I rise to speak on the Inquiries Amendment (Special Prosecutor) Bill 2026. 

A bill about ensuring integrity and accountability are at the heart of the delivery of major government-funded projects. 

It establishes the office of the Special Prosecutor to work alongside the Royal Commission into the integrity of major public and civil infrastructure construction projects in Victoria. 

My question is to the Minister for Public Transport.

How is the government working to deliver more regular outbound Hurstbridge Line services during the weekday evening peak, so Fairfield, Alphington and Westgarth locals have more frequent and reliable options to get home from the city?

My adjournment is to the Minister for Housing and Homelessness.

I ask the Minister to seek confirmation from Nightingale Housing that the walking and cycling connection proposed as part of the 1A Hamilton Street development in Alphington, will be designed and delivered to fulfil its intended role as a C2 main route within Victoria’s Strategic Cycling Corridors.

First, I want to acknowledge what is a very positive project for our community.

People should not have to face threats or intimidation or violence just for doing their jobs and for serving people, so Labor does not accept that violence and abuse are simply part of doing the job.

That belief sits within a much longer record that we have in Victoria.

When we have seen gaps in the protections available to working people, the Victorian Labor government has acted.

How can our planning framework better moderate the proliferation of fast-food outlets like the McDonald’s slated for Northcote, and instead promote healthier communities?

as Parliamentary Secretary for Women’s Health I heard powerful and often heartbreaking stories from women whose pain began in childhood or adolescence but who were dismissed, ignored or told that severe pain was simply a normal part of being a girl.

The reality is that Victorian businesses and workers have embraced hybrid work arrangements. More than a third of Victorians already work from home regularly, and the data tells us that it improves workforce participation. It is not a perk. It is an essential part of adapting and evolving our modern economy into one that also enables livability, because we are not just economic units, we are people.

all that we have built here in Victoria under a long-term Labor government, a government that has spent the time and done the work and made the investment to deliver some of the best education outcomes that our state has seen.

That includes Victorian students having the best NAPLAN results in the country, better than any other time on record.

It includes our historic investment in our nation-leading disability inclusion program, and this is something that I speak to schools a lot about.

I have been proud to support the Northcote stationeers for many years, including advocating successfully for Metro to install taps so volunteers do not have to lug buckets of water to keep young plantings alive.

Led by Sharon, Alun, Ann, Stewart, Susan, Cathy, Jill and many more active volunteers, they have spent over a decade transforming Northcote station.

They have planted, pruned, weeded, watered and mulched to make a lush garden cherished by our community.

This is what good transport reform looks like. It is not one project, it is not one road or one mode. It is a network, it is safety, it is freight, buses, bikes, walking, enforcement, maintenance and accountability all working together in an integrated system.

Today is Budget Day and there’s a lot to be excited about in Northcote. 

Wales Street Primary School is getting a major upgrade, backed by over $21 million to deliver a new gym, library and classrooms. 

Solving the housing crisis means increasing supply, but it also means building the right homes, homes that are safe, secure and built to last; homes that people can confidently invest in; homes that draw on our knowledge of sustainability and good design; and homes that strengthen communities for the long term.

Northcote has incredible community spirit.

School fetes have been buzzing at Bell, Northcote and Wales Street primaries thanks to the immense effort of our school communities.

At St Mary’s primary Ride2School Day had kids learning lifelong healthy habits. Big thanks to principal Mary Kearney for inviting me along.

Last Saturday, in the rain, dozens of families joined our annual Easter egg hunt in All Nations Park, which I host with Ged Kearney. It was wet and fun, and the kids had a ball as we raised funds for the Good Friday Appeal.

There is no conversation right now that is more important than the one that we are collectively having on housing.

It is one of the defining challenges facing Victoria as our population grows, and it goes to the heart of how we support people right now and how we plan for the future.

My adjournment is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. I ask the minister to facilitate a meeting between her office, the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) and local stakeholders to discuss traffic safety concerns in Thornbury raised through a parliamentary petition.

Deputy Speaker, last week Victorians watched the Four Corners investigation and heard allegations that were incredibly shocking.

Women seeking care for endometriosis, instead describing profound betrayal.  

