyte. The member for Warrandyte has raised a legitimate issue in terms of people returning to their seat when they have been asked to do so, and I will place more emphasis on that in future sittings. Mr R Smith: I had not finished my point of order. The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Warrandyte can continue his point of order, but he has been warned about reflecting on the Chair. Mr R Smith: Ministers of the government continue to defy you and disrespect you because there is never a sanction—never a sanction on ministers who disrespect the Chair. So I put it to you: when you are reflecting on how to deal with this issue that you— Members interjecting. The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Warrandyte has the call. Mr Richardson interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Mordialloc can leave the chamber for the period of 1 hour. Member for Mordialloc withdrew from chamber. Mr R Smith: The smooth running of the chamber would be helped by you enforcing your ruling to sit people down, and if there was a sanction attached, ministers might be more aware of the precepts of the house. The SPEAKER: The issue of removing ministers from question time is one that I take very seriously, so I will take on board the suggestion, member for Warrandyte. But in some respects I would imagine members of the opposition would like ministers to remain in the chamber during question time, so it is an issue that requires a level of balance and judgement. Mr M O’Brien: On a further point of order, Speaker, I do take into account the issue that we may well want ministers to remain in the chamber for the purpose of being able to ask them questions. However, particularly when ministers defy rulings on ministers statements there is the power for you as Speaker to require them to sit down and to curtail the end of their statement, which is effectively a Dorothy Dixer. I think that might be a very effective way, particularly when we see this continued pattern of ministers deciding, ‘Our theme of the day is we’re going to attack the opposition over this, this or that’. On that basis, it is quite clear that ministers get up and defy you despite you making rulings early on in response to opposition points of order about breaches of standing and sessional orders. I would ask you that in order to ensure that the Chair is respected and that the smooth running of the house is facilitated you actually sit ministers down when they continue to defy rulings. The SPEAKER: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his point of order. Constituency questions RIPON ELECTORATE Ms STALEY (Ripon) (11:44): (962) Could I start by asking for a point of clarification on constituency questions? Can I ask what action has a minister taken? Is that a correct form? Yes? Thank you.

CONSTITUENCY QUESTIONS 2720 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019

My constituency question is directed to the Minister for Higher Education in the other place, and my question is: what action has the minister taken to have the tours at Aradale reinstated after Melbourne Polytechnic cancelled those tours on the basis of a report, which they had secretly commissioned, that has led to the largest tourism activity in Ararat now being cancelled? I would just like to know: what action has minister taken to resolve that? MELTON ELECTORATE Mr McGHIE (Melton) (11:45): (963) The Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre is a not-for-profit organisation established to promote the conservation of the dingo and is located in my electorate of Melton. It is run by the fantastic Lyn Watson and her band of dedicated volunteers. It aims to preserve and conserve, educate the public, advocate for and reverse the misconceptions surrounding the dingo, facilitate non-invasive scientific research and participate in the rehabilitation of the dingo into suitable, safe habitats. My question is to the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change: what policies are in place that can help protect such an iconic Victorian species? OVENS VALLEY ELECTORATE Mr McCURDY (Ovens Valley) (11:46): (964) My question is for the Minister for Ambulance Services on behalf of Mr Jack Murray of Tarrawingee. Mr Murray, who has experienced long ambulance waiting times while giving CPR to his wife, has recently noticed that ambulances are continuing to call into residents and businesses in Tarrawingee to check up on addresses, and this adds to the wait times for people who are generally stressed and where every minute counts. Mr Murray seeks clarification around the model used and the database used to ensure ambulances in regional Victoria can be given every opportunity to reach families in need on time. CARRUM ELECTORATE Ms KILKENNY (Carrum) (11:47): (965) My question is for the Minister for Roads. Minister, I was delighted some time ago to secure funding to connect a bike path from Carrum Downs to the Carrum–Warburton bike trail. I have been contacted by constituents who are keen to see this upgrade because it will mean bike riders, particularly families and young people in Carrum Downs, will be able to connect much more safely to Seaford and Carrum and onto the Carrum–Warburton bike path. Minister, my constituents would like to know: what are the next steps in this great local project? KEW ELECTORATE Mr T SMITH (Kew) (11:47): (966) My question is to the Minister for Sport. Bulleen Park is home to the Yarra Junior Football League. The Yarra Junior Football League is one of the biggest football leagues in Victoria, with 11 000 players. There are roughly 1200 players from Kew and 3800 players from Boroondara. This important football league is going to lose its home ground and head office because of the north-east link. My question to the Minister for Sport is: what steps is he taking to provide accommodation for this football league and indeed new playing facilities for them during the construction of the north-east link? BOX HILL ELECTORATE Mr HAMER (Box Hill) (11:48): (967) My constituency question is to the Minister for Public Transport. My question is as follows: what can the government do to ensure commuter car parks at Box Hill station are available for commuters? Box Hill station is one of the busiest suburban train stations on our rail network. Thousands of commuters pass through Box Hill station every day, with the vast majority arriving either on foot or by bus. However, for a proportion of the Box Hill community who cannot walk, ride or take public transport, park-and-ride is an important option. I understand that Box Hill station has approximately 500 parking spaces reserved for commuters between 6.00 am and 7.00 pm on business days. However, I have received a number of complaints from local constituents who are finding the busy station car park being used by non-commuters— retailers, contractors et cetera. Constituents in my electorate are excited about all the fantastic transport

CONSTITUENCY QUESTIONS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2721 projects coming to Box Hill, but want to be confident that they are only battling with other commuters for the limited commuter parking available, not those working on local development sites. SHEPPARTON ELECTORATE Ms SHEED (Shepparton) (11:49): (968) My question is for the Minister for Water. What measures is the Victorian government taking to examine the validity of Professor Peter Gell’s claims that the South Australian lower lakes were not fresh water but estuarine prior to human intervention in the 20th century? Professor Gell’s peer-reviewed scientific evidence was published in the CSIRO’s Journal of Pacific Conservation Biology, and was discussed by numerous media outlets last month. Should Professor Gell’s work be accurate, many assumptions underpinning the Murray-Darling Basin plan and the delivery of fresh water from the Murray to South Australia need to be re-examined. Last week the fresh water flow to the sea from the lower lakes saw 38 barrages open. It is concerning that this precious water commodity is potentially being wasted if Professor Gell’s research is correct. WENDOUREE ELECTORATE Ms ADDISON (Wendouree) (11:50): (969) My question is for the Minister for Roads in the other place and is about the Ballarat Safer Cycling Connections Sturt Street shared path in my electorate of Wendouree. Sturt Street is Ballarat’s iconic boulevard and the spine of our beautiful city. The centre median is the place of our cenotaph, where we gather to remember those who served. It is also the home of important statues, including Eureka leader Peter Lalor and war heroes Pompey Elliott and Sir Albert Coates. It has well-established trees and garden beds that are valued by all residents. Minister, can you please advise how the plan for the Ballarat Safer Cycling Connections Sturt Street shared path will improve road safety for bike riders and the broader community whilst protecting the heritage of Sturt Street and our important memorials, statues, trees and garden beds? BRIGHTON ELECTORATE Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (11:51): (970) My constituency question is to the Minister for Police, and I ask the minister: what law enforcement measures are in place to protect Church Street Traders in Brighton from swarming? The Church Street Traders, ably led by president Keiran Cromie, have raised with me the growing prevalence of swarming. Swarming is where groups of offenders swarm shops to steal goods and run off with them. By working as a group, gangs know it is much more difficult for small businesses to protect themselves. The traders and the executive director of the Australian Retailers Association, Russell Zimmerman, have both confirmed with me the prevalence of swarming, and called for enhanced police presence in our shopping strips. I look forward to the minister’s response. ST ALBANS ELECTORATE Ms SULEYMAN (St Albans) (11:51): (971) My question is to the Minister for Water. I note there has been community interest in the future of the project to improve a key section of Stony Creek, which runs through my electorate of St Albans. I would like to thank the funding partners in this project for their support so far, with Development Victoria; the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning; Melbourne Water and City West Water contributing the lion’s share of this project—so far almost $8 million. I would also like to put on record Brimbank City Council’s support of $100 000. As we know, the Labor government is investing significantly in our rivers and creeks that run through the west, and developing with the community a Waterways of the West action plan to protect and enhance the important natural assets that we have. I ask the minister: what steps is the government taking to address recent issues around the site rehabilitation and the project for Stony Creek?

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Bills BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES REGISTRATION AMENDMENT BILL 2019 Second reading Debate resumed. Ms WILLIAMS (Dandenong—Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Minister for Women, Minister for Youth) (11:52): When I left off prior to question time I was explaining the current state of play in Victoria as a way of responding to some of the mistruths that have been circulated about what this bill before the house does and does not do. I was making the point that excluding trans and gender-diverse Victorians from services and spaces is discriminatory and it is, as such, already illegal under state and commonwealth law. The bill before us today does not change or alter that in any way. That is a very pertinent point to make in response to some of the more alarmist claims that have been made in relation to this bill. Previous speakers have reflected on the nastiness that has infected the debate on this bill. I think it is also worth reflecting on the fact that trans and gender-diverse people are an incredibly at-risk group when it comes to violence and discrimination and that with some of the commentary around this bill from various sources, both in this place and outside of it, it is not hard to see why that is the case. Globally trans and gender-diverse people experience considerable violence, with research showing that this violence is actually increasing. Access to safe spaces is also particularly important for trans women who have experienced violence. Overseas research has shown us that trans women are nearly twice as likely to suffer sexual violence as other women. In all of the commentary about safe spaces and safe places, people seem to have forgotten that trans victims of violence also need safe spaces. It is why refuges are already operating on an inclusive basis, and in all this time of those refuges operating in that way there has not been any reported increase in assaults on women or any reports of these spaces being made less safe as a consequence of allowing trans women access. It is really important that people are clear on that point. Trans women are already getting access to these services, and there has been no evidence of an increase in assaults or any evidence of these spaces being made less safe. I say that twice because it is important. By offering inclusive spaces, all women are made safer in Victoria. We all stand to gain from that. As we have also heard from previous speakers, this is not the first time this legislation has been before this house. It was with great sadness in the last Parliament that we watched a progressive piece of reform, a reform which would have markedly improve the lives of trans and gender-diverse Victorians ultimately be defeated in the other place. It was defeated because the Liberal Party and the National Party let bigotry trump equality, just as they are seeking to do today. While many of those opposite are more than happy to march at Pride or share the stage at Midsumma and lap up the attention, when it comes to delivering meaningful reforms for our LGBTI communities they are squibbing it. Really, they should be judged on their actions, not on the symbolism of attending parades and waving flags when it suits them. We want to do more than just make those symbolic gestures. We want to make genuine and meaningful reform, which is why our government is committed to genuinely advancing equality, and I think that is on display in the bill before the house today. There has also been a lot of discussion, as I have outlined, on what this bill is about and what it is not about, much of it being drastically untrue and, more than that, deliberately untrue. I know that the hateful campaign being perpetrated by some media outlets in recent weeks and indeed some political activists as well is really taking its toll on our trans and gender-diverse community, and young people in particular. Obviously as the Minister for Youth, this is a particular concern to me. I want our trans and gender-diverse Victorians, and in particular those young people, to know that our government stands with them. We know that without a supportive and affirming environment, trans and gender-diverse young people are at far greater risk of poor mental health outcomes. On this element of the bill, it would be wise for those opposite, I think, to listen to the voices of trans kids and

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2723 their parents so that they can get a better understanding of what those impacts are and of what that hate-filled speech does to people. Providing a process for children to obtain a legal document that affirms their identity will no doubt deliver a very significant boost to the mental wellbeing of trans and gender-diverse young people and, through them, their families as well, who are often taking that journey with them. In conclusion, trans women are women and trans rights are human rights, as we have heard. And equality for women means equality for trans women. We have got to be absolutely clear about that, and this bill does nothing more than make it easier for trans Victorians to have a document that reflects who they truly are. This is about giving agency to identity and allowing people to live their lives and live according to their true selves and their true identities. We want people to go about their lives without having to explain intimate details about their body and about their life to strangers. People should not have to do that. This bill is about delivering on the commitments we made to Victoria’s trans and gender-diverse community, and ultimately this bill is about fairness. It is about genuinely delivering on a vision of equality for our state and about not buying into bigoted and transphobic lines of attack that do nothing but diminish all of us as a collective. I commend the bill to the house. Ms VALLENCE (Evelyn) (11:59): I rise to speak in opposition to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019. This bill raises serious questions of public importance and solicits very serious questions about who we are and what we want to be, not just individually but as a society. I accept that questions regarding a person’s gender and sexuality are deeply personal and should not be subject to unnecessary interference by the state. We must recognise that we live in a society of great diversity, which is to be embraced, encouraged and promoted, and that people approach their sexuality and gender in different ways. I acknowledge there are many differences of opinion on these issues, and I, like we all should, respect those differences of opinion. I believe that when bills such as the one we are currently debating come before this Parliament, we must ensure we have consulted broadly with our constituents, with our communities and with stakeholders to hear the views of all concerned and consider our position carefully. Moreover, we must ensure that adequate protections for everyone in the community will exist as a consequence of making such significant change. Regrettably, this bill does not contain sufficient safeguards or protections from it being abused, misused and potentially subjecting others in our community to great detriment. Whilst I acknowledge this bill is attempting to embrace transgender and gender-diverse members of our community who have felt excluded, I do not believe this bill gets the balance right in terms of the serious consequences it may impose on many others in our community. I will now consider the main provisions of the bill and detail the reasons for concern. Clause 1 of the bill outlines the main purposes of the bill and provides for allowing people to alter their recorded sex to a ‘sex descriptor’, removes the requirement for a person to have undergone sex affirmation surgery before they can alter the record of their sex and provides for alteration of a child’s sex in their birth registration. I wish to make it plain: I do not oppose the intent these measures seek to achieve. However, it is the process by which this bill seeks to make these changes and the inadequate protections and safeguards that I object to. Returning to the bill, clause 8 provides a new process for a person to alter the record of their sex, allowing them to nominate a sex descriptor of their choice, without the person needing to have undergone sex affirmation surgery. A person need only make a statutory declaration, with the application including a statement from another adult who has known the person for a mere 12 months. Clause 8 also seeks to allow a child’s record of sex to be altered in their birth registration. As with adults, children are not required to undergo treatment, and the sex descriptor of their choice must be nominated in the application. For our society, and for me personally as a parent, serious questions remain unaddressed. Noting that the bill’s provisions do not actually require any evidence directly

BILLS 2724 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 from children in the applications, because the consent is expressed through parents and guardians, we cannot have complete confidence our young children will be adequately protected. On adequate protections and safeguards, we must also consider consequences for positive sex segregation. Having read these provisions, I was interested to find how the government intended to reconcile these changes with the various exemptions that currently apply under our laws that allow certain service providers and institutions to lawfully discriminate on the basis of sex and how it would guard against our equal opportunity laws being misused. To my great surprise, I could find nothing in the bill that sought to protect these exemptions and the integrity of our equal opportunity laws. I then read the Attorney-General’s second-reading speech to see if I could locate anything—I did not. But I did find the following statements by the Attorney-General: Misguided concerns were raised that the proposed reforms put women’s safety at risk, for example in domestic violence shelters, change rooms and toilets … In reality, trans and gender diverse people are at higher risk of facing harassment or violence in receiving services or using facilities if they are forced to use those that are not appropriate to their affirmed gender. With respect to the Attorney-General, I think she has missed the point and was clearly insensitive to describe these concerns as ‘misguided’. As we all know, there are single-sex schools, female-only gyms, sporting clubs with dedicated female teams and female-only change rooms and female-only service providers, such as in health or domestic violence refuges. There are no provisions in this bill that seek to deal with and resolve how these institutions are to respond to invariable issues that will arise as a consequence of this bill becoming law. By way of a very simplistic example, if a man decides to change his sex and identify as female and has not undergone any sex affirmation surgery, can a female-only gym disallow that person from using its facilities? If this person was denied entry, would they have a cause of action against the gym for being discriminated against on the basis of their sex? A more complex example may be if this person sought to access a domestic violence refuge for women or a women’s prison. Could this be denied? There is no provision in this bill to address these critical matters, particularly when a person may have changed their gender record for nefarious purposes. I think these are reasonable and indeed fundamental questions to ask and even more reasonable and fundamental for the government to answer. There is no doubt these issues will arise in schools, sporting clubs and competitions, service providers and women’s refuges. It is remarkable the Labor government is proposing to do nothing on this issue and why the opposition is opposed to this bill. Unless these issues are addressed, these changes could drastically limit the protections afforded to women and girls under our sex discrimination laws—laws, it must be remembered, that were introduced to remove and make illegal the gender imbalance many women were made to feel in our community. Furthermore, the provision of a 12-month rule must be held to scrutiny. Again concerning is the lack of adequate protections and safeguards in this bill to ensure these provisions are not abused by those in our community who may seek to take advantage of these provisions, make numerous applications to change their sex and indeed potentially apply to change their sex every 13 months. We must consider the unintended consequences this may give rise to for those who are vulnerable in society and seriously question what the rationale for the 12-month rule is. There is nothing in either the second- reading speech or the explanatory memorandum to explain why this is so. These provisions seem to undermine the seriousness in which these issues must be taken and create an unwelcome potential for these provisions to be abused and mocked, potentially causing unnecessary hurt to those in our community who we want to protect from any further vilification. Finally, of significant importance is contemplating the proposed changes of this bill in relation to sex offenders and prisoners. Part 3 of this bill deals with consequential amendments to other pieces of legislation, including the Corrections Act 1986, the Serious Offenders Act 2018 and the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004, and how to deal with these applications by persons who are regulated by these

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2725 acts. There are no sufficient checks and safeguards in relation to this provision, and this again creates an unwelcome potential for these provisions to be abused. A prisoner, parolee or registered sex offender can obtain permission of either the secretary or the Adult Parole Board of Victoria in order to make an application to change their sex, which the Attorney- General conceded is a process that is no different to such a person seeking to change their name. How can this be appropriate, especially in regard to a registered sex offender? This does not go nearly far enough and would enable prisoners, parolees and registered sex offenders to be as free as anyone else to apply to change their sex. I urge the government to consider an amendment that would put in place far more strident and robust measures in relation to applications made by such persons. In conclusion, I am sure I am not alone when I say this: I have had close friends who have had to grapple with the issues of gender identification. They are not easy, they are very challenging and indeed can be challenging especially for their families and friends, but they deserve nothing but our love, care and support as they make their way through life. Whilst I support the Parliament working to ensure transgender and gender-diverse people are appropriately recognised in our society and treated fairly and equally, I do not think this bill provides sufficient safeguards and protections to ensure such recognition is not abused by those who would seek to undermine its intent. The opposition will therefore be voting against this bill. Mr DIMOPOULOS (Oakleigh) (12:08): It gives me great pleasure and pride to speak on this very important bill. It also pains me to hear what I feel is ignorance in some of the contributions to date. It is ignorance but also disingenuousness, because I think we could all look at the deficit model of anything we do and look at the margins and think there will be people that will take advantage of it, but that is really an ugly way to view the world, and it is actually also a hypocritical way because we do not apply the same logic to any other public policy response. We apply that logic when we do not actually want to do something and we use it as a fig leaf to disguise our true feelings for why we do not want to do something. It is absolutely appalling, and I will give you an example. Some of the examples given by the lead speaker on the other side on this—I think she talked about axe murderers and a range of other things— happened before this bill was introduced. They happened before this bill was introduced, as the member for Thomastown reminded me, so how is that a reason not to introduce this bill? Their logic does not even work. Before I get to the community that I want to speak to today, I do want to encourage, as the Minister for Equality said, the Liberal Party to be true to its values, and I mean that sincerely. I am not playing politics on this. I think there are members on that side who, I do not know but I assume, would be very uncomfortable with being told to vote no on this bill. This is from the Liberal Party’s own manifesto: We believe: In the inalienable rights and freedoms of all peoples; and we work towards a lean government that minimises interference in our daily lives; and maximises individual and private sector initiative. Then of course there are prominent Liberals. For example, Sir Robert Menzies: We have learned that the right answer is to set the individual free, to aim at equality of opportunity, to protect the individual against oppression, to create a society in which rights and duties are recognised and made effective … In its place we have put opportunity without any class privileges, social and economic justice and the civilised democratic conception that governments are not the masters of the people, but their servants. Ronald Reagan said: The basis of conservatism is a desire for less Government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is. John Stuart Mill, a famous libertarian:

