My matter is for the Police Minister. It follows last week’s arrests (through Operation Molto) of 44 Australian members of an international paedophile ring, including 11 Victorians, on mass charges of possession of extreme child exploitation material.
Tania Maxwell MP, Member for Northern Victoria, hopes the upcoming State Budget will include substantial funding for early intervention in child and family welfare.
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.
