Takeover Shepparton

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Members Statement: For a whole week year 9 students across the whole of Shepparton took part in the Takeover Shepparton activities promoted by VicHealth and the ABC. Young people prepared stories. They could be written or delivered by audio or video. I had the opportunity of going to see many of the videos at the Village Cinemas in Shepparton. I enjoyed learning about the stories of our young people, the problems they face and how they overcame major obstacles such as mental health concerns, disabilities and learning difficulties. They told stories about excelling in sports and the arts; succeeding in unusual jobs; and facing adversity, such as homelessness and teen parenthood, and they did that with amazing frankness. Shepparton has a large population of young people, and to see and hear and read those stories that they bravely told will give us all an insight into their world and will also help other young people who have yet to experience many of the issues that they have faced. It was an outstanding effort by the ABC’s Triple J and VicHealth to promote opportunities for young people to prepare and record their stories for radio or film and have them aired across the country, and they are readily available on ABC websites. It created a platform for students across the regions to be heard. The diversity was extraordinary and so was the bravery. Many talked about connecting to culture. One young man, an autistic young man, told about starting his own honey business.

Suzanna Sheed

Treaty Authority and Other Treaty Elements Bill 2022

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Second reading speech:

I rise to make a contribution on the Treaty Authority and Other Treaty Elements Bill 2022. It is the preamble to this bill which sets out so clearly the objective and wider intent of this piece of legislation, and I quote from it as follows:

By this Act, Aboriginal Victorians and the State take another step on the pathway towards treaty by making provision in relation to the Treaty Authority. The Treaty Authority is a necessary element in advancing the treaty process and has the functions given by section 28 of the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018. To perform these functions, the Treaty Authority must be, and must be perceived to be, independent from and free of interference by any party to the treaty process. To secure this independence, the Treaty Authority is established by the Treaty Authority Agreement made under Part 4 of the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018.

It has been a very long, hard journey for the Aboriginal people of Australia to achieve recognition, land rights, native title and now a process towards treaty making. This journey has been hard fought and filled with disappointment along the way, but communities here in Victoria have never given up hope, and they have continued to work hard to get to this point today where we are debating a very important bill that is part of that process.

Many of the major steps forward have occurred during my lifetime. Everyone will be aware of the 1967 referendum, which was successful in effectively transferring responsibility for many aspects of Aboriginal affairs to the commonwealth government and acknowledging the citizenship of Aboriginal people in a formal sense. That did not come easy. That was after years and years of demonstrations, of activism and of leadership in those early years that many of us will remember, and there are many famous names from that time.

In the 1970s as a young law graduate I went to Darwin to work with the then commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department and the Northern Territory Department of Law. This was a time of significant change, because the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 had just been passed by the federal Parliament. This was the first piece of federal legislation that provided the basis upon which Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory could claim rights to land based on traditional occupation. The outcome of a successful land rights claim under that legislation usually meant the transfer of freehold property or a perpetual lease title to the Indigenous people who were making that claim. I learned a great deal during those years about the traditional lores, practices and land ownership of people in the Northern Territory during that time and particularly during the Warlpiri land claim, which was over an area near Alice Springs and included the Tanami Desert.

We will all remember the Mabo case, which made its way through the courts in the 1980s. It challenged two perspectives of the Australian legal system: (1) that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had no concept of land ownership before colonisation, and (2) that British sovereignty over Australia surrendered the ownership of all land to the Crown and abolished any existing rights that existed in land. This case was so significant to the development of native title law as it recognised the land rights of the Meriam people, traditional owners of the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait. It was on 3 June 1992 that the Australian High Court overturned almost 200 years of law in this landmark case. Just this year Aboriginal Australians are celebrating the 30th anniversary of this land rights case and the developments that have taken place since then. This case formed the basis for the passage of the Native Title Act in 1993 in the federal Parliament.

