
"Let's work together"
BY ELECTION
FEBRUARY 8TH
for Prahran
Independent candidate
BUZZ BILLMAN


With Labor choosing to not run a candidate, and with The Greens and Liberals infighting within their own parties resulting in member resignations, voters in the Prahran District have a unique & powerful opportunity to vote for a progressive Independent voice away from party politics. Someone who is dedicated to serving the interests and needs of the Prahran community, not a particular political party.

Hi, I'm Buzz.

"I'm a seasoned campaigner. I will engage with the local community and take on their issues. I will stand up and fight for Prahran.
When a community gets together and works for common goals, we can achieve great results.
Let's turn the page on the political parties in Prahran, let's put Prahran first, and let's put Prahran back on the map."
- Buzz Billman
"I let my Greens membership lapse in 2011 because I felt the party was moving in a different direction.
The Greens suddenly became more centralised and local branches began losing some decision-making powers in favour of decisions being made by a central hierarchy.
The environment within the party began to feel unwelcoming from the top down.
Their recent infighting of party insiders, preselection disputes, and member resignations tells me this hasn't changed much."
- Buzz Billman
I am standing as an Independent candidate for Prahran to help put Prahran back on the map.
Prahran needs a representative who will stand up, be seen, be vocal, and be a champion for this great part of Melbourne. You haven't been getting that local respect from any political party for a long time.
The Greens have sat in the seat of Prahran for the past 10 years, but they have failed to negotiate improvements to infrastructure, services, and safety in Prahran due to the hostile relations between the political parties.
Have a look around the Prahran District right now with 10 years of The Greens here.
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South Yarra Station is about to lose hundreds of daily train services into the City and along the Cranbourne & Pakenham lines once the new Metro Tunnel opens;
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There are still no low-floor accessible trams on Route 78 along Chapel St nor any accessible tram stops surrounding the precinct.
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An increase in need for help with family violence, addiction, and homeless services.
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Vacant shop fronts, small businesses in the Chapel St Precinct needing support to continue thriving.
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An increase in crime, with people feeling less safe walking through their community.
Prahran is a unique, progressive electorate, where the vote count at recent elections has been shared pretty evenly between The Greens, Liberal, and Labor political parties. With the district of Prahran so evenly split, we need a new way forward in dealing with our needs here.
As an Independent MP, I will not be making unrealistic promises. I will do my best to be approachable to the whole of the Prahran community, to work through the issues affecting us.
I have progressive values. I understand we live in an electorate with diverse opinions. I will keep the dialogue open with everyone, listen, and find the common ground we can work together on to try solve our problems.
I grew up in Malvern and have spent much of my life on the Southside, including living and working in the Prahran District.
I work as a train driver and an actor. In my spare time, I enjoy playing basketball; reading; going to see theatre; Melbourne's live music scene; the Western Bulldogs; and I'm a firm believer in random acts of kindness.
I have been involved around politics since I was a child: from standing on the picket lines with my Dad, a tram driver, during the 1990 Melbourne tram strike, to helping him hand out how-to-vote cards at Federal elections in the state seat of Higgins.
I attended Malvern Primary School and Murrumbeena Secondary College. At the end of 1996, Murrumbeena was closed due to the Kennett Liberal government school closures, merging the school with the old Prahran High School and Caulfield Secondary College to form Glen Eira College on the Caulfield campus.
This school closure lit a political flame inside of me, and I joined the Labor Party in 1997 as soon as I turned 16. I left Labor at 20, due to their lack of support for asylum seekers during the Tampa affair in 2001.
I joined The Greens at 22, during the time of the Iraq War protests in 2003, and I stood as a Greens candidate at four elections:
• State 2006, Oakleigh • Federal 2007, Hotham • Council 2008, Monash • State 2010, Clayton
In 2009, I lost a Greens preselection contest against academic, Clive Hamilton, for the Higgins by-election. In 2010, I was the campaign manager for the Hotham Greens campaign.
After eight years inside The Greens, I let my membership lapse in 2011 because I felt the party was moving in a different direction when some local branches began losing decision-making powers in favour of decisions being made by a central hierarchy. I felt the top down approach made the environment within the party feel unwelcoming.
I have been a campaigner for various progressive issues throughout my life: helping the homeless; advocating for asylum seekers and assisting them to settle within the community; campaigning for marriage equality; climate action; public transport policy; gambling reforms; justice for First Nations people; and more.
I am ready to serve Prahran, dedicated to the community, not a particular political party.
Let's work together to put Prahran back on the map.


These are my priorities for Prahran.
I will be seeking to have a positive working relationship with all levels of government across the political spectrum to help put Prahran back on the map.
Please contact me for clarification on any other policy issues.

What I Stand For

Eliminating Family & Gendered Violence

When the former member for Prahran resigned from state parliament on November 22nd, I began considering standing as an Independent candidate at the Prahran by-election. At that point, nine women and one child had been murdered across Australia in November alone. It was also three days after a man had been charged with the murder of Isla Bell. Isla was murdered in St Kilda East, within the community of the Prahran District. By the time I had decided and organised to stand as a candidate on December 9th, a further seven women had been murdered across Australia, including three in Victoria.
Ten years ago in 2015, the Victorian Labor state government established a Royal Commission into Family Violence. In 2016, after a 13-month inquiry, the Commission's report listed 227 recommendations the state government should implement to improve its response to family violence. The state government committed to implementing all 227 recommendations. In January 2023, the state government announced it had implemented all 227 recommendations.
In 2024, 101 women and 16 children were murdered across Australia. In Victoria, 16 women and 2 children were murdered.
To their credit, the state government did respond to all of the recommendations and have invested over $4 billion to put the various agencies and services in place. I understand social change doesn't happen overnight, and realistically, it may take a generation or more for these reforms and t but with the need for help increasing, we need to ensure future state governments take
I was disappointed when the state government stopped funding in 2023 for the role of Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor. The role was established in 2017 to review how the state government and agencies were implementing the family violence reforms
I believe
I believe
Prahran Priorities

One of the main reasons I decided to stand as an Independent candidate for Prahran is I believe the political parties are forgetting about Prahran.
Cost Of Living
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Community Safety
Public Transport
Climate Action
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Public Housing & Renter support
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Public Transport
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Health
Education
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Public Transport

The sell-off of Victoria’s public transport has cost us a fortune. Last year, the government handed $2.7 billion to the private companies that run our trains, trams and busses. Yet we still pay an average of $171 per month for public transport tickets. Privatisation has been a total failure. Victorian Socialists believe that public transport should be publicly built, owned and managed. We could create thousands of green jobs and save Victorians thousands of dollars every year if we put the system back in public hands.
What we think
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Access to reliable, safe, efficient and free transport is a social right.
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Transport infrastructure should be manufactured, owned and operated by public bodies.
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Our transport systems must be environmentally sustainable. New investment must prioritise low- and zero-emission, energy-efficient, affordable modes of transport, including electric and alternative-fuel vehicles.
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Fossil fuel reliant vehicles, freight and traffic must be phased out without causing disadvantage to working-class people.
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Transport infrastructure, planning and development must be democratic, and decisions must be guided by social equity and ecological sustainability.
What we'll fight for
Public Transport and Infrastructure
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Reverse the privatisation of public transport by putting Victoria’s train, bus and rail system back into public hands, without compensation.
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Make public transport free.
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Make public transport easy to use by establishing a “turn up and go” model, extending timetables so that key services run through the night, increasing bus, tram and train frequency, and establishing a high frequency orbital bus network that connects with other transport modes.
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Waive all outstanding public transport fines issued for travelling without a valid ticket.
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Construct new and extended public transport routes to improve public transport access and frequency in suburban and growth corridors, particularly by extending rail to the northern and western growth corridors.
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Get rid of Authorised Officers and Protective Services Officers, who are to be made redundant and offered new roles, with training, in the public transport network or with other state agencies.
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Ensure all ride-share companies provide drivers with conditions equivalent to the minimum pay and conditions under the relevant Award.
Cyclists
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Improve and extend bicycle paths and lanes by:
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Prioritising protected bicycle paths and lanes over street parking.
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Ensuring that protected bicycle lanes continue at intersections so that bicycles are not forced to merge with traffic.
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Introduce a free bike share scheme for the Melbourne CBD and inner suburbs.
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Build missing links in the bicycle network.
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Invest $20 per person per year, or $126 million, into cycling infrastructure.
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Expand secure bike parking at public transport hubs such as train stations.
Roads and Cars
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Immediately reverse the privatisation of VicRoads.
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Amend infringements issuing rules so that traffic and parking fine amounts are proportionate to the recipient’s taxable income.
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Return toll roads to public hands.
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Build a publicly owned network of charging stations for electric vehicles.
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Initiate a scheme to subsidise low- and moderate-income motorists who upgrade to electric vehicles.
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Abolish car registration costs and slowly phase-in an increased petrol tax, the revenue from which will be used to offset the costs of subsidising low- and moderate-income motorists who upgrade to electric vehicles.
Infrastructure
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Reverse the privatisation of the Port of Melbourne.
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Reverse the privatisation of Melbourne Airport.
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Tax private jets using all airports in Victoria.
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Oppose the construction of a third runway at Melbourne Airport.
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Evaluate the likely health and environmental effects of all major transport infrastructure projects in planning stages, with any identified negative effects to be considered in assessing the suitability of the project.
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Upgrade Victoria’s rail network and push to standardise rail gauges across Australia by insisting that other states and territories upgrade their networks to conform with gauges used in Victoria.
TRANSPORT AND FREIGHT POLICY
PRINCIPLES
1. Victoria's transport system must function on principles of ecological sustainability, equity of access, and public control of critical public transport infrastructure.
2. Climate change, peak oil, unsustainable population growth and urban sprawl make Victoria's present transport reality unsustainable.
3. We have an urgent need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector must be reduced.
4. Road traffic is a significant contributor to the emission of greenhouse gases, toxic fumes, ultra-fine particulates and noise. It has many deleterious effects in urban areas.
5. Transport, infrastructure and land-use strategic planning must be integrated.
6. Freeway and highway construction, including toll roads, induces demand and ultimately does not solve long-term urban road congestion.
7. A greater proportion of trips should be made by walking, cycling and public transport rather than by private motor vehicle - to reduce environmental impacts, improve health and reduce road congestion, deaths and injuries.
8. Safe, convenient, affordable and accessible public transport will assist Victorians of all ages, genders, abilities, cultures, sexualities, locations and socio-economic status to live full, active and independent lives.
9. All Victorians should have access to safe public transport spaces free from discrimination and harassment.
10. Public transport funding should be prioritised above road funding.
11. Public transport should be owned and operated by government on behalf of the public.
12. Public transport agencies (including planning and service providers) must be accountable and their decision-making transparent. Agencies involved in the planning, development and provision of transport in Victoria must be consultative and participatory in their operations, publicly accountable and their decisions transparent.
13. Local communities and local governments need ongoing, substantive and meaningful opportunities and adequate resources to participate in transport decision-making.
14. A high quality state and national rail network is essential to a modern economy, and high quality public transport corridors benefit local economies.
15. The role of rail in moving freight should be significantly increased so as to reduce noise, pollution, traffic congestion and road trauma.
16. Interstate rail infrastructure must be augmented to allow fast, efficient and low cost freight movements, to and from ports and between state capitals.
17. Freight transport modes should compete fairly, and equally bear all their direct and indirect costs.
18. Freight should be transported in a manner that is environmentally responsible, and reduces risk to the public and environment to levels that are as low as reasonably practicable.
AIMS
Reduced Emissions from Transport
1. The adoption of a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Victorian transport.
2. Ensuring all road and rail vehicles meet appropriate standards for emitting air and noise pollution by introducing periodic independent testing of vehicle exhaust emissions and road-worthiness.
Sustainable Transport Planning
3. An independent, accountable and transparent body to manage public transport, with a review of the franchise policy prior to the completion of the existing contracts.
4. Evaluating major transport proposals for social, environmental, economic and other associated benefits and costs against those of alternative transport solutions.
5. Regular performance evaluation of all transport systems, showing full costs and benefits, including capital, maintenance, social and environmental aspects of each and the financial contribution made by users of each mode.
6. Provide and maintain in-house project appraisal and modelling expertise within Infrastructure Victoria to verify and assess claimed environmental, social and economic benefits of infrastructure projects.
Maximised Public Transport Use
7. Public transport that is fully compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act (1992), and is accessible to older people.
8. Increased investment in community transport options for older people and people with a disability.
9. Co-location of commercial and community facilities at train stations.
10. Co-operating with the Federal and NSW governments to establish a high speed train service between Melbourne and Sydney, including establishing a High Speed Rail Authority, fast-tracking inter-governmental agreements and legislation, adopting a plan to secure the rail corridor and undertaking a comprehensive environmental impact statement.
11. Servicing all urban areas, including regional towns and cities, with reliable and safe public transport that keeps pace with growth in demand, with a span of hours that covers economic and social activity, and a service frequency target of seven minutes in peak hours, and fifteen minutes at other times.
12. A clear and equitable public transport fare structure that maximises public transport use.
13. The implementation of single-use tickets and removal of fees to purchase reusable stored value card (myki) to encourage one-way trips.
14. Appropriate staffing throughout the public transport system to improve passenger safety, support and amenity, ensure correct ticketing and provide assistance across the network at all times.
15. Regulation of ride-sharing services.
16. A safety campaign to protect vulnerable people from violence and harassment in public transport, taxi cabs and ride-sharing cars.
17. Integrating the commercial passenger vehicle industry with public transport systems to facilitate connections at rail, bus and tram stops.
18. Giving greater traffic signal priority to road-based public transport.
Improved Safety and Fuel Efficiency
19. Elimination of dangerous level crossings in urban areas, and review of all rail crossings in regional and rural areas to ensure all have adequate warning signage or systems.
20. Evidence-based speed limits on urban, metropolitan and rural roads in Victoria.
21. Establishing a best-practice fuel-efficiency target for the Government fleet and require all new Victorian government vehicles for personal transport to be either best-available fuel efficiency vehicles, electric vehicles, or hybrids.
22. Transitioning Victoria’s public transport system to 100% electric services powered by renewable energy sources, including bus and coach services and regional trains.
Growth of Cycling as a Transport Option
23. Accelerating construction of the Principal Bicycle Network.
24. Increasing clearly signed, designated road space for cyclists, including signalling equity and protected cycleways where demand and risk are high.
25. Giving cyclists priority over motor vehicles in high concentration zones such as schools.
26. Laws addressing driver behaviour to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety, including Minimum Passing Distance Laws.
27. Better integration of cycling with other transport options, including bicycle access to trains and secure bicycle storage at public transport stops and stations.
28. Regulation of one way or “floating” bike share schemes to encourage responsible stewardship by scheme operators, the safe storage of bicycles in public spaces, and the removal and repair of bicycles when they are no longer in use.
29. The funding and assessment of cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, independent of road construction infrastructure projects.
Sustainable Freight Transport
30. Re-establishing a central freight planning body to prioritise and develop rail freight networks and practices.
31. Using regulation and incentives to shift an increasing proportion of freight from road to rail, in cooperation with neighbouring States.
32. Significantly increasing the proportion of intra-state and inter-state freight moved by rail by standardising and upgrading the Victorian freight rail network and connecting major logistics sites by rail.
33. Adopting a Victorian logistics policy for ports and long distance freight movements prioritising rail.
34. Increasing the volume of stand-alone country rail freight services, including mixed traffic where volumes for either passenger-only or freight-only services are insufficient.
35. Implementing long term solutions to solve empty freight container movements by on-road heavy vehicles, including the use of rail options and establishing dedicated intermodal freight terminals near industrial areas.
36. Co-operating with other governments in Australia to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of the national regulatory scheme for heavy vehicle design, operation, safety and driver fatigue management.
37. Basing state road user charges for freight vehicles on axle load and road damage per kilometre, rather than a fixed registration charge.
38. Preventing further increases in truck axle loads and the physical size of road freight.
39. Preventing further coastal port development and channel deepening by focusing on increasing the movement of intra-state and inter-state freight by rail.
Roads & Road Safety
40 Improving the parlous state of country roads to reduce road trauma and deaths in regional Victoria.
41 Improving road safety through smart road network management, considering safety measures for all road users, on-road priority for public transport and safer bicycle lanes.
Alternatives to Private Car Ownership
42. Supporting the uptake of car sharing as an alternative to car ownership.
43. Regulation of one way or “floating” car share schemes to encourage responsible stewardship by scheme operators, including legal parking arrangements for share vehicles, and the removal and repair of vehicles when they are no longer in use.
44. A trial of autonomous commercial passenger vehicles to assess their safe use and their efficacy as a ride-pooling system.
Transport and Freight Policy as amended by State Council on 10th February 2018.
Cost Of Living

