Social issues

I pay my respects to Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, their elders past, present and future. I wish to acknowledge the generosity of the Uluru Statement of the Heart and my support for an Indigenous voice to parliament that will enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to provide…

Another Australia Day has been and gone demonstrating that our history provokes a range of emotional responses – pride, sorrow, happiness, anger and guilt. If you accept – as I do – that the Australian frontier was a violent place, and many aboriginal lives were lost in this violence, and…

Decisions made by government affect all of us, every day of our lives. That’s why we must be able to hold politicians and public servants accountable for their decisions. To do this effectively, we require transparency. We need transparency and accountability from all who work in government and in public…

There is fury about the impact Glenn Druery’s preference deals will have on the State election. Yet independent candidates whose How to Vote Card do not indicate any preferences, encouraging voters to decide for themselves how to allocate preferences, were threatened with jail. From the sublime to the ridiculous.  …

Letter 1 Everywhere I look, I see advertisements for Zoe McKenzie – on billboards, on fences and in this newspaper. But where are her policies? Does she support the Liberal party’s lack of action to avert a climate catastrophe? What does she think about her party’s failure to honour their…

My vision is to be a strong voice for our community on issues that matter to people who live on the Mornington Peninsula. Last week Australians bore witness to what has been described as “one of the most extreme disasters in our colonial history.” This was not a natural weather…

I pay my respects to Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, their elders past, present and future. I extend my respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait people here tonight. The resilience and wisdom of your culture is our nation’s greatest treasure. I also wish to acknowledge that sovereignty has…