Ms ADDISON (Wendouree) (15:17:49): My grievance today is for the state of the Liberal Party leadership in Victoria—but more importantly the lack of it.

The Victorian Liberal Party is out of touch and out of date, consumed with self-interest rather than the public interest. It is not a modern political party of the 21st century but one that holds deeply conservative views that seek to discriminate, to isolate and to exclude.

To think the member for Malvern in his contribution talked about fighting and punching people in the face. We are talking about changing the narrative on violence in our state, not about using it as political jargon. It is not good enough, and that is why we are investing nearly $3 billion in the prevention of family violence. We know family violence is the number one law and order issue in this state. Normalising it, bringing it into your language, thinking it is okay to say that you are going to punch people in the face or making references to people punching people in the face is not what a modern political party should do.

A modern leadership reflects community attitudes and community values, and that is not what the Liberal Party does. It makes me think, despite it being 2019, the Liberal Party have not broadly supported women. They have not promoted women into key winnable seats. It makes me wonder if there are more men MPs from Gippsland in this house than Liberal women. I think that might be the case. We have more men MPs from Gippsland than Liberal women in this house. That is a serious cultural issue within the Liberal Party. There is a lack of leadership. It does not recognise the importance of the contribution women make at all levels of society but most importantly in our lawmaking. The Liberal Party need to take a very hard look at themselves.

We are going to talk a bit more about the importance of women in decision-making and why it is important that modern leadership is inclusive, that it represents communities and that it makes sure that their voices at the table are heard. We are going to talk about that more. There are 3 million women in Victoria—50.9 per cent of the Victorian population are women—and we have four Liberal women in this place. It is not good enough, and we are calling you out on it.

The Liberal Party are going backwards. They are more interested in looking inward than looking out. It is clear they have some serious cultural issues within their ranks, with members focused on posturing for power rather than looking out for the community. The lack of discipline that has been demonstrated around this place by Liberal members is beyond belief. Leadership tensions have turned the Liberal Party into a party of disarray. The current crop of Liberals would rather squabble amongst themselves than articulate the views of an alternate government. They are focused on themselves and individual positioning and ambition rather than the people of Victoria. That is what I grieve about today.

It is nearly the first anniversary of the November 2018 election. This time last year we were campaigning on pre-poll. The state election provided Victorians with a clear choice of who they wanted to represent them and to lead them for the four years ahead.

The Labor Party promised the people of Victoria that a re-elected Andrews Labor government would give power back to Victorians through our Solar Homes program. We promised them a landmark dental program and we promised them free TAFE. We also said that we would give more school breakfast programs. For new parents we said we would give them baby bundles and thousands of additional specialist appointments in regional Victoria. This is what we promised.

In comparison the Liberals ran a scare campaign targeting Safe Schools, targeting the African community and frightening Victorians about law and order issues. Fear and racism were at the heart of the Liberal Party campaign as opposed to our positive agenda for Victoria with record infrastructure, additional level crossing removals and more new schools and facilities for the Education State.

A prominent Ballarat Liberal was arrogantly prancing about at the Wendouree pre-poll big-noting himself and handing out attack sheets masking as a community group, while Labor was campaigning on three-year-old kinder, upgrading local roads and our track record of creating jobs. The difference could not be more stark: the Labor Party puts the community first, whereas the Liberal Party are more interested in smear campaigns than policy.

When offered the choice, the people of my community voted for the Labor Party. I note that the previously mentioned person is no longer a member of the other place.

The election result was clear. It must have been very hard to fathom, the Labor Party winning the seats of Bass, of Bayswater, of Box Hill, of Burwood, of Mount Waverley, of Nepean, of Ringwood and even of Hawthorn. Losing a future leader in the seat of Hawthorn must have been devastating for the Liberal Party, and we can see that leadership void now as we no longer have the former member for Hawthorn. The people of Victoria rejected the negativity of the Liberal Party. They rejected the leadership of the member for Bulleen and the lack of vision for this state.

I am proud to say that the Andrews government are delivering on every single one of the commitments made to the people of Victoria, because when we make a promise, we keep it. We know that this matters to Victorians, and it matters to this government.

It is clear that 12 months on from the state election the Liberal leader is under a lot of pressure. If one listens to the scuttlebutt, the member for Malvern has lost the backing of his party room, the support of the federal Liberals and even that of the Herald Sun. Today the newspaper—the Herald Sun—ran an article titled, ‘Toothless opposition not laying a glove on Andrews’, in which journalist Rita Panahi went as far as to state: The Victorian Opposition has been too weak for too long … As leader of the Liberal Party, the responsibility for the opposition’s performance rests with the opposition leader. But the member for Malvern just cannot seem to be juggling the competing interests within the Liberal Party and the coalition that he leads. He has been seen supporting far-right Liberals in internal ballots; he is pandering to the far right, and we are seeing that.