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Climate Action

Climate change is already here. It’s not going to go away if we just continue to ignore its impact.
Victoria is one of the highest producers of greenhouse gas in the world.
As the Independent MP for Prahran, I will advocate and support:
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reducing emissions
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phasing out coal and gas for electricity generation
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the construction of solar & wind farms, and upgrading the power grid with battery storage
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helping homes and businesses transition from coal and gas to renewables.
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no new gas connections
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establishing a manufacturing industry for solar, batteries, and electric vehicles
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increase vehicle charging stations across Victoria
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increasing the canopy in urban areas to cool streets
I will not support Peter Dutton’s push for nuclear power in this country.
I will not support Brad Battin dismantling the State Electricity Commission (SEC)
PRINCIPLES
1. Human-induced climate change poses one of the greatest threats to our world in human history and requires urgent local, national and global action.
2. We are already experiencing dangerous impacts of climate change; urgent, deep, and broad action is required to avoid catastrophic impacts.
3. The amount of greenhouse gas already in the atmosphere necessitates urgent emission reduction and drawdown of greenhouse gases as well as prompt adaptation to climate change.
4. Early action to reduce greenhouse emissions is cheaper and fairer than delayed action.
5. Climate change policy should be based on the best available science.
6. Climate change policy should inform and frame all other policies.
7. Victoria is one of the world’s largest per-capita emitters of greenhouse gases with a large percentage due to the burning of brown coal.
9. The lack of effective global (or Australian) climate action must not prevent Victoria from taking immediate and comprehensive measures.
10. Climate change adaptation and mitigation measures should not discriminate or treat anyone unfairly on any basis including gender, age, race, ethnicity, vulnerability, religion, disability, sexual orientation or membership of a minority group.
AIMS
Mitigation
1. Net zero or negative emissions as soon as possible, including drawdown of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, in a way that is environmentally responsible and socially fair.
2. Development and implementation of a detailed plan to end Victoria’s reliance on fossil fuels by shifting to a low carbon economy.
3. Victoria positioned, through innovation, to capitalise on the new jobs, skills, technologies and markets available in a low carbon economy.
4. Transition support for all regions, businesses and communities adversely affected by measures that reduce climate change.
5. Regulation of the phasing-out of existing coal-fired power stations and the banning of new fossil-fuel based power stations.
6. A ban on the exploration and development of new fossil fuel resources including but not limited to coal seam and other forms of unconventional gas.
7. Complementary mitigation measures developed and implemented in collaboration with other governments where possible.
8. Assistance to the Agriculture and Forestry sectors to reduce emissions from ruminant livestock production and land clearing and other sources.
9. Maximise effective and sustainable carbon farming, bio-sequestration and other drawdown methods.
10. Victoria’s stationary energy sector affords realistic opportunities for emission reduction that are low cost, and with high impact. As well, other sectors need to reduce emissions including but not limited to transport, industrial processes, agriculture and forestry.
Adaptation
11. Government support for adaptive actions to protect the environment and key public assets, and to manage major public risks.
12. The implementation, through public and private action, of the Victorian Climate Change Adaptation Plan, and ongoing review with community and expert involvement.
13. Assisting the Agriculture sector to adjust to reduced water availability and to make itself more energy self-sufficient.
14. Ensuring that coastal zone planning regulations allow for expected impacts of climate change such as rising sea levels, storm surges and extreme weather events.
15. Adaptation measures that take account of those groups disproportionately impacted by climate change and resulting disasters and emergencies
First Nations people

As the Independent MP for Prahran, I will advocate for and support:
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Increasing access to health, education, housing, and legal services
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Implement all recommendations of the ‘Bringing Them Home’ report, and the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody.
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Provide support to restore and retain culture & languages of First Nations people
Health & Hospitals

Victorian hospitals are being stretched. We have been losing critical staff to burnout after expecting them to continue holding the fracturing system together.
As the Independent MP for Prahran, I will advocate for and support:
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increasing paramedics’ and nurses’ wages above inflation
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boosting the numbers of hospital beds, nurses, midwives, doctors, allied health, and mental health specialits
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improving and properly enforcing nurse-to-patient ratios
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pay full wages to trainee nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare professionals when on placement
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expanding the ambulance fleet
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abolishing parking fees for hospital staff, patients, and visitors
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funding local councils to build and refurbish sports and recreation facilities
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a harm minimisation approach to drug abuse and addiction
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measures to reduce promoting alcohol, fast food, and processed food & drinks to children
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giving women greater choices in their use of public birthing services
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ambulance service membership cost linked to income level
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removing alcohol advertising & sponsorship, similar to what past governments did with cigarette advertising & sponsorship
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banning political donations from alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical industries
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banning pharmaceutical companies from lobbying & marketing in public hospitals and universitites
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enshrining access to abortion within the Victorian Constitution
PRINCIPLES
1. Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing, not just the absence of disease or infirmity.
2. Victorians should have world's best practice in health care and in quality of health facilities.
3. Government is responsible for funding universal, timely health care for all Victorians and for ensuring equality of access regardless of ability to pay.
4. Health funding should be prioritised based on need, not on political expediency.
5. The promotion of health and prevention of illness and injury must be high priorities and consistently well-funded.
6. Government should lead in the provision of public preventative health by creating healthy environments and making healthy choices reasonable and practical.
7. Investment in health research, innovation and continuous improvement is vital.
8. All health care must be based on the best available evidence and subject to ongoing evaluation for cost-effectiveness.
9. An effective health care system is dependent upon a skilled, well-resourced workforce.
10. Habitat loss, alteration, and the changes in Earth's climate brought on by human activity leave us vulnerable to emerging diseases and to other impacts on our health.
11. First Nations people should have health outcomes and life expectancy equal to other Australians
12. Avoidable differences in health outcomes between different groups, whether defined by race, gender, income, sexuality, or geography, are unjust and must be eliminated.
13. People have the right to be the main driver of their health care planning and decision making.
14. A person with a terminal illness with symptoms that cannot be relieved by other means has the right to request medical intervention to end their life.
15. Health care should affirm a person's sexual orientation and gender identity, and not seek to change or suppress it
16. The response to drug abuse is best addressed within a health and social framework. A harm minimisation approach is the most appropriate way to reduce the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use for the individual user and the community.
17. All Victorians with substance dependence should have access to a range of well-funded treatment and recovery services.
18. A criminal response to personal drug use causes more harm than good.
19. Tobacco and alcohol are major causes of illness and injury, so governments must work to reduce the consumption of both substances.
AIMS
Population Health
1. A holistic approach to health and well-being that is focused on:
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a. promoting positive health and lifestyles;
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b. preventative approaches to managing chronic disease and reducing ill-health and avoidable hospital admissions; and
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c. improving quality of life.
2. An integrated, whole-of-government approach to improving population health. Government departments and local government councils should cooperate on the development and implementation of public health plans and on the evaluation of their outcomes.
3. A Victorian health and wellbeing strategy that identifies and addresses systemic barriers to health and wellbeing.
4. The identification and implementation of measures to reduce the promotion of alcohol and processed food and drinks to children.
5. Better emergency management and adaptation planning to prepare for and respond to the health risks posed by climate change.
6. All state government workplaces, including schools, to promote healthy food choices and physical activity.
7. All major industrial and infrastructure developments to require comprehensive and independent public health impact assessments, and health and wellbeing objectives to be incorporated into our planning legislation.
8. Targeted investment in organisations developed and controlled by First Nations people to improve the health outcomes of First Nations people.
9. Increased vaccination coverage to prevent outbreaks of all vaccine preventable diseases.
10. Increased awareness of and compliance with recommended rates of individual health and cancer screening checks.
Health Services
11. A well-funded public health system, delivering high quality and safe care, which everyone can access in a timely way.
12. Comprehensive forward planning for Victoria's health care needs.
13. Greater priority for primary health care investment, including more outpatient services provided in cost-effective community health-care settings.
14. Reduced wait lists for elective surgery through more investment and better preventative care.
15. Reduced emergency department and outpatient waiting times by increasing the number and efficiency of inpatient and outpatient services.
16. Co-location and improved access to affordable allied health, health screening, GPs and specialist services in areas of need, using community health centres where possible.
17. Fully electronic medical records that can be edited in real time and improved co-ordination and integration between all state, federal and private health services, using shared health records such as the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record. Privacy and security issues need to be effectively managed.
18. Long-term planning and refined practices to reduce waste, duplication and increasingly expensive and sometimes unnecessary investigations and treatments within our hospital system.
19. Improved access to health professionals in areas of greatest need such as rural Victoria and outer metropolitan areas.
20. Fully funded rural health services to provide primary care in remote regions of the state.
21. Effective home-based health care support being fully available where medically appropriate.
22. A high standard of work place conditions for health industry workers with excellent occupational health and safety.
23. Greater planning and investment in:
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programs to address sexually transmitted infections;
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women's sexual and reproductive health;
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safe, legal and affordable pregnancy termination; and
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widely available free contraception services
24. Increased availability of a range of public birthing services giving women a greater choice in where they deliver and in their model of antenatal care.
25. Increased post-natal and early childhood programs and services that are inclusive of all members of the family.
26. All Victorians to have ready access to well-resourced palliative care services in both home and institutional settings.
27. Better awareness and use of Advanced Care Directives.
28. Measures to improve health literacy to empower more people to benefit from services and manage their own health.
29. Continuous improvement in health care through innovation and adoption of research, with particular attention to cost-effectiveness research, enabling us to help more people with limited resources.
30. Better access to allied health care and dental health care.
31. More affordable ambulance services for people on low incomes.
32. Improved resources for carers, including respite and support services.
33. Ensure sufficient supply of public housing to accommodate referrals from the health system, given the importance of housing in healthcare.
Drugs
34. Measures such as education, counselling and treatment to be the first response for people with an addiction to drugs.
35. Increased support for programs that address risk factors for substance abuse, such as family violence, sexual assault, and trauma.
36. Drug and alcohol treatment programs that address the barriers faced by people of different genders in accessing services, including greater legal, financial and social supports for women who are pregnant or care for children.
37. Improved access to practical harm minimisation measures such as drug substitution therapies, supervised injecting rooms and increasing the number of needle exchange programs in the community and prisons.
38. Publicly funded drug and alcohol withdrawal and rehabilitation services to be available within a reasonable timeframe and closely integrated with housing and employment services.
39. Greater investment in information and education programs to enable informed debate and effective responses to the harms of all drugs, including prescription, non-prescription, legal and illegal drugs.
40. Specific treatment programs that are funded and tailored to address individual, gender, sexuality, cultural or disability barriers to access.
41. A phasing out of:
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a. alcohol advertising on public transport and outdoor billboards and signs;
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b. sponsorship of community sporting organisations and venues by alcohol companies; and
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c. all alcohol advertising directed at young people.
42. Improved enforcement of server and licensed venue responsibility legislation.
43. A review of alcohol availability, and liquor licensing and its enforcement in order to reduce alcohol over-consumption and alcohol related violence.
44. Strengthened smoking laws to decrease the use and take up of smoking.
45. Improved support to help Victorians quit smoking.
46. To legalise the production, sale and use of cannabis and cannabis products for recreational use.
47. To regulate the growing and possession of cannabis and cannabis-derived products for personal use.
48. To decriminalise personal use, possession and sale of non commercial quantities of drugs.
49. Increasing protected funding for population health measures, regardless of whether any resulting cost savings go to the state or federal health budgets.
50. A ban on political donations from the tobacco, alcohol, and pharmaceutical industries and a ban on pharmaceutical marketing in public hospitals, universities and other public institutions.
51. A reduction in harmful substance use, including smoking rates that are close to zero and alcohol consumption patterns that are within the limits recommended by public health experts.
52. Improved access to residential and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment programs so that waiting times for services are acceptable.
53. Allow the use of currently illegal drugs in the management of drug addiction and other medical conditions, where this is based on sound medical evidence.
54. Greater attention to mental health issues for people with drug and alcohol problems with sufficient funding to allow for expanded mental health programs.
55. Increase in flexible specialist services and professional development programs for community and health sector workers, to ensure such services accommodate the diversity of people who have substance dependence or abuse issues.
56. Provision of adequate support for families of people undergoing drug treatment.
Health Policy as amended by State Council on 19th March 2022.
Drugs & Addiction