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That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. And finally George Brandis said some parts of the right-wing: … have abandoned both liberalism’s concern for the rights of the individual and conservatism’s respect for institutions, in favour of a belligerent, intolerant populism which shows no respect for either the rights of individual citizens or the traditional institutions which protect them. He went on to say that being a Liberal: … means respecting the right of people to make choices which we ourselves would not make and of which we may disapprove. That is the true essence of liberalism. They are not liberals; they are conservatives. That is the difference. They should be honourable to that and change the name of their party. There is an American magazine, Areo it is called, which said the following earlier this year in an article: The American right generally—and the American Christian right even more so—have never been in favor of limited government or opposed to identity politics. In various eras of American history, they backed slavery; Jim Crow; the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans; censorship of everything from anti-slavery literature to Communist propaganda, flag desecration and pornography; massive legal restrictions on the rights of women and LGBT people; the surveillance state; and a host of other uses of government power, designed to promote an authoritarian state that privileges white, heterosexual, cisgender men above everyone else. Yet they pretend that is not what they are about, and it is our job as a community, as a government, to hold the opposition to account on this. I now want to speak to the people that this bill is aimed at supporting and their families. From my perspective as not only a member of Victorian Parliament but as a gay member of Victorian Parliament—I have no pretence of understanding what a trans Victorian has gone through and is going through—I want to say to you that your voice is true and I hear it. I see the beautiful Brenda in the gallery today. There are many other leaders but Brenda and I have worked together and I feel a sense of friendship and understanding of Brenda, but a lot of trans community leaders have worked very hard. You do not owe us any explanation, you do not owe the government an explanation, you do not owe the state an explanation, you do not owe your neighbours an explanation. You are an expert on who you are. Sorry, Deputy Speaker, I should be speaking through you. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Through the Chair, member for Oakleigh. Mr DIMOPOULOS: The trans community and every Victorian is an expert on who they are, not the government. No government should be telling trans Victorians or any Victorians that they should be someone else. In fact they should not even be seeking our authority. I feel almost not legitimately able to reflect on this because it is your business, not ours. I acknowledge the pain and the suffering, the advocacy, the indignity that you have been through, that the community has been through. We had an example the other day where a parent was talking about their trans child having to go through university enrolment. There was a stuff-up in the enrolment and they had to present a birth certificate and then had to explain to a stranger they had no reference to or no friendship with why the gender and the name on the birth certificate were different to the person they are. They had no choice in that when they were born. How dare anyone reflect on who you are without your authority. Before there were governments, there were people. We set governments up to look after common security, common assets like roads and infrastructure, not to tell us who we are. That is an abomination. I cannot believe we are even having this debate, but I am really pleased we are absolutely fixing this, or hopefully fixing this if the Parliament approves this bill. Human rights and freedom at that very basic core level of your own humanity are in my view inalienable. It cannot be taken away from anyone. The fact that we are even debating this today is a reflection on how sad previous generations have been in reflecting negatively on people that are different to them. So my view is this could not come soon enough. I implore the opposition and the

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2727 crossbenchers in the other place—I understand from media reports that they are likely to be supportive of this bill—to think of one thing only: it is not our role to determine someone’s humanity; it is their role, their role with all the context that they may have, spirituality or a lack of, their family context, their friendships, their own innate wisdom, their own innate intellect. It is their choice to decide who they are at any given time without any explanation to the rest of the community. This is for me of enormous value and importance and I just want to thank not just Brenda—but to be honest, Brenda is one of the few trans leaders that I know. I wish I knew more, but I had enormous pleasure in being on the steps of Parliament yesterday to hug and support and just be another Victorian with a whole bunch of other Victorians. It was such a pleasure to reflect on them as just other Victorians. One day we will get to a point where we do not even say gay Victorian, trans Victorian, Greek Victorian—just Victorians, just Australians, just human beings. It was such a pleasure to be out there yesterday. But I really want to just pay respect to trans Victorians today and those of the past who did not live long enough to see this. Hopefully we will see this change coming in the next few weeks. I also want to reflect on the incredible contribution and leadership of the Minister for Equality. As someone who comes from the LGBTIQ community, I feel continually inspired by people who are not in our community who provide leadership and nourishment to our community. It is far more powerful for a straight man to speak on behalf of a gay man or a Muslim to speak on behalf of a Jew—or whatever other example you want to give—than for that community to have to speak only for itself. For that I applaud the Minister for Equality. I absolutely applaud—and I have put this on the record many times—the Premier of Victoria for his extraordinarily strong leadership on equality for every Victorian, not just trans Victorians but across women, across every Victorian. Ms Thomas: Safe Schools. Mr DIMOPOULOS: Standing up for Safe Schools despite the political costs, potentially, of that, and we did it proudly. I am really pleased to be a member of the government that will hopefully deliver this long-awaited result for the trans community of Victoria, and I wish this bill a speedy passage. Mr SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (12:18): I rise to make some comments on the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019 and note from the outset that there are many sensitivities in the debate and some wideranging views in this legislation that is before the house. I also want to say that as somebody that has been a very proud supporter of the LGBTIQ community, when it comes to equality—whether it be of sex, race or religion—I have always sought to champion these causes. There have certainly been some very strong contributions made today, and very much the member for Oakleigh talked about ideally not having labels and treating everybody as individuals, as one and all the same. I would certainly hope we get to a day when we can do that and we do not have to pass laws because of inequalities of action. But there are aspects of this bill that certainly the opposition has issues with, and there have already been contributions from some of my colleagues that have raised some of these issues. Firstly, can I say the issue of gender identification and the support for the rights of individuals to live their lives the way they wish to live according to their gender identity is certainly something that I support, but this is more than just gender identification; it does go to the crux of some of the laws that exist. As many have stated, there is a clear difference between how people identify their gender and how legal records are kept in the case of birth certificates. Birth certificates exist to record a person’s record of birth, and birth certificates are intended to record biological sex rather than gender identity. They are used for a whole range of record keeping through a number of different government agencies for a whole range of planning and so on in terms of the historical record of somebody’s sex at birth. The actual legislation is to amend the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996 to remove the requirements for somebody that has undergone sex affirmation surgery while allowing for applications to alter birth certificates also on behalf of children. Basically what this does is allow for self-identification

BILLS 2728 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 of gender. Essentially we debated this bill back in 2016, and there has also been some commonwealth equality legislation that has been added to since then. Clause 8 looks at a person changing their sex without having to undergo affirmation surgery and how this works, with an application done in good faith. Also the bill permits application for a child’s record of sex to be altered in their birth registration. As with adults, children are not required to undergo treatment as part of this process. Also, where there is a dispute the court should be satisfied that the change is in the child’s best interests. As part of the briefing I understand the department advised that the test used to change the sex descriptor closely follows the process used for changing your name for administrative convenience, notwithstanding the fact that changing your name or your sex are two very different propositions, particularly when you are changing legal documents. Clause 13—and this is where I want to spend a bit of time in terms of my contribution—deals with changes when it comes to both adults and juveniles in detention and under supervision, such as prisoners and parolees who make an application to alter their recorded sex. As the Shadow Minister for Police, Shadow Minister for Community Safety and Shadow Minister for Corrections, this is something that I think is very important for us to spend some time with. The only additional condition is the prior approval of the supervising authority—for example, the Adult Parole Board of Victoria—who is to consider the application’s reasonableness, including the security, safety and wellbeing of applicants and others. This is a very sensitive area. I will also say at the outset that the trans community is one of the most vulnerable when it comes to community safety, both in the community and corrections facilities. We have seen a number of incidents in corrections facilities where a trans member has been attacked. Certainly there are a number of concerns for authorities when it comes to this. Also, in terms of the changes, concerns around looking at tracking sex offenders, prisoners and those on parole have been raised. On the provisions for serious sex offenders, prisoners and parolees, the information has been vague and lacks a lot of detail when it comes to this bill. There have certainly been a number of cases that have been raised. I know the Canadian case of trans woman Jessica Yaniv, who took 16 beauticians to the Human Rights Tribunal for refusing to wax her scrotum in a Brazilian wax. I know that has been raised. But there have been some even more specific issues in terms of within the prisons themselves. I note that prisons must balance the welfare of transgender offenders with offenders, particularly women, whose safety could be threatened by prisoners who were born male. An example that I want to cite is Karen White in the UK. Karen White was a convicted paedophile who now identifies as a woman. She assaulted two prisoners while in a women’s jail in 2017. This is absolutely a case where the safety of those in the prison was certainly not dealt with well. As Richard Garside from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies said, ‘We have a clash of rights’, and it is balancing those rights which is really, really important. But community safety should always be paramount in terms of whatever we look at. The member for Ripon raised a number of issues around women’s groups and women’s rights. I also note the comments I have received from the Victorian Women’s Guild, particularly around equal opportunity and protecting single-sex spaces—very, very important issues. Also, as the member for Ripon said, there are not many jurisdictions that have gone down this path, and it is great to be a leader in some respects in terms of what you do, but when you are changing such important legislation as this, it is important to have very broad consultation. I note that a number of those women’s groups were not properly consulted on this. We just need to make sure we get things right. We talk a lot about equal opportunity in this place and we talk a lot about trying to balance things when it comes women, and I think it is important that we have that proper consultation. Back to justice, interestingly enough what the UK prison system has done since the Karen White issue is set up a transgender wing, looking to resolve the clash of women’s rights. The prison service reckons there are about 139 transgender inmates in England, and they must balance the welfare of transgender offenders with those other prisoners, particularly women, whose safety could be threatened by

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2729 prisoners who were born male. It cited the Karen White incident and has gone as far as to actually look at a prison system that protects both the transgender community and the broader community as well. These are really important issues that I raise, because in the justice system we do quite often see people that are very, very vulnerable. We do need to make sure that all of those processes are properly considered to ensure that people’s safety is absolutely paramount. These are some of the things we should be exploring. We need to understand in this Parliament when we change laws what the consequences will be, and ensure that those consequences are always protected in terms of community safety. There is no doubt we need to do more. We need to do more in terms of equality, we absolutely need to do more in terms of the LGBTIQ community and we need to do more in terms of discrimination in a broader sense. But the issues in terms of this bill are certainly some that need further exploring to ensure that there are those safeguards and to ensure that we have got things right, because at the end of the day, when it comes to these sorts of situations, we do not get a second chance. Ms RICHARDS (Cranbourne) (12:28): It is with terrific pride that I rise to speak on the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019. It is also a great honour to follow the member for Oakleigh and to be joined here by leaders of our community, leaders of the Victorian community, whether they are young or people who have been around for a long time. This bill delivers on our progressive Labor agenda to remove barriers to new birth certificates for trans and gender- diverse Victorians. The bill before us now is a reintroduction of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2016, which we know was defeated in the Legislative Council in December of that year. This bill mostly mirrors that one, with just a couple of minor technical amendments. But at its heart this bill is just an opportunity to make everyday life a little bit easier for trans and gender-diverse Victorians. In practice it removes unnecessary barriers for trans or gender-diverse people to alter the sex recorded on their birth certificate. In reality it takes away a cruel, invasive and at times dangerous and unnecessary barrier to amending a birth certificate, and allows a document to reflect who we really are. As things stand the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996 requires people to have to undertake invasive surgery before being able to alter their birth certificate. This bill takes a commonsense approach. At the present time in Victoria there is no pathway available to alter a birth certificate for children, and this is being addressed by this bill before us, obviously with safeguards. The most important element of my contribution today is to honour those in my community who told me their stories. It was an extraordinary privilege to hear from people in my community about how this will affect them. First, let me say I was delighted to read so many emails that were heartfelt missives of love, mostly from parents, with grandparents in the mix too, but also from just regular people—people who do not identify as trans or gender-diverse but people who are interested in social justice. This lovely altruistic community, some of whom I called, said that they had seen terrible things in the past and could never return to the way it used to be. I will take this opportunity to quote three people in particular. After he emailed me I had a conversation with Tony. Tony is a straight-talking person, a regular person—a very regular Cranbourne person. He said, ‘This is about the future. We need to get people educated. But also I’ve seen bad stuff and I’ve seen people get hurt’. He went on to say, ‘I think these terrible things are part of our history. It’s not good what I’ve seen, so I wrote to you so that you know we have to look at what is going on for the kids today and make life easier for them’. He just wants us to get on with it. Earlier this week I met with loving parents from across the south-east, formidable women and men who love their children. Some had travelled a long way to meet us as their representatives and let us know how important this change is for their children. The science is crystal clear: without a supportive and affirming environment, trans and gender-diverse children are at greater risk of having poor mental health outcomes than their peers—and no parent wants that for their child.

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But just this morning I spoke to a loving and quite formidable grandmother from my electorate. Jan brought tears to my eyes because the contrast between her love and what was being said by the member for Ripon could not have been greater. Jan asked me to read this statement out: … that ONE piece of paper affects absolutely everything in my grandsons life as is hard enough without this struggle every day to prove his identity I told people, some of whom are here today, that in my experience of talking to people across the electorate, their neighbours are far kinder than they might suspect if they were only taking the opportunity to read from ugly trolls on the internet. These parents spoke with extraordinary passion and love and concern and, I must acknowledge, a little bit of fear. They seem genuinely frightened of what this debate will do to the children that they love. It was hard to see their pain, and it was a reminder that we need to be mindful of our role in this place and to elevate the debate and to ensure we are careful about the way we speak today. Today I see that one of my most important roles is to give voice to the trans and gender-diverse community in my community. Most importantly I would like to ensure that the words of Meagan and her beautiful daughter are recorded here in this place. When I met Meagan I asked her what she would like me to say on behalf of her daughter, and they wrote this:

… my daughter would love for you to talk about her experience. For my daughter changing these birth certificate laws would mean that she can continue to go forth in her life without fear that she can be discriminated against. My daughter is coming to an age where she is looking at applying for her lerners permit and with this process it involves her having to show her birth certificate to Vic roads upon approval. In this situation she doesn’t know if the person behind the desk is educated and supportive of trans identities so it can place her at potential risk. This also applies for her starting a new school, job, opening a bank account, anything that requires her to produce identification. She is young and doesn’t have the life experience … yet to know how to handle people. If her documentation does not match her identity, then that stops her from being able to go about her life. Meagan wrote:

My daughter didn’t choose this. She is one of 4 children and is the only one in her family that is discriminated against due to something she has no control over. That is not fair or right. In the time I have left I would like to thank those who have campaigned over a long time for this reform. To the Attorney-General and to the Minister for Equality, with your detailed heavy lifting over two parliaments, across two cabinets and two caucuses, I am pleased to have your leadership. To Anna Brown, you are always generous in your wise counsel, and you did not even roll your eyes at my silly questions. This legislation is a credit to you. To Sally Goldner, your impassioned pleas and cogent arguments are compelling. Thank you for outlining the case for a fair go for all Australians. To Commissioner Ro Allen, no-one would ever question your drive for inclusion. I have not seen much of you lately, so it has been lovely to have your presence in this place in these last few days. Thank you for taking up the fight, including, and especially, on behalf of the LGBTQ heartland in and around Cranbourne. I first met Brenda Appleton nearly five years ago, and I can imagine she might have groaned in having to endure my shallow understanding of issues faced by the community. Brenda, for your clarity, tenacity and endurance of people like me, this legislation is a credit to you, and I want you to know how appreciative I am of your generosity. I have rarely made a contribution in this place without highlighting my obsession with doorknocking. Here I go again. Last year I met some people who felt lonely, often isolated and sadly even a little bit scared. They were a bit frightened. They were not accepted because they are gender diverse or trans or LGBTQ. It was with great sadness that they watched the first attempt at reform pass the Legislative Assembly and then fail to pass the hurdle in the Legislative Council. They are still a bit shaken by the vitriol from the marriage equality campaign and were also rocked by a local campaign against Safe

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Schools in the lead-up to the last November state poll. I told them at the time that the Andrews Labor government is committed to equality here in Victoria. I am looking forward to returning to those doors and letting people know that they are accepted, and that this state government has knocked down a barrier and created a more affirming state for trans kids—that people can be themselves. Before closing I am going to make a plea to you all: please look after yourselves, look after each other. If you are finding this debate too much, turn off, switch away, reach out for support. Call Switchboard Victoria; the number is 1800 184 527. You do not need to hear commentary on your lives. I reckon you have had enough of this already. Finally, and importantly, I would like to say this: this legislation, this debate, the stories that we have heard and the action we are taking, this is important, but this is for you, Evie. You deserve to live in a diverse community where we accept you for who you are. You can get on with doing the things that you want to do. You can be a teenager, with all of the joy that comes with that. We will butt out of your lives, because this is about you and your ability to get on with your own life. On behalf of the people in this chamber, on behalf of the LGBTIQ people who live in Cranbourne, on behalf of the trans community and gender-diverse people in my community—and I am a little bit parochial here— on behalf of the people of Cranbourne, I wish this a speedy and gentle passage through this place. Ms McLEISH (Eildon) (12:38): I rise to put some comments towards the— Interjections from gallery. The ACTING SPEAKER (Ms Blandthorn): The sitting is suspended momentarily. The bells will be rung in 15 minutes. Sitting suspended 12.39 pm until 12.54 pm. Mr Wakeling: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, obviously just prior to the break there was an incident and it took the PSOs an inordinate amount of time to arrive. I would just ask if you could perhaps pass on to the Speaker to have this matter looked at in terms of safety and security facilities here in the chamber. Certainly I do not think any blame for the incident can be laid on any staff member, but there was a significant delay and there was a degree of concern, not only among members of Parliament but particularly among members of the gallery who had to sit there while this was occurring. I just ask if this matter could be investigated. The ACTING SPEAKER (Ms Blandthorn): I will refer the matter to the Speaker for his consideration. Ms McLEISH: I will continue, after 16 minutes, from prior to the interruption. I rise to make comments on the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019. As we have heard, this bill will amend the act to provide for a person to alter the record of a person’s sex in the person’s birth registration to provide for the issuing of a document acknowledging the person’s name and sex, and there are obviously consequential amendments. This is a particularly sensitive debate, and I think the debate should be—and to a reasonable degree already, has been—conducted with maturity and sensitivity. As this is also contentious I urge the government to exercise caution as they move forward to implement this legislation, because there can be consequences that they need to be aware of make it as smooth sailing as possible. Now I, like many other people in the chamber, received many emails both voting for and against this bill. And I will support the comments made by our lead speaker, the Shadow Treasurer, who outlined our position well. I want to acknowledge up-front I have also met with members of the Victorian Women’s Guild, who feel particularly aggrieved that women, who are 50 per cent of the population,

BILLS 2732 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 were not consulted, either at this point or in 2016. They believe that women, being as large as half of the population, should be able to have an opportunity to speak on this. The issue of transgender individuals is certainly not new, and for centuries people have lived their lives in this way. Now, though, it is no longer behind closed doors. It is more and more acceptable. People are talking about it a lot more, and people are looking for ways to make sure that people are accepted and included for who they are. We have schools working through ways that they can best support young people who are genderqueer. This is at both primary and secondary schools, and I think this is very important because this is not an easy journey for somebody who is young. It is not an easy journey for them. It is also not an easy journey for their parents or their siblings. I want to acknowledge in the gallery today two constituents from my electorate. One is a young transgender woman who is particularly capable, eloquent and a strong advocate for the LGBTIQ community, and her mother, who has been a wonderful peer support for so many other families. I want to acknowledge them for the work that they have done in this field. As we know, a birth certificate defines your sex at birth—and it is correct at that point in time. There may have been issues in the past where there may have been errors made which would need correcting, but these errors are now less and less because we have very rigorous and thorough genetic testing in those very small number of instances. But I think that what we are tending to do here is equate sex and gender, and we know that sex is determined with the genetic make-up that we have—with our chromosomal make-up. Sitting suspended 12.59 pm until 2.01 pm. Ms McLEISH: The bill inserts a new process for a person to alter the record of their sex without them having to undergo sex affirmation surgery. The process, as I see it, is a little bit problematic here because the applicant needs only to make a statutory declaration nominating the sex to be recorded in their birth registration. I would rather see that a little bit stronger than a statutory declaration. But in addition the applications must include a supporting statement from another adult who has known the applicant for 12 months or more. I think 12 months is not long enough. Even though it looks as though the statement is being made in good faith and supports the application, I think if you have known someone for a longer period of time, it actually gives a lot more accountability to that. The other concern is the applicant can nominate a sex descriptor of their choice to describe their sex on their birth record. Typically there may only be a number of these descriptors used, but we have been advised that it could be almost anything as long as it is not obscene or offensive, and I think that that is something that really needs to be looked at. I want to talk also about the consequences and some of the practical implications of this bill should it pass going forward. Health and wellbeing are so important for everybody, and sport I see as a great part of that. Participation in sport occurs at many different levels and I think we should all have the opportunity to participate. This at times has been challenging for the trans community because sometimes they need to feel included and not isolated but there are a number of issues that arise with this. I want to just reference a session, the Future of Sex-based Rights, held at Melbourne University last week; I was able to watch it online. Hayden Opie, who is a senior fellow at the Melbourne Law School, is a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport and he also does a lot of work and is well renowned in sports law. He obviously points out that discrimination in sport is generally unlawful by sex and gender identity. However, we do have exceptions in competitive sport, and the exceptions are where strength, stamina or physique are relevant, so that allows single-sex sports. We also have some exceptions that are limited to non-competitive social golf, tennis, surfing, beach cricket, kick to kick and some of the competitive sports where women are strong enough, such as lawn bowls, darts, equestrian, a cox in rowing, jockeys and motor racing. Coaching, umpiring and refereeing are fine for men and women to equally be represented.

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Where the sports are competitive we start to get caught a little bit, and the legislation is not going to fix it. There is no universal rule book on the issue so it is up to each governing body to work through it. Now at some point some people will be unhappy, whether it is the elite females or the transgender females, as we have seen here. A lot of the sports bodies that are working through this do not have access to large financial resources and where they have got varying descriptors or where changes occur annually this could cause some issues for them. Sports have grappled with this issue over the years. I was the CEO of a state sporting organisation and we had to work through this. It was some time ago, but in the main at the time sport landed on those who had made a full transition. Their sex was seen to have been changed and therefore people were eligible. We had a number of very high-profile cases: Dr Renee Richards, a tennis player in the mid- 1970s, transitioned in her 40s; Mianne Bagger, a golfer in the mid-1990s, transitioned in her 20s. The full transition process is extremely difficult. It takes many years, it is painful, with a roller-coaster of emotions, and I certainly appreciate that. It is serious and invasive. It is high cost, has health risks and is not easily available so not everybody is going to go down this path. That is what we have to deal with. We know that hormones and gender reassignment can also reduce muscle mass and VO2. The issue is: how do people compete on an equal basis because we know that the fastest female will be slower than a top male and the strongest female will be weaker. The International Olympic Committee have altered their rules around transgender participation, but a woman must also prove that their testosterone is below 10 nanomoles per litre for at least 12 months before entering a competition. This has moved because it was irreversible genetic surgery. We have had an instance where a trans woman won a world title in cycling in the States in October last year, and that was very contentious. She also had a huge amount of hate mail, which I think was extremely traumatic for her. We have had somebody in the field of mixed martial arts, a very strong and powerful woman, say that she has never felt the strength that she felt in a fight that she felt the night she was up against a trans person. In the future, as people are younger when they are undergoing hormone treatment, it will play out differently. Renee Richards, who transitioned in her 40s, is now quoted as saying, ‘Had I done that in my 20s, there is no way anyone would have come close to me. I would have dominated’. She has reconsidered her opinion about how people must compete in this space. Martina Navratilova, who is very highly regarded and is an acclaimed sportswoman and advocate for the LGBTI community, is very concerned that if we go down the self-identification route as the only determining factor, that that will be the end of women’s sport as we know it. She said, and I quote: Maybe not now, maybe not 15 years from now. But 50 years from now, yes. She thinks it is going to be quite different. There is a lot of work to be done in this regard, and sports organisations are not always adequately resourced to be able to work out the best way forward so that we can have people who are equally able to compete. Ms COUZENS (Geelong) (14:08): I am pleased to rise to speak on the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019. Can I begin by congratulating and thanking the Minister for Equality, his team and the Attorney-General for their passion and commitment in having this bill brought back into the house. As we know, in 2016 a similar bill was lost in the upper house. Bringing it back in in this term I think is really significant and shows the passion that this government has to ensure equity in our community. The comments about lack of consultation just are not true. There has been an enormous amount of consultation on this particular bill, and we see that from the letter of support from feminists in support of this bill. That explains that feminists across this state are supporting this bill—and not just in this state either. I think it is really important that we continue to debate this bill and that it has a speedy passage through this house, and I would hope that those opposite consider supporting this bill, given its significance.

