Tuesday, 2 August 2022

Opposition performance

Ms SETTLE (Buninyong) (16:46): I am delighted to stand to speak, Speaker, and I wish to pass my congratulations on. I would like to thank the member for Lowan for calling the election quite so soon for me. Thank you very much; I do look forward to being the member for Eureka.

I am standing to grieve for the people of Victoria, and it is a lot around the preselection process. Perhaps the reason the member for Lowan was so quick to congratulate me is that the Liberal-National parties are yet to select anybody to stand against me. It is a curious situation. I am here to grieve for the more vulnerable in our community, particularly for the LGBTQI community because they must look with absolute horror at the preselection car crash that is going on on the other side. Again and again those opposite select these nasty, divisive people to represent our community. I find that absolutely extraordinary. In 2014 my predecessor stood against a fellow by the name of Ben Taylor. He was very clearly anti abortion, so I do not doubt that they will be talking to Ben Taylor to stand against me again. Someone who has such sort of far-right and extremist views seems to really sit within their cohort of preselected people. I really grieve for our LGBTI community. They must have been in pain when confronted by the news that the Nationals-Liberals had selected someone for Eastern Victoria Region that believes in bringing back dreadful, dreadful conversion therapy.

The member for Lowan talks about mental health. What on earth do they think they are doing to the mental health of the LGBTI community by backing in people, giving a public forum to people that want to bring in some of the most heinous practices that we have ever seen? I find it extraordinary that on the one hand they are happy to dog whistle to the far right and then pretend that they care about the mental health of people in our community.

A member interjected.

Ms SETTLE: Exactly. They were quite happy to stand out the front with people who wanted to see democracy collapse. They were happy to stand out the front and see the virus run rampant, and they stand here now and talk to us about the health system. They talk to us about the mental health system when all they have done, day after day, is undermine the good work of this government to support not just our health system but all Victorians.

Ms Ward: They undermined the health department.

Ms SETTLE: As you say, they undermined endlessly the health department.

But what I also grieve for in some way is the very state of Victoria. We have this wonderful democracy that we all belong to, and I grieve for the state that the role of the opposition has been so denigrated as to make it utterly unelectable. It is a party that sees itself as an alternative government but can allow such hateful views to be aired in its party room and can deny the laws of our state. Even today we hear that they will seek to avoid the donation laws of our state. How can they make the role of opposition, of alternative government, so poor, so denigrated that the people of Victoria have no choice? They have no choice. I really grieve for the state of the Victorian Liberal Party—I mean, I would; I think about grieving for the state of the Liberals in Victoria, but I guess to some degree I say to myself, ‘They made their preselections. They stood there last Sunday and they put their hands up and they voted for people with these abhorrent views’. So I cannot grieve for them. They have made their preselection bed, and now they can lie in their far-right beds. They can lie with dogs with fleas that believe in abhorrent practices.

Now, let us go back to Renee Heath. Very clearly, she has been associated with a church. It was interesting, because the Leader of the Opposition sought to use issues that we hold very dear on this side, which are around females standing for themselves, for their own representation. He used these wonderful quotes—‘Renee is not her father’, ‘Renee is not her uncle’. I am a feminist, absolutely, and stand by her right to be her own self. And her own self—okay, I will grant you, she is not the pastor of this freaky church—is a very happy member of it. Not only is she a happy member but she is happy to seek business. She works for something called Todd Clinics. On their website they offer her up as being very connected with the area of Sale through her connections with that community church. So she is happy to make money, she is happy to tout her business, on the back of that church that worked so hard—worked so hard—against our wonderful ban on conversion therapy. So I am sorry. I agree with the opposition leader; she is not her father, she is not the pastor—but she is a very willing participant.

A member interjected.

Ms SETTLE: Well, I would like to hear what she really believes. If it is true that this is not her position, then let her stand up and say something. She hid from the media after she had been elected—something about it being within the Liberal Party rules. I am not sure what that rule is. There is certainly a need for the community to know: who are they electing? What does she believe? So I would ask the media to ask her every day: does she support conversion therapy? Tell us. Does she support something that is illegal and abhorrent in this state? Ask her every day. And make sure that when you are standing at a booth, when you are out there on election day, you ask her. Ask the people from the other side what their abhorrent views are. Let her tell us the truth then that she stands by.

