Today I wish to thank president Elangovan Shanmugam and members of the executive of the Ballarat Indian Association for the opportunity to celebrate Diwali with the Ballarat Indian community on the weekend.

The Allan Labor Government is getting on with delivering quality social and affordable homes across regional Victoria for those who need them most. Since the start of the Big Housing Build in November 2020, the Labor Government and our community housing partners have invested more than $1 billion in projects in regional Victoria, with close to 3,000 homes either complete or underway.

I too am very pleased to speak in support of the Gambling Legislation Amendment Bill 2023, following on from many excellent contributions from this side of the house, particularly the member for Eureka, who shared her lived experience of gambling harm and the impact that it had on her family. It is for families like hers and so many others that we are introducing these changes.

My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, and the action I seek is for the minister to visit my electorate of Wendouree and meet with representatives from the Wadawurrung traditional owners corporation and the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative.

Congratulations to Ballarat Girl Guides on celebrating 100 years of guiding in Ballarat. It was wonderful to join with Catherine King, the mayor and generations of Ballarat Girl Guides to celebrate their centenary in our community.

It was an honour to attend the Rotary Wendouree breakfast club meeting last week at the Grand Ballarat.

Visitors from near and far can now wet their whistles with whisky, gin and vodka at Ballarat’s biggest distillery Itinerant Spirits, thanks to support from the Allan Labor Government. Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison today represented Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos to tour the new state-of- the-art venue, which opened to the public last week.

I thank the Member for Wendouree for her question relating to the benefits of going all electric, especially for those in Victoria’s west enduring yet another cold winter.

I commend Karen Heap, CEO and her excellent team at the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative (BADAC) for their hard work and commitment in providing critical care services to the Aboriginal community of Ballarat and surrounding areas.

I rise to speak in support of the Bail Amendment Bill 2023, which makes changes to Victoria’s bail laws to ensure that those accused of minor offending are not subject to harsh bail tests, while at the same time ensuring strict bail tests remain for those who pose a risk to community safety.

Victoria’s young lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex and queer communities will have more safe spaces and crucial mental health supports with QHub in Geelong and Ballarat with outreach to Surf Coast.

Seven Country Fire Authority (CFA) brigades in Western Victoria are now home to new heavy tankers ahead of the upcoming fire season as part of a $3.2 million investment from the Andrews Labor Government.

More than 2,500 Ballarat drivers are using Victoria’s first digital driver licences as the local pilot builds momentum ahead of a statewide rollout.

Students in Wendouree and across Victoria are benefitting from the Government’s $738 million Tutor Learning Initiative, the single largest investment in targeted learning support in Victoria’s history.

My constituency question is for the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, and I am glad she is in the house. Minister, how is our government listening to Aboriginal Victorians and enacting what they need to determine their own future?

Congratulations to Elizabeth Lewis-Gray, who has been honoured at the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Awards for services to industry for her work as co-founder and chair of Gekko Systems

Well done to Ballarat Clarendon College students Katie Jackson and Lucy Richardson on their success at the World Rowing Under 19 Championships in Paris