I believe:
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Alcohol and tobacco, while regulated and legal, are more harmful than cannabis and other recreational drugs.
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Treating drug and alcohol addicts and users as criminals increases harm and cost to our community.
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Having a law-and-order response to drug use creates a black market for illegal and unsafe drug trade.
As the Independent MP for Prahran, I will advocate for and support:
-
evidence-based research and policy
-
increasing education, support, counselling & treatment services in response to helping people with drug addiction
-
increasing support programs for risk factors associated with drug abuse such as family violence and sexual assault
-
legalising state production, sale, and use of cannabis and other drugs for recreational use
-
decriminalising possession and personal use of non-commercial quantities of recreational drugs
-
expanding mental health programs for people and their families needing help with drug & alcohol problems.
-
Expunge criminal records of those who have been convicted for personal use of drugs
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legalising and funding pill testing at festivals and venues with known high drug use
Women

As the Independent MP for Prahran, I will advocate for and support:
-
Expand large-scale public housing so that any woman who wants to can live independently.
-
Provide free menstrual products and contraception as part of basic healthcare provision.
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Reduce the gender pay gap through pay rises in majority-women industries including teaching, nursing, aged care, social work and other care-provision jobs.
-
Make abortions available in all public hospitals and remove any religious exemptions on the provision of reproductive health services.
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Increase access to medical abortion by funding training for GPs and developing nurse-led models of abortion care.
-
Make surgical abortion procedures free and widely available.
-
Recognise women’s right to control their bodies and reproductive function at any point in a pregnancy.
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Expand access to paid parental leave by including 12 months’ paid leave for primary carer and 6 months’ paid leave for other or secondary carer in all state public sector enterprise agreements, mandating the same entitlements in all agreements affecting workers in services that receive public funding, and requiring that businesses that provide goods or services to any public agency provide 12 months’ paid parental leave to their workers.
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Significantly increase funding to women’s, community legal and crisis support services.
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Urgently increase the capacity of accommodation for survivors, and their children, seeking temporary or emergency housing.
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Include in school curriculum comprehensive education about sexism and women’s oppression.
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WOMEN AND GENDER EQUALITY POLICY
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PRINCIPLES
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1. Women and gender diverse people should all enjoy equality with men in all spheres of society and their human rights, experience, knowledge, work and other contributions to society should be recognised and valued equally to men's.
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2. We recognise that intersecting structures and systems of oppression result in additional challenges for some women and gender diverse people, for example where colonisation, sexism, racism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, ableism and capitalism interact to create additional barriers to gender equity.
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3. Women should have equal representation and participation in decision making processes in all areas of political, social, cultural, intellectual and economic life.
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4. All women should have the right to make informed choices about all aspects of their lives, including accessibility, their bodies, education, health, intimate and emotional relationships, parenting, sexual identity and reproduction.
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5. Women should receive equal pay for work of equal value, and their unpaid caring responsibilities should be acknowledged and properly valued throughout their lifetime.
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6. All women should live free of direct, indirect and systemic discrimination.
-
7. All women should live free from harassment, fear, violence and abuse. Where these rights are violated, women should be supported and protected by the justice system.
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8. Men have specific roles to play in creating and promoting gender equality and equity, by listening to, respecting and supporting women, and by being allies to women and gender diverse people in acknowledging and challenging harmful norms of masculinity and the unjust system of patriarchy.
-
9. The barriers to equal representation and participation in society faced by trans, gender diverse and intersex people must be addressed.
-
10. Family-friendly, caring-friendly and flexible workplaces for everyone, including flexible working hours, accessibility and the possibility of working from home. This also means removing barriers for men and all partners to work flexibly and participate in care giving and household responsibilities.
-
AIMS
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Equity for Women and Gender-Diverse People
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1. A community which is fully aware of and conforms to international standards, conventions and treaties which aim at eliminating discrimination against all women.
-
2. Reform of electoral processes to establish targets to achieve gender balance and remove barriers to women’s participation.
-
3. Ongoing monitoring, research and analysis of the status of all women in society and re-establishing an independent state government office for the status of women.
-
4. Affordable, accessible and quality childcare and incentives for on-site childcare facilities in workplaces.
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5. Eliminate barriers and obstacles to the career pathways of all women in engineering, mathematics and medicine, science and technology and trades.
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6. Equal funding in support of women’s participation in all leisure, sporting, music and artistic endeavours, including by provision of equal or similar facilities and award opportunities.
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7. Provide affirmative action programs to support the equal participation of all women in political, sporting, recreational, music and artistic opportunities and programs that address the particular barriers to equal representation and participation faced by trans and intersex women and gender diverse people in these fields.
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Gender equity and Education (see also Education Policy)
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8. Provision of life-long education opportunities that are responsive to the particular circumstances of women and gender diverse people, including age, caring and carer responsibilities, disability, language and late entry to study.
-
9. Provision of specific initiatives in schools, VET, and in universities, that increase the participation of women and gender-diverse people in non- traditional career options
-
10. Provision of centres for continuing education and training for all women, including training to facilitate promotion opportunities for part-time and temporary workers and return to work of all women who were outside the workforce for extended periods.
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Gender equity and Health (see also Health Policy)
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11. Enhanced community-based health and sexual health services for women and gender diverse people, including provision of accurate information on health and ability at all life stages. This includes access to legal, free and safe pregnancy termination services, including unbiased counselling.
-
12. Provision of free and safe pregnancy, maternity, childbirth and early childhood services and proactive information about the available choices of care, including support for home birth and midwifery services, and support for women who face additional barriers to fertility and childbirth such was women with disabilities and First Nations women.
-
13. To enact legislation making forced sterilisation illegal, and enforcing legislation prohibiting female circumcision.
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14. The establishment and expansion of trans and gender diverse health services throughout the state to support trans and gender diverse people, given that the financial impost of trans and gender affirming health affects gender equity.
-
Women’s Safety
-
15. A whole of government approach to minimising and managing family violence.
-
16. To provide adequate and accessible women’s support services, including sexual assault centres, in metropolitan, regional and remote communities, and also catering for women with diverse needs.
-
17. To initiate a national inquiry into sexual assault, and bringing about uniform sexual assault laws.
-
18. Increased availability and access to free accommodation, including emergency and crisis housing, for all women at risk of sexual assault or fleeing family or gendered violence. It must be safe, secure, accessible, and culturally appropriate.
-
19. Long term public and social accommodation to address the growing housing crisis for older women.
-
20. To increase funding and support for activities related to the prevention and elimination of intimate partner violence, including providing ongoing funding for school and community education programs involving men and boys to address the issue of violence against women.
-
21. To promote community education and support systems for victims of non-consensual distribution of private sexual images (colloquially, revenge porn).
-
The Portrayal of Women
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22. To provide strong, ongoing support for a culture of respectful and empowering messages and images about women.
-
23. To support a positive and respectful view of women in advertising and other media, including the fashion industry; advocating a portrayal of a range of women's body types as healthy and normal.
-
24. To ensure Victorian compulsory school curricula include the analysis of popular culture, with respect to its role and impact in creating, perpetuating or challenging gender stereotypes.
-
25. Work to inform and educate the community about the social and personal impacts of exploitative and harmful material, including sexually explicit material, that presents women as objects of sexual exploitation, abuse, denigration and violence.
-
26. To address sexism in the media and actively work to eradicate the negative portrayal of women, including sexist advertising.
-
27. To eradicate online sexism, abuse and gender-based hate speech.
-
Women and Gender Equality Policy as amended by State Council on 20th August 2022.
Older People

As the Independent MP for Prahran, I will advocate for and support:
-
Victoria’s population is living longer. This should be a cause for celebration. More life years reflects better health outcomes and provides society with more experience and accumulated knowledge. Yet for many people, ageing does not bring respect and security but greater isolation and loneliness, ageist discrimination and even abuse. More than one in five older people say that they don’t feel valued. Nearly 50 percent of people over 65 have a disability that affects their ability to perform everyday tasks, yet they generally are ineligible for support under the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Victoria’s 50,000 aged-care residents too often live in utter neglect. The largest aged-care providers receive billions in subsidies, yet two-thirds of residents are at risk of malnutrition. And during the pandemic, policy decisions have been made as though elderly lives are expendable. It’s not good enough.
-
What we think
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Older people are not a burden; they are owed a debt of gratitude for their contribution to society.
-
Older people should be supported to maintain their independence and to participate in politics, the economy and society, in accordance with their wishes.
-
Working-class retirees have spent their lives creating wealth for employers and the state. Through taxes and levies on employers and the wealthy, governments must ensure that their needs are met.
-
The sole purpose of residential aged-care facilities is to provide the highest standard of care for residents.
-
What we'll fight for
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Expand public, community-based aged-care facilities.
-
Ban for-profit aged care.
-
Initiate an immediate investigation into the sector, with criminal penalties for negligent owners and managers.
-
Establish a public housing guarantee for pensioners so that anyone who needs secure housing can access it in their local neighbourhood.
-
Increase the pensioner discount on electricity bills from 17.5 percent to 50 percent.
-
Provide free dental care for pensioners.
-
Provide free public transport for pensioners.
-
Provide support and training for older people who want to return to work or education.
-
Establish free digital literacy programs for seniors.
-
Increase funding for public geriatric health services and research.
-
Provide free, high-quality and well-maintained assistive technologies.
-
Provide public home care services for seniors, such as nursing, cleaning and social services.
-
Legislate aged-care staffing ratios across all aged-care services, including a mandate that registered nurses be on site 24/7.
-
recognise that our population is ageing, and therefore older people policy impacts on an increasing section of the community.
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2. The skills and life experience of older people are valuable to the community and the economy.
-
3. Older people have an equal right and should be encouraged to participate in social, economic and political aspects of life and to maintain their independence to whatever degree they feel able.
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4. All older Australians are entitled to a liveable income and appropriate concessions.
-
5. The federal government must play a central role in the regulation and provision of aged care services.
-
6. Older Victorians, their carers and families should have the right to choose appropriate and affordable care services that meet their needs and maintain their dignity, independence and quality of life.
-
7. Access to good quality, appropriate health and aged care services should be on the basis of need and not the ability to pay or the place of residence.
-
8. Victoria’s diverse community calls for a range of ways to support older people to age in line with their beliefs, culture and their chosen support network.
-
AIMS
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1. A range of affordable, appropriate and secure accommodation options for older people, including public and social housing, also in regional and rural Australia.
-
2. Aged care system to deliver quality support, nursing and personal care provided by adequate numbers of appropriately qualified staff, culturally appropriate, nutritious food and safe and comfortable surroundings for older people whether in residential, home or hospital care.
-
3. Appropriate aged care services for First Nations peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, LGBTIQA+ people and other people with special needs in state-run facilities with adequate staff ratios.
-
4. Support for isolated seniors to connect with their communities.
-
5. Appropriate support services for older people who choose to remain in their own homes, including community care programs and home modification.
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6. Establishing a funded scheme to undertake minor home renovations, including installation of communication technologies, in order to enable older people to remain in their own homes.
-
7. Adequate support for carers of older people, including respite services, access to information, income support and tax benefits.
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8. Increased funding to enhance the numbers, skills and salaries of staff in the aged care sector.
-
9. The needs and voices of older persons included in urban planning and design, ranging from universal design standards for adaptable housing to accessible transport and community facilities.
-
10. Expansion of community based education for older people and improved support for older workers who wish to take up skill development and educational opportunities.
-
11. Improved employment outcomes for older Australians through:
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a. flexible work arrangements;
-
b. skills development;
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c. enabling older workers to stay in the workforce as long as they want to under flexible arrangements; and
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d. Protecting older workers against age discrimination and valuing age diversity within workforce.
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12. Encouraging and facilitating volunteer work by older people.
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13. State and territory governments to amend workers' compensation regimes (including incapacity payments) to ensure older workers are not disadvantaged.
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14. Availability and affordability of insurance for senior Australians, including insurance for volunteers and travel insurance.
-
15. Investment in facilitating older people to plan ahead, e.g. confirming enduring guardians, binding funeral and burial instructions, and enduring financial managers and advanced care directives.
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16. Advocate for the Victorian Government to collaborate with other state governments to make seniors’ concessions available and consistent Australia-wide.
Gambling

