I stand here this afternoon and I grieve wholeheartedly for all Victorians and what they have to look forward to should they ever sit, live and raise their family under a Liberal–One Nation misinformation coalition government.
[Interjection]
If the last few weeks have shown us anything, it is that there is no doubt that those opposite are not only divided but divided by extremism and unfit to lead this state. This is not politics. This is their record. This is what they have shown us here on this side and the Victorian people time and time again. It is who they are. They cannot stop being who they are. Despite being on their sixth leader in seven years – that is a hell of a lot of leaders – nothing at all has changed. They say they do not believe us.
Well, all we need to do now is ask the member for Nepean, who has not just walked away from his position and his portfolios; he has quit. Do you know what a big deal it is to actually go ahead and quit your party, quit your seat and quit on Victorians? As a former professional tennis player, I would not say that the member for Nepean is a quitter, but he is quitting on this party, and he has announced it today. And we know why he has quit; he has come out and been quite blunt about it. He has quit because of the infighting around him of his colleagues, who are supposed to be there working for all Victorians and working to get into government at the end of this year.
But it is not just the member for Nepean. They have got their own trial over the member for Hawthorn’s bailout coming up next month, and you know what that means. That means that many of those opposite will be dragged back into the witness box, and Victorians are going to get a very good look into the months of chaos and the months of backroom deals that have ravaged the Liberal Party here in Victoria. In many respects I actually do feel quite bad for the member for Hawthorn, because I remember back in 2018, when I was first elected, seeing him on the telly when he realised that so unexpectedly he had lost his seat in real time. I think he handled that really well. No-one had expected that we would win so emphatically the seat of Hawthorn, for the first time since 1953. The member for Hawthorn handled himself, I have to say, with the utmost grace and dignity in his defeat there on TV. It was at that moment that I think a lot of people in his party had him pegged as the kind of leader that those opposite needed – they really needed it. When he won his seat back in 2022 he was heralded as the moderate saviour who would lead those opposite back into government. Well, they tried that, and now he does not even get a look-in. He is relegated to the backbench and, if the news is correct, being pressured to resign altogether to settle this ridiculous loan controversy.
That is what underlines all of this internal chaos. It is a pattern of extremism, and that is what I want to talk about today. The Leader of the Opposition – the new latest Leader of the Opposition – and the member for Hawthorn have a lot in common. What they do have in common is that she also wants to paint herself as a moderate, but at the same time it is the extreme and extremists that run their party.
That is why, I am sure, the Leader of the Opposition thought it was a great idea to say yes to attending the conference with BJ – Barnaby Joyce – and cosy up to One Nation. I mean, my God, what was she thinking? One Nation. It is an event, I will remind the house, that aimed to go ahead and promote and spread climate misinformation and culture war grievance – I mean, how disgusting. That kind of conference was to oppose cheaper renewable energy that keeps power bills down for working families and Victorians, and they merely wanted to stoke outrage as opposed to finding real solutions. How convenient – now there is an unavoidable scheduling conflict. But let us be clear: the only reason that the Leader of the Opposition is not attending that cook fest is because the Premier rightly called her out; she called her out on it.
Yesterday when I was flicking through the Herald Sun I came across something truly horrific. I cannot believe it has not been mentioned here. The state secretary of the Victorian branch of Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce’s One Nation party was walking around Melbourne, around Flinders Street – and not just walking. Apparently this ex-model had her phone out and she was videoing at peak hour down at Flinders Street station all of the wonderful Melburnians and Victorians commuting, probably home from work – kids, mums, dads, grandparents, you name it. It was packed down there, and do you know what she put out there on her social media? I am assuming this person has a lot of social media followers; I have not had a look. She had a hell of a lot of comments. She said, ‘Spot the Westerner.’ This is One Nation. This is who the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Kew, said yes to, and she was attending that conference – that party’s conference – with Barnaby Joyce. This is about what One Nation stands for. So when we start talking about the Liberal–One Nation misinformation coalition, we need to be real in this place about what One Nation stands for. The state secretary of the Victorian branch was filming people in Melbourne, Victoria’s capital, saying, ‘Spot the Westerner.’ Do you know what they were saying? Spot the white person. Do you know who she was filming? She was filming people from the Middle East – Muslims. She was filming people from the subcontinent – our Indian community; many of them live in my community. So when the member for Kew sits here and wants to talk about leading this state, being a leader of this state, to lift up this state – she keeps saying, ‘Victoria can be so much better.’ We know on this side Victoria always has been and will be a great, great state to live. She said yes to go to that kind of conference. She said yes to sit beside that kind of man who has those kinds of values.