Many native title cases have followed over the years throughout that ensuing time, and some have even gone to the High Court—the Yorta Yorta case, the Witt case. There are many, and many of them were across northern Australia. The Yorta Yorta case was the first of the native title claims to be made under the Native Title Act on mainland Australia. The lands of the Yorta Yorta and Bangerang people and the many other nations that come within the fold of that title are located in north-central Victoria between the Goulburn River and the Murray River. This was a case where the Yorta Yorta people sought exclusive possession and ownership of the land and waters within the boundaries of the land that they claimed. It was a claim made in one of the earliest and most highly settled areas of Australia and was ultimately unsuccessful, dismissed by the High Court in 2002 after many years of hearings. I was present throughout much of that case, which extended over many weeks, months and ultimately years. In the early months of those hearings we spent a great deal of time on the banks of the Goulburn River, the Murray River, Cummeragunja over towards Wangaratta—right across country—with the Federal Court setting up in those places every day and hearing from many elders of people who are no doubt ancestors of many of you here today.

It was an extraordinary process to gather so much knowledge and evidence from the people who were the elders then. It is an absolute treasure trove of information that the Yorta Yorta and all those other groups and nations who form part of the Yorta Yorta should have access to through court files, because it really goes to that issue of connection and identity. Sometimes, as the years move on, people forget the treasures that exist in terms of information and knowledge so people can trace back and connect to who their families were in situations where they may have become disconnected in many ways. I think we all acknowledge here that that connection to culture and land is just so incredibly important. The test of native title was just so unrealistic in so many ways, and native title has really not been the answer that people might have thought it would be when that legislation was passed back in 1993. Many of the claims that followed had some outcomes, but they certainly did not deliver in the way Aboriginal people across Australia had hoped that it would.

In 2010 Victoria passed the Victorian Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010. Other states have passed similar legislation. It is a poor relation to native title, but it nevertheless exists here in Victoria, and it has provided the opportunity and pathway for traditional owners to make claims to land and get some recognition. In my electorate we have the Barmah National Park. The Yorta Yorta have an agreement with the government that cedes the management of that national park to the Yorta Yorta people, and the government have generously funded many steps along the way to enable that to become a very significant part of the process. The journey for land recognition has been a very long one, and right across Victoria I know of much of the pain that has gone into many cases. I have been on the periphery of the Gunditjmara case, the Gunaikurnai case and many others that have gone on throughout Victoria.

I think it is just so important that we are here today talking about treaty, about walking side by side with the Aboriginal people of our community, because it is really saying we acknowledge that this journey has been so hard and so painful, and that so many people have been lost in so many ways along the way. To all of you who are sitting here today, the leadership you have shown is extraordinary, and I just encourage you to stay strong and keep doing it because working towards treaty is the next step. I have sort of outlined the many steps that have been there along the way, and this is the next step. Let us hope that in some ways this is a light at the end of the tunnel. Let us hope that agreements can be reached. Let us hope that on a national level there will be the leadership that is required to make the acknowledgements, to look at the Uluru Statement from the Heart, to listen to Aboriginal people’s voices and to let them have a significant say in the running of the whole country but particularly in relation to their own self-determination. It is a journey. It is a hard one, but it is about time, and I certainly commend this bill to the house as part of that very important journey.

Suzanna Sheed MP, dressed in black business dress and white blazer site at a library table surrounded by papers.

Shepparton electorate

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Constituency question: My constituency question is for the Minister for Health. Healthcare workers in the private health system have shared with me that they felt very left out in that they were not included in the healthcare worker winter retention and surge payments of $3000 recently announced by the Victorian government. Throughout the pandemic there has been a partnership between the Victorian government and private hospitals to assist public hospitals by taking public patients when necessary, and this has certainly happened in Shepparton between Goulburn Valley Health and Shepparton Private Hospital. It has also assisted the state government to get through elective surgery backlogs. One medical employee said she often worked late, did extra shifts and was called back to make sure public patients received the services they needed in the private system. She did this because she cares about the health of everyone in the community, not whether they are public or private, and feels that it is unfair that the $3000 was not extended to them. Will the minister consider extending this payment to private sector employees?