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The bill allows transgender and gender-diverse Victorians to alter their birth certificate without an expensive, invasive and often unavailable medical procedure. As I mentioned, it was quite disappointing that we had to watch that progressive piece of reform, a reform which would have improved the daily lives of trans and gender-diverse Victorians, pass the Legislative Assembly and then ultimately fail to pass the Legislative Council. There has been a lot of discussion around what this bill does and what it is about, and a lot of that is just not true. Like many in this house, I have received emails and messages and had conversations with people about this bill over the last couple of weeks. Some of it I just find appalling—that people would still be telling some of the stories that they have been telling. We are hearing some of that from those opposite today. I think it is a reminder of what the LGBTQI community went through during the marriage equity debate. I am sure that much of this is impacting on transgender people, not only in this chamber today but right across Victoria. I am sure that as a community, generally speaking, people are not wanting to hurt other people—well, I would like to think that they are not. The bill is about making everyday life a little easier for trans and gender-diverse Victorians, and that is what it is about. It is about removing a cruel and invasive and at times dangerous and unnecessary barrier to amending their birth certificate, allowing the document to reflect who they truly are. In my electorate of Geelong I am pleased to say that it is very clear that there is significant support for this bill. Over the last weeks I have had many emails, and many of those have been actually in support of the bill. I have to say even I was surprised at the number of people supporting the bill. When I go around and talk to young people—when I talk to primary school students—they are often saying, ‘Well, why is this an issue? Why aren’t we doing these things? Aren’t we on about equity?’. Those young people and children are not sending the emails but they are feeding back that information because they understand the importance of it. Over the past few weeks I have read the emails that my constituents have sent to me, and as I said the majority have been in support. There are some that have come from the broader community across Victoria and various organisations and groups, but my concentration has been on the seat of Geelong. They are the people I represent, and I take into account their views and support—or lack of support— of any bills that we are discussing in this place. I have picked out a selected number of those emails which I found really significant when I was reading them. The first one says: I am writing to you as both a local Church Minister of religion and the parent of a Trans Teen. I am happy to go on record as stating the Love and Grace should always take precedence over religious legalism and that the pain and rejection caused by having to wrestle with conflicting identities could be overcome by allowing appropriate documents to be created. Then there is an offer to talk to him. Another email states:

On Tuesday, reforms will be introduced to the Victorian Parliament that will make it easier for trans and gender diverse people to update birth certificates to match who they really are. This will make a huge difference to their lives, and no difference to everyone else’s. It’s a win-win. Please support this reform. Another states:

Hi. I’d just like to write in support of the proposed changes to birth certificate laws. As someone who identifies as genderfluid, it would be good to actually be able to get this reflected on official documentation … Right now this isn’t actually possible and like with surgery requirement I’m not sure what surgery I’d even be expected to get, let alone the issue that requiring people to get invasive surgery is rather messed up. There seems to have been some opposition to these reforms from various groups, but the one thing I’ve noticed is how similar it is to the opposition to marriage equality … a lot of hand-wringing and ‘concern’ that is really just masking bigotry. I’m really glad that Labor is making these reforms and I hope you’re able to push as hard as you can to get them through. The next states:

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I was born and raised interstate and now live in your electorate. Today I am writing because I support the VIC birth certificate reforms. These reforms would make it easier for transgender people to navigate the world, and would not disadvantage anyone. I am myself a member of the LGBT community of Geelong, and have heard from trans people how important these changes would be for them in all aspects of life, from schooling to the workplace. Therefore I ask that you also support these reforms. Another constituent, the parent of a transgender teenager, stated:

As a rainbow family this issue is particularly close to my heart. We have made all of the transitions we can do to ensure our son is able to feel like he is living as much like his authentic self as possible, however with out the support of fairer birth certificates every time we get a school report, doctors appointment etc with his birth name on it, it is a reminder to him of just how alien he feels in his own body. Therefore, I am writing to express my strong support for fairer birth certificate laws in Victoria and to urge you to vote in support of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019 when it is debated in Parliament. And it goes on. They are only a select few of the emails that I have received, and I think that sends a very clear message to me that the people of Geelong certainly have no reason why they do not want this reform to happen. Of course there were emails in opposition, but I am not even going to bother to read any of those. For me it is a real shame that those opposite are not supporting this bill. I would ask: when will we stop causing harm, when will we stop creating trauma and when will we stop leaving scars on those in our community who most need our support? As a government I think we are addressing those concerns and issues that people are raising. Currently the law requires that before a trans Victorian can change the sex recorded on their birth certificate they must undergo an expensive and invasive surgical procedure. For many people, number one, they should not have to make that decision to have surgery if they choose not to, but there is also the cost factor, the fact that they have the surgery because they feel they have to to get their name changed, and then there is time off work. There are many, many issues that come into that, practical issues. Often people do not think about the difficulties around that. But I do not think people who do not have the ability to pay the cost of this surgery should have to suffer not having their name changed on their birth certificate. I think this bill is really important, and I thank the transgender community for everything they are doing to support this bill. I commend the bill to the house. Mr D O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:18): I will only make a brief contribution on this legislation. I will just very briefly pick up on a comment from the member for Geelong. It may have been a slip of the tongue, but she said at the end that this bill was about changing names. This is not a bill about changing names; this is a bill about changing the sex that is registered on a person’s birth certificate. I really only want to make a few brief comments on this legislation, partly to explain my own thinking on this but also to respond to the comments of government members, including the member for Geelong who has just spoken and who again accused us of bigotry. I think it debases the debate in this Parliament when we just constantly throw names at one another because we disagree on something. I can only speak for myself and from the tenor of the debate that I have heard from a couple of my colleagues on the opposition benches, but our opposition to this is not in any way based on the rights of transgender people; it is based on concern about what the legislation itself does and what it potentially allows. I for one understand and accept that there are transgender people who go through hell, frankly, throughout their lives. Some of it is a factor of their biology, their gender, their psychology and some of it is because of the norms of how society and people react and the lack of acceptance that there has been historically and there continues to be towards people who are transgender.

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I do not want to diminish the issues at all, but I must say the ABC—I am going to praise the ABC here, having recently watched an episode of You Can’t Ask That about intersex people—was absolutely enlightening for me. I actually went back this week and watched another episode which interviewed transgender people and it answered a lot of questions for me personally. What those two episodes highlighted was that, as with any people, it is not easy to pigeonhole a transgender person. They all had different views on different issues. The one that perhaps did strike me, though, was that all those who had gone from female to male highlighted that their lives were much better as males and they got a much better deal. I just raise that as an aside. But they all had different issues. So I accept the issue that this bill is trying to address, but what my opposition to it is, and I think what most of my colleagues’ opposition is, is that it is not about allowing transgender people to change their sex more easily and with less trauma; it is what other people might do. Members opposite can say, ‘Oh, you can’t legislate for every particular circumstance’, but the concern that someone can simply change their sex on a birth certificate does have wideranging ramifications in a formal sense. Previous speakers have talked about the issues with prisons, the issues with women-only facilities. It is not about our concern that a transgender person then goes into those facilities; it is the fact that this bill allows anyone to simply change their birth sex irrespective of any medical, scientific or other evidence. It is naive, I think, for some of those opposite to simply suggest that that would not happen or that we cannot legislate for every circumstance. The reality of this bill is that anyone, every 12 months, could go and change their sex on their birth certificate, and that has implications for what they will then do. Previous speakers have raised the issue of prisoners, and I can absolutely see a circumstance where an offender, whether it is a sex offender, whether it is a murderer or a rapist or whatever, sees this as an opportunity: ‘I am going to say I am transgender, even if I am not, I am going to change my sex and I am going to transfer to a women’s prison’. Now, whether they do anything with that or not is not the point; it is the fact that under this legislation that could be allowed. So I repeat again: I actually get offended to some degree when those opposite just run the bigoted card: ‘You just do not understand. You are just a bigot’. It is actually not about that for me; it is not about that at all. It is about passing legislation that has unintended consequences. This is a difficult topic for some for those reasons. Although this is probably a bad analogy, it reminds me of the debate we had in this place about voluntary assisted dying, because when you talk to an individual who is in extreme pain at the end of their life, it is almost unequivocal that you would support the ability for them to end their life in a way they see fit and in the least possible pain, but there are broader ramifications. That is why I opposed that bill and it is also why I oppose this bill—not because I am a bigot or because I am against transgender people having a much easier path in their transition and much less trauma. I understand that. I guess I say to the government, and this has been repeated by those outside this place as well, that there has been little consultation on this bill again, as there was not in 2016. Perhaps if there had been better consultation with the broader community, we could have actually come up with some ideas that would address the concerns that I have raised here that are not about transgender people, they are about the broader community. They are about people like prisoners; they are about people who are evil and who will potentially use this legislation to do the wrong thing. I just wanted to put that on the table. I understand that the transgender community will be concerned and will be upset with our position. I also appreciate the bill is likely to pass anyway. I place those few comments on record as to why I personally and our parties are opposing this legislation. Mr HALSE (Ringwood) (14:25): I rise to speak in favour of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019, which is an important piece of progressive reform that is long overdue in the state of Victoria. I want to send my solidarity to those here in the gallery who are from the transgender and gender-diverse community. You have my solidarity.

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I am proud to be part of an Andrews Labor government that stands by our LGBTIQ community every minute of every hour of every day. The Andrews Labor government has demonstrated its commitment to advancing equality for our rainbow Victorians. Whether it is the passing of the Adoption Amendment Act 2015, supporting programs like Safe Schools, investing in gender dysphoria health services for trans and gender-diverse Victorians, banning harmful conversion therapy or providing millions of dollars for targeted mental health treatments for LGBTIQ Victorians, we are putting our money where our mouth is. Like many of us here in this chamber, in the lead-up to this debate I was contacted by a number constituents in my district of Ringwood, and I am proud to say that the vast majority were in support of this bill—people like Rory from Mitcham, who told me that changing the law will make a huge difference to the daily life and mental health and wellbeing of trans and gender-diverse Victorians and no difference to anyone else’s; and Jeremy from Mitcham, who believes that despite the fearmongering of extremist groups most Australians are actually good and kind people who support the human rights of trans people. Even a few moments before I entered this chamber, Lisa from Heathmont wrote to me, saying: I do not often write to my elected representatives, as I have multiple disabilities and just getting through the day is a fight through pain. But I feel so strongly that Victoria needs fairer birth certificate laws that I am writing now to beg you to vote in support of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019. … Trans and gender diverse Victorians should not face such inequality compared to the many Victorians who can easily and simply make changes to their birth certificates as required. Lisa further notes the risks that these Victorians confront by not having documents that reflect their identities and the significant mental ill-health outcomes that are associated with this discord. I want to thank her and all those others in the district of Ringwood who wrote to me in support of this piece of legislation. However, one email in particular perfectly illustrates why it is so important that I support this bill. I would like to tell the story of one family in my electorate, and I want to start by expressing my sincere thanks to them for trusting me with this experience. Given the personal nature of this story, I would like to protect their identity. So this story is about a young woman who I will name Hope. Hope is like most young women in my electorate: she goes to school, spends time with her family and is looking forward to her next birthday. The only difference is that she socially transitioned a little over a year ago. She has known who she is for a long time, but as every rainbow Victorian will tell you, the decision to let others know about your true self can often be very difficult. But not every rainbow Victorian has Hope’s mum. Hope’s mum is a force to be reckoned with. Not only does she accept and love Hope like all parents should; she has taken it a step further and is actively campaigning to make life easier for all gender-diverse children in Victoria. Not only did she write to me to tell me about Hope’s story; she has got some other ideas about how we can improve our Safe Schools and Respectful Relationships programs to better support diverse children and has even been working on building a case for funding to run a family camp for gender-diverse and trans children. While a supportive family is a solid foundation to build a transition on, it has not always been easy for Hope, particularly when it comes to dealing with government and bureaucracy. Hope and her family have just been through the process of changing her legal name. It has been a lot of forms and a lot of time spent focusing on who she was, not who she is. Hope has been eagerly waiting for her passport to arrive, as she knows it will not only have her name corrected but also show her true gender: female. Unfortunately, in order to change her passport, her parents need to submit her birth certificate, but they have not been able to show Hope her birth certificate as it would sadden and distress her, because it does not reflect who she is.

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I think we all need to reflect on that for a moment and the many stories that have been told in this chamber during this debate, because a birth certificate is not just a piece of paper. For kids like Hope it is about recognition and respect, and if we do not act now, it is kids like her that will ultimately pay the price. I want to say to all those who have been engaged in this debate that it is a proud moment to speak on behalf of this government on this topic for this bill. I thank you for your support, despite the many challenges that you may have confronted. I send a thankyou to all of the campaign groups and advocacy groups that have lobbied me, educated and informed me during this process. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to tell a little bit of Hope’s story today, and I hope I have done it justice. I want to publicly state that I will always stand in solidarity with kids like Hope, because it is the right thing to do. To all those who might be watching this debate and to all those within the trans and gender-diverse community, if you are finding it difficult when your identity is being so publicly debated and with some of the commentary in this house, always know that you can reach out to others. Please see the team from Switchboard. They can be contacted on 1800 184 527. I commend this bill to the house. Ms GREEN (Yan Yean) (14:34): It gives me great pride to join this debate, although I am really sad that I am having to give a speech again in support of this bill because it did not pass the other place after it had passed this house in the last session of Parliament. When I spoke to this house last time, I spoke about what it is to be a member of Parliament and how there are many times when—and I will echo what the member for Oakleigh said earlier before lunch— the legislation is not just about us; it is about the other. It is about other people in the community. When I spoke last time, I said that it is so important for us, as members of Parliament, to walk in someone else’s shoes and to try to understand the difficulty that some people live with. We make laws that cover everyone and we sometimes make laws that do not cover very many people; that does not mean they are any less important. I have had a few people—not many—in my electorate ask me to oppose this because I have got better things to do with my time. Well, yes, I would rather that this had passed in the last Parliament and I would not have to debate it again, but it is important. Even to those who are only concerned about the cost, there is a cost to our young people from gender-diverse backgrounds to their mental health and their wellbeing every time they have to present a document that does not represent who they are. I was really hoping that the opposition—and I know that the member for Gippsland South was offended by other members saying that members of the opposition are bigoted—would have a bit more understanding and try to walk in the shoes of the other. I must say I was just floored by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition’s presentation on the bill. She started off quite well. She mentioned the absolutely magnificent Isabelle Langley, who used to live in my electorate and now lives in the member for Eildon’s electorate. She mentioned Isabelle in passing. Every member was sent a magnificent video by Isabelle Langley. Her local member mentioned it in passing, and then for the rest of her contribution basically told us everything that this bill is not about. It is not about sporting codes being told that they have to accept women or men or people. This will not change the rules that those sporting associations abide by. This is merely about helping these people have an easier go in doing the things that we take for granted, whether it is getting a job, whether it is enrolling at school, whether it is just getting a bank account or getting a place to live. I want to thank Isabelle Langley and I want to thank her mom, Naomi. I want to thank Graeme Newman. Before Isabelle sent me her video Naomi McNamara and Graeme Newman had both shared Isabelle’s story to my Facebook page. I just cannot believe that those who have said they are not supporting this bill actually watched Isabelle Langley’s video and could not understand what this bill

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2739 is about. I cannot believe they actually watched it, because if they had watched it, it would have made it very crystal clear. In addition to Isabelle, I will talk about another family. Many Friday nights I catch up with friends at Nillumbik Cellars, and one of my favourite couples in Diamond Creek is Guy and Deb Metcalfe. Guy works in the health sector and Deb is a fantastic teacher at Montmorency Secondary College. One of her jobs as a teacher there is to run a support group for gender-diverse young people. They have three young adult children and when people say to Guy and Deb Metcalfe, ‘What have you got—sons, daughters?’, they say, ‘One of each’ because one of their young adult children, Xandra, is a trans young person. They have told me about this, and Xandra wanted me to mention her name today. She lives in a share house in the inner city. Deb and Guy have told me about Xandra’s wide network of other trans friends, and it just killed me as a parent to hear that Xandra is the only one that has the support of her family— the only one. They said, ‘Do you know what, Danielle? Once we pass this law, we actually need a support group. We need foster parents really, mentors for these young adult people. They cannot get drivers licences because they have not got supportive parents and adults in their lives who will help them to drive, to teach them how to pay a bill. You know, all the things that our kids take for granted’. When they do not have that family support, by not allowing this change to birth certificates, we as a state are driving a dagger into the hearts of those young people. They do not have their family’s support, and then we have a legislature that is not supporting them. We have got to change it. Some of the contributions have just blown me away. Really as the law stands at the moment the only way a trans young person or a person who feels that they are identified in the wrong way can address that is to have surgery. If they felt they wanted to have surgery and they had the money for that surgery, I would support them, but some people do not want or do not need that or do not have the money. Some of my constituents have emailed me and said they do not want people butchered and they do not want them to be forced to have surgery, but in fact that is what the law does right now. We do not want young people to have that difficulty. Last year I was approached during the election campaign, at a community festival. I have not got permission from this family, so I am just going to give them pseudonyms. I have known ‘Wanda’ for many years but I had never met any of her children. She introduced me to a young man I will call ‘David’, and I thought, ‘Gee, David is a slight young man’. She said, ‘David is about to vote for the first time and I would like you to tell him about what you stand for’. I was not sure and I started talking about free TAFE and the mental health royal commission. Then we kept going and I said, ‘What are you doing education-wise at the moment?’. David said, ‘I’ve finished year 11, but I’ve had a year off’. David is brilliant academically but David is a trans young person and had to have a year off from study due to his difficulties with transitioning. Why would we want to make that any more difficult for when David wants to get into university or for when David wants to get a job or to get a place to live? We should not want that. The joy I had that day was because I knew the school where David had been attending and I said, ‘There’s a new principal, and I know she’s here today. Let me introduce you, because even if you don’t want to go back into that educational setting and you want to go somewhere else, it’s the responsibility of your principal at your previous school to assist you with that transition to another school’. The tears of joy from Wanda when she said, ‘David’s going back to school. He feels safe going to that school’. Allowing this change to birth certificates will make all the other Davids across Victoria and the Xandras and so many others feel comfortable and feel supported and feel safe, and that is what this bill is about. When I was thinking about speaking today, I thought: will love triumph over hate? It is not hate; it is ignorance. Love must triumph over ignorance and judgement of others. Far be it from telling people how to live, we are actually allowing them to live. It is not us telling them; it is them telling us and just being able to live their own truth.

