5th of February 2025, 3:28 pm
Parliament of Victoria | Legislative Council
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan Region):
I rise to make a contribution to motion 791, on the Werribee by-election, and I thank Mr Mulholland for moving it. It raises a number of issues very close to our hearts – and then I realise it is being moved by the Liberal Party. I do not know how many motions we have raised about the west over the last two years – public transport, justice, services, the environment, multiculturalism, western suburbs Nazis – and with the possible exception of my learned and very respected colleague Mr Trung Luu, we have heard nary a peep of support from Liberal members.
There are big, big issues in the west and in Werribee, but I am afraid this motion smacks of pure political cynicism. The teals have ripped you a new posterior vent in the inner east, and you believe that a Dutton-inspired culture war will rally the working classes of the western and south-east suburbs to deliver some salvation. But I am afraid I think you are dreaming. There is a general understanding across the west that the Liberal Party does not believe that sentient life exists west of the Maribyrnong – or at least not until you get to Torquay.
Mr Mulholland raised the question of the Age and some sources there, so let us talk about the article from Chip Le Grand recently, which starkly exposed the Liberal disconnection from the west. If I might summarise Mr Le Grand, in the second-most multicultural place in Victoria you went for an old white Catholic real estate agent who lives in Essendon. Now, I am sure Mr Murphy is a very nice man, but talk about not reading the room – seriously. You had a potential candidate who could draw from across the Indian diaspora – that is 20 per cent of that electorate – and you went for Mr Murphy. But then of course your 19-member administrative committee does not have a single member who actually lives west of the Maribyrnong, does it? So this sudden concern about the aspirations of the unappreciated residents of Werribee – let us be real – is all crocodile tears. This motion is about embarrassing the Labor Party and shows scant sincerity about the west.
So perhaps to help you shape the remainder of your campaign in the west, because there are still a few days to go, let us talk about some of the issues that really do matter. First, let us talk about law and order. That is a big one. Everyone, first and foremost, has a right to be safe in their own home or in public, but the Liberals keep bleating the same tired slogans and dog whistles – ‘Get tough on crime’, ‘Get more cops on the beat’ – an approach that simply does not work. Then there is this tired dog whistle about youth crime waves. Show me where simply having more police on the beat enforcing the law more vigorously has done anything to fundamentally improve public safety.
A couple of points: one, there is a shortage of police not just in Werribee but also across Victoria and across Australia, so where are you going to get these police from? Secondly, the best way to keep young people out of trouble is to keep them engaged in their community and have them finish school and get a job. It is also much cheaper. It costs $6000 a year to keep a young person in school, but it costs $7700 a day to have that same kid down the road at the Cherry Creek corrections centre. You could triple the spend on keeping youth engaged, supported and in school and reduce crime and save money at the same time.
On a subject close to my own heart, can I observe that Wyndham loves cannabis. On a warm night in late summer you can walk down many a street in Werribee or Wyndham Vale and breathe in the delightful aroma of ripening homegrown weed, yet we spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on criminalising the simple possession of weed. This is not about commercial dealing or growing. We are simply talking about having it on you or growing a couple of plants in the backyard. What is criminal is the waste of taxes on policing, and I know from speaking with local police that they hate enforcing these laws. What is more, if you are a multicultural or Aboriginal member of the community – and that is a lot of folks in this electorate – you are eight times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession and half as likely to be offered diversion. While we are on law and order I would also say that the locals are very disappointed that they will soon host the second-largest court complex in the state but still have to travel to Sunshine or the city to access specialist court services, because the government is not proposing to adequately resource them.
Secondly, on traffic and public transport, the shocking state of traffic in Werribee is testament to the atrocious planning and underinvestment in roads and public transport by both major parties over many decades. Let us face it, the Western Rail Plan and the western bus plan for the western suburbs are largely off the rails and must be reset, resourced and prioritised by this government. But improvements can be made right now, particularly to public transport; fast, frequent and reliable buses connecting residents to major activity centres and train stations can be done almost immediately. The Better Buses campaign, which we have championed for 18 months, provides a rapid way to make major improvements. One bus can take 50 cars off the road, so it has major benefits in terms of cost of living as well as environmental issues. In the west, talking about cost of living, it is worth remembering that the average household has a little under three cars per household. The motion refers to the Suburban Rail Loop West. Honestly, I have talked to a lot of people about public transport over the last two years in the west, and no-one has ever mentioned it. There is, however, a very strong feeling that there are tens of billions of dollars being dropped into a hole in the ground for a couple of train stations when people in the west would basically like a decent train service with decent buses that connect to it.
In terms of housing, that is a big issue. The cost and availability of housing in Werribee is much like it is across Melbourne, but there are some unique issues that arise from being the fastest growing corridor in Australia. We get a heap of complaints from people who have bought into new estates on the promise of a range of marvellous services, retail outlets and access to public transport, only to find the developers have delivered little or nothing. One large estate in the west was promised public transport and a shopping centre and five years later has nothing to show for it. Another estate was promised an aquatics centre, and they got a pond. I jest not, they got a pond. We have raised this repeatedly in this Parliament, and all we have got is the offer of one referral from a minister to Consumer Affairs Victoria. We will be looking to bring amendments to the Parliament that will force developers to document the services they use in their sales pitch and make them enforceable.
Fourthly, services: the provision of services and infrastructure in Werribee has profoundly failed to keep pace with its growth. On almost any indicator the western suburbs are underfunded compared to the eastern suburbs. This is largely because the Labor Party takes it for granted, believing it to be a safe seat, and the Libs do not really get that anything matters west of the Maribyrnong. All we seek is the same level of investment in infrastructure and services as all those politically marginal seats in the eastern suburbs. To give but one example, swimming pools are chronically underprovided in the west, where temperatures can be 10 degrees higher than in the east. The City of Wyndham has just one aquatic and recreation centre for every 48,000 young people. That compares to one for every 5000 young people in the City of Melbourne, and we can point to any number of other services that are in exactly the same position.
I will conclude with two points. Firstly, we know the west is the best, but it gets so much less. The reality is that the government needs to recognise this and act on it, or 2026 will be an electoral disaster. Secondly, in terms of the motion from the opposition, you may have raised a few issues that are of concern to the people of Werribee and some that, frankly, just are not, but you offer nothing meaningful by way of positive change. You offer opportunistic criticisms and glib one-liners but no solutions and no commitments to actually improving the lives of folks in the west. Accordingly, Legalise Cannabis Victoria will not be supporting the motion.
[Ends]