The Victorian Liberals are a divided team—if one can even call them a team, with the level of disunity and disrespect that is on display around this place. Despite being new to this place, I have been an observer of politics for a long time, and I am confident that the well-known political saying that ‘Disunity is death’ will ring true again for the Victorian Liberals.

Without even an ounce of loyalty to the current opposition leader or the need to keep up appearances, some Liberals are openly displaying their own leadership ambitions and parading around this place believing that they are the heir apparent and the next chosen one. I see the opposition leader as a solitary figure, alone and lonely, walking the corridors by himself while the plotters hold court in Strangers and out on the back terrace. I am assuming it is only a matter of time until it all spills over, and it will not be a good outcome for the member for Malvern or the Liberal Party.

Like many in this house, I grew up in the 1980s and the 1990s, the period of Peacock, Howard, Peacock, Hewson, Downer—

Mr Battin: I have been listening to this intently, and whilst we are talking about numbers, I draw your attention to the state of the house. Quorum formed.

Ms ADDISON: I will continue about growing up and the instability that kept the federal Liberal Party in opposition for 13 years. Last night I spent some time that I will never get back looking at the Liberal Party’s web page. I wish I could say that it was insightful; however, no. But I do note with interest, and I am happy to table this, that the Liberal Party Victoria branch continues to feature—

Mr Battin: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, the Speaker made a ruling in question time recently in relation to the manager of government business around props and asked a member to leave for showing a prop in this place. That became a ruling from him—that if at any time during the sitting people want to use props he will ask them to leave automatically under standing order 124. I ask you to implement that rule for the member for using a prop while speaking in the grievance debate. She has spent more time talking about Liberal Party events and what we are doing than what she should be talking about, which is grievances. The government says it has a positive agenda. Well, if you have got such a positive agenda, stop talking about the Liberal Party—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Gembrook, thank you. Your point of order has been made. The minister at the table on a point of order.

Mr Battin: Excuse me.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Your point of order was made.

Mr Battin: I have not finished my point of order. You cannot stop my point of order.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Gembrook, I am not stopping your point of order. You made your point of order. You were straying from the point of order.

Mr Battin: You cannot stop my point of order.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I was not stopping your point of order, member for Gembrook.

Mr Battin: I will stay until I get the call.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No. I will rule on the point of order, member for Gembrook. You can continue, but on the point of order.

Mr Battin: On the point of order, Deputy Speaker, the condition was made that any time a prop was raised the Speaker would use his power to ask that member to leave. I ask you to rule exactly as the Speaker did in setting that ruling and ask the member to leave the chamber.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I will rule on the point of order. The member for Wendouree said that she would table the document. She was not using it as a prop. The member for Wendouree will table the document.

Mr Burgess: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, following on from the member for Gembrook, the ruling from the Chair was that anybody who waved any prop around in the air would immediately be removed from the chamber. That was the ruling. If your ruling is that that is only going to apply to the opposition, then make that very clear, because if it applies to every member of this house then you must eject this member.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I have already ruled on this point of order. The point of order was raised in relation to a prop. The member for Wendouree said that she had a document that she was willing to table, and the member for Wendouree will table that document. It is not a prop; it is a document.

Mr Battin: On a further point of order, Deputy Speaker, you just said that the member would table the document. However, the process in this place is to seek leave to table a document, which was not sought. You have just said that it would be tabled—

Mr Foley interjected.

Mr Battin: No, the Deputy Speaker said that it would be tabled, and the opposition refused leave for that.

Mr Foley interjected.

Mr Battin: I am just referring to—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Through the Chair, member!

Mr Battin: Deputy Speaker, you just stated that it would be tabled, so I want clarification on that ruling. Is it going to be tabled or is the member seeking leave from the opposition, as per the standing orders of this house?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Wendouree will make the document available to the house.

Ms ADDISON: Thank you very much, Deputy Speaker. I seek to table the document.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No. The member for Wendouree will make the document available to the house.

Ms ADDISON: I will make the document available to the house. The document that I am tabling leads me to the question, ‘Are there forces in Exhibition Street that are seeking a comeback for the member for Bulleen?’, because I think that if anyone wants to inquire about joining the Liberal Party of Victoria, the person on the front of the flyer may indicate a preference by Exhibition Street and the party leaders. That is my point.

Unfortunately I have not had the time I had hoped for to really discuss these ideas about how out of touch they are and how disappointed I am in the current leadership of the Victorian Liberal Party.

 

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