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Having a gay young man, a gay son, we have not been through what trans families go through, but it is not easy for those that are from the GLBTIQ community, and as a Parliament we need to support all of them, and I commend this bill to the house. Ms CRUGNALE (Bass) (2:44): Democracy must never be taken for granted. It is precious but also fragile, and it is never static. In many parts of the world today it is in decline or even in reverse. It is always a work in progress, and it pays to reflect occasionally on how we can improve and strengthen our own democracy. A key element of democracy is equality. A democratic society—or a society that aspires to be democratic—means that all citizens, regardless of colour, race, creed or gender, are entitled to and enjoy the same rights and opportunities. This does not mean levelling up or levelling down; it means acknowledging that we share a common humanity. A democratic society is by definition an inclusive society. In many parts of the world the idea of equality is under threat, even in countries ordinarily regarded as democratic. Women’s rights, for example, are currently under attack in the United States. Indeed the greatest threat to democracy everywhere is the abandonment of a commitment to equality as old hierarchies are revived or new ones imposed—always resulting in some people having fewer rights than others. The principle of equality was at the core of the first flowering of democracy in ancient Athens almost 2500 years ago. The ancient Greeks coined a term iσovoμία, meaning broadly the principle of political equality for all, and especially equality before and within the law. Consistent with this principle, if we find that the law as it stands does not provide that equality, then the law must be changed. Incrementally we can strengthen our democracy through constant vigilance and critical scrutiny. By amending the law to enable greater inclusion we can, by small steps at a time, strengthen and nourish it. When we identify a ‘democratic deficit’ we need to address it. Democracy must work for all of us, not just some. As the law now stands in Victoria, a person wanting to alter the sex recorded in their birth registration must have undergone sex affirmation surgery—a serious, as well as costly, medical procedure that involves the alteration of a person’s reproductive organs. The denial of an accurate birth certificate forces trans people to face significant barriers and difficulties in their everyday lives. If your birth certificate does not reflect your identity or the way you look and feel and are, you are left having to explain intimate details about your person and your body to a complete and total stranger—for example, in everyday situations, as has been mentioned already in this house, like at a bank when opening an account or at VicRoads when applying for a drivers licence. Further, the lag in Victoria reforming its laws, when compared to inclusive federal passport regulations, can lead to the same person being recognised differently by different jurisdictions. Sally Goldner of Transgender Victoria wrote about one person being unable to complete an identity check online within an hour for a job. Rather, it took 15 days and meant having to send documents by post. In a tight job race, this could mean missing out on a job when possibly being equally or better qualified. These situations only compound the distress and unemployment often faced by trans people due to other forms of prejudice and vilification. This bill essentially is about inclusion. It is about making everyday life a little easier for trans and gender-diverse Victorians. It is about removing a cruel, invasive, at times dangerous and unnecessary barrier to amending their birth certificate by allowing the document to reflect who they truly are. In seeking to remove this unnecessary barrier, the bill promotes the right to equality and makes it easier for trans and gender-diverse people to alter their birth record in a way that recognises the inherent dignity and autonomy of a person. It also promotes the right to privacy and seeks to protect personal and social individuality and identity, encompassing physical and psychological integrity. In total, it underscores a commitment to social inclusion and extends democratic rights enjoyed by most

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Victorians to a vulnerable and hitherto neglected minority. Unless we act to change this current discriminatory law, we put at risk vulnerable members of our community, not some anonymous other but sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, workmates and friends—in other words, everyday real people who suffer, and mostly in silence. I spoke to Chloe, who talked of her ordeal in coming out as a transgender woman and what this proposed change would mean to her. In first seeking medical help, she was told by a psychiatrist that it was all in her head. Worse, the psychiatrist declined to explore other possibilities or gender aspects, accusing Chloe of attention seeking. This had adverse health impacts on her life, and she was forced to suppress her feelings. This is what she wrote to me:

In coming out as transgender and taking the right steps to transition I waited until my appearance would pass as female before I legally changed my name. The application took 2 months to process and every day waiting, having to use my birth name when I knew that wasn’t who I am, I felt highly anxious like I was lying whenever I used that name. At times because I was working on adapting my voice I had to fight through the anxiety just to convince people that was my actual name. Then the certificate came out with the right name and the wrong gender, I knew that’s what I would receive but seeing that piece of paper telling me I am not female shattered me emotionally. Chloe continued:

I set about updating official records. Now my name is right but when I talk to some organisations although they hear a woman, when they see my details on the screen there is a brief pause, and a distinct change in the dynamic. I’m thankful to have not received any genuine negativity as a result but I know there is a chance. I asked her what this bill meant to her, and she replied:

When this bill is changed I can finally be me or as close as I can manage financially. But that recognition is incredibly important to my mental health. This change will also help to normalise gender diversity in our state, which can in turn lead to greater acceptance, and a higher awareness for young people to not have to grow up in silence without a way to express who they are. The consequences for Chloe and others like her if we do not succeed in effecting this change are disturbing. Globally trans and gender-diverse people experience considerable violence, with research showing that such violence is on the increase. In the USA, for example, in 2017, 27 hate-violence-related homicides of transgender and gender non- conforming people were recorded, compared to 19 reports in 2016, and 22 of these homicides were of transgender women of colour. In the UK transphobic attacks have trebled from 550 reports in 2013–14 to 1650 in 2017–18. Almost half of the crimes were violent offences, ranging from common assault to grievous bodily harm. A society can rightly be judged on how it treats its most vulnerable members—the very young, the elderly, the infirm and the socially marginalised. We have an opportunity here to broaden that inclusion that people should expect from a society that calls itself democratic. Democracy is not an abstraction; it is concrete, real and actual. We can and should be able to make a change for the better in the everyday lives of people. This is our chance, as lawmakers, to honour our commitment to social inclusion, to ease the pain, suffering and anxieties that blight the lives of people like Chloe, and further strengthen our democracy to the benefit of all of us. Ms ADDISON (Wendouree) (14:53): I wish to thank the Attorney-General and the Minister for Equality for the work that has gone into this bill, and I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019 as it is another step to providing a fairer and more inclusive Victoria. The amendment bill is about giving trans, gender-diverse and non-binary Victorians a birth certificate which reflects who they truly are. By introducing this bill the Andrews Labor government is fulfilling our election commitment to govern for and to ensure equality for all Victorians. While the Liberal-Nationals continue to put their politics of ideology and divisiveness ahead of what is right, as demonstrated in this place during this debate, we are removing unfair barriers and making sure Victorians feel safe and supported in our community.

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The changes are important because they will allow applicants to self-nominate the sex listed in their birth registration as male, female or any other gender-diverse or non-binary descriptor of their own choice. We believe this best reflects the preferences of those who are impacted by this and seek this change. Currently trans and gender-diverse Victorians are forced to out themselves whenever a birth certificate is requested when applying for a bank account, a passport or even a job. This can cause embarrassment and raise privacy, safety and discrimination concerns. This needs to change. It is a matter of respect and dignity for all Victorians. The amendment to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996 will remove the need for applicants to have to undergo sex affirmation surgery before being able to apply for a new birth certificate that reflects who they are. This bill amends the act to remove the requirement for the applicant seeking to alter the sex record in their Victorian birth registration to have undergone sex affirmation surgery. Currently, the situation that we have that we must change is that a person wanting to alter the sex recorded in their birth registration must have undergone the surgery. But sex affirmation surgery is a serious medical procedure that involves an alteration of a person’s reproductive organs. It is important to understand that in Australia gender reassignment surgery is not covered by Medicare, and it can cost a patient from $16 000 to up to $100 000. For many this is cost prohibitive, a financial barrier for many to access surgery. For some people who identify as a sex that is different from that recorded in their birth registration, such surgery is not an option because they may have a medical condition or a disability that prevents surgery from being undertaken or because the surgery is unaffordable or not easily accessible or even available where the person lives. Further, some people who identify as a sex different from that recorded on their birth registration do not wish to undergo surgery. Currently the surgery requirements apply regardless of other ways in which a person may live and affirm their gender identity. Instead this law will allow an adult to apply to the Victorian registrar of births, deaths and marriages to alter the sex recorded on their birth registration by way of a statutory declaration that the person believes their sex is as nominated in the application, which is accompanied by a supporting statement from an adult who has known the applicant for at least 12 months. The applicant must nominate the description of the sex to be used on their birth record, which may be ‘male’, ‘female’ or any other gender-diverse or non-binary descriptor nominated. This means that people will be able to describe their sex in a way that reflects their identity. I also support this bill because it is a human rights issue. Under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 every person in Victoria has the right to enjoy human rights without discrimination. They are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of the law without discrimination, and they have the right to equal and effective protection against discrimination. This includes freedom from discrimination based on gender identity. Passports allow non-binary gender, as do Medicare cards and drivers licences. Other states have already done this, and it is only birth certificates which are not keeping up. This bill is about inclusion, fairness and equality. It is time we made this change in Victoria. I am so proud to be part of a government that is building an inclusive state where people can be true to themselves and be accepted and welcomed. Prior to entering this place I worked as a teacher, and at my school we adopted an open and accepting approach to trans and gender-diverse students. I was so proud of my school community’s response when a student sought to identify and be known as their true gender. At the start of the school year the student commenced term 1 with a new name and a different uniform. From my perspective and observations as a member of the teaching staff, classmates and students from across the school accepted the student’s new name and sex identity change. They continued to have many friends and be active in all aspects of school life, house activities and the performing arts. I am also pleased that another young trans woman whom I previously taught is being supported by their friends and family as they publicly embrace their gender identity. I admire you and I wish you well for the future. I wish to thank the many constituents who have contacted me to voice their viewpoints on this bill. I have received correspondence from supporters and opponents of this legislation and have taken time

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2743 to consider their arguments, stories, concerns and opinions. I genuinely welcome hearing from members of the community on issues and encourage all constituents to engage with me about their viewpoints. To the parents who have contacted me to advocate on behalf of your children, I thank you. One such parent explained to me that she supports changes because her son is transgender and currently doing VCE, but surgical options have been postponed until after high school is finished. In her words she explained:

He desperately wants his name to be the same on his official documents including his VCE Certificate. If legislation doesn’t pass, he will be stuck with his dead name until he has surgery some time in the future when it is affordable. This will cause him considerable anguish and constantly explanations and outings of himself for his adult life. It is truly vital for our family, and my son’s mental and emotional health, that these reforms pass. Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I wish your son every success in his VCE and I hope this Parliament will make the changes that will support him and your family. I wish to quote from a local teacher who contacted me to urge me to support this bill on behalf of trans students. She wrote: … I have seen the personal struggle young trans people experience, and the hideous discrimination and misunderstanding they encounter. Surely the government’s rôle is to protect the rights of the vulnerable, rather than reinforce the prejudices of ill-informed or bigoted groups. Offering rights to trans, or gay, or any other minority group in no way impinges on the rights of conservative religious people. It simply allows recognition of individuals for who they are, rather than judging them because of who they are not. … Changing the law will make a huge difference to the daily life and mental health and wellbeing of trans and gender diverse Victorians, and no difference to anyone else’s. I would like to thank Isabelle Langley, who is in the gallery—how lovely to meet you earlier today— for sending through her video last night. It came through while I was still here and I watched it immediately. Well done. I felt like a school teacher once again. It was a very mature presentation and your arguments were compelling: A+. I hope this bill will be successful in passing this change in legislation for you and thousands of other trans and gender-diverse Victorians. I am proud to live in a state that values equality and supports this bill to remove discrimination against trans, gender-diverse, non-binary and intersex Victorians by removing barriers to acknowledging a person’s sex on their birth record. This is what we said we would do if we were elected. We would govern for all Victorians. We would live our values. These are our values: to make Victoria fairer, more decent and more inclusive. I could not be more proud of this government. Ms HALFPENNY (Thomastown) (15:03): I am speaking in favour of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019. I am proud to speak in favour of this legislative change. I speak as a proud member of the Andrews Labor government of Victoria that has introduced this compassionate and inclusive bill. During a parliamentary sitting week we can debate up to five separate pieces of legislation, and of course all of them are necessary and important. But I sense that this legislative change will do so much to support a group of people in our society that have been treated terribly for far too long. Of course I am told the practical effects will be big, but the message and the signal that I hope we are giving to our trans and diverse-gender brothers and sisters is that we care for you, we value your contributions to society and we want you to feel included and safe. This is what being a member of Parliament should be all about and what Parliament should be all about—making things better for us all. One of the reasons I have been given by a young mother in the Thomastown electorate for the need for this legislation, and it is a very sad reason, is that it has been argued that it will protect trans and diverse-gender people from others—the prejudice, bigotry and ignorance of some members of our community. It is even sadder to hear this from elected representatives who are supposed to be

BILLS 2744 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 governing for all Victorians and acting to improve people’s quality of life. We have heard examples of it here in this chamber from the opposition, and I apologise to trans and diverse-gender Victorians for such hateful, insensitive and uncaring comments. I would like to tell you a story, and it is an everyday story that I am sure is the experience of many trans and diverse-gender people. Not long ago I visited a local retail store to buy some clothes, and there was a young saleswoman there who I approached with a question. I could see as I approached her that she was bracing herself for something—trying to protect herself from something—and I wondered at this behaviour but just asked my question and sought some help on sizes. She was then very warm, attentive and provided me with the best service you could possibly imagine. Later when I got to know her she told me that when I first entered the shop she saw me—an older woman—and expected that I would look at her closely and have an expression of shock or horror or at least disapproval, intentional or not. She thought this because this is the reaction she gets from people who see her as a transgender person every single day. Do you think it is unexpected that because of these experiences trans and diverse-gender Victorians would not want to disclose or have to explain birth certificates that do not match who they are? This legislation allows a trans or diverse-gender person to change the sex on their birth certificate to be who they are—something that is already possible on passports and other forms of identification. I want to finish my short contribution by talking, rather than in my voice, in the words of a really caring and loving mother who lives in Lalor in the electorate of Thomastown. This is what she said to me:

I’m sorry I missed your call. Thank you so much for the opportunity to share my son’s story to help the bill pass! Right now, he’s 6 and he doesn’t experience much discrimination thankfully. But one day I know he will. It’s hard and heartbreaking to know that because he’s brave enough to be who he is he’s not allowed the same rights as his sister or his friends. Being able to correct his birth certificate will mean that when he’s 15 he can apply for a job without risking his safety. When he takes the NAPLAN test he will be able to do so with his new name. When I get the invoice for his Scouts fees I won’t be confronted with his former name. I won’t have to spend hours and days and weeks ever again talking to people in control of records begging them to change them so he isn’t harmed. This will keep him safe. And that’s all any parent wants. He’s a funny, brave, cheeky, clever little boy. He’s very caring and loyal and celebrates his friends and family and I’m so proud and lucky to be able to call him my son. Thank you to everyone who supports this bill because you support my son. It’s wonderful to know that we aren’t fighting for him alone. In closing, I want to thank all those in the trans and diverse-gender community for helping us to see the light, for their campaign for their rights—for all of our rights—and for working to make Victoria a better place for everybody. Mr TAK (Clarinda) (15:08): I am delighted to rise today to speak on the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019. This is a sensible bill, a bill that is really all about fairness—and fairer birth certificates for trans and gender-diverse Victorians. I have received a lot of feedback on this bill from my constituents and from the wider community. There is a lot of support in my electorate, though I acknowledge that there are those who urge me not to support the bill, but I am here to support this bill. The overall objective of this bill is to amend the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996 to, firstly, remove the unnecessary barriers for an adult to apply to the registrar of births, deaths and marriages to alter the sex recorded in their birth registration—and therefore what is shown on their birth certificate; to introduce a new process for children to have their recorded sex altered; and to allow a person to nominate the description of the sex in their birth registration, which may be ‘male’, ‘female’ or a gender-diverse or non-binary descriptor specified by the person.

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Currently under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act an adult is required to have undergone sex affirmation surgery before being able to alter the sex recorded in their birth registration. The bill removes this unnecessary and discriminatory barrier. I would like to commend the Attorney-General as well as the Minister for Equality for all their terrific work with this bill. There was one quote from the Attorney-General that really struck me—namely, and I quote: The current surgery requirement sends a painful and false message that there is something wrong with being trans or gender diverse that needs to be ‘fixed’—that’s why we’re removing this cruel and unfair barrier. I thought this was a powerful message, and I am very proud to be here today to speak in support of this bill. Another powerful message that I received recently was from a former constituent of mine, Frances Mulcahy. Frances lived in Cheltenham quite some time ago but moved to Queensland at the age of five. I would like to read a message from her here today: … I can’t vote for you but I can alert you to the moral imperative of your duty to a large number of expatriate birth Victorians. I was assigned male at birth and after 60 birthdays commenced living my true gender. I gave a full career of service to people as a GP and retired early after an accident. I am sure in retrospect, I chose to help others to assist me cope with the self-loathing I experienced living a lie. I no longer live that lie. The great improvement in my quality of life with transition is limited by our cultures level of acceptance of me being me. I am asking you to support a sensible reform that will allow me documentation in support of my identity. A societal endorsement of my right to exist. Yes, this is a fundamental existential issue for me. For all the expatriates, please support the proposed changes. Transgender humans kill themselves at 11 times the community rate. Our gender state does cause depression the episodic and structural negation of our right to exist does … That is an absolutely powerful message, and I thank Frances sincerely for her courage and for sharing the story with me and with us today. As Frances mentioned, we know that forcing trans or gender-diverse Victorians to have a birth certificate that does not match their gender identity can be very detrimental to a person’s mental health. And that is not right. So I am very glad to be here today to support this bill. This bill is all about making everyday life a little easier for trans and gender-diverse Victorians. As the Attorney-General has mentioned, it is all about removing the cruel, invasive and at times dangerous and unnecessary barrier to amending birth certificates, allowing the document to reflect who we truly are as people. We also know that the relevant mental health concerns extend to children. Studies consistently show that, without a supportive and affirming environment, trans and gender-diverse children are at greater risk of having poor mental health outcomes than their peers. As we know, there is also no process under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act to alter the recorded sex in a child’s birth registration. The bill provides for a process to allow a child’s birth registration to be altered, with appropriate safeguards. Any application for a child must be made on their behalf by their parents or guardian and must include a statutory declaration from their parents or guardian that the parents or guardian believe the application is in the best interests of the child. In addition, an application cannot be made unless the child consents, and the application must be accompanied by a supporting statement by a doctor or registered psychologist, or prescribed person, stating that in their opinion the application is in the best interests of the child. So if the child is under the age of 16, the supporting document must also include a statement that in their opinion the child has the capacity to consent to the application. So there are already several safeguards in this respect. There are some additional amendments to the act. These include an amendment that provides for a person whose birth is not registered in Victoria to apply for a document acknowledging their sex in accordance with their nominated sex descriptor. Also, the bill makes consequential amendments to other acts to provide a suitable approval process where applications to alter the sex on a birth

BILLS 2746 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 registration or a document acknowledging sex are made by a person who is in prison, on parole, under supervision as a serious sex offender, a registerable offender or a detainee in a youth justice facility. Once again, I am very proud to support this bill, which delivers on the government’s election commitment to remove the barriers to new birth certificates for trans and gender-diverse Victorians. I commend the bill to the house. Mr McGHIE (Melton) (15:15): I rise today to speak on the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019. The proposed reforms in this bill allow for Victoria to better align with other jurisdictions in Australia. This legislation will simply allow individuals to better reflect on who they are. The changes in this legislation will not affect the majority of us here. It is also an important step in helping create a more inclusive society here in Victoria and helping the trans and gender-diverse community feel connected to our inclusive society. Most of us here in Parliament, and indeed in Victoria, will never experience the emotional impact of having to explain constantly who we are, or to justify ourselves to others about such a basic, fundamental concept as our own identity. If someone’s gender identity does not match the sex recorded on their birth certificate, businesses, organisations, government and institutions may unwittingly ask questions inappropriately. Think about the things we do on a regular basis: opening bank accounts, applying for credit, enrolling in study. We can navigate the world with applications and forms for government or business without the need to explain ourselves. We never have to explain who we are. It is something we do not need to give a second thought to, but there are those here in our community who know who they are, yet their birth certificate says something different. For them it is an unnecessary burden, to be forced to justify constantly who they are. For the people concerned, for them, this amendment makes a world of difference. Currently a person can only change the record of sex on their birth registration if they have undergone sex affirmation surgery. Surgery, as we know, always comes with risk and, unfortunately, also cost— not just financial. If an individual decides not to go through surgery because of financial or health risks, or if undergoing painful and invasive surgery is not for them, then they are currently excluded from changing their record. Those opposite, by not supporting this amendment, are effectively saying that a family in Kew or Malvern, who can afford to support their loved one financially to undergo surgery, can have access for them to change their birth record, but the family in Melton, who may find the cost prohibitive, cannot. It creates an environment where your bank account determines your rights in society. By making the process to change details easier, by requiring a statutory declaration and an application supported by another adult, the need for invasive, risky and possibly unnecessary surgery is removed. Financial and health considerations will no longer be a consideration for someone’s identity in Victoria. An administrative record should be addressed by a simple administrative process, not a medical procedure. Those opposite, who at times complain about too much government red tape, should be supporting this amendment. The need for Victorian public servants to be bogged down with the processing of medical records or for a medical professional to perform or verify medical examinations are demeaning to the individual, are a waste of government resources and should be removed. Our medical professionals have far greater things to do than perform invasive examinations that degrade the human dignity of individuals, simply to satisfy a bureaucratic process. Why do we require others to undergo procedures and examinations that reflect how they have always seen themselves? The government, during this review, has consulted with the Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Australian Psychological Society and other clinics specialising in the treatment and care of trans, gender-diverse and intersex children and adults. We know from mental health professionals that the trans and gender-diverse community often experience worse mental health outcomes than the rest of the community. I am encouraged by this government’s commitment to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. I am also

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2747 encouraged by the many submissions to that commission that highlight the needs of the LGBTIQ community, including the effects on trans and gender-diverse people. A more inclusive society leads to better mental health outcomes that benefit all of us. Better mental health outcomes mean less stress on family, first responders, medical professionals, teachers, public servants and everyone. During the lead-up to this amendment my office, like many others’ here, has been approached by many groups and individuals concerned with the proposed changes. Often they, like the opposition, claim that women will be put at risk if changes are made. As with those opposite, there is a feigned concern and mention of wellbeing and safety. During my time as a paramedic, I cannot think of a time where I had ever been called out to a situation where a trans or gender-diverse person had abused a woman, child or any other vulnerable person. What I can tell you is that Ambulance Victoria paramedics are called out to the results of horrific violence inflicted on people who have caused no offence to their attackers other than them just simply being who they are. The arguments against this legislation made to my office call on me to think about safety and wellbeing, whilst conveniently ignoring the safety and wellbeing of a part of our community that is at greater risk and at much higher rates. The trans and gender-diverse community are estimated to be nearly twice as likely to suffer sexual violence as any other group in our community. The Royal Commission into Family Violence taught us that there can be a greater risk to women and children coming from so-called traditional values. Heterosexual males are overwhelmingly more likely than women to be perpetrators of family violence rather than victims. We know that a leading cause of family violence is gender inequality. I would encourage those who have contacted my office citing concerns about the abuse of vulnerable people to focus on the real threat to women, family violence. Their efforts may have a greater impact if they contact Liberal and National MPs to encourage them to commit, like this government has, to the full implementation of the recommendations from the family violence royal commission. There have been some concerns raised with me regarding fraudulent and improper use of this amendment. Although I believe there will be very few cases of improper use, there are safeguards included within these amendments. Suggestions that an individual will go through the struggle and anguish many in the community go through for some kind of gain are fanciful and insulting to the individuals concerned and their families. I have more concern about the behaviour of some individuals and their dreamt-up scenarios than the actual risk of fraudulent use of these amendments. However, the registrar has the power to require further information to ensure that a record is not being changed for the wrong reasons. An applicant’s declaration must also be accompanied by a supporting statement affirming it was made in good faith. There are already penalties under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 1996 for making false representations that deal with this issue. The Oaths and Affirmations Act 2018 makes it an offence to make a false statutory declaration, possibly resulting in fines and up to five years jail. Illegal and fraudulent use of this act, like any other illegal activity, has consequences. Claims that someone may act fraudulently are not a compelling argument not to pass this amendment bill. It would be quite a lot of effort and risk to go through if, as has been suggested to me, someone wanted the right to use the ladies room. I would also like to mention that my office has also received positive support for these amendments. One religious perspective that I was pleased to receive recently was from Reverend Jeanne Beale. Jeanne wrote to me as a constituent and has agreed to have her email read out, and it goes:

As a Christian Minister I would like to add a balanced religious response, unlike my conservative counterparts. I totally support the proposed reforms that will be introduced to the Victorian Parliament that will make it easier for trans and gender diverse people to update their birth certificates to match who they really are. It will make a huge difference to their lives, and no difference to everyone else’s.