I think that something that is very important for us all to remember is Albert Camus and the great quote, ‘Democracy is not the law of the majority but the protection of the minority’. We are here to protect people within our community, not to make them pilloried and denied. When we debated the gay conversion therapy legislation what those of us on this side found so hard to deal with was that there was some therapy out there that suggested in any way that people in the LGBTQI community were broken and needed fixing. That is so not true. We on this side stand with our rainbow community. We love them, we see them. I am not denying them their right to love who they do. But those on the other side would have us elect people they put up to represent communities, people who believe that archaic therapies might in some way change them—no medical foundation, nothing whatever, to commend these therapies except pain and hurt.

We had a wonderful health commissioner who looked into this in 2018. She talked about the pain, what they saw when they did the inquiry into gay conversion therapy. It was absolute pain that was caused to people that had been put through that, and lasting pain. I would say to you that those people out there that have been through this hideous and heinous therapy will feel that pain again when they have to look upon someone like Renee Heath, who is supposed to represent communities, standing up there. It will remind them every day of these abhorrent practices. As I say, I have called on her to state her position, but I am also calling on the Liberal-National parties to give us a bit of a clear idea of where they stand on this. They like to hide behind ‘We’re a broad church’. I will agree with the church bit.

A member interjected.

Ms SETTLE: Yes, just one right-wing church. When we were going through the discussions about the conversion therapy, the member for Brighton stood up and he gave us an ‘ironclad guarantee’ that the party would not pursue any changes to those controversial laws. Well, I applaud the member for Brighton. However, we then got leaked some fairly unpleasant audio recordings. Those on the other side sought to use some rude words earlier. I will not, but what I will tell you is that one of the quotes came from the Leader of The Nationals, and he said:

From a Nationals point of view, we will not be supporting James on this position and he can go and get—

bleep—

… simple as that.

The Nationals leader told the meeting this. So on the one hand we have an ironclad guarantee from the member for Brighton. Then we are told that the member for Brighton can go and get bleeped, by the Leader of The Nationals. I just want some clarity on where they actually stand. They flip-flopped endlessly on the east–west link: today they do, tomorrow they do not. My great fear is their position on conversion therapy will be exactly the same.

We all know that the Leader of the Opposition is in a bit of hot water. I would not want to be in his position; he has got some problems. What is he going to promise? What is he going to commit to just to keep the numbers in his party room? That is what is wrong with supporting people like Renee Heath. Look at America—Roe v. Wade. There is not a woman on this side of the house that is not mortified. How did we get something like that happening? In America the eyes were closed and they let extremist views sneak into positions of power. We must not let people sneak into positions of power that hold such extreme views. They will sit in the party room. They will promise the leader their number so that he can survive. And what then for the vulnerable in our community?

I want the Liberal-National parties to stand up and tell us what their position is on conversion therapy. Do they support Renee Heath’s position on this? Do they support the western metro candidate and her abhorrent views on our young LGBTQI community? Why don’t they come clean? As the wonderful member for Eltham said, it is a disgrace that they can march at Pride. They stand there, they march at Pride and then in the same breath they turn around and shoot down those people. They make terrible, terrible preselections that are only bound to deeply hurt and wound the LGBTQI community, to whom we are utterly, utterly committed on this side of the house. I really want them to come clean.

While they are coming clean, how about the Leader of the Opposition comes clean about a few things at once? Let him come clean about his Hotmail account. I would like him to come clean about the reality of some of those emails. What was that original deal that they had agreed to? Why was it that he had to send on his personal email the email to the donor? Look, they might as well just come clean on a few things. Perhaps this is the day that they will finally be up-front. Tell us what you stand for on the other side. Tell us what you stand for. We know what we stand for on this side of Parliament. Our values are clear: fairness and equality. As articulated by the member for Eltham, it is about fairness and equality on the side of the house. What do they stand for on the other side of the house? Dog whistling for whoever will vote for them. All they are after is grubby numbers, and they do not care who they throw under the bus. They do not care about equality and fairness, they do not care about the LGBTQI community, they care about numbers. All they are is a party of opposition. They were formed solely to oppose the Labor Party. This fine party stood up and stood up for working people, and they had to create a party solely for opposition. I look forward to them staying in that position for a very, very long time. And while they continue to preselect people with such abhorrent views, then I am sure that the Victorian people will make sure that they stay in opposition. I say to all Victorians: stand by our community, stand by LGBTQI people. Do not allow people with abhorrent views to enter this house to besmirch the very work that we do in this house. I ask all Victorians to stand up and say no to division and hate.

The SPEAKER: I just remind members—obviously it is a passionate debate today—that the use of ‘you’ and ‘your’ when you are on your feet is a reflection on the Chair. Sometimes I know members forget that because they are very excited about their speech.