Suzanna Sheed MP sitting in Parliament house looking at camera. Camera is positioned above her in the House.

Non-government business program

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Question without notice:

Ms CUPPER (Mildura):  Thank you, Speaker. My question is for the independent member for Shepparton. Why is there a need to debate the procedural motion in the member’s notice of motion 40 on the notice paper, which seeks amendments to the standing orders to make provision for a non-government business program in this house?
Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! As the member for Mildura probably knows, there is a narrow ability for members to ask questions of other members around the timing of matters that are on the notice paper. So the member for Shepparton will answer the question in a manner that fits within the forms of the house—that is, in relation to the timing of the matter that she has got on the notice paper.

Answer: Ms SHEED (Shepparton): I thank the member for Mildura for this outstanding question. This is a matter that has been on the notice paper for a very long time, just as have many other notices of motion that are on the notice paper, and in this place we do not get the opportunity to debate those notices of motion. I am raising this issue now because it is a question of the time. There are five weeks left of this Parliament. I have been raising this issue in this place for a very, very long time. Everybody knows that I have been raising this issue for a very long time. This is the only lower house of any Parliament in Australia that does not make provision for a non-government business program. The time has come for that to be reinstated. There has been a long journey of removing the capacity of this lower house to provide members on this side of the house the ability to represent their electorates and to bring matters before this house—to, for instance, introduce a private members bill. So there are many, many things that we are not allowed to do on this side of the house because we have lost that capacity to have a non-government business program. With only five weeks left, with a federal election that has just occurred, people might think that it is strange that an independent has asked another independent a question, but let me tell you, no less than the current Prime Minister did the same thing in the federal Parliament some 20 years ago. If this is the only way that an independent member or indeed anyone on this side of the house can raise certain issues, then that is not good enough, and it is time that everyone in this place took note of the fact that it is not a true exercise of democracy that is happening here. There are things that have occurred over a long period, a period when back in the 1990s during the Kennett government a government business program was imposed and gradually the non-government business program was whittled away to the point now where we do not have one. That has a massive impact on everyone on this side of the house, on independents—and, let me tell you, the independents are on the march. We have just seen that in a federal election with the biggest crossbench in the federal Parliament—

The SPEAKER: The member is going to need to come back to timing and procedure.

Ms SHEED: that we have ever seen. So these issues are critical. This has been on the notice paper for a long time, and I have tried to raise it in many other forums. I ask the government to hear it.

Supplementary Question: Ms CUPPER (Mildura): My supplementary question to the member is: what are the implications of not bringing on a debate on notice of motion 40 on the notice paper in the member for Shepparton’s name?

The SPEAKER: Order! I remind the member that in answering the question she needs to limit her remarks to timing and procedure.

Answer: Ms SHEED: I am indebted to the member for Mildura for again asking such an important question in relation to the operation of this house and to the fact that the timing of this has really become critical, with only five weeks left in this Parliament for this issue to be debated. In so many other houses people on this side have the opportunity to raise issues. I often think of the independent member for Murray in the New South Wales Parliament, who has been able to introduce bills before the lower house of her Parliament—important water bills, important issues around what matters to her community. It is truly time for us to have a look at how this place runs, and this issue that I have put on the notice paper—number 40—sets out the changes that need to be made. I would absolutely call on the government to take notice and do this.

Shepparton Foodshare

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Members Statement

Wednesday night I, along with many supporters from the community, attended the Shepparton Foodshare sixth annual Make a Meal of June fundraising dinner at the Woolshed. After two years of not being able to have this fundraising dinner, people were keen to get together and were very generous in contributing together with sponsors to the $75 000 raised to go towards the major building project of a permanent home for Shepparton Foodshare. This important project has been on the agenda for some time, and with a fantastic donation of the land in Mooroopna by the Andreadis family the plans are being drawn up in the hope that the project will be able to proceed soon. The federal government has contributed $600 000 towards the project, and I have been advocating strongly to the Victorian government to match that funding to enable building to commence.