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Please know there are many religious ministers that are all for making life a better place for our LGBTIQ community. Please help us ‘in the business of saving lives’ to not have the added pressure of anti-trans aggression. Yours respectfully Rev. Jeanne Beale It was refreshing to see a balanced response from a religious minister that reflects the opinion of a large proportion of those they serve as was her reminder that being in the business of saving lives is a responsibility all of us must be involved in. Discrimination burdens all of us, but removing barriers to inclusiveness improves and benefits all of us. Allowing the dignity and authority of the individual helps gain the respect and self-confidence of that individual. As a society we gain collective respect and self-confidence by supporting amendments to legislation like these ones. I support the trans and gender-diverse community, and I will support this legislation. I commend the bill to the house. Mr TAYLOR (Bayswater) (15:25): Like my colleagues in the Labor Party and as part of the Andrews Labor government, I am indeed proud to be speaking in support of what is much-needed, progressive reform in the form of this bill before us today, a bill which at its very core is about making things fairer and correcting the wrongs of the past. It is indeed a change from what we have now, and we as legislators have a duty to enact change to right wrongs, especially in instances where entire communities are further denigrated for just being themselves. Before I get into the crux of the bill, I want to talk about change because change can sometimes scare the hell out of people. Sometimes taking a step, uttering a new word is what people fear most. In this instance, challenging preconceived ideas that some believe should not be changed makes some fearful. Resistance to change can be extremely hurtful to many in our community. Resistance to change today and during the debate on this bill can mean severe hurt for a community that is already hurting and already bruised, a community that asked for something simple and principled—that is, to be accepted, to be respected and allowed to be who they are. Change comes in many different shapes and sizes and age groups. Only recently we saw a debate around same-sex marriage. Though we are now at a point where we hoped we would be, I hope this debate can be more respectful than that one, which left a community again traumatised. I speak about change being different for different age groups as I remember speaking to my grandparents around that debate when it first sparked within me when I was in my teens. I vividly remember both my grandparents being absolutely opposed to the idea of it and they argued, ‘Where would it end?’. I did not judge them for their preconceived view of what I believe to be equality. Instead I started a near decade-long journey of sporadic conversations with them about the LGBTIQ community, their struggles and their fight to be comfortable with whom they are and within their own skin. For them, it was merely a standard practice in their time to hold these views, but as time went on and their interactions with that community grew, so too did their understanding. They came to the realisation that it was not for them to deny someone the right to be who they are and something that had nothing to do with them. They were eventually able to look through the hate, the fear, the lies and proudly told me that they voted yes. I am proud to say that in a conversation with them around this legislation they agreed with the right of our trans and gender-diverse community to be who they are. Change is inevitable. We are ever changing and I have no doubt that there are many of those opposite who are struggling internally with this debate and know what the right thing is. The truth is that if you change your thoughts, you change your world, and we are all capable of that today. That change, as we know it, was brought into this Parliament in much the same form in 2016 by this Andrews Labor government. This bill as it is now seeks to address a process to be able to change the sex on your birth certificate without having to undergo sex affirmation surgery. As we all know, that surgery is expensive, not covered by Medicare, incredibly invasive and not always available. It can be dangerous and may not even be what that person wants. Our society has changed, so too have our views on

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2749 gender, and this barrier as addressed in this bill ensures that an individual no longer needs to go through this process, which may not even be available to them, to change their birth certificate to reflect who they are and who they want to be. The idea that individuals in our trans and gender-diverse community are required to have this invasive medical procedure simply to allow the record to reflect that they are who they are is outdated and simply wrong. It assumes that something is broken, that something is wrong with them and that something needs to be fixed, which could not be further from the truth. I would ask us all to reflect on that. The fact is that even though we have come so far on LGBTIQ rights, this is still a reality for many in that community. For most of us in the community, our gender listed on our birth certificate is not a daily concern. In fact I cannot tell you that I have ever considered it unless I have applied for a passport, a loan or a multitude of other everyday transactions in my daily life which required that form of identity. That is not the same for the trans and gender-diverse community, as has been discussed here today. In fact it can be these day-to-day interactions which may seem mundane to us but not so to them and many more interactions which can be embarrassing, impractical and even lead to a lack of servicing or none at all for so many in our community. Indeed for those who share the fear of some, I know that there would be many interactions that would go to denigrate and continue to harm those individuals with people who simply do not understand. I know this because I have seen it, and whether you know it or not most of us have witnessed it because it is discrimination and for too long this has gone on and happened. There is no argument that could be coherently made that says that trans-gender and gender-diverse Victorians, of which there are many, should be treated any differently to the rest of Victorians. No individual should ever be made to feel less than another, and it is every Victorian’s right to be treated the same regardless of the way they identify themselves in terms of gender because we have seen what happens and we know it. We know that young trans and gender-diverse children are at a greater risk of having poor mental health outcomes than their peers. We know the alarming rate that the LGBTIQ community take their own lives is above and beyond that of the rest of the population. We must recognise wrongs and be prepared to rewrite them. We must enshrine these changes in legislation even when the debate is challenging and difficult. We must be prepared to challenge preconceived notions of gender altogether. I continue to be hopeful of bipartisanship on this issue because as leaders and legislators what we say absolutely matters. What we say and what we do here in this house and beyond has serious implications for people, their outcomes and their aspirations. Everyone in here, regardless of political identity, should never ever forget that. On that, I want to address some of the things that have been said by critics of this legislation. The fact of this legislation is that it does not affect access to single-sex spaces such as toilets. Like the member for Melton pointed out from his time as a paramedic, in my time as a police officer I never ever attended someone who had pretended to be a different gender to sneak into another bathroom. To be honest with you, Acting Speaker, this suggestion that this progressive reform is going to somehow lead to all these incidents and the fact that we are tying it in with the same conversation is bloody insulting. It is insulting to the trans and gender-diverse community, it is lazy rhetoric and all of us can do better. It is disgraceful. Something that has been addressed in this house today is this bill will somehow increase the risk of harm for women and children. Those critics have not presented any convincing evidence at all that suggests as much. We know that trans women are nearly twice as likely to suffer from sexual violence. Let us make no mistake about who takes the safety of women and children seriously. As the Premier recently stated, there is $2.9 billion of investment, and our track record shows that we are working towards implementing, investing in and funding every single one of the 227 recommendations that came from the Royal Commission into Family Violence. That shows our commitment to children and women’s safety, and there is nothing in this reform that puts any of that at risk. To suggest so denigrates further that community and is a disgrace.

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Ultimately this bill is about giving trans and gender-diverse Victorians a basic right—a birth certificate which reflects who they truly are. While those opposite continue to put their politics of ideology and divisiveness ahead of what is right for Victorians, we are making sure that every LGBTIQ Victorian feels safe and supported in our community. Our commitment to that has been crystal clear. Since being elected in 2014 we have invested more than $60 million in initiatives that make our community fairer and more equal for LGBTIQ Victorians. As legislators and members of Parliament, one of the single most important parts of our job is to help improve the lives of our communities, regardless of differences—and today we have a real opportunity. We have an opportunity to send a strong message, to be on the right side of history, to change the lives of people who deserve better from us and who deserve the fight towards equality to continue. They deserve a Parliament that continues to fight to ensure young people and people across the trans and gender-diverse community get the love and support they need and deserve. I am proud to call myself an ally of the LGBTIQ community, I am proud to speak in support of this bill and I proudly commend it to the house. Ms SETTLE (Buninyong) (15:33): I too stand to speak in support of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019. This week I had the absolute privilege of meeting with some trans and gender-diverse people here at Parliament House and their families. It was wonderful to chat to people there, and in particular I was taken by a young girl—she must have been about 10 years old—that we met there. I looked at her, and her face was beaming with excitement about her future—that look that I recognise in my children’s faces. I think for me what this bill is about is giving the opportunity to that young girl to achieve that future, a future in which she is able to live a normal life, respected for who she is. Sadly, during those conversations I also heard stories about the pain that people had gone through when this bill was last debated in this house and, sadly, voted down by those on the other side. I can only imagine that having something as personal as your gender identity criticised and denigrated in Parliament must have been absolutely devastating. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge and welcome our trans and gender-diverse community to this house. I pay my respects to you. I admire your strength. I am glad that you are a part of the community that I live in, and more than anything I am very glad that you are living your lives true to yourselves. When it comes to progress there is one thing that we can always rely upon, and that is that those opposite will always be standing in the way. Whether it is the environment, workers’ rights, women, our traditional owners or minorities, it is the Liberal and National parties that have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the line every time. Back in 2016 this was the case when the Andrew’s Labor government first attempted to amend the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996 to allow trans and gender-diverse Victorians to alter their birth certificates without an expensive, invasive and often unavailable medical procedure. Unfortunately that reform, one which would have improved the daily lives of trans and gender-diverse Victorians markedly, passed this house but then failed in the other place. Why did that bill ultimately fail in the other place? It was because the Liberal Party and the National Party steadfastly refused to advance equality in this state. Once again they are failing to back progress and ultimately failing to back the public. On this side we are committed to supporting and backing the trans and gender-diverse community. It seems those opposite are committed to standing in its way. At its core this bill is about removing a cruel, invasive and at times dangerous and unnecessary barrier to amending birth certificates and allowing them to reflect who all Victorians truly are. Currently the law requires that before a trans Victorian can change the sex record on their birth certificate they must undertake an expensive and invasive surgical procedure. For some people, due to other medical conditions, the surgery could be life-threatening. The procedure is not even always available, and the wait can be very long. Many of those from the trans and gender-diverse community have waited most of their lives for acceptance. They should not be forced to wait even longer to have surgery before being recognised for who they really are. Those of us on this side seek to ensure these Victorians are able to access documentation that is a true

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2751 reflection of self. Opponents of this bill must understand that what they are saying is that unless you have the money and the time you will be left unable to change your birth certificate. As many of my colleagues have commented, I too have received many emails and other correspondence from my constituents about this bill. Many of them were heartfelt pleas to do the right thing and help them to feel included in society for who they are. But one email that stood out for me was from Simon, who lives in my region. He wrote passionately about what this amendment bill means to him and the ways in which it would improve his life. Simon wrote, and I quote:

This affects me personally, as a trans man. I am 60 years old, and to change my birth certificate to Male would require me to have a hysterectomy which is medically unnecessary and for someone on a disability pension totally out of my reach financially. This means that unless the law catches up with other states and countries I will have female on my death certificate. Simon wants the law to catch up, us on this side of the law to catch up, and that is why I support this bill. The question is: how long will it take those on the opposite side to catch up? The denial of an accurate birth certificate forces trans people to face significant barriers and difficulties in their everyday lives. I have two children. My youngest son is 15, soon to turn 16. While I was thinking about this bill I looked back over the last couple of months and I was reminded of the things he and I did together. We stood in a very busy post office in central Ballarat while a very nice but officious post office woman checked and rechecked his birth certificate. I then sent him off to the same busy post office a couple of months later with his birth certificate to get his tax file number. I know that we will go again in a couple of months to a police station with his birth certificate to get his drivers licence. I was reminded, going through that experience, that I can only imagine what it would feel like to stand there and have to discuss your personal life, some of the most personal things, with a complete stranger—with that nice but officious lady at the post office. When I met with the families and the trans and gender-diverse children here this week I was also really struck by the words of one mother. She described that her 10-year-old daughter had so far been able to fly under the radar, but soon it would no longer be possible. I think about the joys of the children in my life and when my boy was 10 years old watching him blossom into himself—that journey from child to teen—and it breaks my heart, the thought, that this trans 10-year-old girl has to fly under the radar when she should be flying high. It is every child’s right. Trans and gender-diverse children are at a greater risk of having poorer mental health outcomes than their peers. For too long these children have been used as pawns in a fight that has pitted ideology against what studies have shown is the best for children. We just want to get on and do what is best for these kids. Ensuring a process exists for children to obtain a legal document that affirms their true identity would be an extraordinarily positive boost to the mental health of trans and gender-diverse children. We need to knock down barriers for these kids, not strengthen the ones that are there. We all know that changing the law will make a huge difference to the daily life and mental health and wellbeing of trans and gender-fluid Victorians without impacting on anyone else’s. This bill has brought up a lot of debate, much of it based around myth, bigotry and conspiracy. I have yet to hear a reasonable argument against this bill. My two colleagues alluded to it, but the one that keeps getting to me is this idea that suddenly people are going to be bursting into single-sex change rooms and toilets. Can I assure them that I have never been asked for my birth certificate when I have entered a toilet. The only people that will be affected by this bill are those that wish to change their birth certificate. In the interests of equality, dignity and inclusion, I commend this bill to the house. Ms HORNE (Williamstown—Minister for Ports and Freight, Minister for Public Transport) (15:43): I am very pleased to rise today to speak on the Births, Death and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019. I want to congratulate the Attorney-General for bringing this progressive piece of legislation before the house. This bill is about removing the unnecessary and discriminatory barrier

BILLS 2752 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 that requires an adult to undergo sex affirmation surgery before being able to alter the sex recorded in their birth registration, and it allows a person to nominate a sex descriptor of their choice, which may be ‘male’, ‘female’ or a gender-diverse or non-binary descriptor specified by the person. This bill will also for the first time create a pathway for children to alter their birth certificate, with appropriate safeguards, without requiring them to undergo treatment. Trans and gender-diverse people need and deserve an accurate birth certificate that truly reflects their identity. I am very proud to be a member of the Andrews Labor government that is committed to making everyday life a little easier for trans and gender-diverse Victorians. I am very proud to be a member of a government that is committed to advancing equality in this great state, unlike the Liberal Party and the National Party, who steadfastly refuse to advance equality in this state, just as they are doing today. It was with great sadness that we had to watch the failure of the Andrews Labor government’s first attempt to amend the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996 in 2016. That legislation was defeated by a single vote in the other place, leaving trans and gender-diverse Victorians to continue to be subject to unfair and unnecessary barriers to obtaining documentation that reflects who they truly are. When given the opportunity to support LGBTI Victorians, the Liberal and National parties decline each and every time. In contrast, the Andrews Labor government from the very start has committed itself to advancing equality for the LGBTI community here in Victoria, and we have not stopped in that aim. We have not been deterred by the critics who peddle false information about the proposed changes set out in the 2016 bill. We made an election commitment to reintroduce the bill that was so cruelly rejected in 2016, and this bill before the house delivers on that commitment. We have continued to work with the LGBTI community and consult with key expert groups to reform the current legislation. This is a reform that the trans and gender-diverse community in Victoria has asked us to make as quickly as possible. I have received many emails, every day, urging me to support the reforms in this bill. I know that my colleagues on this side of the house have received similar amounts of correspondence urging them to speak in support of this bill, and I anticipate that many similar requests have been made to those on the opposite side. Just yesterday I received an email from one of my constituents, Amber, who identifies as non-binary. Amber urged me to speak in support of this bill and emphasised the importance of making it easier for transgender and non-binary people to update their birth certificates. Amber commented that ‘it would be real progress for Victoria’. This bill is real progress for Victoria, and it is being made possible by a progressive Labor government that cares deeply about equality and fairness for all Victorians. Finally, Amber expressed her hope that the amendments were important to me. Can I say to Amber and to all of Victoria’s trans and gender-diverse community: yes, they are. But it is not only the LGBTI and trans and gender-diverse people that have emailed urging me to speak in support of this bill. Associate Professor Noah Riseman, from the school of arts at the Australian Catholic University, a constituent of mine and a historian who has been doing research on the history of transgender people, wrote to me asking me to stay focused on the facts about what this bill does and does not do, and I quote from his email: There is a lot of misinformation floating around now, so I ask you to stay focus on the facts about what this bill does and does not do. It has nothing to do with bathrooms. It has nothing to do with sexual assault. It has no effect on cisgender people such as myself. It does not make parents or anyone else do away with gender. In other states that adopted similar legislation, life went on for everyone. This bill simply gives those trans and gender diverse people, for whom this is important, more options. Most importantly, it will continue Victoria and Australia’s march towards a fairer, more inclusive society. We on this side of the house understand how important this bill is to the LGBTI community and how important it is to improve the legal recognition of trans and gender-diverse people in Victoria. Currently the process to change your sex on your birth certificate forces an individual to have gender affirmation surgery. This can be expensive, incredibly invasive, it is not always available in Australia

MEMBERS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2753 and it can be dangerous. For some people, due to other medical conditions, it can be life-threatening. Opponents of the bill must understand that what they are saying in opposing this bill is that unless you have got the money and the time, you are left unable to change your birth certificate. I would encourage all of my parliamentary colleagues to reflect for a moment on times when they need to provide their birth certificate—just as my colleague here, the member for Buninyong, did in talking about her son—whether it be opening a bank account or at VicRoads when applying for a drivers licence. The denial of an accurate birth certificate forces trans and gender-diverse people to face significant barriers and difficulties in their everyday lives. If your birth certificate does not reflect your identity or the way you look and feel and are, you are left having to explain intimate details about your person and your body often to a complete stranger. This bill is about changing that. It is about making life a little easier for trans and gender-diverse Victorians to have a document that reflects who they are and making everyday life just that little bit easier. I want to also speak about the provisions in this bill that will make it possible for a child to alter the sex recorded in their birth registration. And again I want to congratulate the Attorney-General for including the new application process that allows parents or guardians to apply to alter a child’s birth registration on the child’s behalf. There is an increasing number of children who identify as trans and gender diverse, and that is demonstrated by the increasing number of referrals to the gender service at the Royal Children’s Hospital. This has increased from seven in 2007 to more than 267 last year. Throughout the debate on this bill we have heard horrible statistics about poor mental health barriers confronting trans and gender-diverse people, which includes children. Studies consistently show that without a supportive and affirming environment trans and gender-diverse children are at greater risk of having poor mental health outcomes than their peers. I am the mum of two school-aged boys, and I am pretty familiar with dealing with the ups and downs they experience as part of school life. I cannot imagine the pain of seeing a child of mine miserable every single day because they cannot be themselves at school, and it would be wise for people to listen to the voices of trans kids and their parents. This bill recognises and affirms the many young trans and gender-diverse people who are capable of expressing a strong gender identity and their strong desire to apply to alter the sex recorded at their birth. I am proud to speak on this bill today as it will make a significant difference to the lives of trans and gender-diverse Victorians, be they young or old. I want to express my great pride in being a member of a government that is caring and prepared to change, and I strongly recommend the bill to the house. Mr EREN (Lara) (15:53): I move:

That the debate be now adjourned. Motion agreed to and debate adjourned. Ordered that debate be adjourned until later this day. Members MEMBER FOR EVELYN Personal explanation Ms VALLENCE (Evelyn) (15:53): On Tuesday, 13 August 2019, at 14:35, the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, in a ministers statement to the house concerning the government’s announcement to erect elevated rail at the Mooroolbark and Lilydale crossings, stated: The member for Evelyn has a different view: ‘They’re wrong. They’re wrong. Those level crossings should stay’, according to the member for Evelyn.

