Testing, testing; I just want to make sure it is on. I have not been up this late in many, many years. And here we are, listening to the member for Malvern become as petty as I have seen the member for Malvern be in six years. This is an incredible bill. These are the toughest bail laws in Australia, and I cannot wait to get out in the western suburbs tomorrow and talk about this tough bail bill that we are going to pass. My community do not care about the name of this bill. What they do care about is that we have a tough Premier, and she has listened to the community and her message is clear: community safety is paramount. It comes first above all else. The message to serious repeat offenders is: your time is up; the honeymoon is over. There will be serious consequences for you. My community in Melbourne’s west cannot wait for this bill to become law and then see the results that will come from it.
I have to say, and I am going to lower my voice for this one, I do want to give a shout-out to an incredible local principal. Her name is Pat, and she is going to retire at the end of this term. She has been the principal of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Sunshine for decades. This is an incredible woman. We have been talking about teachers, and we have been talking about schools tonight – this is one of them in the western suburbs. When I went to that school three weeks ago, she told me about the terrible activities happening in her community outside that school –
[Point of Order]
Let me tell you why this is going to be relevant to Pat. When I met with Pat, she talked about some of the most appalling crimes happening outside of her school with youth and machetes and the types of goings-on. I said to Pat, ‘I promise you our Premier is cracking down on crime. There is going to be a bail bill and a reckoning in this state like no other.’ These are the toughest bail laws in this country, and tonight, almost before midnight, we get the opportunity to go ahead and pass this bill and we can make it law. We can do the right thing for all Victorians. So I say to those opposite: I do not care what you call this bill; these are the toughest bail laws in the country. We have the toughest Premier here in this state and we have the opportunity to pass it tonight. I am going to leave my comments there so we can do it before midnight and go home.