Foodshare has operated in a large warehouse donated by the Geoff Thompson group, but as their business expands Foodshare’s tenure is limited. During the lockdown in Shepparton last year Foodshare played a critical role in receiving and distributing large donations of food relief, and the impacts on so many of the people have been widely spoken of when people were not able to go to work or school. Like so many organisations it is the volunteers who are the heart and soul. The volunteers will tell you that they love their work, that they know that the contribution they make is actually making a difference in people’s lives and that they enjoy the camaraderie of giving back to the community. I invite the minister to attend Shepparton Foodshare’s current site and hear about the plans for the new home.

Shepparton electorate

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Constituency Question: My question is for the Minister for Mental Health. We have become acutely aware over the last two years of the impact that the pandemic has had on mental health for the whole community and in particular for young people. This has been exhibited in a number of ways, including an increased presentation of eating disorders and even suicides. Molly, a young constituent of mine, has raised her concerns with me about access to mental health services. In the Shepparton district there are no inpatient facilities for children and adolescents. The closest option is at Eastern Health in Box Hill. With the significant investment of $163 million for a new mental health unit at Goulburn Valley Health announced in the recent budget, can the minister advise whether there will be a capacity in that new mental health unit for inpatient services for children and adolescents who need such services in their own town?

Suzanna Sheed MP, dressed in black business dress and white blazer site at a library table surrounded by papers.

Appropriation (2022-2023) Bill 2022

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I am very pleased to rise and speak on the Appropriation (2022–2023) Bill 2022 and the Appropriation (Parliament 2022–2023) Bill 2022. In delivering his speech to the Victorian Parliament the Treasurer first of all turned to thanking the health workers in the state of Victoria for the outstanding work that they have done—doctors, nurses, paramedics, so many healthcare workers. He thanked them sincerely, and I want to echo those thanks, especially to those in the region that I represent, in the Shepparton district, across all the hospitals—Goulburn Valley Health, Nathalia, Cobram, Numurkah and so many other health services—where people went to work every day. They did not stay at home and test out sourdough recipes, they did not do a whole range of other things that people did in their early lockdown stages or on the continuing ones; they just showed up to work. They had to make arrangements for their families to be cared for, they had to make arrangements for homeschooling, and they showed up to work. And not only did they do the work that they were rostered to do, they did so much more. For so long hundreds of workers were furloughed out of the hospital system as the virus went through those healthcare facilities, but they showed up and they did the work. So to them I think we owe so much, and it is great to see that this budget, the Victorian state budget 2022–23, really recognises the importance of health across the whole spectrum.

As chair of the Pandemic Declaration Accountability and Oversight Committee I have heard about the mental health impacts that the pandemic has had right across the board. I think it was really good to hear the chief psychiatrist for Victoria say that everybody—everybody—has been impacted in some way in relation to their mental health by the pandemic. It is really very timely and wise that we should all consider that in the way we think, the way we behave, the way we look after ourselves and in the way we look after others. So to see a budget that has dedicated a very large sum of money to the improvement of health services in this state is welcome.

Going down to a local level, I am so pleased to see that the Goulburn Valley Health mental health service has received $163 million to completely rebuild its mental health service, and to add to that, an extra 15 beds so that we should end up with about 35 or 36 dedicated mental health inpatient beds in the region. I can tell you that Shepparton and the region actively took part in making representations to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.

So many people from our region attended in Shepparton at a number of the consultations that I went to and told their stories—not only patients but nurses, doctors and a whole range of people who are impacted by that. I can truly say that there has been a very worrying trend in our region in relation to mental health and complaints about not being able to get timely mental health service access when it is needed, and that has been around for a long time. There is no doubt that it has been more severe during COVID, and we have seen a worrying trend in young people taking their lives in our region. It has been written about in the Herald Sun. It is something that we really want our community to focus on, to look at and to advocate for services for. That is certainly what I have done, and I think that the expansion of Goulburn Valley Health by this new service will be outstanding.