Victorians have lost $66 billion on the pokies in the last three decades – enough to have built at least 30 new hospitals, 200,000 public houses or six new Melbourne metro train lines. Nearly three-quarters of us gamble at some point and more than half a million people experience harm as a result. The affects aren’t limited to individuals. The social costs of gambling to Victoria are estimated to be $7 billion per year. The industry should be more restricted in its advertising and operations.
What we think
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The gambling industry is exploitative and socially destructive.
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The gambling industry should be regulated to mitigate its social harms.
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Forms of gambling that are designed to be particularly addictive should be restricted and the most harmful should be banned.
What we'll fight for
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Phase out all pokies within five years.
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Ban all gambling industry advertising (similar to the tobacco industry), including sports sponsorship.
-
Increase regulation of online betting.
-
Mandate a gambling shutdown at Crown Casino and all licensed venues between 3am and 12pm.
-
Mandate that all gambling outlets prominently display information from Gambler’s Help about the real odds of winning in popular gambling activities.
-
Ban all political donations from the gambling industry.
-
Redirect taxed revenue from gambling to specific programs dealing with the problems caused by or associated with gambling.
PRINCIPLES
1. Increased gambling has led to increased crime and public cost and must be properly regulated.
2. Governments are responsible for protecting the public from gambling harm through appropriate regulations and codes, rather than via self-regulation and voluntary codes of conduct.
3. Gambling harm is a major, multi-faceted public health issue that needs to be addressed because it negatively affects individuals, businesses, families and whole of community.
4. Governments should treat gambling as a health issue, and promote gambling harm minimisation strategies.
5. Children should be protected from exposure to gambling, gambling promotion or any content which may be seen to normalise related harmful behaviour.
6. Gambling regulation should be evidenced based. Gambling may impose a net cost on Victoria because of multiple externalities.
7. The state budget should not depend on gambling revenue.
8. The prevalence and costs of problem gambling are directly related to the accessibility and addictive characteristics of electronic gaming machines
9. Video games and mobile apps that employ micro-transactions for chance-based items or perks (such as loot boxes) should be treated as gambling and held to the same policies as gambling
10. Pokies should be restricted to dedicated gambling venues, such as casinos.
11. Sport betting operators and agencies must be regulated under the same laws as all other forms of gambling, and prohibited from sponsoring sporting events or activities.
12. Australia has the highest level of gambling harm in the world due to an unprecedented access to gambling products and predatory practices of the industry.
AIMS
1. A substantial reduction in the proportion of the population with gambling problems by:
a. Poker machines set at a $1 bet limit per spin, $20 machine load up limits, and $500 jackpot limits, as recommended by the Productivity Commission;
b. Implementing mandatory pre-commitment for poker machines, and other gambling where applicable; and
c. Capping cash winnings payable by machine at $100, and winnings payable by a cashier at $250, with additional winnings being payable by electronic funds transfer and transferred in a way that it is not available to the person for 24-hours after the transfer.
d. A ban on provision of cash withdrawal facilities and services at pokies venues;
e. a ban on all incentives, loyalty programs and perks associated with gambling.
f. Imposing a substantial levy for entrance to casinos to participate in gambling.
g. Provide timely and effective supports for individuals to self-exclude from gambling.
2. A systematic reduction in revenue derived from gambling, with set goals over time.
3. Evidence based harm minimisation and product safety measures to reduce gambling harm and to assist gamblers to limit their expenditure, by:
a. Improving the regulation of the location and density of gambling venues;
b. Increased funding to better inform state gambling policy and regulatory frameworks;
c. Working closely with health practitioners, banks, and gambling support service providers to systematically collect gambling harm data;
d. To continue to improve mandatory training and refreshers for gambling venue staff in line with emerging research.
e. Work closely with banks and financial institutions to educate staff about gambling harm and having in place protocols for referring customers experiencing gambling harm;
f. Investing in best-practice prevention, detection, early intervention, treatment, and rehabilitation programs for people experiencing gambling harm; and,
g. Providing information to assist peers, friends and family members to better understand and address gambling harm.
4. Communities to be provided with factual information, in language, to dispel common misconceptions about gambling products and increasing public gambling awareness by:
a. Influencing attitudes and social norms
b. Promoting gambling help services
c. Disseminating information and research to empower community participation in debate and decision making.
5. A ban on all gambling advertising
6. Tighter regulation and approval of new gaming machines, including support for local councils and communities to impose moratoriums.
7. A planned reduction of poker machine licences in pubs and clubs leading to the elimination of poker machines in neighbourhoods, prioritising with the reduction of poker machines in low-socio-economic communities
8. National Standards to avoid interstate 'competition' undermining proper regulation.
9. Guarantee the gambling regulator's independence to minimise social and economic costs, and to protect consumers and the public interest.
10. To assess and address the full social and economic costs of gambling, including policing gambling-associated crime and money-laundering.
11. A ban on political donations from the gambling industry.
12. Gambling venues and managers who knowingly allow self-excluded patrons to gamble to be subject to meaningful penalties, including fines and loss of license.
13. The provision of effective public education on the impacts of gambling.
14. Mandatory and periodic training for gambling venue staff which explores the harms of gambling on people.
15. Support national regulation consistency around gambling advertising.
Gambling Policy as amended by the membership on 23 June 2024.
Animals

The systematic and pervasive mistreatment of animals should be understood with reference to capitalist exploitation. Our society turns everything into a commodity – a thing stripped of its intrinsic qualities and valued primarily for its exchangeability for profit. The commodification and exploitation of all living things is the main cause of suffering and alienation in our society, and results in people becoming desensitised to cruelty and brutality, both towards humans and towards animals. Victorian Socialists want a society in which humans live in harmony with animals and nature and not in a state of war against it.
What we think
-
Animals communicate, form relationships and experience pain and distress.
-
Humans are distinct from other animals, but we share in common with them many needs and capacities that are essential to our relationship with ourselves and nature.
-
Capitalism systematically degrades both animals and humans by subordinating our natural wellbeing to the profit motive.
-
While individual acts of cruelty are reprehensible, the far greater cause of suffering to animals is capitalist industry – both directly (in the case of the dairy, poultry, meat and fur industries, for example) and indirectly (as the result of systematic environmental degradation).
-
Capitalist expansion – in particular mining, gas extraction, aquaculture, logging and agriculture – is the greatest threat to native animals and their habitats due to its exploitative, unplanned and unsustainable nature.
What we'll fight for
-
Establish an animal welfare regulatory and enforcement body with offices and staff across the state, including prosecutors, rangers, veterinarians and educators.
-
Criminally penalise cruelty towards animals, confiscate animals from perpetrators and introduce bans (for both individuals and companies) on future ownership or custodianship of animals.
-
Introduce specific criminal penalties for the industrial or commercial abuse of animals.
-
Create a system of well-funded, publicly owned and run shelters and sanctuaries for rescued animals and a rescued animal adoption register.
-
End the export of live animals for slaughter, consumption or profit.
-
End intensive and/or cruel farming and aquaculture practices and unsustainable fishing practices.
-
Safeguard, preserve and rehabilitate the natural environment and native animal habitats to the greatest extent.
-
End the cruel or unnecessary use of animals for product testing, teaching and/or research purposes.
-
Introduce stricter regulations on recreational hunting and fishing to protect endangered species, to ensure that hunting and fishing permit holders are adequately trained to minimise the impact of their activities, and to ban methods of hunting or capture that are unsustainable, cruel or that inflict undue pain on animals and fish.
-
Introduce limits on the use of animals by Victoria Police, including an end to the training of animals to attack humans and a prohibition on putting animals in situations in which they could reasonably be expected to come into physical conflict with humans. For example, the mounted branch must be disbanded and the use of dogs for crowd or threat control prohibited.
-
Provide subsidies for the de-sexing of cats and dogs to control stray animal numbers, and subsidies to support a requirement for safe confinement of pet cats and dogs to owners’ properties.
-
Create strict and comprehensive regulation of the horse racing industry to ensure it is cruelty-free, and to impose harsh penalties, including fines, bans and jail time on racing animal trainers and owners found guilty of cruelty.
-
PRINCIPLES
-
We must work towards ending all inhumane treatment of animals
-
2. Animals are sentient beings capable of feeling and suffering. Their intrinsic worth is separate from the needs of humans, and the welfare of animals must be respected with regard to both the survival of species and the protection of individual animals.
-
3. People have a responsibility to minimise any physical, psychological and emotional suffering caused to animals by their actions, and to provide legal protections for animals.
-
4. Animal welfare should be considered in terms of the “five freedoms”:
-
a. freedom from hunger and thirst;
-
b. freedom from discomfort;
-
c. freedom from pain, injury and disease;
-
d. freedom to behave normally; and
-
e. freedom from fear and distress.
-
5. Victoria’s biodiversity, including native wildlife and its natural habitat, is of immense value, and must be maintained and enhanced.
-
6. Introduced species that cause environmental damage, including to native wildlife, habitat, agricultural production or human health, should be humanely controlled.
-
7. Current levels of meat production in Victoria are unsustainable and must be reduced
-
AIMS
-
1. The establishment of an independent regulatory body for animal welfare to monitor compliance and with full prosecutorial power and standing in relation to animal matters.
-
2. The implementation of systems that allow animals to satisfy their basic needs for natural physical movement, space, rest and interaction with others of their species.
-
3. An end to animal and fish farming practices that are inconsistent with animals’ natural behavioural needs, and a phasing out of all intensive animal farming practices.
-
4. Providing incentives to farmers to transition from intensive to less intensive forms of animal farming.
-
5. An end to the captivity and killing of animals for the cosmetic and fashion industries.
-
6. Community education on the needs of animals and our responsibility to minimise any physical, psychological and emotional suffering of animals caused by human activities, and to maximise their quality of life.
-
7.Education for consumers about the impact of product choices on environment, health and animal welfare.
-
8. The implementation of regenerative farming and sustainable fishing practices that cause the least impact on native animal habitat, soils, water and climate.
-
9. An end to animals being used for toxicological, product testing and other studies where scientifically valid non-animal methods exist.
-
10. The pursuit of technologies that enable further avoidance of the use of animals for teaching and research.
-
11. Strengthened on-going education programs for scientific researchers and animal ethics committee members in up-to-date, non-animal research methods.
-
12. The elimination of all inhumane practices in relation to the breeding, sale and confinement of companion animals.
-
13. Development of well-regulated ‘no kill’ shelters to rehabilitate and rehome unclaimed impounded companion animals.
-
14. An end to selective breeding of characteristics detrimental to animal welfare and to reproduction of animals already possessing such characteristics.
-
15. Discouraging impulse buying by banning the sale of live animals from pet shops and restricting the sale of live companion animals to authorised and regulated breeders and to non-profit animal re-homing organisations.
-
16. Ensuring the provision of adequate resources for the promotion of responsible pet ownership and for the investigation and prosecution of acts of animal cruelty
-
17. To ensure desexing services for companion animals are free and accessible to help control stray and feral animal numbers
-
18. Greater community understanding of the intrinsic worth of native wildlife.
-
19. The protection of native wildlife, their right to live freely in their natural environments, and the protection, restoration and extension of remaining wildlife habitat.
-
20. Ban the unsustainable commercial killing of kangaroos and other native wildlife
-
21. Effective management of domestic animals so that they are not able to establish themselves in the wild.
-
22. The end of fishing practices that are unsustainable, or that adversely affect non-target species.
-
23. The promotion of sensitive eco-tourism where native animals may be observed in their natural habitat.
-
24. The effective control or elimination of populations of feral and pest animals by the most humane and safe methods feasible.
-
25. The end of inhumane methods of animal control, including the use of leg-hold traps and poison baits such as 1080.
-
26. Incentives for landowners and new suburb development to create native wildlife corridors and to preserve habitat.
-
27. Significantly increased funding for research and adoption of available non-lethal methods for the management of introduced species.
-
28. Severe penalties for animal cruelty and the illegal capture and sale of native animals, and providing adequate resources for their investigation and prosecution.
-
29. The abolition of all cruel and inhumane treatment of animals used in sport, recreation and entertainment.
-
30. An end to greyhound racing, commercial horse racing, the use of whips and other inhumane practices in activities involving animals, and the use of animals in circuses and rodeos.
-
31. Animals being kept in zoos only where their natural behaviours are supported by suitable habitat.
-
32. The end of recreational hunting on public land.
-
33. A ban on the recreational shooting of native water birds, except by First Nations people within the context of cultural practices.
-
34. A comprehensive review of current legislation and codes of practice to better protect animal welfare in all areas.
-
35. To ensure that cruel acts and practices against animals are treated as serious crimes in legislation.
-
36. An end to selective breeding of characteristics detrimental to animal welfare.
Arts & Live Music

