My contribution on this Bill will be relatively short. I am making it for two main purposes. The first is to state that Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party will be supporting the Bill. We are doing so because we think it is an important way of helping to enhance the scope and quality of the Victorian response to flammable cladding issues.
My matter is for the Attorney-General. It follows the recent County Court decision, in a judge-only trial, that found Jackson Williams not guilty of the charge of assault with intent to commit a sexual offence. Williams was charged after attacking a nurse in the Melbourne CBD in October 2018.
Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party is – of course – supportive of this Bill. The legislation takes, as its central inspiration, a clear recommendation from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. That recommendation (recommendation 13.3) was aimed at reducing the sexual abuse of children in boarding schools. Accordingly, both that recommendation and the Bill most certainly have our endorsement.
I had the pleasure to meet online with Jackie and Bob Carpenter, founders of the award-winning team at One Giant Leap Australia who deliver numerous engaging STEM programs across Australia.
My question is to the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. It follows the Government’s release last week of part of the revised business case for the completion of the Murray Basin Rail Project that is so important to so many people in my electorate of Northern Victoria.
My question, to the Consumer Affairs Minister, relates to a Benalla landlord who is losing tens of thousands of dollars because of the changed renting laws during the COVID period.
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Corrections. On 16 September, in this Parliament, I aired a series of revelations about the (scandalous) situation at the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre that high-speed internet access had become frequently and widely available to detainees. Among many other consequences, this had, disgracefully, allowed dozens of detainees to regularly download and view pornographic material, including on their expensive, personal, taxpayer-funded laptops.
My matter is for the Minister for Sport. It’s about the interaction of the Government’s COVID-19 reopening roadmap with the activities of sporting clubs in regional Victoria.