MOTIONS 2754 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019

Speaker, I can confirm categorically that I have never said that. This is a complete misrepresentation by the minister as I have never said those words. I have never said the level crossings should stay. I have advocated the crossings be removed. Mr Wells: On a point of order, thank you, Speaker, for the opportunity to just speak on this for a short while. What is concerning to us—as the member for Evelyn has raised quite rightly in her personal explanation to correct the record—is that on page 37 of Hansard of Tuesday, 13 August, the actual quote is in quotation marks. So the quotation, as I am reading Hansard:

… ‘They’re wrong. They’re wrong. Those level crossings should stay’, according to the member for Evelyn. Now I thought it was the role of Hansard to verify that if we are quoting somebody, we can actually provide proof of that quote. And I am wondering whether, in your capacity as Speaker, you could follow that through, please. The SPEAKER: Thank you very much for raising that matter. I will follow the matter up with Hansard and report back to you. Motions BUDGET PAPERS 2019–20 Debate resumed on motion of Mr DONNELLAN: That the house takes note of the 2019–20 budget papers. Mr HALSE (Ringwood) (15:55): What a delight it is to speak on this year’s budget, the fifth straight Labor surplus budget, and might I start by commending the Treasurer on this fine achievement. This budget is full of smart, progressive policy investments that will make the everyday lives of people in my community fairer. I would like to extend my thanks to the Treasurer and to the entire ministry of our outstanding Andrews Labor government for listening to the people of Ringwood and delivering on our promises, with major investments in the local schools, roads, health and public transport that service the people of my electorate. There is a lot to be proud of in this budget, but I would like to single out one investment in particular. On 1 March this year I had the pleasure of visiting the students and staff at Ringwood North Primary School and I was taken on a tour by their principal, Mr Ken Chatterton. Ken is a young principal but it is an older school, and he has been working hard to build a culture of inclusivity, creativity and support. I was struck by how friendly and full of energy the students were, and their admiration for their principal was palpable. As we walked around the school many students would run up and greet the principal or engage in a collective greeting sung out across the school yard. In addition, the staff that I observed were passionate and engaging, and those that I chatted with spoke highly of the school community and how proud they were of their school. And can I thank them for the work that they do. But as Ken showed me around I was struck by how determined he was to work hard to improve the physical learning environment for students. He would talk about the challenges of working in a school that had pockets of asbestos and that was designed to accommodate just a fraction of the current enrolments. I watched as students laughed and learned in classrooms that were full and not flexible and as staff worked around the imperfections. What I was most struck by was how unassuming Ken had been, always talking about what other schools might need and how lucky he was to oversee the school community at Ringwood North. But I could see that the community deserved better. I had been told by my colleagues to always consider how difficult it can be to secure significant funding for local priorities, and I understood how hard it is to deliver on promises, but what I did not realise until that moment was how hard it is to not make a promise in the first place. I followed the good advice I had been given and left the school saying that I would advocate for all schools in the electorate, as I continue to do, but that I could not promise anything. But I was

MOTIONS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2755 determined to get some money for this wonderful school at Ringwood North. The Treasurer, the Minister for Education and their long-suffering staff will be able to testify as to how often I raised Ringwood North Primary School as a significant priority in our electorate of Ringwood. So when I received the budget papers and saw that some of my badgering was not in vain, and that our Labor government would be delivering $3.01 million for the staff and students of Ringwood North Primary School, I was over the moon. However, the best part came when I called Ken that afternoon to tell him. Now, his initial response on hearing the news probably cannot be repeated here in this chamber, but I can tell you that he was certainly surprised and incredibly thankful. It is moments like these that make this all worth it. Knowing that Labor could deliver for a great school and a great community has been a tremendous privilege, but that was not all. As part of a massive $1.8 billion investment in schools around our state, the budget also includes $5.17 million for the students at Mullum Primary School in my electorate to upgrade their learning facilities and to create some exciting new educational spaces. Upon visiting this school and meeting with the students, the teachers and its principal, Marie Beale, I again noted that this school could do with some improvements to its learning facilities. Again on budget day I called Mullum Primary School and their principal, Marie Beale, to make this announcement. Unfortunately, she was unwell and was not on duty that day, so I discussed the matter with the school’s assistant principal. There was some confusion here. They were not quite sure what was happening. At some point later I got an email and a message from the principal—it was later that night, at about 7 o’clock or something like that—questioning if I had got it right; they could not find the announcement listed anywhere, and they were perhaps a touch suspicious. I then assured the principal that the money was listed in the budget papers. It was a great moment, and this investment will dramatically change the learning environment for local school students and for Mullum Primary School and the community of education they are building. I was also proud to see that we are delivering on our commitment to begin the rollout of universal three-year-old kinder. Through our $882 million budget investment we will ensure that every three- year-old has access to at least 5 hours per week of subsidised kinder by 2022, increasing to 15 hours per week. Those investments have got the students of Ringwood smiling, and thanks to the Andrews Labor government’s rollout of free dental care at all public primary and secondary schools, those smiles are going to be brighter than ever before. By investing $321 million to deliver on our promise to bring back dental vans, the government will be saving Victorian families around $400 a year per child in dental costs. It was wonderful to see the first of the Smile Squad dental vans roll out just over the previous week, with my adjacent electorate of Box Hill being one of those locations. Once fully rolled out, this initiative will also free up more than 100 000 places in the public dental care system each year, and this is very good news. As I always say, if you look after your chompers, they will look after you. This is a good investment in preventative health practice that goes beyond just having brighter smiles. International research indicates that there are associations between chronic oral infections and heart and lung disease, stroke, low birth weight and premature births. By investing in good dental care in the early years, we are increasing the likelihood of better health outcomes for a whole generation of Victorians. We are also supporting Victorian families to access better health care closer to home by delivering on our commitment to create five dedicated children’s emergency departments across Victoria. This new construction will make sure that kids will be able to get the care they need and not be stuck in crowded waiting areas of general emergency departments. We have started by investing $5.9 million to kickstart planning on the dedicated new children’s emergency department at Maroondah Hospital in my electorate, giving local parents peace of mind that their kids will get the kind of care that they deserve at the moments that they need it. In addition we delivered nearly $65 million to deliver stronger nurse-to-patient and midwife-to-patient ratios in our public hospitals. This is a great policy, and having been in hospital just a few nights ago, can I thank the mighty nursing staff and hospital

MOTIONS 2756 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 staff and their unions and their representatives—the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation, the Health Workers Union and all others involved. They are wonderful workers. But we are not just putting record investments into health and education. Ringwood residents are also benefiting from the great suburban transport blitz. We are fixing local roads that local people use every day. With the member for Bayswater, we are committing and have committed through the budget $1.6 million to upgrade the intersection at Bedford and Canterbury roads in Heathmont. I am here to tell you that the left-turn slip lane service road at this intersection is the bane of the lives of many local commuters, and this investment will reduce the frequency and severity of crashes, getting locals out of traffic and home to their families sooner and much more safely. Local commuters can also look forward to upgrades at Ringwood East station, which is set to benefit from new car spaces and upgrades once we have gone through a community consultation process. I look forward to working closely with the Minister for Public Transport during this process, and I thank her for her advocacy. The Labor government has also kickstarted detailed planning and preconstruction works on the Suburban Rail Loop, the biggest transformation of public transport in Victoria. This is a game changer. This new 90-kilometre rail line will have a real impact on the people of Ringwood by connecting train lines and allowing easier access to the nearby precincts at Monash, Deakin and Swinburne universities. It will also make the commute to the airport much quicker and easier, which is something that my constituents have been talking about for years. This year’s budget also invests $15.8 billion to fully fund the North East Link—the missing link in our metropolitan road network. By connecting the M80 ring-road at Greensborough to the Eastern Freeway, the North East Link will take around 15 000 trucks off our roads and cut travel times by up to 35 minutes, while creating an additional 10 300 jobs during the construction process. As many people know, Ringwood is an interesting electorate and has a number of interesting component parts. We are a community of homes, restaurants and churches. We have a major shopping centre, and we also have sports clubs—not necessarily in that order, but with respect to sports, we love our sports in Ringwood. Whether it is the mighty Ringwood Saints Baseball Club, the Ringwood Cricket Club or the Ringwood Spiders football club, the East Ringwood women’s football team or the Mitcham Cricket Club, we are always looking for ways to get outside, keep fit and have a bit of fun. That is why the record investments in women’s sport have been so fantastic for Ringwood sports fans and participants. Almost all of the sports clubs that I have visited have been talking about the explosion in women’s sports in our community, with many clubs going from having no women’s sporting teams or a single reserve-grade team to having competitive teams in a multitude of grades across all age groups. Our community is benefiting from the Jubilee Park redevelopment, which is part of the $13.5 million investment in the community cricket program. It will be a fantastic cricket hub, and it will support local kids and local women’s teams. It is a fantastic investment for our community. I would also like to highlight the achievements of the Andrews Labor government in our genuine push for equality for Aboriginal people, and I note that our action must be led by Aboriginal people. It is wonderful to note that this year’s budget provides $30 million for the next stage of the treaty and self- determination process as part of a $109 million dollar investment to close the gap and prioritise Aboriginal culture and heritage in Victoria. Finally, I would like to thank the Treasurer and the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change for their investment in the solar revolution right here in Victoria. This year’s budget delivers on Labor’s positive plan for solar, investing $1.3 billion to make sure more Victorians can take control over their power bills. By rolling out solar panels and hot-water systems or batteries to 770 000 homes over the next decade we will make a real dent in this sector. This is a budget that delivers for all Victorians.

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Ms CRUGNALE (Bass) (16:10): I am pleased to rise and respond to the Victorian state budget and I want to thank the Treasurer for this budget and the benefits it will bring to the Bass electorate. The unique seat of Bass takes in part of the outer metro area of Pakenham and Clyde-Clyde North, the rich market gardens around Koo Wee Rup, Phillip Island’s nature-based attractions and a magnificent coastline made up of marine parks, reserves and significant wetlands. The electorate is 1383 square kilometres in size and was a Liberal seat since its formation back in 2002. Labor won Bass in November with a historical swing, and it is an absolute honour and privilege to be the new representative and at the government table with a voice for positive change. This budget is very good for Bass, and we are so worth it. I want to take this opportunity to address the issues that matter to my electorate and how this budget will help our communities. In the Cardinia council area it is said that a classroom-and-a-half of children are born every week, or six to seven families arrive each day. In Casey it may well be over 100 babies a week—I would have to check with the member for Cranbourne on that one. This is just one part of my electorate, but it demonstrates the enormous challenges that we will face in the future. This is the biggest school funding budget ever, a massive $1.8 billion investment in our children’s education statewide. In Bass alone we have a myriad of schools appearing in the next few years. Clyde North East Primary School will open in term one next year, and the principal has just been appointed. San Remo has just been named as the home of the Bass Coast secondary school junior campus and is due to open in 2022. Pakenham Henry Road secondary school is set to open in 2021, and the land acquisition has just gone through. Thoroughbred Primary School in the Clyde North area will also open in 2021 and Clyde North Secondary in 2022. And on the side, outside of this budget, the Wonthaggi Secondary senior campus is nearing completion and will open its doors in term one next year. There is more, and we are not just focusing on the new builds but looking after the existing, and I was absolutely thrilled that all four school upgrades committed to in the election sprung out of this budget and have been kickstarted with planning and early works money. Cowes Primary School will get a new competition-grade gymnasium and $550 000 for planning and early works to start on that one. Koo Wee Rup will get a new gym. Clyde Primary will get new expanded facilities, with $2.28 million allocated for planning. Lang Lang Primary School will be transformed from some very tired old buildings in their upgrade to the tune of $1.5 million, and this budget allocated planning money of just over $150 000, which brought a collective cheer from within and beyond the school fence line. And if there were town bells, you would still hear them ringing. Architects have been appointed and they are ready, set, going. And the list goes on. The investment in dental vans is expected to save families around $400 a year per child in dental costs and parents time off work to attend dental appointments, and it will also free up the public dental system. Never before has there been this level of commitment made to our children. Clyde Primary School is in the first rollout, and it is all smiles there—all proudly brought to you by the Andrews Labor government. When this government makes promises it keeps them. When this government says it will do something it gets done. Our Labor Premier has led a government that wants to bring out the best in everyone, that is inclusive and that delivers for all Victorians, including us in Bass. This Labor government is investing on so many fronts to improve our quality of life and opportunities. Our local economy needs growth and opportunity, and more and more people are choosing to make our community their home. This growth brings immense opportunities but also many challenges and expectations. Free TAFE will skill up a workforce for local jobs that are needed. Out top employing industries are construction, retail, health and social assistance, and dairy agriculture. The budget announcement that the regional payroll tax rate will be cut to 25 per cent of the metropolitan rate by 2022–23 will mean that local businesses benefit from the country’s lowest payroll tax rate. Additionally, $2.5 million will be made available to small and medium-sized Victorian businesses through inclusive mentoring services, online information and the Business Victoria programs.

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Efficient and reliable transport links and roads are essential to maintain a robust local economy, and it would be remiss of me not to talk about our rail projects and the massive $6.6 billion allocated to level crossing removals in the 2019–20 state budget. Cardinia Road has been fast-tracked and will open in 2021. Planning has started on the McGregor Road. Main Street and Racecourse Road, Pakenham crossings, which are also scheduled for removal by 2025. Four-hundred-and-fifty car parking spaces will be provided at Pakenham station as part of the new station. Over 21 000 people use the Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Road every day. The Pakenham South section is part of a $4 billion suburban roads upgrade, and construction is due to start next year on the section between Princes Freeway and Manks Road. This major work will improve traffic flow and travel times, provide an alternative north–south route in the Pakenham South area and lower the risk and severity of crashes with safety barriers. It will be sidelined with a separated path so bike riders can move around with ease as well. Our citizens need to feel safe, and we have got 21st-century emergency services coming to town for our growing communities. This budget commits to delivering a new police station at Clyde North, housing the biggest uplift to Victoria’s capability in its history and a new Phillip Island CFA station, which will house the brigade’s four vehicles and appliances and provide space for the 50 volunteers. This new station, part of an overall budget package worth $17 million, will be built on Ventnor Road in Cowes and will be able to house even their new pumper tanker. There is funding for Surfing Victoria to run programs for local surfers, teaching them critical CPR skills and basic first aid in the water. It will also include instruction on board rescues and is part of the overall package, worth $1.2 million. There is the new ambulance station in Clyde North to ensure that patients experiencing life-threatening emergencies will be cared for sooner. Health is also vital to the community’s feeling of safety, and yet again this budget delivers. The Phillip Island community was relieved to hear the announcement of funding to enable the medical hub in Cowes to open to locals and visitors 24 hours a day. The hub opened back in April 2018, but plans are underway to open the urgent care centre in September, and the $11.4 million announced in the budget will see that happen. The community needs hospitals, and we did a call-out for people, carers, patients, families, health workers—anyone that uses the health system—to be part of our consultative committees. We have two hospitals for Bass at bookends of the electorate. The new Pakenham Community Hospital will receive funding to begin planning and acquiring land to ensure that more health services can be provided closer to home. At the other end of Bass the Wonthaggi Hospital upgrade will have architectural plans ready in a minute, and it will not be long before the shovel hits the ground in that $115 million investment for a new emergency department and theatres amongst a suite of other suites. It is essential that we have accessible health and social support services. It is also essential that we have a healthy environment and adequate recreational facilities. Again, I want to thank the Premier for recognising that outer-suburban Melbourne and rural Victoria are so important. In terms of the environment, councils will receive an additional $2.7 million from the roadside weeds and pests program, which will reduce the impact of invasive species on farming communities and the environment. Clyde and North Clyde are in the top three subscriber localities to the Solar Homes rebate scheme. The 2019–20 budget invests $1.3 billion over the next 10 years on top of the $74 million already provided. Our electorate is part of the 770 000 homes that will benefit from Labor’s trademark environmental scheme. The existing power-saving bonus has also been extended to June 2020, providing a $50 payment to households that use Victorian Energy Compare to search for the cheapest electricity deal. You will not see the final work, but the heap of water pipe and sewer upgrades planned are also vital to ensuring good health.

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While on the environment, I want to include the Clyde regional park and the Cardinia Creek South Parkland, part of the $154 million commitment to creating a ring of new parklands in our growing suburbs. The Clyde Regional Park will cover 120 hectares south of Ballarto Road, with Clyde Creek coursing through it. It will be designed in consultation with the City of Casey. This wonderful park will give families in the south•east a fantastic new space to enjoy the great outdoors. The Cardinia Creek South Parkland will be a 508-hectare park for families in Clyde, Officer, Narre Warren and Berwick. For Bass Coast coastal and marine parks, $19.6 million expands the George Bass Coastal Walk from San Remo to Inverloch, linking the existing Bunurong coastal and marine park, the Kilcunda-Harmers Haven Coastal Reserve, Punchbowl Reserve and the breathtakingly beautiful George Bass walk. This massive commitment will also open up the area to campers for the first time. This coastline is imbued with history and stories and its earth history is a marvel for all to enjoy. In terms of recreation, this budget also makes it cheaper and easier for Victorian families to get out on the water, and Bass will be the benefactor of this. Boat ramp parking and launch fees have been removed, and this has benefited Rhyll, Cowes, Corinella, Newhaven and Inverloch. Jetty upgrades for Rhyll and Cowes are on the way. Corinella was funded in last year’s budget, and it will be completed soon. With more and more people from Pakenham and Cranbourne daytripping, quality recreational facilities are a must. In terms of farm safety, with a large agricultural sector in the electorate of Bass, from the agriculture portfolio we have significant investments in biosecurity and fit-for-purpose roads. We have also focused on farm safety, with a campaign to promote on-farm safety, farmer health checks and two additional farm safety officers at the Victorian Farmers Federation to help carve a culture of zero accidents and deaths on farms. We are also delivering for the people of Bass. Funding will be provided to continue the South Sudanese community support groups servicing Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia. These groups strengthen South Sudanese young people’s connection to family, education and employment opportunities, and this government yet again is putting its money where it counts with a $6.3 million package to support vulnerable young people. Two hundred thousand dollars has been allocated to the National Vietnam Veterans Museum on Phillip Island to support an increase in student visitation by removing entry fees and subsidising transport costs. The south-east of Melbourne will also benefit from the allocation of a total of $14.5 million to purchase land for two new Indian aged•care facilities around Melbourne. This recognises the large Indian community in our area and ensures that residents can remain close to their homes. Hundreds of multicultural senior citizens groups will be eligible for a $4000 grant in this budget. The overall budget package is worth $3.4 million. So in reply to the 2019–20 budget, keep on delivering— that is Labor. Mr KENNEDY (Hawthorn) (16:24): I am delighted to comment on the Andrews budget. My electorate of Hawthorn has benefited greatly from exciting and well-received initiatives. The hard work and commitment of many constituents has been recognised in this budget. We are listening to the people of Hawthorn and delivering on much-needed policy and infrastructure. I am proud that the Andrews Labor government is continuing to uphold Victoria’s reputation as the Education State through a massive $1.8 billion statewide investment in our schools, staff and students. I was pleased to see that Auburn High School was allocated $5.5 million in this budget. Opened under a different government, this school was underfunded from day one. The school was lumped with existing maintenance and infrastructure problems, with no support from those opposite. This has now changed, with funding to deliver an upgrade to modernise the main block of the school. The first step in this exciting upgrade involved bricks and mortar training for school leaders, giving them the training and

MOTIONS 2760 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 support they will need to deliver a major capital upgrade. An architect is being appointed later this year to work consultatively with the school to best match their educational direction and functional needs. Auburn High exemplifies just how good Victorian public education can get—dedicated staff, high- achieving students and a wonderful school community. When Maria Karvouni became principal, year 7 enrolments had dwindled to just 32 students and the school had a median study score of 24. By 2018 this had grown to a median score of 30. The school is thriving, with refurbishment desperately needed to cope with the incredible growth. With funding now assured, students and staff will soon have the facilities necessary to provide students with the best learning opportunities possible. Public schools, so fundamental to our communities and the backbone of our education system, can never be permitted to fall into disrepair through the wilful neglect of those opposite. From this side of the house there is an unwavering commitment to ensure our schools never again experience such neglect. Now fully funded and with inspiring plans for the days ahead, one can confidently predict a positive future having given Maria Karvouni and the committed staff the facilities and support so desperately needed. Making sure our schools are properly funded and supported is what the Andrews government is doing. Second, then, is three-year-old kinder. It is not only our secondary students that benefit from this budget. The single biggest reform in the history of early childhood education in Victoria is to provide all three-year-old children access to subsidised kinder. It is proven that two years of early childhood education gives our kids the best possible start to their education, and by subsidising three-year-old kinder we are ensuring that every student has that opportunity. The education starts with our early years and goes right through to adulthood. As a former teacher, principal and soon-to-be grandparent, this provision really impresses me. Thirdly, then, multicultural grants: I believe Victoria is enhanced by its many multicultural communities, making our state a richer, vibrant and more diverse place in which to live. Cultural exchange makes our community stronger and brighter, and multiculturalism is now a natural part of our social fabric, especially in our great state of Victoria. Certainly a walk up Glenferrie and Burwood roads or the other shopping precincts in the Hawthorn electorate will prove that people are spoilt for choice, particularly for dining out, with the Vietnamese, Chinese, Malaysian, Thai, Greek and Indian cuisines and others as well. However, it is not only the cuisine that makes Hawthorn and many other areas in my electorate great places to live; it is the support we provide to the numerous multicultural groups so that they can keep their culture and traditions alive. That is why I am proud that many senior citizens groups in Hawthorn will receive a one-off $4000 grant, as part of this government’s $3.4 million investment, to support and strengthen these communities. Hawthorn is truly a multicultural community. We are lucky to be served by organisations representing many different cultures. Here I could name the Associazione Amica Pensionati Italiani di Hawthorn and Circolo Pensionati Italiani of Hawthorn and Camberwell amongst those that receive grants. The Boroondara Camberwell Greek Senior Citizens Club and the Greek Senior Citizens Club Hawthorn Kew represent our Greek community. Helping to serve our growing Chinese community is the valuable role of the Boroondara Chinese Senior Citizens Association. Similarly, the Boroondara Sri Lankan Indian Senior Citizens Club and German Senior Citizens Club of Camberwell were also recipients, along with the Camberwell Senior Citizens Centre. I am deeply conscious of the countless benefits brought to this country by our multicultural community. Through these grants we are able to honour the sacrifice made by those who came to Australia and worked hard, often for decades, far away from their immediate and extended family, to build a brighter future for their children and our state. Hawthorn is the vibrant community it is today partly because of their hard work. So to solar power, my electorate will benefit from the government’s landmark Solar Homes program, putting power back into the hands of Victorians, decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels and

MOTIONS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2761 transitioning to a fully renewable grid. I am excited to be part of a government that has made such a commitment to a program that not only helps the environment but also helps ease cost-of-living pressures. This year’s budget delivers on the government’s positive plan for solar, investing $1.3 billion to make sure most Victorians can take control and cut their power bills. This includes rolling out solar panels, solar hot water or solar batteries to 770 000 homes over the next decade, expanding the program to renters and ensuring the safety and sustainability of the rollout, with funding for training, safety and quality audits. Members of my own electorate of Hawthorn will benefit greatly from this initiative, and as an environmentally conscious community I am sure they will welcome this further contribution to the fight against climate change. The Andrews government tackles fearlessly the complacency, inaction and myopia that so characterise the policies of those opposite. On bike paths, since being elected last November one thing has become clear. The famous quote ‘Nothing is certain except death and taxes’ was clearly written before bicycle user groups existed. Their tireless commitment to improving and extending dedicated and shared paths in our community is obvious to all those who take the time to sit down and engage with them. Possibly it is the constant riding of bikes that keeps them so fit and able to lobby on an almost daily basis. Their dedication to the cause of safety and the advance of their sport and recreation is extremely commendable and has not been neglected in this budget. Their hard work is being rewarded as, with support from my parliamentary colleague the member for Box Hill, we have received $370 000 for a Box Hill to Hawthorn shared pathway feasibility study. This extensive project is to investigate and develop a proposed package of works to provide a safe and low-stress strategic cycling corridor between Box Hill and Hawthorn stations. This is the first truly significant step in improving cycling access and safety within our two electorates. It has great promise and has already attracted enormous interest from our two sister communities and many others. Naturally, it is an Andrews government initiative. As numbers of cyclist grow, this project promises to be crucial for our cycling community. Allowing children to safely ride their bikes to school, helping people get home from work and providing a fun family activity on the weekend is, in our view, a vital community obligation. I commend both the Boroondara and Metro East bicycle users groups and look forward to working with them in delivering this project. While tempted to don the lycra and jump onto a bicycle, I doubt my ability to keep up with the energetic members of BBUG. Finally, I am delighted to be talking about the dog parks. This budget promises a new place for families and their four-legged friends to stretch their legs in Boroondara. With the demands on parkland only growing, this policy will see under-utilised space rejuvenated and will create a sense of community in a new area. Some of you may have seen an important meeting with constituents I documented on social media. Lobbyists Poppy and Berkeley were very keen to see a new fenced dog park in the area. Such a policy has understandably brought much excitement to our local community. Berkeley himself actually wrote me a letter to express his happiness. He said: The sun did not shine. There was no place to play. So we sat in the yard All that cold, cold, wet day. I sat there with Poppy. We sat there, we two. And I said, ‘How I wish We had something to do!’