Arts and culture
The pandemic badly hurt the arts and culture sector: musicians lost gigs, theatres lost audiences and artists lost galleries. The government denied support to artists, writers, musicians, performers and others working in the arts and cultural spheres, on the basis that their work was not deemed “essential”. Socialists believe that the economy should be a means to increase artistic expression and expand society’s cultural horizons, rather than culture and art being viewed as simply a means to make money for businesses and wealthy individuals. Everyone should have the opportunity to develop their creativity.
What we think
-
Art and culture should be widely available and not restricted to those who can pay for access.
-
Everyone has the right to develop and exercise their creativity and should be supported to do so.
-
The state has no right to censor or restrict art or works of culture and has no role in prescribing the form or content of art.
What we'll fight for
-
Create a Victorian Artists Fund to provide a stipend of $1,000 per month to established artists, writers, performers and others who produce cultural works.
-
Increase funding and grants for emerging artists, writers and performers. Simplify grant applications, centralise information about available grants and employ grants application officers to help people apply.
-
Expand arts and performance programs in schools.
-
Fund artist-run venues, galleries and other spaces.
-
Create low-rent or no-rent studios and working spaces for artists and performers in appropriate unused or under-used buildings.
-
Increase funding for public and community cultural institutions, facilities and programs, including museums, galleries, theatres, community radio, television, film and festivals.
-
Remove all ideological criteria for accessing public funding: the state has no place in determining the content of art and culture.
-
Strengthen planning protections for live music venues against noise complaints or developers.
-
End the freeze on granting new liquor licences past 1:00am.
-
Improve pay and conditions in film and television, including for freelancers.
-
PRINCIPLES
-
1. Artistic expression and creativity are fundamental to vibrant and healthy communities.
-
2. Everyone should have access to and the right to participate in, and experience all forms of the arts including broad participation in, and understanding and appreciation of the arts.
-
3. Artists play a significant role in society by encouraging exploration, expression and communication of ideas and cultural identity.
-
4. Freedom of expression is fundamental to the arts.
-
5. First Nations artists and their work represent cultures and heritage which are unique to Australia and must be supported, respected and appropriately protected through legislation, policy and funding priorities.
-
6. Education has a key role in fostering appreciation and understanding of the arts, as well as the skills necessary for artistic practice.
-
7. Specialist artistic education and training programs provide a unique learning environment for aspiring artists and should be well funded and resourced.
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8. Cultural heritage is to be interpreted broadly to reflect the diverse nature of the history of Victoria from pre-European settlement to the present-day, inclusive of indigenous, immigrant and contemporary Australians.
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9. The protection of our heritage is not limited to the preservation of buildings and physical structures, but includes the recognition and conservation of intangible heritage such as the memories and stories of elders, including First Nations elders, which in turn fosters our sense of place and community.
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10. The funding and financing of developments and projects involving our shared heritage by Government, non-government, private sector and private individuals, is in the public interest.
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11. Libraries, museums and other collecting institutions are essential repositories of cultural heritage and must be maintained and developed.
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AIMS
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GENERAL
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1. Victorian arts and culture to maintain its unique character and diverse nature through support and promotion of local content and the development of local projects.
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2. Policies and programs that encourage an integrated approach and cross-portfolio awareness of broad social and economic benefits.
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3. Operating models for State owned arts venues which focus on serving the Victorian public by providing a diverse and accessible range of performances and exhibitions, and which support artistic organisations to hire venues at reasonable cost.
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4. Development of the Southbank Arts Precinct to improve connections between the state's major arts institutions and to reactivate and revitalise the precinct.
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Community Development and the Arts
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5. Increase the funding and promotion of public libraries as centres of community interaction.
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6. The incorporation of arts perspectives into urban planning, especially the inclusion of cultural infrastructure in the development of greenfield sites.
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7. The encouragement of arts practice, and from a range of cultural and linguistic traditions, by adequately resourcing community based cross-cultural projects designed to enhance reconciliation, understanding and tolerance.
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8. The establishment, growth and renewal of suburban and regional cultural infrastructure, performing arts centres, galleries, museums and community arts facilities.
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9. A committee drawn from Victorian First Nations communities to facilitate recognition and resourcing of their specific arts practices and cultural activities.
10. Further measures to increase access to participation and attendance of arts events/festivals, particularly for marginalised groups and those living with disability, by providing ongoing funding to peak bodies such as Arts Access Victoria. -
11. Greater engagement with local government in the development of arts and cultural policies.
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12. Increased access to arts and cultural experiences in rural and regional areas and areas of social and economic disadvantage, with metropolitan arts companies to participate in touring, co-productions and exchange programs across the regions.
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13. Increased funding for community radio and television.
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14. The encouragement of queer and diverse arts practice by adequately resourcing LGBTIQA+ arts projects
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SUPPORT FOR ARTISTS
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15. Safe, non-exploitative working conditions and fair pay in the arts industries.
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16. A stronger and more resilient arts industry in Victoria, including the provision of ongoing and well-resourced public arts programs and a vibrant and economically viable local live music industry.
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17. Government support of democratic and properly constituted arts organisations that facilitate networking, advocate for artists and inform government policy making.
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18. Proper regulation of literary agents, actors’ agents and the equivalent in all art forms.
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19. The expansion of schemes to service low-to medium budget film makers and ensure film production receives government support.
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20. Government funding to support regular research into issues affecting the Victorian arts sector.
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21. Government to commission and purchase public works from a wide range of art forms.
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22. Consistent arts community and industry consultation processes.
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23. Festivals and events which showcase Australian and international art, and encourage interest in the arts.
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24. A vibrant and economically viable local live music industry through removal of barriers which affect a venue’s ability to host live music.
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25. Improvement in employment opportunities, working conditions and prospects for artists by:
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a. Expanding artists’ programs in schools, health services, correctional institutions, community groups and workplaces;
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b. Supporting the development of national and international art and artist exchanges;
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c. Enabling artists, curators, performers, actors or other industry professionals to access artistic, professional and business training for better career development;
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d. Ensuring grant application processes are simple to access, independently evaluated and free from political manipulation;
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e. Setting minimum standards to ensure the involvement of artists and their representative organisations in development and evaluation of arts policy and programs;
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f. Ensuring conditions recommended by relevant professional arts organisations prevail in public art developments;
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g. Ensuring the provision of government funding for artist-run initiatives, exhibitions, performance spaces, and publishing ventures;
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h. Facilitating early engagement of artists in the planning stages of public and private developments and infrastructure projects;
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i. Housing considerations of practising artists to be better catered for into urban planning; and
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j. The provision of low rent working spaces for practising artists in under-utilised buildings.
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26. More programs to support emerging artists, such as the introduction of a fixed income support scheme and better access to small business start-up grants and schemes.
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27. To support the expansion of programs with a focus on emerging artists.
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EDUCATION AND THE ARTS
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28. All teachers at arts training institutions being qualified to teach and, where possible and appropriate, also practicing as industry professionals.
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29. Students in schools to have access to a wide variety of arts programs, taught by qualified teachers in the relevant arts practice.
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30. Arts training institutions which offer students the opportunity to work with established artists in apprenticeship or mentorship schemes.
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CULTURAL HERITAGE
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31. Greater engagement with First Nations communities in the management of Indigenous cultural heritage and the return of Indigenous sacred objects and ancestral remains to the First Nations peoples who have responsibility for them.
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32. Tourism, planning and marketing well integrated with the management of key heritage assets, including proposed heritage assets.
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33. Heritage registers in Victoria broadened and revised to include intangible cultural heritage such as genius loci, crafts, folklore, oral histories and traditions, and living cultural assets such as flora and fauna.
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34. Adequate funding for State funded libraries, museums, galleries and archives for the development, maintenance, storage, conservation and exhibition of collections, and for the employment of sufficient numbers of properly trained staff, particularly curatorial and conservation staff.
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35. Extension of collections, services and facilities, including IT facilities, at local libraries particular those in regional Victoria, by increasing the proportion of State funding vis-à-vis local government funding.
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36. A strengthened legal framework and state-wide strategy that properly identifies and protects cultural heritage.
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37. Consideration of all genders' and LGBTIQA+ history in heritage analyses of the built environment, material culture and archival records.
Democracy, Integrity, & Human Rights

Defend democracy and the right to protest
Victoria’s democratic system is broken. Rules that govern voting, party registration, political donations and transparency are geared to ensure the domination of the two major parties. The Victorian Labor government has also cracked down on the right to protest by strengthening police powers and applying criminal penalties to protest action. Victorian Socialists want to defend civil liberties and political rights – and we want to empower people to democratically control every part of social life.
What we think
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Socialists defend democracy and want to extend it to every part of social life.
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Capitalism is incompatible with genuine democracy because it establishes private, dictatorial control over the economy. This also means that capitalism constantly threatens limited, parliamentary democracy.
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Socialists defend political rights, including freedom of opinion, freedom of speech and freedom of organisation.
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Social rights – including the rights to food, housing, healthcare, education and so on – must be instituted to maximise democratic participation and to create a more just, free and equal society.
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Australia’s constitution, government, legal system and state institutions originated in British settler-colonialism, were built on the dispossession and genocide of Aboriginal people and are geared to serve the interests of capitalism. Consequently, they must be replaced.
What we'll fight for
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Replace group ticket voting for the Victorian Legislative Assembly and give voters full control over their preferences.
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Introduce professional restrictions applying to former members of parliament banning them from working as lobbyists or joining corporate boards for 10 years after leaving parliament.
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Introduce recall provisions:
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A recall election may be triggered when 50 percent of voters in an electorate sign a petition demanding it.
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A general recall election may be triggered when 50 percent of voters in the state sign a petition demanding it.
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Introduce laws protecting whistle-blowers and prohibit contracts and laws that prevent the disclosure of criminal or corrupt behaviour.
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Remove all legal restrictions on the right to protest and introduce greater protections for the right to protest.
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Initiate a review of Victorian democratic institutions, with a view to considering alternative modes of election (for example, Mixed Member Proportional) and other reforms to ensure that government better represents the views of voters.
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Democracy is about more than just elections. Democracy is about elevating everyone’s voice and building the power of the many. A robust and fair liberal parliamentary democracy is important but democracy in the workplace, economy and community are critical to shifting power from a handful of unelected owners and managers to everyone more equitably.
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PRINCIPLES
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1. Democracy is how we come together to make decisions about our common future. Democracy works because the more people are genuinely involved in making those decisions, the better the decisions are likely to be.
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2. Representative and participatory democracy, in all of its manifestations, is about how we as Victorians collectively make decisions about our future. Democratic control over decision-making is the basis for governments’ legitimacy, and the quality of decisions that are made within the systems we create.
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3. The disproportionate influence of wealth and capital on our democracy can in part be countered through regulation of political finance and lobbying, as well as providing adequate resources and robust freedoms for civil society.
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4. Participation in democracy should not be limited to voting in elections. There must be opportunities for individuals and other organisations to participate in decisions affecting their lives, including in their workplaces and local communities.
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5. Peoples' capacity for democratic engagement is built upon their economic emancipation, where freedom from poverty, work and exploitation open more opportunities for greater democracy.
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6. Liberal parliamentary democracy has its limitations and social change can only be achieved through building power both inside and outside Parliament, through empowering social movements, and building workers' power in their workplaces.
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7. The right to protest and dissent is inherent to the functioning of a democracy.
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8. Community organisations and individuals, including public servants, should be able to participate in public debate without fear of retribution.
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9. Parties' selection of candidates should be conducted transparently and democratically
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10. Parliament should reflect the diversity of Victoria's society.
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AIMS
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Democracy and Community Participation
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1. Build democracy outside formal elections, including in workplaces, in communities and within member-based organisations.
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2. Enshrine the rights to protest, strike and take political and industrial action as human rights.
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3. Reduce the police's role in protests and strikes and remove the capacity for governments and police to arbitrarily restrict public gatherings for political purposes.
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4. Ensure the democratic and civic rights of individuals, collectives and communities are protected in states of emergency.
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5. Remove any restrictions on member-based organisations, including charities and unions, on their capacity to campaign and advocate during election periods, except for appropriate caps on donations and campaign expenditure.
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6. Ensure that all government and executive consultation processes are open, accessible, well-publicised and well facilitated.
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7. Expand democratic participation in executive decision-making through deliberative mechanisms including citizens assemblies, participatory budgeting and ballots on policy issues.
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8. Incentivise the development of workplace democracy and, for major publicly funded projects, include workplace democracy mechanisms as conditions of contract.
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Elections and Political Parties
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9. Convert all single-member districts in all jurisdictions to multi-member divisions elected proportionally.
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10. Minimise malapportionment and ensure as close to one-vote-one-value across all elections.
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11. Universally adopt compulsory preferential voting with comprehensive savings provisions to prevent unintentional informal voting.
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12. Abolish group voting tickets and any mechanism that compromises voters' ability to express their genuine preferences.
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13. Adopt automatic and same-day enrolment.
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14. Have fixed terms at each level of government.
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15. Fully enfranchise 16 and 17 year old people, prisoners, Australian citizens overseas, and permanent residents and temporary visa holders resident in Australia for more than twelve months.
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16. Remove the corporate and landowner franchise.
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17. Remove any arbitrary cap on the number of local councillors in each local government area and for the number of councillors to be a standard ratio based on population.
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18. Ban political donations, campaign expenditure and donations to any representative bodies, organisations or trusts for the purpose of supporting political campaigns from for-profit businesses and their directors.
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19. Require political donations made by non-for-profit membership organisations including unions to be determined democratically and directly by its membership.
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20. Maintain the cap on individual donations in state elections and introduce a cap for local government elections.
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21. Have real-time disclosure of all political donations made over $1000.
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22. Institute strict caps on campaign expenditure, implemented by each candidate per electorate and timely disclosure of significant campaign expenditure, to apply to political parties, candidates, and third-party campaigns equally.
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23. Remove the criminal history disqualification from eligibility to run as a candidate in a state election.
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24. Electoral commissions set and enforce minimum guidelines for transparent and democratic selection of candidates by political parties.
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25. Electoral commissions implement more stringent transparency and annual reporting requirements for political parties as a condition of registration.
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26. Publish all authorised political communications, including online and broadcast advertising, in real-time on a publicly searchable database.
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27. Increase the per-vote reimbursable public funding level and provide access to public electoral, administrative and policy development funding for registered political parties on the basis of a sum per vote.
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28. Strengthen privacy, telemarketing and spam regulations regarding political campaigning and review exemptions for political parties on the management of personal information. Increase the per-vote reimbursable public funding level and provide access to public electoral, administrative and policy development funding for registered political parties on the basis of a sum per vote
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29. Introduce truth in political advertising laws.
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Parliament and Cabinet
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30. Ensure that the Parliamentary committee system is capable of robust oversight by, where practical, appointing a non-government chair to each standing policy committee, appointing a crossbench chair to standing integrity and oversight committees and ensuring every party in Parliament is represented on standing administrative committees.
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31. Expand Victorian Parliament to improve representation and connection to local communities.
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32. Adequately resource and remunerate elected officials at all levels of government and give remuneration tribunals the power to make determinations on all resourcing for elected officials, including staffing levels and accommodation.
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33. Introduce a legislative and compulsory code of conduct for elected officials, including after the end of their term in office.
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34. Appoint a Parliamentary standards commissioner who can investigate unethical behaviour by elected officials.
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35. Better regulate and scrutinise the role, legal status, powers and appointment of political staffers and Ministerial advisers.
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36. Introduce a five-year cooling off period to prevent Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, and their senior staff from engaging in lobbying for, taking an executive or management position in or obtaining a material benefit from any for-profit business which raises a potential and significant conflict of interest arising from their term in office.
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37. Release of Ministerial diaries unredacted quarterly.
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38. Allow MPs to debate amendments, make statements and ask questions on the substance of all bills.
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39. Allow non-government MPs to introduce bills and motions for debate and parliamentary vote regularly.
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40. Require governments to produce documents requested by Parliament in a timely fashion.
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41. Allow public servants and government and major project contractors to provide information to MPs in the public interest, without fear of repercussions.
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42. Make matters of governance, executive, ministerial and parliamentary reform subject to an independent commission.
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Integrity and Anti-Corruption
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43. Build in open government principles and the presumption of proactive release of information in every level of government.
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44. Strengthen the public's right to information by removing commercial-in-confidence exemptions from freedom of information requests.
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45. Clarify and extend the powers of integrity and oversight institutions to allow them to effectively investigate corruption, police misconduct and misconduct in public office.
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46. Give integrity and oversight institutions the power to self-initiate investigations into alleged misconduct or wrongdoing of any elected official, public sector executive, board member or appointee.
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47. Remove the limits on public hearings for integrity bodies.
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48. Prohibit governments from misusing public funds in a targeted, discriminatory way to increase their re-election prospects.
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49. Require governments to make public the results of all market and social research and polling conducted using public funds.
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HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY
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PRINCIPLES
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1. Human rights are fundamental, universal, indivisible and interdependent, and must be respected, protected and promoted.
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2. Cultural, religious, gender and other differences often give rise to specific needs and circumstances that must be taken into account in order to ensure equal rights for all.
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3. Greater equality is both a cause and effect of ensuring human rights are respected.
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4. The Victorian Government respecting, protecting and promoting human rights in all of its legislative, administrative and other functions.
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5. A Victorian society that protects and values the rights of all people, with particular protections for the most vulnerable.
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AIMS
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1. Supporting and strengthening the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, and its extension to include economic, social and cultural rights and full compliance to all international human rights law covenants and conventions to which Australia is a signatory
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2. Ensuring that any decisions affecting human rights in Victoria are necessary, reasonable, proportionate, and consistent with international human rights law and imposed in a transparent and accountable manner.
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3. The publication of a statement of compatibility for Bills and subordinate legislation to allow for public comment. Bills should not be debated before the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee report is tabled in parliament.
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4. Regular auditing of public authorities to assess compliance with human rights, and provisions to allow individuals to seek compensation or damages against a public authority for a breach of human rights under the Victorian Charter.
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5. The role of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission expanded to encompass the full range of Victoria’s international human rights obligations, as well as having the power to determine complaints and conduct its own inquiries into human rights issues in Victoria.
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6. Human rights education being included in the Victorian school curriculum.
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7. Eliminate discrimination against persons or groups of persons on the basis of: age; breast/chest feeding; disability; gender identity; industrial or trade union activity; lawful sexual activity; pregnancy; parental or carer status; physical features; race; relationship status; religious or political belief or activity; sex; sex characteristics; sexual orientation; personal association with a person who is identified by reference to any of the above attributes; or other grounds corresponding to historical and ongoing systemic oppression.
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8. Non-government entities, including individuals and corporations, should respect human rights and be held accountable for human rights violations.
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9. Raising community awareness of services available to assist individuals subject to exploitation or abuse, and increasing resourcing to ensure the improvement of the range and quality of such services.
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10. A coordinated effort by national, state and local authorities to prevent the trafficking of people, prosecute the traffickers and protect the victims.
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11. The protection of the right to democratic protest and the elimination of laws which restrict this right.
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12. Expansion of the Equal Opportunity Act to cover all aspects of public life and the removal of religious exemptions.
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13. Anti-vilification provisions to cover the attributes of race and religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics, disability and HIV status
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Human Rights Policy as amended by State Council on 16th July 2022
Disability