I have spent many years in Queensland. I went to university up there, and I have been to Ipswich, probably when Pauline Hanson lived there with her fish and chip shop. Now, Queensland is a very different state to Victoria. Brisbane is a very different capital city to Melbourne. Ipswich stands out on its own. It may have changed in the decades since I left, but let me tell you: those kinds of values, those kinds of people, have no place not only here in Melbourne but here in Victoria and here in Australia. There is no place for that kind of absolutely disgusting racism. And do you know what else this state secretary of the Victorian branch of One Nation said? ‘Multiculturalism has failed.’ Well, I say to the member for Kew, the new latest Leader of the Opposition: do you think multiculturalism has failed? Through you, Speaker, that is a question that my community need to have answered. I represent an incredibly multicultural, diverse community, and with those sorts of comments and that sort of cosying up with the member for Kew, the new Leader of the Opposition, those questions are important to answer, because there is a really important thing happening in November: an election. The Victorian community need to know: does she stand for those kinds of racist values, those racist principles?
Does she think it is okay to go ahead and film Victorians, Melburnians, who are Australian citizens, many of them born in this place?
[Point of Order]
This type of behaviour from One Nation – I am not surprised. We are not surprised on this side of the house. We know they are a bunch of racists and always have been. The underlying essence of them is about race: whether you are white or you are not white and what shade of white you may or may not be. But that kind of behaviour here in Melbourne, in the capital of Victoria? I think Melbourne is the greatest city in Australia and I have lived in many cities. How can you possibly be cosying up to a One Nation party that stands for and allows that? I will say that again: that was the state secretary of the Victorian branch of One Nation. That is dangerous. We do not need those kinds of values and principles and that absolute disbelief in multiculturalism. Our state is an incredible state, partly because of its multiculturalism. And we are talking about Victorians. We are talking about Australians here. I was absolutely appalled at that.
I am not surprised the Leader of the Opposition felt inclined to hit accept when she saw that invitation from One Nation. She is trying to appease others in her party – that is all I can say – in the upper house. We all know who that is. And look, I have a soft spot –
[Interjection]
You can only laugh, can’t you? I mean, I try to laugh – otherwise you would cry at some of the things that are said by those in the upper house. We had Mrs McArthur – I will remind the chamber that Mrs McArthur was the person that said that First Nations people should be thankful for colonisation. I mean, Jesus, who says that?
[Interjection]
Apologies, Speaker. This is the same person who stood to the hilt with Mrs Deeming when she platformed dangerous and hateful views about LGBTIQ Victorians – another thing hurting people. This kind of behaviour and the filming of multicultural Victorians and Australians is hurtful. That is hurtful. That is a horrible kind of behaviour. We know Mrs McArthur, who she needs to appease, is also someone else who began every budget estimates hearing with the Minister for Women by asking that ridiculous question, ‘What’s a woman?’ What kind of question is that? Of all the things that you could ask, you are so worried about that and that is all you can focus on. These kinds of fringe, weird, extreme views – this is not Victoria. This does not make Victoria a better place. These are hurtful things. Words hurt. These are the same Victorian Liberals who passed a motion at their own conference in September last year banning trans women in sport. That is not a fringe moment, that is an endorsement by a party. Again, I grieve for a Victoria that would have to exist under a Victorian Liberal–One Nation coalition.
I would note that there was only one Liberal that had the courage to abstain from supporting that petition opposing the rainbow libraries toolkit. I remember that – a program designed to make libraries safe and welcoming for everyone. Shouldn’t a library be welcoming for everyone? They only had one Liberal with the courage to abstain from supporting that petition. This is another extreme fringe opportunity for those opposite to try and tear down this great state of Victoria.
Now we have had the Deputy Leader, the member for Caulfield, recently echoing – I just shake my head – Donald Trump. How does Donald Trump make it here into this place? Wanting to make Victoria great again, in a room full of Young Liberals – what a thing to say. Victoria has always been a great state, and I find it incredible that those people opposite that are born and bred in Victoria – because I am not – love to talk down this state.
This is a great state, a state to be proud of. It always has been a great state, and it will continue to be a great state. But they feel the need to be pushing out these Trumpesque comments of ‘Make Victoria Great Again’. I mean, it is scary. This kind of extremism is scary. This is something communities like mine – communities in the western suburbs, communities in the south-east, communities in the north and the north-west – need to know about, because extremism does exist and exists as recently as the Leader of the Opposition hitting accept to a One Nation conference, happy to sit next to Barnaby Joyce until we had the Premier, quite rightly, stand up and call her out. She called her out and said, ‘Is that what you stand for?’ The member for Kew probably had a hiccup moment and thought, ‘Whoops, I don’t want to be associated with that.’ I am sure there are many in her party that will still attend; whether they are from the Nationals or the Liberals, they will be there. They will be there happy to donate, happy to speak and clap at whatever nonsense is talked about at that conference. That is not who we are in Victoria. That is not the kind of thing that we should be talking to our kids about. So I grieve. I grieve for Victorians.