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Nowhere to go out And no safe place to play. So we sat in the yard. We did nothing at all. So all we could do was to Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! And we did not like it. Not one little bit. And then something went BUMP! How that bump made us jump! We looked! Then we saw him step in on the mat! We looked! And we saw him! The member for Hawthorn— And he said to us, ‘Why do you sit there like that?’ ‘I know it is wet And the sun is not sunny. But we can have Lots of good fun that is funny!’ ‘I know some good games we could play’, Said the MP. ‘I know some new tricks’, Said the member for Hawthorn— ‘A lot of good tricks. I will show them to you. At your new fenced dog park. Just me, you and you. So to the infrastructure and the big build; there is just enough time for that one. It would be remiss to not comment on the once-in-a-lifetime infrastructure build that has been funded in this budget. For my constituents heading north, this budget has delivered the $15.8 billion needed to fully fund the North East Link, a critical road project for Melbourne and Victoria. The project not only makes economic sense by returning $1.30 back to the economy for every dollar invested, but it will create 10 000 jobs during construction, take 15 000 trucks off local roads and cut travel times by 30 minutes. Now, one once-in-a-lifetime infrastructure project per budget would be enough for most governments, maybe even one per term, but this government is one that gets things done, so there is also a $300 million investment in planning, technical investigations and development for the Suburban Rail Loop, a project that will change public transport in Melbourne. Students in Hawthorn will now have greater connectivity to universities around the city, and access to jobs and employment for many people will be greatly improved. You will be able to train, even to the airport. The funding provided for these projects in this budget is not about election cycles. Some of the projects will take years to build. It is about doing the right thing, building the transport options for the future, for our children and for our children’s children. I conclude with these remarks: I am proud of the Andrews government. This government is a government of action. I am proud, too, that after a period of inaction things are now getting done in Hawthorn. I am proud to be part of a government that delivers on its promises for all people. This is my first budget as the member for Hawthorn, and I am already pleased with the results we have been

MOTIONS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2763 able to deliver for Hawthorn. And with so much more in the Andrews government energy and policy pipeline, I look forward to what will be accomplished in the next three years and beyond. Mr McGHIE (Melton) (16:38): I am delighted to rise today to speak about the 2019–20 budget and the transformational impact it will have on my electorate of Melton. This is a budget that delivers for Victorians and delivers for my constituents. Those in my electorate value honesty and expect their government and representatives to deliver for them. That is exactly what occurred when this government delivered the budget in May. We are a government that delivers on its commitments. This is a government that delivers for Melton. My community is the fastest growing community, not just in Victoria but in Australia, with in excess of 7000 people moving into the electorate each year. With that development come new and growing young families, emerging and ethnically diverse communities, young people taking their first steps with home ownership and older people looking to enjoy downsizing their lives and upsizing their lifestyle—something I myself was planning to do before I answered a phone call from the Premier one October morning last year. The massive investment of $1.8 billion in schools around the state is because this government knows the transformational value that education has for the community. Good quality education, which is a cornerstone of this government, develops the capacity of our young people. It builds resilience. It helps new migrants integrate into their communities and build connections with each other and the wider community. It not only prepares young people for the future; it connects them to their society here and now. One of Victoria’s newest suburbs—although rich in history from its agricultural days—Eynesbury, will benefit, with funding in this budget to deliver their new primary school, Eynesbury Station Primary, which is set to open in 2021. This announcement helps those families already living in Eynesbury but also gives confidence to others looking to move into the area that their children’s future and the community’s needs are being met. The students and teachers at Exford Primary School are also set to benefit. This government’s commitment to Exford will deliver a huge $6.25 million to ensure the new learning spaces that they deserve, including new permanent classrooms to replace the old relocatable buildings. It also ensures that planning for future upgrades will allow for the growth in that part of my electorate. Congratulations to the principal, Lisa Campo, and the Exford school community for their lobbying for the necessary funding to upgrade this great school. I know it needs more, but we will work on that over the next few years. Growth in Melton is of course not just being experienced at the primary school level. Secondary schools too are seeing this growth through their rolls. It was fantastic to see the Andrews Labor government commitment to planning and early works for the promised upgrade of Staughton College. This $650 000 investment is the first step in transforming the school’s old classrooms and facilities into the modern learning environment that Melton’s students need and deserve. It is a step to ensure that they are set up to achieve their best. I want to acknowledge the principal, David Lord, and all his staff along with the great school community for their commitment to our students in Melton. The Labor government is of course determined to make sure our kids are ready for school and set for life. The delivery of universal three-year-old kinder will be instrumental for young families all across Melton. We already know that this will be the largest social, economic and educational reform ever undertaken in early childhood learning in Victoria’s history. With so many constituents in my electorate born overseas, or with parents born overseas, preschool education gives their children the real head start on their education journey that is needed. Families will be better prepared for the Victorian education system. It can also be one of the first opportunities that children and other family members have to interact with other families outside their cultural

MOTIONS 2764 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 communities. Children at preschool that are introduced to other cultural values learn that the world is full of different values and cultural norms, and that these are not foreign, scary or something to fear. There is great advantage in learning other perspectives and forming new concepts that will set children up to navigate the global economy. Parents involved with their child’s education in these early years can themselves often learn from their children’s experiences. The government’s investment across Victoria of $882 million will ensure that every three-year-old has access to at least 5 hours per week of subsidised kinder by 2022, increasing to 15 hours per week. Further into the education cycle is the government’s commitment to Melton and Victoria through its support of the TAFE system. We know that for years the TAFE system was underfunded and undervalued by those opposite. They have attempted to privatise and destroy the system. The demographics of communities like the electorate of Melton need fair access to education in the TAFE system. It is because of this government’s investment in and commitment to education, health, infrastructure and jobs that, more than ever, the skills we need to continue to build Victoria are learned at TAFE. Free TAFE for priority courses helps reduce the financial barrier for students wanting to train in courses that lead to good-quality jobs that are in demand from Victorian employers. The value that gaining secure and meaningful employment can have for individuals, families and society should not be dismissed. There is no denying that an overwhelming theme of this year’s budget has also been transport. Transport is something that resonated strongly right across the seat of Melton at last year’s state election. With the fastest growing community in Australia there can also be fast growing frustration with transport infrastructure. Melton township is of course within the metropolitan boundaries, but the residents rely on V/Line trains to commute to jobs in the city, to other parts of Melbourne and to places further afield, such as Geelong and Ballarat. My constituents in Melton are not alone in their transportation habits, with the growth of Melbourne’s western suburbs and the popularity of Geelong and Ballarat as commuter hubs. Our public transport network needs more than just upgrading; it needs redrawing. That is why I am pleased that in this budget we are turning our attention to these needs by investing $100 million to begin work on the Western Rail Plan. This plan includes planning for the electrification of the Melton line, something that will be transformational for the Melton community. Importantly, part of this plan includes full separation of regional and metro rail services on the Geelong and Ballarat lines. The benefits of this will be huge; the productivity and better quality this will achieve will be transformational. I recently visited the new Cobblebank railway station with the Premier, and it is amazing to see the progress in its construction. I also visited the Bacchus Marsh railway station to see the pedestrian overpass and new platforms that have been constructed. I want to thank all those workers in the construction area that are continuing to finalise the duplication of the railway line and the improvement in those stations. Commuters can also now look forward to an easier time finding a car park, This year’s budget includes $150 million to improve parking at some of our state’s busiest stations. I was happy that it includes up to 100 new and upgraded spaces at the Melton station. Delivered over four years as part of the new Car Parks for Commuters Fund, this investment will help make life just that little bit less stressful for local commuters while also unclogging the neighbouring streets. Of course, as we know, this year’s budget begins the rollout of free dental care at all public primary and secondary schools. The investment of $321.9 million delivers on our promise to bring back dental vans. This investment will save families around $400 a year per child in dental costs, as well as saving parents the inconvenience of taking time off work for appointments. We know that evidence shows that low income and disadvantage affect oral health; this includes the likelihood of tooth decay. Poor dental health has huge effects on long-term health outcomes. It can affect job opportunities and people’s self-confidence and mental health. It can have generational consequences.

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By ensuring that dental health is targeted at schools, this government has taken the first step in breaking the cycle that has such profound long-term outcomes. It is also smart policy that will have savings well into the future by ensuring that this preventative health measure saves on the cost of treatment for other significant health impacts, along with other advantages such as better productivity and long-term job stability with more people entering the workforce. Once fully rolled out, this initiative will also free up more than 100 000 places in the public dental care system each year. This will make a huge difference for many people in Melton and help those in need who have been on waiting lists. I was very pleased to see the Premier and the Minister for Health launch the rollout of the dental vans last weekend. Healthy communities mean these communities can thrive. That is also why for many years people have been advocating for a new hospital in Melton: to address the huge population growth experienced in the growth corridors of the west. I am proud that this budget includes $2.4 million to complete a business case and begin planning a new Melton hospital. This is an important first step to make sure that we get it right from the very beginning. This will increase access to high-quality health services in our fast-growing area. The funding of $1.5 billion for the new Footscray hospital and over $400 million for the Ballarat hospital upgrade will improve health services along the western corridor. Obviously with the growth of population to 250 000 by 2030 a new hospital in Melton will plug the gap in that corridor. We know that healthy parks and reserves help people gain and maintain healthy lifestyles and improve their wellbeing. This Andrews Labor government is delivering on its promise with a new park for Melton. This year’s budget provides a major investment of $154 million to create more than 6500 hectares of parkland across our suburbs, including the Toolern regional park for local residents. The Great Dividing Trail will also benefit as part of a $4.3 million investment to build and upgrade paths and hiking tracks across Victoria. We have seen investments into the local area from the Growing Suburbs Fund. Eynesbury Recreation Reserve, Hannah Watts Park and Marlo Drive Reserve have seen investments to ensure that new and growing communities have access to recreational facilities where they live to improve their health and wellbeing whilst interacting with their local community. As another commitment from the Andrews Labor government to parents and families, we will offer first-time parents a bundle of essentials. These bundles contain key parenting information and resources to support the health, development and wellbeing of their babies. This budget will deliver on the Andrews Labor government’s positive plan for solar by investing $1.3 billion over the next 10 years on top of the $74 million already provided. The overwhelming take- up of this program in the Melton electorate and across Victoria shows that people are voting with their feet in the take-up of solar. Unfortunately the constant attacks from the federal government on low-income individuals and families have impacted my electorate. Homelessness is a real issue that my office deals with on a daily basis. This budget’s investment of $209 million to build 1000 new public housing properties speaks to the level of commitment the Andrews Labor government has to tackle homelessness. The budget also provides $50.4 million to continue assistance programs to Victorians experiencing homelessness. Dedicated support for 2000 people with after-hours crisis services, onsite treatment in supported accommodation centres and assistance for more than 6000 people is the Private Rental Assistance Program to help prevent homelessness from occurring. Personally I am also happy to see this government’s continued commitment to Ambulance Victoria and paramedics. After ending the war on paramedics in its first term, this government continues its support by investing in more paramedics, more ambulance stations and more ambulances. We are already reaping the rewards of the investment. Under our watch, in the past 12 months, we have achieved the fastest code 1 emergency ambulance response times in nine years. Building on this commitment, this budget sees an extra $191 million to continue to improve response times and address

MOTIONS 2766 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 the increasing demands on our ambos. An additional $109 million will deliver 23 new ambulances. This investment will also see an extra 90 new paramedics on top of the 1000 new paramedics rolled out across the state over the past four years. A number of these new paramedics will be placed in locations across the state that currently only have one paramedic on the ambulance. New ambulance stations will be built to increase the presence of Ambulance Victoria across the state. This budget also invests $70.6 million to upgrade the emergency services radio system, transitioning Ambulance Victoria from an outdated analogue system to digital communication and enabling our paramedics to better respond to emergencies around the state. I am proud to be part of this government, and I congratulate and thank the Treasurer and the Premier for a great budget for all Victorians, in particular for my constituents in Melton. Ms HALFPENNY (Thomastown) (16:52): I am really pleased to be able to stand here and talk about the May 2019 budget that was brought down by the Andrews Labor government, and of course it is with great pleasure that I can talk about the many, many things that have been delivered for the people of the Thomastown electorate. Just to go back a little bit, I guess, when we went into the election in November 2018 I had calculated that more than $680 million had been spent in the Thomastown electorate alone by the state Labor government. This is one of the safest seats in the state, but even so there had been over $680 million spent in that time just in Thomastown. I am continuing to do the calculations, but building on to that is what has been budgeted for in the May budget. There is still quite a considerable amount of goods and services to be provided to the area in that budget. I am just going to go through a bit of a list of what there has been. It also shows the focus that we have had on the future generations of young people as well as looking after older people and of course everybody in between. In terms of education, in the state budget there has been a commitment to build the next stage of Edgars Creek Secondary College. I want to congratulate the parents and residents of the area because they really did put in a great campaign to make sure that we all knew what it is that people in the northern part of the electorate—the new and growing suburbs part of the electorate—really needed and wanted. This new stage will include more classrooms and will allow the library to go back to being a library rather than classrooms, and it will also support some specialist rooms such as food technology and I think art. At the moment they have to have portables. They are really good portables that are used as specialist classrooms, but it would be great to have more permanent buildings and to have the second stage of Edgars Creek Secondary College. This college is really going gangbusters. They are doing incredible stuff. They have got 3-D printers. There is also a sports precinct that is being developed, right next door, which has some fantastic facilities—a pavilion and sportsgrounds. Of course the City of Whittlesea is managing this precinct, and in doing so they are really putting a lot of effort into bringing in much-needed organisations and activities, particularly for those who are not children anymore but rather young adults, because there really is a gap. The northern part of the electorate was a young and growing area, so the first priority was to cater for the needs of preschool and primary school children, but now those children are growing up and we also need facilities for older children. There is also Lalor East Primary School. I think it is really important that there is not a neglect of the established areas in response to the incredible demand from the growing suburbs. Our budget has made sure that there is a balance in terms of what is provided to both the new and established areas of the electorate. Lalor East Primary School has been provided with funding to replace some of its really old and dilapidated classrooms, and the school is getting those fantastic module classrooms that are built offsite. That has already been done for Thomastown East Primary School, so Lalor East Primary School is really happy to be getting new buildings in its school. Unfortunately we cannot say the same for Lalor Primary School, but I will continue to push, with the school, to make sure we also replace

BILLS Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2767 the really old, dilapidated buildings that Lalor Primary School students, teachers and parents are required to put up with at the moment. Following on from what is going on with the budget, there is Edgars Creek Primary School that is to be built, and that of course would include a kindergarten as well, which is part of the new focus of the government to make sure that there are not 100 drop-offs when you have got children of different ages. There will be one drop-off. Whether it is kindergarten, whether it is primary school or whether it is secondary school, they will all be in one precinct, and of course that also provides a better transition for children as they go from kindergarten to primary school and then on to secondary school. There has been allocated a further $58 million to expand school breakfast clubs, and this really has been put to fantastic use in the Thomastown electorate. In particular there are schools such as Thomastown West Primary for which this has been so much of a boost. The school has been providing breakfasts, but this funding allows for better facilitation. It allows for resources to go into education and provides designated support for the breakfasts to ensure children have a full stomach and are ready and able to start learning as soon as they get into the classroom. Another important budget commitment was the commitment to three-year-old kindergarten. Families in the Thomastown electorate cannot wait for the introduction of the extra places at three-year-old kinder and for children to start getting subsidised three-year-old kinder places. There is also funding for the public dental care system. This again is something that parents in the Thomastown area have been so excited about, knowing that there will be no more having to remember to go to the dentist and to take time off work in order to organise it. There will be dental vans that will also help families that are unable to afford to take their children to dentists. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The time set down for consideration of items on the government business program has arrived, and I am required to interrupt business. The member will be able to continue her contribution when the matter is next before the Chair. Bills FLORA AND FAUNA GUARANTEE AMENDMENT BILL 2019 Second reading Debate resumed on motion of Ms D’AMBROSIO: That this bill be now read a second time. Motion agreed to. Read second time. Third reading Motion agreed to. Read third time. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The bill will now be sent to the Legislative Council and their agreement requested. ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AMENDMENT BILL 2019 Second reading Debate resumed on motion of Ms D’AMBROSIO: That this bill be now read a second time.

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Motion agreed to. Read second time. Third reading Motion agreed to. Read third time. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The bill will now be sent to the Legislative Council and their agreement requested. BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES REGISTRATION AMENDMENT BILL 2019 Second reading Debate resumed on motion of Ms HENNESSY: That this bill be now read a second time. The SPEAKER: The question is: That this bill be now read a second time and a third time. House divided on question:

Ayes, 56 Addison, Ms Fregon, Mr Pallas, Mr Allan, Ms Green, Ms Pearson, Mr Andrews, Mr Halfpenny, Ms Read, Dr Blandthorn, Ms Hall, Ms Richards, Ms Brayne, Mr Halse, Mr Richardson, Mr Bull, Mr J Hamer, Mr Scott, Mr Carbines, Mr Hennessy, Ms Settle, Ms Carroll, Mr Hibbins, Mr Sheed, Ms Cheeseman, Mr Horne, Ms Spence, Ms Connolly, Ms Hutchins, Ms Staikos, Mr Couzens, Ms Kairouz, Ms Suleyman, Ms Crugnale, Ms Kennedy, Mr Tak, Mr Cupper, Ms Kilkenny, Ms Taylor, Mr D’Ambrosio, Ms Maas, Mr Theophanous, Ms Dimopoulos, Mr McGhie, Mr Thomas, Ms Donnellan, Mr McGuire, Mr Ward, Ms Edbrooke, Mr Merlino, Mr Williams, Ms Edwards, Ms Neville, Ms Wynne, Mr Eren, Mr Pakula, Mr Noes, 27 Angus, Mr McLeish, Ms Smith, Mr R Battin, Mr Morris, Mr Smith, Mr T Britnell, Ms Newbury, Mr Southwick, Mr Bull, Mr T Northe, Mr Staley, Ms Burgess, Mr O’Brien, Mr D Tilley, Mr Guy, Mr O’Brien, Mr M Vallence, Ms Hodgett, Mr Riordan, Mr Wakeling, Mr Kealy, Ms Rowswell, Mr Walsh, Mr McCurdy, Mr Ryan, Ms Wells, Mr Question agreed to. Read second time.