Disabled people encounter economic, political, and social barriers in every aspect of their lives. This oppression is a result of a system that treats people primarily as exploitable labour to increase the wealth of capitalists. There is no reason, outside of the dictates of such a system, that illness or impairment should prevent participation in society. In Victoria, there are more than 1 million disabled people. Almost 90 percent of disabled people in Victoria are ineligible for the NDIS and now experience more barriers to accessing basic support. Disabled people have higher basic life expenses and often live below the poverty line.
What we think
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Disabled people are oppressed by a system that is run in the interest of profit.
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The elimination of barriers experienced by disabled people must be supported by targeted funding in all areas, including healthcare, housing, education, transport, and social and cultural support.
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Disabled people have a right to agency and independence.
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Disabled people have a right to live free from violence, abuse, neglect, coercion and fear.
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Services for disabled people should be for the sole purpose of providing high-quality care or assistance.
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Access to disability services should not be determined by age, language, income, location, culture or nature of disability.
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The privatisation of healthcare and disability services is antithetical to high-quality, accessible care.
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Disabled people who want to work should be able to, without discrimination.
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Disabled people have a right to access education at all levels.
What we'll fight for
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Immediately nationalise all private disability services.
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Re-fund all state funded disability services that were wound up after the introduction of the NDIS.
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Provide additional funding for expanded disability services, including for people with complex needs, to ensure equal access to services across Victoria.
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Ensure that all public transport infrastructure is accessible and expand subsidies available for private transport use.
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Guarantee the agency and independence of disabled people by:
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Protecting the presumption of decision-making capacity and supported decision-making framework.
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Eliminating all restrictive practices in different settings – education, support, healthcare and accommodation.
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Funding and expanding a network of self-advocacy organisations.
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Protecting sexual and reproductive rights.
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Increase funding for specialist and focused school-based support (staff, resources and supports) to ensure that children can learn in an educational setting best suited to their individual needs.
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Increase the wages and conditions of teachers and other school staff, including mandating sufficient time for teachers and support staff to plan lessons and access specialist aids and resources to support children with a disability in their classrooms.
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Introduce pay equity by abolishing employment exemptions that allow employers to pay lower wages to disabled workers.
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Implement a fast-track disability modifications construction program to complete all outstanding disability modification requests for people living in public and community housing.
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Increase funding for free specialist disability legal support.
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Ensure that new public housing is built in accordance with accessible housing standards.
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Ensure a range of housing options and support models are available to ensure that disabled people can live alone or with others and in their community.
PRINCIPLES
1. All people have a right to independence, self-determination and choice in their lives. Disability policy and law is therefore a matter of human rights, as well as individual health and well-being.
2. People who experience physical, intellectual, cognitive and/or psychiatric disability, and their families and carers, have the right to actively participate in all levels of policy, service planning and delivery and evaluation, including their own.
3. The full contribution and insight of people with a disability benefits communities.
4. It is a responsibility of governments to ensure substantive equality and equal opportunity, to promote attitudinal change, and to provide funding to ensure this in all areas including education, health, housing, mobility, employment, transport and sport, cultural and social engagement.
5. Government must ensure that individuals are provided housing that is timely, appropriate to their needs and to their circumstance, and is accessible and secure.
6. There must be adequate, ongoing, fully indexed funding for high quality, lifetime care and support for people with a disability, which is sufficient to meet their needs, regardless of how or where the person acquired a disability or where they live.
7. Care and support for people with a disability should be accessible, self-directed and individually appropriate.
8. Disability support should be provided without prejudice towards how the disability is acquired in life
9. Society should be free of harassment, abuse, vilification, stigmatisation, discrimination, disadvantage or exploitation on the basis of disability.
10. Governments hold primary responsibility to display ongoing leadership in fulfilling the obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
AIMS
1. Full opportunity for people to participate in all aspects of life, including adequate funding and support for education, training, employment, welfare, health systems, public transport, utilities, housing services, technology and information in Victoria, regardless of ability, taking account of specific needs.
2. To ensure individuals, families and carers are not disadvantaged by non-optional disability-related costs, including equipment, transport and personal assistance.
3. Access for people to appropriate facilities and support in order to undertake their chosen community activities regardless of ability.
4. To resource disability advocacy, service provision and community groups to improve inclusiveness of their governance structures, service delivery, and pay and conditions for staff in recognition of their skills and professionalism.
5. Access to free legal advice and advocacy where disability limits the individual's capacity to put their case forward.
6. Community education programs to promote public awareness of human diversity and to prevent discrimination and abuse experienced by people with a disability.
7. A guaranteed and adequate income for people with a disability and their carers to cover living, medical, transport, equipment and accommodation costs and support services.
8. Sufficient funding for safe, high quality, appropriate care for people with very high or complex care needs, including First Nations people with disabilities.
9. Sufficient respite care services and facilities, in-home and emergency support, crisis accommodation and a range of accommodation options.
10. Pathways that support school leavers with a disability to make the transition from school into meaningful employment, educational and vocational programs or other community-based activities.
11. Improved pay, conditions, support and career structures for workers living with disabilities.
12. Workforce improvements driven through the provision of training, development and personal support for disability support workers.
13. Strengthen Victorian laws to prohibit discrimination or vilification on the basis of disability, especially in areas such as coverage and ‘reasonable adjustments’.
14. The Victorian government fully supporting inclusive and non-discriminatory standards, in line with the National Disability Standards and relevant national legislation, in building design, employment, education, access to premises, provision of information, accessible transport, personal support and methods of communication.
15. Promoting continued and improved commitment to Disability Action Plans within all levels of government, and supporting and encouraging the broader development of Disability Action Plans throughout the Victorian community and private sectors.
16. Ensuring disability service providers are accountable to service users, their families, advocates, their workers and the government.
17. Advocating for and providing a full range of evidence-based health services, and research into different areas of disability.
18. Resourcing support programs for parents with disabilities, and supporting genetic counselling and advocacy for parenting and reproductive rights of women with disabilities.
19. Advancing the rights of women with disabilities including through gender-responsive services, opportunities for leadership and empowerment, and improvement of safety outcomes.
20. Ensuring family violence sector standards, codes and guidelines contextualise the needs of people with disabilities.
21. Resourcing community care facilities and services, such as respite care, supported accommodation and community housing, to maximise the capacity of people with disability (or their carers) who require these services to live independently.
22. Ensuring the provision of cultural- and age-appropriate, as well as language-specific, services for Victorians from all backgrounds and, in particular, ensuring First Nations people with disability have access to services that meet their needs.
23. Addressing abuse, neglect and violence towards people with disability and appropriate complaints and redress processes.
LGBTIQA+

End homophobia and transphobia
For generations, society has systematically vilified and discriminated against LGBTIQ+ people. Despite important gains, there remain many forms of oppression that negatively affect the health and happiness of LGBTIQ+ people. We still need to fight for liberation from all forms of discrimination and bigotry.
What we think
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LGBTIQ+ people have the right to live free from fear, shame, bigotry or discrimination.
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Religious freedom does not mean freedom to discriminate against or vilify LGBTIQ+ people.
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Trans and gender diverse people have the right to affirm their gender, and for this to be recognised.
What we'll fight for
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Review and repeal all laws that discriminate against LGBTIQ+ people.
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Remove all current exemptions that allow institutions to discriminate against LGBTIQ+ people on religious grounds.
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Increase the availability of emergency housing for LGBTIQ+ people.
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Ensure inclusive sexuality education in schools and comprehensive professional learning for teachers to support gender and sexual diversity.
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Require institutions, businesses, non-government organisations and state agencies to recognise trans and gender diverse people’s gender identity.
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Fully fund health services to provide free, gender affirming care and ensure rural and regional accessibility to provide for all LGBTIQ+ health needs.
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Until they can give informed consent, ban all invasive or irreversible medical procedures on intersex children that modify sex characteristics, unless necessary to avoid serious health-related harm.
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SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY AND INTERSEX POLICY
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PRINCIPLES
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1. All people are entitled to equal protection of the law without discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.
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2. The human rights, civil liberties and democratic freedoms of all people including lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, queer and asexual (LGBTIQA+) people must be supported and defended.
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3. Inclusion and celebration of diversity are essential for genuine social justice and equality as is recognising the unique and valuable contribution of the diversity of LGBTIQA+ people and their communities.
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4. All people have the right to their self-identified gender, which is integral to the lived experiences of many as citizens and members of the community. We recognise that trans women are women, trans men are men, and gender diverse identities exist and are valid.
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5. All people, including intersex people, have a right to bodily autonomy and physical integrity, and should be protected from unnecessary medical interventions unless they provide informed consent.
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6. Discrimination and vilification on the basis of sex characteristics, sexuality and gender identity is a significant cause of psychological distress, mental illness and suicide.
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7. The health needs of all LGBTQIA+ Victorians should be provided for without discrimination of any kind. Everyone has the right to have their specific health needs met with equity, dignity and respect.
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8. There is a diversity of sexual orientations, sex characteristics and gender identities. Erasure (or the lack of accurate recognition) of people’s sexual orientation, sex characteristics or gender identity can be offensive, hurtful and detrimental to people’s wellbeing.
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9. Society should be free of harassment, abuse, vilification, stigmatisation, discrimination, disadvantage or exploitation on the basis of the sexuality, gender identity or sex characteristics of a person or someone they are associated with.
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10. Society should be free of discrimination on the basis of family formation, or the sex characteristics, sexual orientation and gender identity of parents or carers.
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11. The public should be informed about the historic, continuing and endemic discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people and their communities.
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12. Government should take full responsibility for defending the dignity, humanity and rights of all people and their families, free of any discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics.
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AIMS
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1.The abolition of discrimination in all areas of Victorian law on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics.
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2. All de facto relationships to have equal status in law and government policy regardless of sex, sexuality and gender identity.
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3. Equal access to adoption, permanent care, fostering, surrogacy and assisted reproductive treatment regardless of sex characteristics, sexuality, gender identity and marital status, and equal parenting rights, for LGBTIQA+ parents.
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4. Birth certificate laws to reflect the reality of a child’s life and to address situations where children have two mothers, two fathers and a birth mother, gender diverse parents or more than two parents.
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5. The education system to provide age-appropriate, non-discriminatory information about sex, sexuality, relationships and gender identity, and assistance and resources for teachers to explore these issues in the classroom
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6. A full range of government-funded services to be provided in an appropriate, culturally safe and accessible manner for people with needs related to their sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics.
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7. Increased funding to establish and expand gender clinics at hospitals and health services.
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8. Accurate information and appropriate support services for individuals, parents and carers of young people in relation to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.
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9. An end to medical interventions against asexual people on the basis of their sexual orientation or lack of sexual activity or desire
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10. Legislative reform to prevent discrimination against people with an intersex variation and to update the definition of gender identity in anti-discrimination laws so as to be inclusive of non-binary people.
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11. Protect people living with HIV/AIDS from discrimination, by including HIV/AIDS status as a protected attribute equal opportunity law.
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12. A simplified process that ensures that people are able to easily alter their sex on all official documents, consistent with how they live and identify, without a requirement for gender affirmation surgery or hormonal therapy, and without their past sex or gender identity being revealed.
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13. Where possible, sex or gender to be removed from official documents, or a voluntary, opt-in third gender marker to be included.
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14. Medical intervention for people born with an intersex variation to occur only when they are able to make the decision for themselves, unless it is determined to be in the best interest of the child concerned and necessary to avoid serious, urgent and irreparable harm.
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15. Accurate information and appropriate support services from the intersex community for intersex people and their parents and carers.
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16. Data collection that accurately and sensitively reflects the diversity of LGBTIQA+ people and their families.
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17. Reforms to ensure that the operation of the homosexual conviction expungement scheme is accessible, fair, timely, and provides just reparation.
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18. Adequate funding for services to support and protect people of diverse sexual orientation, sex characteristics and gender identities in areas such as:
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a. drug and alcohol use;
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b. disability and mental health;
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c. family violence;
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d. pregnancy including unwanted pregnancy;
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e. harassment including sexual harassment,
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f. rape and sexual assault,
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g. self-harm and suicide prevention,
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h. peer support,
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I. coming out,
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j. counselling,
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k. housing services and programs,
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l. gender transitioning and affirmation, and
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m. HIV / AIDS testing and support.
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19. Tailored support for the health and wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ people with particular needs, such as those who are young, Aboriginal, multicultural, newly-arrived migrants, refugees and those living in rural and regional Victoria.
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20. Support and funding for programs which overcome the instance of speech motivated by hate or prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics.
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21. Accessible and inclusive family violence prevention programs, reporting mechanisms and support services for people with diverse sexualities, gender identities and sex characteristics and their families.
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22. Restoration of the powers of the Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to investigate systemic discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics, conduct public inquiries, issue compliance notices and enter into enforceable undertakings.
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23. The removal of legislative exemptions that allow religious organisations to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.
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24. The removal of blanket anti-discrimination exemptions that allow the exclusion of people of certain sex characteristics or gender identity from competitive sporting activities.
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25. The provisions of the Yogyakarta Principles on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics to be incorporated into the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities and proper funding to ensure the human rights of persons of diverse sexual orientations, sex characteristics and gender identities are promoted and protected.
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26. Blood-banking services to adopt the least discriminatory blood donor criteria possible, while maintaining the current low risk of transfusion-associated infection.
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27. Public acknowledgement and respect for the important role and contribution of LGBTIQA+ people in Victorian society by all Victorian political, civic and corporate leaders.
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28. Support and mentoring for LGBTIQA+ people to take up political, civic and corporate leadership roles.
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29. Development of an LGBTIQA+ Honour Roll recognising outstanding LGBTIQA+ Victorians.
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30. The expansion of LGBTIQA+ access, diversity and inclusion initiatives in local government, including through appropriate acknowledgment, consultation and service provision.
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31. Training programmes and awareness-raising aimed at improving health, mental health, community, aged care, education, police and prison services’ knowledge of and sensitivity towards LGBTIQA+ people.
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32. Public awareness campaigns to reduce and report homophobic, biphobic, transphobic harassment and violence, and harassment and violence directed against intersex people
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33. So far as is reasonably practicable, protective measures to be put in place for all prisoners vulnerable to violence or abuse on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics, and access provided to medical care and counselling appropriate to the needs of LGBTIQA+ prisoners and prisoners living with HIV.
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34. The development of workplace education, training and accreditation programs directed at achieving diversity and inclusiveness and eliminating homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and prejudice based on sex characteristics in the workplace.
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35. The expansion of LGBTIQA+ cultural and community events, recognising and supporting the tourism associated with such events.
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36. Ongoing funding of the Victorian Pride Centre.
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37. Formal, permanent, adequately resourced liaison groups between LGBTIQA+ community representatives and government departments and agencies, to consult, to advise, and to develop and implement policies and programs relevant to persons of diverse sexual orientation, sex characteristics and gender identity.
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38. The maintenance of an adequately funded Equality Office within the Department of Premier and Cabinet supported by a Minister, and legislative entrenchment of the Commissioner role.
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39. Core recurrent funding for LGBTIQA+ community organisations.
Workplace Rights