In addition to that we also got funding—which was very, very long in coming, might I say; the plan was conceived in 1997—for what we then called a mother-baby unit and is now called an early parenting centre. There is $25 million in this budget to build a dedicated early parenting centre with 10 beds that will provide a broad range of services to families of very young children, so whether it be the fact that you have had to leave hospital after 48 hours and you need ongoing support and residential support, a facility that could accommodate that, or whether it be a range of other problems that might develop in the early weeks and months after taking a new baby home from hospital—sleeping, ill-health issues, even postnatal depression in parents. And it is not just women, it is men too. It is about being able to build the mental health services into that range of services and of course forming strong partnerships with many of the services that we still have in the region. We have great plans for that. It has been an advocacy piece that has gone on for so long, and so many people have stood by it. The Goulburn Valley Health Foundation has $1.5 million that has always been kept and has remained there for this particular facility to ensure that we could put it with whatever government gave us one day to make a truly outstanding facility. So the foundation and everyone on it is to be congratulated for holding that money, investing that money and seeing it grow to the point where we will now be able to use it on a facility that really will service the needs of our community. We know that we have very low breastfeeding rates in our community, a lot of teenage births in our community—really a range of risk indicators for parenthood that often lead to disadvantage if the appropriate services cannot be hooked in at an early stage.

I am also just so pleased to see that the Verney Road School received an investment of $24 million in its upgrade. That is our special school, and last year $1 million was allocated for a feasibility study for that school. It was originally built for about 70 students. It has had about 200 plus in it, and it has a waiting list. So to relocate that to the old Wanganui secondary school and to refurbish that building as a purpose-built facility for those special needs children and young people will be an outstanding outcome. They will have so much more space. They will have classrooms, play areas, ovals—so much more by way of facilities than they previously had on what was a very small, contained site.

We have been given an investment of $250 million for 12 VLocity train services for both the Shepparton and Warrnambool lines, and I think those of us who travel on train from time to time—and many travel regularly on regional trains—will have seen that the upgrade of the line has been taking place. There have been platforms lengthened at Mooroopna and Nagambie. There has been a passing track, a very long passing track, constructed at Murchison so that there will be the capacity for trains to pass, and particularly, as it is also a freight line, to deal with those sorts of trains. This was a campaign that started before I was elected and was very much a part of my election campaign and advocacy on an ongoing basis, and it truly came from the community. It is fantastic to see that it is rolling out and that we are getting to the point where now we can truly expect to see nine VLocity trains a day each weekday in and out of Shepparton—a train approximately every 2 hours, depending on timetabling. So it is just an extraordinary uplift from what we had and what we have now to what we will see.

The Goulburn Valley Highway intersection at Graham Street in Shepparton is now an incredibly busy one, and there was funding put in by the government to see that upgraded. That will need lights. On the corner is Goulburn Valley Health, and the investment it has already had in the build of the new five-storey tower, the emergency department and a whole range of other facilities and upgrades that have occurred there have made it a very busy place. Traffic management there is essential. With the addition now of the mental health service it is a significant upgrade that will again create that sort of traffic pressure that does need to be dealt with. There is much more that needs to be done at Goulburn Valley Health. There is a stage 2. There is the need for a cancer centre. There is a proposal for a clinical school, which the federal government, the National Party, had committed to, and I am not sure whether that will continue or not.

Also we have in Shepparton a sport stadium that desperately needs upgrading, and there is a great desire to see that happen so the region can capture the benefit of the Commonwealth Games in 2026. Shepparton was disappointed that it was not named as one of the hubs for the Commonwealth Games, and it was clearly named as a possibility for a range of benefits from the Commonwealth Games. We have the facilities for a range of sporting events to take place there in Shepparton and across the region—Nagambie with international rowing and we have hosted international BMX events in our region, so we have definitely got the capacity—and with more investment the upgrades that can happen to that sporting centre will enable our region to participate much more significantly in the Commonwealth Games when they come.