ADJOURNMENT Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2769

Third reading Motion agreed to. Read third time. The SPEAKER: The bill will now be sent to the Legislative Council and their agreement requested. Business interrupted under sessional orders. Adjournment The SPEAKER: The question is: That the house now adjourns. REAL ESTATE AGENTS UNDERQUOTING Mr T SMITH (Kew) (17:07): (972) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, and the action I seek from the minister for consumer affairs is an investigation into an auction at 2/9 Mary Street, Kew, on Saturday, 3 August 2019. The particulars of this auction are that the property was listed on the market indicating a price range of $690 000 to $720 000. The price was then revised up to between $720 000 and $750 000. At auction the property was put on the market at $800 000 and ultimately sold for $871 500, which is $121 500, or 16.5 per cent more, than the upper price quoted. I would like the minister to report back as to why the agent put the property on the market at $800 000 when they had quoted up to $750 000. Also, there was a courtyard that was shown in the marketing materials as an outdoor entertaining area. In the sales contract a shed in the courtyard was listed as a fixture of the property. However, the courtyard was not on the title and was instead common property. Disturbingly, the agent did not make mention of this in the preamble to the auction until a potential bidder asked a specific question, from all accounts a most unwanted question. This is quite a concerning development, noting that the government introduced new laws in May 2017 to strengthen the laws against underquoting in Victoria. Indeed the Consumer Affairs Victoria website says that underquoting can occur when a property is advertised at a price that is less than the estimated selling price, the seller’s asking price or a price already rejected by the seller. A number of constituents of mine were present at this auction. They felt that the agent had behaved improperly, and they asked me to raise this in Parliament so that the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation or Consumer Affairs Victoria could begin an investigation into the auction. I think that given the importance that the property market has to Victoria’s economy, people need to have confidence in the way that its key actors, particularly real estate agents, behave in that market. I am not casting aspersions on the agent who ran this auction, but I am asking the question on behalf of concerned constituents, because what has clearly occurred here seems on the face of it to be against the law. But I will let the minister respond. Indeed I will be very interested to see what she has to say when she returns to the Parliament or indeed writes to me in person. VICTORIA-GREECE LIFE PRESERVATION ACCORD Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) (17:10): (973) My adjournment request is to the Premier. The action I seek is for the Victorian government to establish a life preservation accord with Greece. The need is vital and urgent. A state of emergency was declared again this week to fight wildfires in Greek regions, with smoke blanketing the capital, Athens. The world was shocked only last year when Europe’s deadliest forest fire in more than a century devastated Greece. Haunting photographs of row upon row of burned out cars, the public backlash to the inadequacy of planning and preventative measures, the emergency response and the cruel fate families confront rebuilding from the ashes resonated profoundly with Victorians. The tragic loss of life, destruction of communities and stories

ADJOURNMENT 2770 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 of grief and heroism resonated profoundly in Melbourne, home to one of the world’s largest Greek populations. Commemorating the 10th anniversary of Australia’s worst natural disaster, the Black Saturday bushfires, I called in this Parliament for the lessons we learned from the devastation to be shared internationally, especially with Greece, and was subsequently humbled by and grateful for an invitation to address the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association. The resolution for a life preservation accord won the unanimous support of legislators of Greek heritage from every continent and across Australia. The aim of a life preservation accord is to share knowledge and personnel to prevent, fight and help recovery and rebuilding from wildfires, which are likely to become more prevalent and ferocious. We can save lives by learning from each other. Black Saturday changed the way Australians confront bushfires. Before this catastrophe many would have stayed and fought, now the strategy is to evacuate safely. Given all we have learned from the forensic analysis into Black Saturday, when 173 people perished when a decade-long drought conspired with unprecedented weather conditions and fickle winds to randomly determine life and death, and from previous disasters including Ash Wednesday, such intelligence could save lives in Australia and other countries. One of the revelations of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission was that amid such chaos the predictive mapping of the fires never reached firefighters on the front line. In response to this insight I called for an accord with California, another state stalked by wildfire, to deliver a world-class fire prevention, tracking, mapping and communications strategy with Victoria to provide a new template for Australia, the United States and other bushfire-prone countries. Victoria and California established an agreement under the Andrews government in 2015. From the human factor to the power of nature and government responsibilities, the resonance between Victoria and Greece is remarkable. Practical initiatives such as phone alerts by text messages developed in Victoria since Black Saturday may have saved Greek lives lost in last year’s wildfires, especially people searching forlornly for the salvation of the sea. The World Hellenic Inter- Parliamentary Association proposed the life preservation accord between the governments of Victoria and Greece begin by addressing wildfires but also recommended such a strategy be extended to help prevent, fight, recover from and rebuild from other disasters. Only the names, not the aspiration to rebuild, have changed from Marysville to Mati. A life preservation accord with Greece would honour our blood ties. (Time expired) KORUMBURRA RAILWAY STATION Mr D O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (17:13): (974) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Public Transport in her role as the minister responsible for VicTrack, and the issue that I seek action on is funding for the upgrade of the Korumburra railway station for use by the community. I have a number of questions that I hope she might also be able to answer about the precinct there and the negotiations with VicTrack. The Korumburra railway station is a beautiful facility, and there is a group called The Station at Korumburra working group that has been working for a number of years now to upgrade and renovate the facility for use by the community. They are looking to use it as a space for arts and music groups, a space for training for local people and a private corporate function area as well as potentially for craft markets and for spill over from the proposed community hub, which is on the other side of the railway line as proposed at the moment. So I am seeking funding for this upgrade that the community is chasing. I believe a significant amount of money has been available in the past—around $1.5 million—for these old stations, and that should be directed to Korumburra at the earliest opportunity. I think it is going to need at least that, and we may well be needing council and other organisations to provide further support.

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I might just add that the South Gippsland Sentinel-Times this week ran a story about my support for passenger trains to return. I do support passenger trains returning in the medium to longer term—it is something we should be planning for—but I am also very keen to support the proposed rail trail between Leongatha and Korumburra, and that is something I also seek an update on. There is a heads of agreement between VicTrack and the South Gippsland shire, and I hope that the lease will be signed very soon to allow that project to go ahead with, as I say, the option in future for a passenger train to return. Ms Allan interjected. Mr D O’BRIEN: I actually say that that is something to be considered because of the growth in the south-east corridor through Melbourne, but the government needs to deal with the need for a dedicated line for Gippsland trains before it can actually do that. If the minister at the table would like to answer that question for me, given she normally just laughs about it, I would be very happy for her to do so. But while we are there, I am also seeking an update from the minister, if she can, on the lease for the proposed community hub and what is happening with the council on that. Finally, I called in last week to the Korumburra Men’s Shed, which currently operates from one of the disused goods sheds at the station precinct, but it is not big enough. As most MPs know, these are areas that are always growing, and our men’s shed at Korumburra is also short on space. They would like, if possible, to move, potentially, into the old locomotive shed on the same site, and if the minister could at all give me an update on that possibility, that would also be appreciated. FLEMINGTON WORKS Mr PEARSON (Essendon) (17:16): (975) I direct my adjournment matter to the Minister for Crime Prevention, and the action I seek is for the minister to join me in visiting the Flemington Community Centre to discuss the Flemington Works project. The minister in his previous role as Minister for Industry and Employment originally funded Moonee Valley City Council to provide employment opportunities for residents on the Flemington public housing estate and in particular people from an African-Australian background. This project has been incredibly successful, and it is helping to reach young people at risk of coming into contact with the juvenile justice system. I would most welcome the minister to come and meet with council and some of the participants in this very successful employment program at his earliest convenience. NORTH EAST LINK PROJECT COMPENSATION Mr GUY (Bulleen) (17:17): (976) Tonight I want to raise an issue with the Minister for Planning, and it concerns compensation issues with the North East Link Project. As members would know, this is a major issue continuing in the north-eastern suburbs, particularly given the nature of the size of the project and a number of the areas the project will run through where we are seeing hundreds of businesses impacted. With 1000 or so jobs to go out of the Bulleen industrial precinct, it will be decimated, but what we are not talking about at this point in time is how the residents around that precinct will be impacted and if some of the local developments which are proceeding at the moment are going to be affected. Tonight I want to raise the issue of Mr Hugh O’Brien. He is a small-time developer and purchased land along Bulleen Road some time ago in keeping with the local council structure plan and the state government’s broader planning objectives for transport corridors like Bulleen Road. He has purchased with the intention of putting a small but higher density development on a location which would be, for all intents and purposes, one you would say would be in keeping with the broad objectives of greater densification across Melbourne. However, of course, when the project was determined and put forward by the minister, it was done initially with no boundaries on the works area. This has meant that Mr O’Brien, after obtaining a permit, could not sell any of the units in his development. This meant that Mr O’Brien, a smaller developer, was unable to get anyone to purchase the units. I mean, why would you if it is going to be demolished in a couple of years time? So of course the project fell over.

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Mr O’Brien lost an enormous amount of money, and of course soon after he had to sell his block, with permit. He noted, I should say, that the Minister for Planning then deemed the works area for the North East Link Project to be the western side of Bulleen Road. In doing so this put Mr O’Brien’s project out of the works area and meant that his project would not be affected. However, in the time that the government had not determined the works area, this man’s project, which had commenced before the project area was determined, had lost a significant amount in value. Indeed Mr O’Brien himself had to dispose of the property at significantly less benefit, indeed to recoup any money, and he has lost an enormous amount of money. The North East Link authority has said to him there is no ability for him to seek any compensation. I think that is grossly unfair, and I am asking the Minister for Planning tonight to change those directions to NELA and to compensate some of the smaller developers. There is only a small number, I think— two or three—on the eastern side of Bulleen Road who were developing at the time before the project was determined and before the works area was determined. It has now been determined, these people have been dudded to a massive extent and I ask the minister to intervene to allow some compensation for them. YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE THOMASTOWN ELECTORATE Ms HALFPENNY (Thomastown) (17:20): (977) I have a matter for the Minister for Women and Minister for Youth, and the action I seek is that she attends the opening of an exhibition titled Young People’s Contributions to the Thomastown Electorate. It will be held in Queen’s Hall from 29 to 31 October this year. This exhibition is going to showcase the incredible talents, skills, achievements and contributions of young people who live within the suburbs of Lalor, Thomastown, Epping and Reservoir. Already we have five incredible volunteers—young people that are going to volunteer their time and their great expertise and creativity to help to put together this exhibition. So I want to thank Danielle, Simon, Tabitha, Zara, Deeksha, Nicole and Monique, who are going to help with the exhibition, as well as Nicole, who is going to coordinate and organise the exhibits and how the thing will proceed. This exhibition, I think, will amaze people when they look at the things that people in the area do. Organisations and schools will also provide exhibits and various things that their students do as well as what young people do outside of the school curriculum. So we know that there are things like chess champions, power lifters, young people that have incredible artistic streaks and can do beautiful works of art and others that write beautifully, and these are all the things that will be showcased at the exhibition. It would be great to see the minister attend the exhibition and celebrate young people. PORT PHILLIP ECOCENTRE Mr HIBBINS (Prahran) (17:22): (978) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, and the action I seek is for the minister to provide the funding required to support the Port Phillip EcoCentre redevelopment. The Port Phillip EcoCentre is a leading community-managed organisation led by a dedicated team of scientists, educators and volunteers who design and implement programs, with a specific focus on improving the health of Port Phillip Bay and the urban ecology of greater Melbourne. Their work spans across 160 Melbourne suburbs each year, collaborating with 120 schools and partners from business to government, philanthropy, education and research. This is a centre that is locally significant but also is of statewide significance. Its much- needed redevelopment, budgeted at around $5.5 million, would involve a new building to house the EcoCentre, which will increase and enhance their environmental program delivery and their education across Victoria. Port Phillip City Council has committed to funding half the project, subject to state government investment in the remaining half. There is significant support for this project from community members and organisations within the City of Port Phillip and across Melbourne, as demonstrated by the more than 150 letters of support sent to the Victorian government. I urge the minister to allocate

ADJOURNMENT Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2773 funds to match those committed by the City of Port Phillip so that the Port Phillip EcoCentre redevelopment can proceed. SYDENHAM ELECTORATE ROAD SAFETY Ms HUTCHINS (Sydenham) (17:23): (979) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Minister for Road Safety and the TAC. The action I seek is that the minster provide my constituents with any current plans to upgrade safety along Kings Road and Melton Highway in the electorate of Sydenham. Recently a local resident, Ranka Rasic, raised concerns with me over the lack of road safety along Kings Road in particular. Ranka is a local businesswoman who runs a hairdresser that is located along Melton Highway and happens to also live just off Kings Road, so unfortunately she sees a lot of dangerous driving between her home and work and back again and has even witnessed near-fatal accidents along Kings Road. She has highlighted for me and lobbied with me around the need for an urgent upgrade to safety in that area. On 23 January this year a car flipped, resulting in the closure of the entire road. The crash was so severe that air ambulance was called in to take away the people that had been severely injured. Also, a major light pole has been ripped out twice within months due to accidents along this strip of road. Road safety is an absolutely vital issue in my area. We love cars in Sydenham. We have the Calder raceway. We have Holden Drive. We have Fiat Court. I challenge any other electorate to have as many roads named after cars as my electorate does. We certainly like driving, but I do want to appeal to my local residents to slow down and stay focused when they are driving. We know that it is the first and last 5 kilometres in which the most severe accidents happen, and I implore them to stay focused and slow down. I ask the minister to give us a report back on any vital upgrades that might be there in the near future. MOOROOLBARK AND LILYDALE LEVEL CROSSING REMOVALS Ms VALLENCE (Evelyn) (17:25): (980) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure and is in relation to the Mooroolbark and Lilydale level crossing removal project announced on 5 August, with plans to build sky rail. The action I seek from the minister is to urgently be provided with a full briefing that includes the details of all proposals and designs that were considered by the government to remove the level crossings at Mooroolbark and Lilydale, the criteria and selection process that led to the government selecting its preferred sky rail design and the estimated cost to taxpayers of these crossing removals, and I ask: will the track between Mooroolbark and Lilydale be duplicated as part of this project; will car parking at Lilydale station be increased as part of this project; will a new station be built at Kinley as part of this project; will the rail bridge bottleneck at Hull and Mooroolbark roads be addressed and fully rectified as part of this project; will the Lilydale bus interchange remain or be removed; and how will disabled people and others in need access the elevated rail stations, given the CEO of the Level Crossing Removal Project confirmed at the announcement the preferred sky rail design did not include elevators? I seek this full briefing so that I can inform my community, because they have not been afforded due process or genuine consultation by the Labor government. In 2018 I made an election pledge that a coalition government would remove both Lilydale and Mooroolbark crossings by 2022 with community consultation and a rail-under-road solution to preserve the amenity of our townships as the gateway to the Yarra Valley. The minister has finally agreed to remove the crossings but with sky rail, which is what the community is angry about. If the mood at last night’s Lilydale Township Action Group is anything to go by, to say the residents were furious is an understatement. The announcement came as a surprise to my community because there has been a complete absence of community consultation. Even the minister’s media release had not one reference to engaging or consulting with the community about her preferred sky rail design. Residents, businesses, traders associations, township groups and other

ADJOURNMENT 2774 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 prominent local stakeholders have been entirely excluded from this process, ignored and overridden by the Labor government. Even Yarra Ranges Shire Council was excluded, as the announcement caught them by complete surprise too. The mayor has confirmed there was no consultation, Mooroolbark traders association confirmed there was no consultation and Lilydale Township Action Group confirmed there was no consultation. Moreover, my office has been inundated with complaints about it. At last night’s township group meeting in Lilydale, residents were for the first time given information about the government’s plans by former Labor candidate Peter Harris. The community were told at the meeting there would be minimal community input, limited focus on understanding local issues in the area and limited opportunities to influence outcomes. This is extraordinary, but it really confirms what we already know—this government is arrogant and it does not care about what the Evelyn community thinks. I look forward to the courtesy of a full briefing. SUBURBAN RAIL LOOP Mr FREGON (Mount Waverley) (17:28): (981) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure also, and I promise I only have one request. The action I seek is for the minister to visit my electorate of Mount Waverley district to see the future home of one of the Suburban Rail Loop stops. We are very excited in Mount Waverley district to be part of this transformation of public transport—the biggest one ever—connecting Glen Waverley to every major rail line from Frankston to Werribee, and if you are talking about level crossings, I almost wish I had one just so I could ask and watch the Level Crossing Removal Project get in there and get rid of it. The Suburban Rail Loop will revolutionise the way my constituents and Victorians alike move around Melbourne. It will ease the demand on existing lines and encourage more Melburnians to make the swap from driving cars to tapping their Mykis. The rail loop is expected to create more than 20 000 jobs during its construction— 20 000 jobs!—which is great news for our Victorian construction workers and apprentices, and I am excited to see the initial works on stage 1 underway in 2022. RESPONSES The SPEAKER: Order! I am going to ask the Minister for Crime Prevention to respond to the matter raised by the member for Essendon. Mr CARROLL (Niddrie—Minister for Crime Prevention, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (17:29): I respond to the member for Essendon: it would be my honour to come out and visit the public housing estate with him, and with the member for Essendon today I met Abdikani, who is a young man who has benefited from our investment in the public housing estate on the back of the advocacy from the member for Essendon and also some wonderful advocacy from the City of Moonee Valley, who are using their procurement policies in a very positive way. As the Minister for Crime Prevention I know the importance of a job and a stable home, so to come out and meet more residents from the public housing estate in Flemington will be beneficial to me as the Minister for Crime Prevention because I know public housing estates not only in Victoria but right across Australia do have high concentrations of disadvantage and unemployment, and if we can continue our investments through the Jobs Victoria program and some of our wraparound services, we can make a real difference. I congratulate the member for Essendon and look forward to meeting many more success stories like Abdikani in the very near future. The SPEAKER: I ask the Minister for Transport Infrastructure to respond to the matters raised by the members for Evelyn and Mount Waverley and refer other matters. Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure) (17:31): With your indulgence, Speaker, and the indulgence of the member for Gippsland South who asked about a matter regarding the Korumburra railway station, I have been provided with some information

ADJOURNMENT Thursday, 15 August 2019 Legislative Assembly 2775 from the Minister for Public Transport’s office to expeditiously respond to the matter raised by the member for Gippsland South regarding funding for an upgrade to the Korumburra railway station for future community use. I can understand why the member is keen to see this happen. A number of former operational railway stations have been provided with funding through VicTrack to put them to alternate uses. I know this well. In my own electorate of Bendigo East at Dingee there was a railway station. The train still does go through Dingee, but the railway station there is not an operational one, and that has been transformed into a fantastic community space including a community library. It has brought a library service to the small town of Dingee for the very first time. I am advised by the Minister for Public Transport that Korumburra is one of many regional stations being considered for potential restoration. VicTrack is very actively working with communities, and also local government have an interest in this area as well, to advance the restoration of former rail buildings. They are important to the history of small local communities, they are important from a safety aspect and they are also important because they can be put to good future use. The member for Essendon and I were just reminiscing that the reason we are talking about Korumburra being a former railway station is that the line to Leongatha was closed by a former Liberal-Nationals government, so for completeness sake— Mr D O’Brien interjected. Ms ALLAN: No, 1993, I think, member for Gippsland South. I will remind the member for Gippsland South that— Mr D O’Brien interjected. Ms ALLAN: Bless you. The member for Gippsland South did, I will remind him— Mr D O’Brien interjected. Ms ALLAN: Stop that. I will remind the member for Gippsland South that indeed he raised the return of passenger services in his contribution, which only leads me to respond with the fact that it was his former government that closed it. Now, moving right along— Mr D O’Brien interjected. Ms ALLAN: Chief cheerleader. Moving right along, I am delighted to respond to the member for Mount Waverley’s adjournment matter regarding a very kind invitation for me to come and visit the Mount Waverley electorate. Of course, as he has identified, there is a lot of excitement in his community at the opportunities that are going to come with the delivery of the Suburban Rail Loop, which of course is connecting every major train line in metropolitan Melbourne with an orbital rail network. The Glen Waverley line has been identified as one of those, and it is really going to open up opportunities for young people in the Mount Waverley area to get better access by train to universities, to TAFEs and to health precincts. It is really going to be transformative. It is going to take cars off local roads, it is providing better public transport services and it is about connecting people to jobs closer to where they live. And you can probably assume, member for Mount Waverley, that I would be delighted to come and visit the Mount Waverley electorate and talk further with you and local community members about this transformative project. I am delighted that the member for Evelyn has returned to the chamber. I was a little concerned that the member for Evelyn was going to miss my response to her adjournment matter in relation to the removal of level crossings in her electorate, at Lilydale and Mooroolbark. It was a great morning Monday week ago when the Deputy Premier and I were there, with many excited local community residents, where we announced the progress of these level crossings. We released the designs for these level crossings. We announced that we were going to be putting in additional car parks which, if I

ADJOURNMENT 2776 Legislative Assembly Thursday, 15 August 2019 recall, was an issue that the member raised. And of course it was an election commitment that we made to the local community to put in additional car parking at Mooroolbark. The member for Evelyn has asked for a full briefing on this matter. I am a little suspicious as to why the member for Evelyn has asked for this full briefing, because I suspect it might be because she wants to continue her campaign of misinformation, her campaign of opposition, to the removal of these dangerous and congested level crossings. We take a very different approach. Ms Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, the Minister for Transport Infrastructure is misrepresenting me. I just ran back up to listen to this response. That is a complete misrepresentation. The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. Ms ALLAN: Speaker, I am basing my commentary on the member for Evelyn’s own social media commentary around how she has raised what she thinks are issues with these level crossing removals. And as I said earlier today in question time, we know the Liberal Party are lovers of level crossings, because they do not want to see them removed. Their own election costings told us that. Their own election costings, their own election material, that was provided to the Victorian community last November would have ground to a halt the level crossing removal program. We are in the process of delivering on this commitment to the Lilydale and Mooroolbark local communities. My attention is drawn to a Lilydale and Yarra Valley Leader Facebook poll that found that 81 per cent of just over 800 voters supported the sky rail design. Members interjecting. Ms ALLAN: I can hear the member for Evelyn interjecting, so I might just repeat that in case she does not get around to reading this in Hansard tomorrow. A Lilydale and Yarra Valley Leader Facebook poll found that 81 per cent of just over 800 voters supported the sky rail design. So if the member for Evelyn wants to be taking a different position to her community, that is fine. That is for her to argue. That is for her to put to her community. We are taking a very different approach. We are delivering on what we said we would. We are delivering the removal of those level crossings. We are delivering additional car parks at Mooroolbark. We are providing improved accessibility, which I note was one of the things that the member raised. These are new stations that will be built and that will be built to the most modern accessibility design standards. That will mean there will be the accessibility so that people with a disability, parents or family members with prams and pushers will be able to more easily access these stations. So I hope the member’s campaign of misinformation does not extend to scaring people who need those accessibility features. There will be better integration with the local bus network. I could go on, but I am conscious of the time. This is a great project. It is going to create jobs in those local communities. We look forward to continuing to talk to those local communities about how we are getting rid of these dangerous and congested level crossings and making improvements as well to the local public transport network with the car parking and new stations. We can assure the member for Evelyn—there is one fact I hope she does get right in her conversations locally—that she can assure her local community that we will deliver the removal of these level crossings. Other members raised matters with various ministers, and they will be referred for their attention and response. The SPEAKER: The house now stands adjourned. House adjourned 5.39 pm until Tuesday, 27 August.