Workers are more productive than ever – so why are we often working harder, for longer, in less secure jobs? The retirement age keeps being pushed higher but hundreds of thousands of people in work can’t get enough hours. We need to stop deregulation and casualisation, and instead use every means to improve wages and conditions for workers. Even more important, workers need to act collectively – to organise and strike against exploitation and injustice in the workplace.
What we think
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All economic value, and therefore all business profit, is produced by labour.
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When workers do not collectively own and manage their own place of work, the interests of workers and employers are counterposed. There is always a battle over the share of value produced in the economy going to bosses’ profits versus the share going to workers’ wages.
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Work should be socially useful, personally rewarding, safe, secure and well paid.
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There must be equal pay for work of equal value; workplaces and industrial laws must be free from discrimination.
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Workers should collectively own and democratically control their workplaces, including the right to elect and fire management.
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Workers have the right to be a member of a trade union that is free from government or corporate interference, and the right to organise, to strike and to collectively bargain.
What we'll fight for
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Scrap the Victorian Labor government’s below-inflation pay cap for public sector workers and guarantee that workers’ wages increase at least 2.5 percent above the official inflation rate.
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Cap the pay of executives in the public service, government agencies, universities and state-owned corporations at no more than five times Victoria’s median full-time wage.
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Reverse outsourcing, privatisation, the use of labour hire and the contracting out of ongoing services, policy work and other core functions of government.
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Ensure there is a current, union negotiated enterprise agreement in place wherever the government provides or funds a service. This includes the entire state public sector, state funded social services and state construction infrastructure. The government should mandate minimum conditions for workers in these sectors, including a $30-an-hour minimum wage and full penalty rates.
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Create jobs with necessary training for all who want them, expanding public housing, renewable public energy supply, public health, public education, public farms, public transport and other public services and infrastructure.
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Mandate annual elections for health and safety reps in every workplace; where a union has a member or members on site, it must run the election.
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Address chronic wage theft by expanding and publicising Wage Inspectorate Victoria. Allow the inspectorate, unions and workers to prosecute major cases of wage theft.
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Increase funding for Victoria Legal Aid to assist migrant workers get full residence and workplace rights.
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Legislate to allow workers to picket their work during an industrial dispute.
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Expand to all casual employees the two-year pilot of the Sick Pay Guarantee.
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Fully decriminalise sex work, and recognise sex workers’ right to organise collectively for their pay and conditions.
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Make May Day a public holiday.
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Strengthen workplace health and safety laws to improve the recognition of mental harm and psychological injury sustained at work.
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Bring WorkCover workplace accident insurance and compensation fully into public ownership and fund specialist support and representation services for injured workers.
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Introduce measures that encourage worker control and participation in decision-making in the workplace, including:
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Changing the Corporations Act to ensure that workers are guaranteed equity stakes, governance rights and shares in any profits of their employing companies and trusts.
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Normalising and promoting cooperatives as a means of structuring private businesses, by offering tax concessions and other measures.
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Imposing higher payroll tax rates for businesses that are not owned and managed cooperatively.
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INDUSTRY POLICY
PRINCIPLES
1. Victoria needs a new economy that works for everyone and centres communities at the heart of a new sustainable industrial strategy. Deindustrialisation has weakened the quality of work for many, breaking up union power, destroying communities, and reducing our capacity to innovate and lead.
2. Victorian industry should be ecologically and economically sustainable.
3. In order to build and sustain successful and prosperous industries, Victoria should have
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a. efficient transport and communications infrastructure;
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b. affordable, accessible and relevant education and training; and
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c. low cost, clean energy; and d. an efficient, progressive and fair tax base.
4. Local industries, that is, industries creating value from local resources and that are owned, managed and staffed from within the communities in which they operate, are essential for a robust economy which provides meaningful employment and supports successful businesses.
5. Development of Victorian industry can be facilitated by public sector investment that is open, transparent, and targets sectors rather than specific companies or businesses.
6. Successful and prosperous economies promote a culture that greatly values and supports science, engineering, innovation, enterprise and creativity.
7. Victoria needs an industrial strategy to facilitate the social and economic transformation necessary to face the climate crisis, underpinned by local communities determining their own local transformations towards more sustainable local industries.
8. A sustainable industrial strategy is at the heart of a meaningful just transition plan and must facilitate decarbonisation and rebuild good, secure jobs with the right to join a union. It must democratise our economy and make communities more resilient to economic shocks.
9. Government investment in industry - particularly bail-outs - should be conditional on democratising ownership structures and delivering demonstrable social and environmental objectives.
AIMS
1. The government should encourage the development of innovative new or transformed industries of the future, such as products for energy efficiency and advanced materials.
2. When the government supports the development of new or transformation of existing industries through measures such as payroll tax or other concessions, it should ensure environmental and social justice impacts and outcomes are central to decision making.
3. The government should fund research and development that preferentially benefits Victoria and Victorian industry, for example that sustainably adds value to Victorian resources.
4. The government should foster improved economic and environmental sustainability through advocating principles of industrial ecology and “cradle-to-cradle” design.
5. The government should ensure that its public industry development funding is accessible by innovative social and community enterprises, and in particular, the government should create a new funding scheme that assists the early stage creation of such enterprises.
6. All government programs, investments, resource allocation and procurement to maximise public benefit by including employment, environmental, social and economic impact assessments.
7. Establish transition authorities in regional centres to manage local transformation funds and actively facilitate just transitions programmes.
8. Governments to actively invest in communities by offering no-interest loans and first right to buy schemes to help regional workers and communities threatened by industry transitions.
Industry and Employment Policy as amended by State Council on 19th March 2022.
City & Local Government

Melbourne is becoming increasingly segregated and unequal. The outer suburbs have the largest share of people and the fastest rates of population growth, but the lowest incomes and fewer jobs and services. By contrast, the places where the richest people live have the best of everything – ten times greater access to healthcare and social support, six times greater access to education and more than triple the access to jobs. They have more public transport, more parkland and more trees (which means that in the blistering summer they don’t get as hot). Corporate developers have been given the keys to Melbourne, building new suburbs with few amenities, privatising public spaces and cramming people into ever smaller blocks and apartments. State and local planning schemes are full of preferred rather than mandatory controls, and public infrastructure is an afterthought. We need proper planning and proper investment. We need a city that works for everyone.
What we think
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Cities must be designed and retrofitted so that their inhabitants can lead comfortable, connected and fulfilling lives.
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Existing public space and community facilities must be protected from private developers and new spaces and facilities acquired and constructed.
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All residents, regardless of the suburb in which they live, must be guaranteed equal access to affordable and high-quality housing, decent jobs, public healthcare, public transport, public education at all levels and quality public infrastructure and amenities.
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Urban planning must be democratic and planning decisions must be guided by social equity and ecological sustainability.
What we'll fight for
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Mandate increases in social infrastructure – such as public transport, schools, hospitals, parks and playgrounds – for rises in population growth.
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Mandate low-cost and public housing (“inclusionary zoning”) set at least 20 percent for all developments.
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Mandate that all residential developments have minimum internal amenity and decent open space for each house or apartment.
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Mandate developer responsibility for ensuring 30 percent canopy tree coverage in growth suburbs and impose a developer levy to fund urgent planting to at least double the canopy tree coverage in western suburbs.
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Protect and preserve heritage buildings and streetscapes, including by introducing new penalties that allow for no-compensation public acquisition of land where property owners have unlawfully demolished a building or otherwise destroyed its heritage value.
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Ensure that social equity, ecological sustainability and public amenity are given primacy in local planning and public infrastructure decisions.
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Save the Preston Market. Immediately impose mandatory planning controls over the site prohibiting its demolition and any new development, purchase or compulsorily acquire the site, impose heritage protections and permanently maintain operation of the existing market on its current footprint and, through a community-led process, develop plans for upgrades or improvements that do not undermine the market’s cultural, social and heritage value.
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Guarantee long-term stable funding to Neighbourhood Houses.
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Mandate that developers bear responsibility for structural defects to properties for 30 years after building completion and seven years for non-structural defects.
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Extend the “Green Wedges” within Greater Melbourne and permanently prevent any rezoning, so as to protect crucial farmland, wetlands and native green spaces, including the restoration and expansion of native grassland reserves in the city’s west.
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Increase green space, canopy tree coverage and the number of linear parks and urban farms.
PRINCIPLES
1. First Nations people have a unique voice and history that must be recognised in local government.
2. Local government is a distinct and essential tier of government.
3. Local Government should be fully recognised and empowered in the Victorian and Australian Constitutions.
4. The principle of subsidiarity should apply when making public policy in Victoria. Local government should therefore be devolved significant responsibilities and powers, with adequate funding and the ability to raise funds to meet these responsibilities.
4. The principle of subsidiarity should apply when making public policy in Victoria. Local government should therefore have significant responsibilities and powers devolved to it, with adequate funding and the ability to raise funds to meet these responsibilities.
5. The Victorian Government must respect communities of interest and communities’ demonstrated preferred Local Government structures and boundaries.
6. Local government must be transparent, accountable and democratic.
7. Local council voter franchises must respect one resident, one vote, one value.
8. Local councils are well placed to contribute to meeting regional, national and global challenges (such as housing climate change), and are not merely administrative bodies.
9. Council decision-making must be free from private financial influence, particularly property development interests.
10. Differential rates and special rates schemes are valid and effective for achieving social, economic and environmental justice.
AIMS
1. All councils to formally recognise and partner with Traditional Owner groups.
2. Retention of regular electoral representation reviews which respect the will of local communities, and which encompass common sense inter-council boundary review proposals where there is demonstrable community support to better align communities of interest.
3. Election franchises to maintain one vote, one value in all councils including the City of Melbourne, entitling all permanent residents to vote and removing the ability for corporations to vote.
4. Ward based proportional representation as the default representational model for Councils, so as to balance community of interest considerations with the principles of proportionality and voter enfranchisement.
5. Instatement of a rotation of candidates’ ballot paper positions so as to remove advantages currently created by the luck of the draw.
6. A requirement that candidates’ political party memberships, if any, appear on the ballot paper, in the interests of transparency.
7. The abolition of donations to Councillors and election candidates from property developers and gambling interests.
8. Local government election campaigns to be subject to strict spending caps.
9. Restrictions on the dismissal of local councils by the Victorian Government to situations where it is demonstrably necessary to restore good governance in the local government area.
10. Local council amalgamations only where demonstrably supported by local communities and based in sound policy that transparently quantifies the environmental, financial and social benefit.
11. Replacement of State Government-appointed regional bodies that govern planning (such as the Victorian Planning Authority and Regional and Metropolitan Partnerships) with representative bodies that genuinely facilitate cross-government collaboration and are publicly accountable, including the instatement of an authoritative and democratic metropolitan-level governing body representing a coalition of metropolitan councils.
12. Planning and environment legislative reform to allow local councils to act more quickly and efficiently to facilitate climate resilient public and private development.
13. Retention of the ability of local government to advocate in the interests of the local community to other communities and governments.
14. Maximum community participation, including in deliberative processes, for the development of strategies, plans and budgets for municipalities.
15. Narrowing of provisions that allow local councils to consider matters in closed session to only those which are absolutely necessary to protect the privacy of individuals, or certain industrial, contractual or legal matters.
16. Local councils to provide policies and plans that affect communities in plain language, as well as multiple languages that reflect those communities.
17. A review of all local laws to ensure compliance with the Victorian Charter of Human Rights, particularly where laws seek to govern public behaviour.
18. An end to cost shifting from Victorian to local governments, and a memorandum of understanding between the Victorian Government and the local government sector delineating responsibilities, so as to provide certainty to all.
19. To broaden the scope of differential rates and special rates schemes that local councils can apply.
20. Removal of arbitrary or unfair regressive service, municipal and special charges.
21. Revocation of rate capping so that communities through their council can decide the level of services and the level of rates they are prepared to pay.
22. A requirement for all councils to develop and publish 10-year financial and capital works plans, based on established strategy and targets, derived from needs investigation and community consultation
23. Remuneration for Councillors that reflects the diverse demands on their time, thus removing current advantages given to independently wealthy candidates.
24. Councils to be enabled to facilitate housing through its roles as planning authority, advocate, regulator and provider.
25. Councils will implement provision of housing by fulfilling its roles of:
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planning authority for the timely and orderly provision of housing
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community advocate, through housing-related advocacy, support for residents experiencing housing-related stress and facilitating community developments
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regulator responsible for rooming and boarding houses and retirement villages
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housing and housing services provider, leveraging council assets and financing vehicles to drive growth in affordable housing
Local Government Policy as adopted by State Council on 11th September 2021.
Environment, Energy & Water, & Waste