The bypass—the famous Shepparton bypass that I have spoken about for eight years now—still has not eventuated. The Victorian government finally did a business case about 18 months ago, and since then that business case has sat on the desk of the then Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, the former Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce. Where it is now I do not know, but we will be trying to track it down and will continue with our advocacy to see that important investment in our region take place. It is not just for Shepparton, it is part of the national highway system, and it is incredibly important that we have a highway that takes us from Melbourne through to Brisbane on the route that includes the Goulburn Valley Highway.

Our future is very much governed by water, agriculture and horticulture, and it is disappointing when you do not see the investment generally in agriculture that is needed. I look to the whole issue around water. It was touted as a major issue in our electorate during the recent federal government election campaign. It remains an outstanding issue of concern in the region because of the lack of planning, the lack of security, that farmers feel in relation to their ongoing commitment to the sort of farming that they would like to do in the region, and while there has been much change and much water given up, it does remain a major issue, with that stocktake of water to take place in 2024 and the absolute knowledge that the water is not there.

So what does that mean? Under the present federal legislation it means that the water can be bought back, and we in the Goulburn-Murray irrigation district have the best high-security water available. We remain very concerned about that and concerned about who our federal water minister will be. Who will be appointed? We hope that it will not be another Queenslander, someone more interested in resources than in water, coming from an area where flood plain harvesting is just continued on and no water comes down the Darling River except in major floods.

There is much to be done and many changes to be made. Food security, with the knowledge that that is of major importance to our communities, has to be at the forefront. We are hearing worldwide now of grain shortages, potential for food shortages and potential for famine. We have a responsibility here in Australia in relation to that. Good management means we can produce large amounts of food, not only for ourselves but also for export. We have recruitment issues that are really critical across regional Australia, and quite frankly, it surprises me that we have not been able to address them up until now. But I do hope that with the releasing of and the different look at the way that infrastructure funding may now be spent across the whole of this country Victoria is not ignored. There may well be opportunity for much more investment not only in the cities but in the regions—projects like the bypass, like our roads, like so many things that do need more investment and some imagination and some vision. I hope some of these things will be looked at and that the people who understand and know about these issues will be heard so that good policy can be put together in Canberra to deal with these issues. I look forward to being a part of that.

Suzanna on the steps of Parliament House with hands folded looks away from the camera for a side profile picture

Program

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I am pleased to speak on the government business program. I think it is a welcome opportunity this week for us to reflect on the budget that has been brought down and certainly for me to speak on it, to reflect on the investments that the Shepparton district is receiving out of that budget and also to speak on the Appropriation (Parliament 2022–2023) Bill 2022—always an opportunity to thank all of those associated with the Parliament and to reflect on funding for integrity agencies and a range of others.

But I particularly do like to talk about the government business program because one of the fundamental things that is missing in this place is a non-government business program, and I think it is worth drawing attention to the fact that each time I try to move a motion to amend the standing orders to reintroduce the opportunity for there to be a non-government business program in this place, it is shut down. It is always refused by the government side. Just today, however, the acting Leader of the House said yes, but there we go—shut down again, no opportunity to debate what is really just a fundamentally simple provision. This place is the only house of Parliament in Australia that does not have the opportunity for a non-government business program in the whole of its program.

When did it happen that it was whittled away? It started in the 1990s with the introduction of a government business program that has just dominated—dominated—and over the years, slightly, step by step in each Parliament, the opportunity for members on this side of the house to speak, to make a contribution, has been cut away. It is simply not good enough. How can we in Victoria be the only lower house in this country not to have a non-government business program? What are people afraid of? That I might move a bill on something? That I might want to bring forward a motion that somebody else on this side may want to debate, that somebody on that side may want to debate? I have got lots of good ideas, let me tell you, and I would like to have the chance to put them before this place on behalf of my community, my electorate and regional Victoria. But we do not get the chance to do that because we have only a government business program. That is all we have—no opportunity for anyone on this side of the house to have any say on what should be brought before this house and what should be debated, discussed and put forward as bills.