These are women living with debilitating pain - seeking answers, relief, and the chance to reclaim their lives.

They placed their trust in someone to help them heal. Instead, they describe a profound misuse of power, mistreatment, and lifelong harm.

Most of us cannot fathom the depth of their anguish, nor the enormity of their courage in speaking out.

how will Victoria’s new violence reduction unit work with communities such as Northcote to prevent youth violence before it starts and deliver safer, stronger futures for local families?

I am also really proud to be standing up in support of this bill which recognises a pretty simple truth – that is, that when a child is at risk responsibility does not neatly fit into one department or one portfolio.

Decisions made in housing, health, education, justice and transport shape the lives of vulnerable children every day, and when those systems are not aligned, families feel the gaps and children pay the price. This bill looks to close those gaps by making supporting vulnerable children and families a shared responsibility across the Victorian government.

My adjournment is to the Minister for Education. I ask the minister to provide me with an update on what the Allan Labor government is doing to combat antisemitism through the education system. This week we rose to express our deep condolences to the victims of the antisemitic attack in Bondi, to their families and to the Jewish community across Australia

I am really pleased to rise to speak on the Health Safeguards for People Born with Variations in Sex Characteristics Bill 2025. As the title suggests, the bill relates to people who are born with physical sex characteristics that do not fit typical definitions or understandings of male or female bodies. These variations are a natural part of human diversity and occur in up to 1.7 per cent of all births.

How will families in Northcote benefit from the Allan Labor government’s reforms to enable trained GPs to diagnose and treat ADHD in children and adults?

James Tsindos was 17 years old when he unknowingly ate food containing cashews and died in hospital from anaphylaxis.

His loss shattered his family, his friends, and the broader community who loved him.

In the aftermath, James’s parents Harry and Veneta, have sought answers.

And through their grief have worked to raise awareness about food allergies - which now impact around 1 in 10 babies, 1 in 20 teens and 1 in 50 adults in Australia.

I rise to speak in strong support of the Restricting Non-Disclosure Agreements (Sexual Harassment at Work) Bill 2025.

This Bill is about addressing a power imbalance and putting the voices of victim-survivors first. It is about giving people back agency and choice after experiences that took both away. It is about breaking down a culture that has, for too long, silenced those who have been harmed in order to protect those who caused that harm.

My adjournment is for the Minister for Housing, and the action I seek is that the Minister join me in Northcote to officially open the new social homes our Labor Government has built at Walker Street.

This project is a powerful example of what good government looks like in the midst of a housing crisis. For too long, the old public housing estate at Walker Street stood in poor condition - buildings more than fifty years old, cold in winter and sweltering in summer, with no proper heating, cooling or disability access.

My question is to the Minister for Energy and Resources.

How many households in the Northcote Electorate have applied for the Allan Labor Government’s latest Power Saving Bonus?

I rise in support of the amendment proposed by the member for Kew, who has worked in very close collaboration with the member for Monbulk to put this forward. In essence, it gives consideration to the risks around allowing broader AHPRA-registered health practitioners to initiate conversations about voluntary assisted dying, as opposed to medical specialists and nurse practitioners, owing to the differentials in experience and setting in which those two cohorts operate.

My adjournment is to the Minister for Planning.

I ask the Minister to explain how community feedback on the draft planning maps for the Thornbury train and tram zone will inform the final maps, to better reflect the nuance and context of the local area.

Thornbury is one of Melbourne’s most distinctive inner-north communities – where trains, trams, cafés and creativity meet.

Speaker, when I was first elected to this Parliament, I came with some priorities.

One of those priorities was to be a voice for real action on climate change: to work within a government to advance our efforts towards clean energy, a circular economy, and critically – strong environmental protections.

It’s something felt deeply within my community of the inner north – and an ethos I’ve grown up with as a lifetime local.

My question is to the Minister for Victims: How is the Victorian Government assisting victims of crime to recover financially from offences committed against them?

Speaker, I acknowledge Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations as the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet and on which the Northcote Electorate is encompassed.

I pay my deep respects to their Elders past and present; to their culture and connection to the lands and waters; to their strength, resilience and enduring spirit.