I just put it to all of you: it is a time for change, and we need to see that change happen. There is no reason to be afraid of it. It happens everywhere else. It happens in the upper house every Wednesday afternoon—all afternoon, a non-government business program. Why have we allowed this place to not have a non-government business program, only to have a government business program dominated by the government? There is no need to be afraid of it. We should debate this. We should all be prepared to debate it, and we should all be prepared to stand up and vote in favour of the reintroduction of a non-government business program in this place. You can all see the proposed amendments on the notice paper, in notice of motion 48. It sets out in detail the changes that are needed to the standing orders to enable just a 3-hour provision on a Wednesday for this sort of debate—for an opportunity for this side of the house to have a say. It is about time it happened. It is about time people had a close look at what is being said about the operation of this place—no consideration in detail, no non-government business program. Truly it is time that people looked closely at this issue and had what it takes to stand up, debate it and support it.

Suzanna Sheed pictured from the waist up sitting on park bench. She wears a black dress and cream boucle jacket and has one arm resting on the park bench. Suzanna is smiling at the camera.

COVID-19 Vaccination

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Adjournment:

My adjournment is for the Minister for Health, and the action I seek is that the minister outline to me how the government intends to further encourage community members who are still reluctant to receive a third and even a fourth COVID-19 vaccination to get that extra protection. Today’s figures from the Victorian chief health officer show we had almost 12 000 new cases reported with 16 deaths of Victorians in their 70s, 80s and 90s.

There are almost 70 000 active cases currently in the state. There are 545 cases in our hospitals, more than the number of public hospital beds at some of our largest hospitals. There have been 3268 lives lost, with by far the majority in the last five months. While we are almost at 70 per cent triple vaccination rates across the state, I nevertheless am concerned that it seems to be taking a long time to reach that 95 per cent rate for third doses. I am concerned the community is not receiving a strong health message to help them understand that two doses is not providing sufficient immunity against the current strain of COVID.

In the Shepparton local government area we are at almost 69 per cent of third doses, but in the latest release of vaccination figures for our First Nations people we are seeing a lower rate of almost 55 per cent with more than two doses. There are many vulnerable groups in our community, and of course regional areas are known to have an ageing population. There are those with disabilities who are also vulnerable. I am worried for our First Nations people, who have less vaccination coverage than others, and also that there is a general lack of awareness in our community regarding that need for a third dose. I believe more needs to be done to promote the public health benefits of vaccination on an ongoing basis and that the continuing rate of infection, serious illness and death is because of a lack of awareness across the community. The pressures on our hospital system are enormous, and the health system is in crisis. The virus is rampant in our community, and it is causing these impacts. We see whole school levels at some of our major schools being sent home, because there are not enough teachers to look after them.

We must protect the vulnerable and cannot maintain the position that this pandemic should be treated as if it is over. Steps still need to be taken to inform the public broadly. It is time the Victorian chief health officer steps up to the camera once more to advise Victorians of the current health risks, including long COVID, of the importance of having those third and fourth vaccinations and about access to antiviral medications.

Greater Shepparton Secondary College

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Members Statement: Education has undertaken a transformational change in Shepparton, so it is incredibly disappointing to stand up and have to say that there are members in this place and in the other place who do nothing but criticise the Greater Shepparton Secondary College. Do they not think that young people in this school want to be proud of their school, want to value their school, want to be able to say, ‘I go to Greater Shepparton Secondary College’, want to grow up one day and say, ‘That’s the school I went to’ and know that they have achieved something? It is incredibly disappointing. I would have thought that members in this place would know better and would think about the needs of young people before they get up and publicly criticise the educational institution that over 2000 young people in my community go to. But education has always been on my agenda, and there is always more to be done. I was very pleased just this week to chair a meeting of a diverse group of people in the community who are very interested in lobbying the government, working with those who are stakeholders to look at ways to engage young people at the school who are challenged, whether by being—well, we call them diverse learners, a huge range of young people.

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T 03 5831 6944
E suzanna.sheed@parliament.vic.gov.au

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5 Vaughan Street, Shepparton
T 03 5831 6944   F 03 5831 6836
E suzanna.sheed@parliament.vic.gov.au

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