PRINCIPLES
1. Artistic expression and creativity are fundamental to vibrant and healthy communities.
2. Everyone should have access to and the right to participate in, and experience all forms of the arts including broad participation in, and understanding and appreciation of the arts.
3. Artists play a significant role in society by encouraging exploration, expression and communication of ideas and cultural identity.
4. Freedom of expression is fundamental to the arts.
5. First Nations artists and their work represent cultures and heritage which are unique to Australia and must be supported, respected and appropriately protected through legislation, policy and funding priorities.
6. Education has a key role in fostering appreciation and understanding of the arts, as well as the skills necessary for artistic practice.
7. Specialist artistic education and training programs provide a unique learning environment for aspiring artists and should be well funded and resourced.
8. Cultural heritage is to be interpreted broadly to reflect the diverse nature of the history of Victoria from pre-European settlement to the present-day, inclusive of indigenous, immigrant and contemporary Australians.
9. The protection of our heritage is not limited to the preservation of buildings and physical structures, but includes the recognition and conservation of intangible heritage such as the memories and stories of elders, including First Nations elders, which in turn fosters our sense of place and community.
10. The funding and financing of developments and projects involving our shared heritage by Government, non-government, private sector and private individuals, is in the public interest.
11. Libraries, museums and other collecting institutions are essential repositories of cultural heritage and must be maintained and developed.
AIMS
GENERAL
1. Victorian arts and culture to maintain its unique character and diverse nature through support and promotion of local content and the development of local projects.
2. Policies and programs that encourage an integrated approach and cross-portfolio awareness of broad social and economic benefits.
3. Operating models for State owned arts venues which focus on serving the Victorian public by providing a diverse and accessible range of performances and exhibitions, and which support artistic organisations to hire venues at reasonable cost.
4. Development of the Southbank Arts Precinct to improve connections between the state's major arts institutions and to reactivate and revitalise the precinct.
Community Development and the Arts
5. Increase the funding and promotion of public libraries as centres of community interaction.
6. The incorporation of arts perspectives into urban planning, especially the inclusion of cultural infrastructure in the development of greenfield sites.
7. The encouragement of arts practice, and from a range of cultural and linguistic traditions, by adequately resourcing community based cross-cultural projects designed to enhance reconciliation, understanding and tolerance.
8. The establishment, growth and renewal of suburban and regional cultural infrastructure, performing arts centres, galleries, museums and community arts facilities.
9. A committee drawn from Victorian First Nations communities to facilitate recognition and resourcing of their specific arts practices and cultural activities.
10. Further measures to increase access to participation and attendance of arts events/festivals, particularly for marginalised groups and those living with disability, by providing ongoing funding to peak bodies such as Arts Access Victoria.
11. Greater engagement with local government in the development of arts and cultural policies.
12. Increased access to arts and cultural experiences in rural and regional areas and areas of social and economic disadvantage, with metropolitan arts companies to participate in touring, co-productions and exchange programs across the regions.
13. Increased funding for community radio and television.
14. The encouragement of queer and diverse arts practice by adequately resourcing LGBTIQA+ arts projects
SUPPORT FOR ARTISTS
15. Safe, non-exploitative working conditions and fair pay in the arts industries.
16. A stronger and more resilient arts industry in Victoria, including the provision of ongoing and well-resourced public arts programs and a vibrant and economically viable local live music industry.
17. Government support of democratic and properly constituted arts organisations that facilitate networking, advocate for artists and inform government policy making.
18. Proper regulation of literary agents, actors’ agents and the equivalent in all art forms.
19. The expansion of schemes to service low-to medium budget film makers and ensure film production receives government support.
20. Government funding to support regular research into issues affecting the Victorian arts sector.
21. Government to commission and purchase public works from a wide range of art forms.
22. Consistent arts community and industry consultation processes.
23. Festivals and events which showcase Australian and international art, and encourage interest in the arts.
24. A vibrant and economically viable local live music industry through removal of barriers which affect a venue’s ability to host live music.
25. Improvement in employment opportunities, working conditions and prospects for artists by:
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a. Expanding artists’ programs in schools, health services, correctional institutions, community groups and workplaces;
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b. Supporting the development of national and international art and artist exchanges;
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c. Enabling artists, curators, performers, actors or other industry professionals to access artistic, professional and business training for better career development;
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d. Ensuring grant application processes are simple to access, independently evaluated and free from political manipulation;
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e. Setting minimum standards to ensure the involvement of artists and their representative organisations in development and evaluation of arts policy and programs;
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f. Ensuring conditions recommended by relevant professional arts organisations prevail in public art developments;
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g. Ensuring the provision of government funding for artist-run initiatives, exhibitions, performance spaces, and publishing ventures;
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h. Facilitating early engagement of artists in the planning stages of public and private developments and infrastructure projects;
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i. Housing considerations of practising artists to be better catered for into urban planning; and
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j. The provision of low rent working spaces for practising artists in under-utilised buildings.
26. More programs to support emerging artists, such as the introduction of a fixed income support scheme and better access to small business start-up grants and schemes.
27. To support the expansion of programs with a focus on emerging artists.
EDUCATION AND THE ARTS
28. All teachers at arts training institutions being qualified to teach and, where possible and appropriate, also practicing as industry professionals.
29. Students in schools to have access to a wide variety of arts programs, taught by qualified teachers in the relevant arts practice.
30. Arts training institutions which offer students the opportunity to work with established artists in apprenticeship or mentorship schemes.
CULTURAL HERITAGE
31. Greater engagement with First Nations communities in the management of Indigenous cultural heritage and the return of Indigenous sacred objects and ancestral remains to the First Nations peoples who have responsibility for them.
32. Tourism, planning and marketing well integrated with the management of key heritage assets, including proposed heritage assets.
33. Heritage registers in Victoria broadened and revised to include intangible cultural heritage such as genius loci, crafts, folklore, oral histories and traditions, and living cultural assets such as flora and fauna.
34. Adequate funding for State funded libraries, museums, galleries and archives for the development, maintenance, storage, conservation and exhibition of collections, and for the employment of sufficient numbers of properly trained staff, particularly curatorial and conservation staff.
35. Extension of collections, services and facilities, including IT facilities, at local libraries particular those in regional Victoria, by increasing the proportion of State funding vis-à-vis local government funding.
36. A strengthened legal framework and state-wide strategy that properly identifies and protects cultural heritage.
37. Consideration of all genders' and LGBTIQA+ history in heritage analyses of the built environment, material culture and archival records.
1. Victoria's forests must be managed in accordance with the principles of intergenerational equity, the precautionary principle, biodiversity conservation and respect for the traditional ownership of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
2. Victoria's public native forests have inestimable value for climate management, water supply and biodiversity, and as places for recreation and appreciation. They should be protected and managed primarily for these purposes.
3. Ecological principles and scientifically robust information should guide forest management.
4. Investment in forest protection, restoration and management should be increased substantially, as part of a broader commitment to reversing the species extinction crisis and expanding jobs and economies in regional Victoria.
5. Only plantation grown wood can be classified as renewable.
6. Achievement of best practice plantation management throughout Victoria to minimize adverse impacts on local communities and local biodiversity, air, soil and water quality.
7. Forest plantations can be used to meet our entire domestic and export markets and to produce a range of value-added products.
8. Native forest on private land must be protected
9. The carbon value of ending logging and protecting our forests should benefit the climate, not be traded away
10. Logging and other major forest disturbances increase the risk and intensity of bushfires.
AIMS
1. A wood-production industry plan that will complete the transition from native forests to existing plantations, including appropriate transition arrangements (maximum 5 years) to the use of plantation and recycled timbers only, and re-training and other assistance for workers and affected communities.
2. Prioritise, as part of a transition to solely plantation-sourced timber:
a. an end to all timber extraction in native forests;
b. a blanket ban on the use of wood for generating electricity;
c. An end to the export of woodchips and whole logs from native forests; and
d. Ending logging in high-conservation value forests and town water catchments;
3. Reform of Victorian government departments and agencies to ensure greater focus on protecting Victoria’s natural assets.
4. Carbon stored in native forests and other natural ecosystems to be fully included in greenhouse accounts, and for policies that will maintain and restore natural ecosystems to their long term carbon capture and carrying capacity as a major carbon pollution mitigation strategy, while not allowing existing forests to be used as carbon offsets.
5. Allowing regrowth forest to mature to reduce bushfire risk and maximise biodiversity, carbon uptake and water yield.
6. The management of re-growth forest to an old growth state to maximise biodiversity, carbon uptake and water yield, which are more valuable outcomes than logging.
7. Funding of independent detailed research into the effects of fire, including planned burns, on ecosystems
8. To ensure prescribed burns focus primarily on protecting people and assets and be driven by science, not politics. Hectare-based guidelines at either the state or regional level are inappropriate.
9. The revegetation of land (including salt-affected land) with diverse native vegetation which can store carbon, help manage water and restore local biodiversity.
10. Promote a range of Victoria’s alpine and other types of forests for World Heritage listing, as well as recognition of the Central Highlands Mountain Ash Forests as a critically endangered ecosystem.
11. The development of sustainable alternative fibre industries.
12. A sustainable and productive wood products industry on public and private land that maintains or enhances the resilience of natural ecosystems and that creates long-term skilled jobs and social sustainability in regional communities.
13. Forestry plantations which are:
a. responsibly managed, and certified as such by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
b. moderate in scale
c. species-diverse
d. only cultivated on land that has already been cleared.
14. World’s best practice, FSC-certified, farm-scale species-diverse plantation forestry, including a ban on genetically modified tree species.
15. To ensure forest certification schemes are rigorously defined to prevent ‘greenwash’.
16. More effective enforcement of bans on the sale of illegally logged wood products both imported and domestic, and FSC chain of custody documentation requirements.
17. To restrict timber-getting from state forests to domestic collection of firewood for personal purposes only (not resale), which is regulated to operate within strict ecological limits.
18. To ensure that remaining small-scale and localised timber-getting operates within strict ecological limits.
19. Support for creation of high value products (eg. furniture) to occur in addition to production of lower value commodities (wood chips, palings, sleepers and fence posts, etc.)
20. An end to MIS schemes for timber and oppose tax-driven carbon plantations.
21. Resourcing local government so that it can effectively implement native vegetation removal laws, and to provide oversight of local councils with a properly resourced and qualified regulator.
22. Agroforestry requires robust regulation to significantly reduce impacts on native vegetation and wildlife during harvesting.
23. Abolish the 1996 Wood Pulp Agreement, which accelerates the destruction of native forests for commercial interests.
24. Government agencies must not engage in commercial sales of timber cleared in the course of fire risk management.
25. Fire management authorities must:
a. ensure transparency in their work
b. assess and protect habitat values and rare species
c. assess smoke pollution impacts on communities
d. account for losses of stored carbon
e. carry out pre- and post-burn monitoring
f. base all modelling and planning on sound scientific evidence.
26. Areas of failed regeneration must be repaired and enabled to become natural forest again. Restoration must not become an excuse for de facto plantation establishment.
Forests Policy as amended by the membership on 23 June 2024
Australian energy market has failed. Victoria must lead the way in the creation of a national, publicly owned power grid that provides cheap, reliable power and leads the transition to an affordable renewable economy. When the electricity system was privatised 25 years ago, we were told that the new privately-operated market system would be more efficient, more reliable, and cheaper. But all that’s happened is that we’re paying through the nose to prop up the profits of private energy companies. Even before the latest price hikes, electricity prices had increased at three times the rate of inflation over two decade, costing households an extra $400 to $500 every year. Our gas was sold off as well – so Victorian gas bills are now the second highest in the country, at nearly $1,000 per year on average. The poorest are hit hardest, spending more than 6 percent of their income on power and gas, compared to only 1.5 percent for the wealthiest households. Nearly 17,000 Victorian households can’t pay their electricity bills. The situation will only get worse without decisive action.
What we think
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The infrastructure and resources used to provide basic utilities are the collective property of society and should be publicly owned and controlled.
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Energy production and distribution should not be run for profit but to satisfy the needs of the population.
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Energy production and distribution must be as environmentally sustainable as possible.
What we'll fight for
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Introduce an immediate annual price cap on electricity and gas bills for two years based on their average 2018 prices.
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Wipe all existing household utility debts and arrears.
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Initiate a public takeover of the energy industry.
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Create a not-for-profit public energy operator responsible for all aspects of energy provision – including investment, generation, transmission and distribution – which:
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Has a charter mandating that it acts to secure the long-term energy security of the state.
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That it oversees the transition away from fossil fuels in energy production.
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Returns quarterly revenues above operating costs to a government energy infrastructure fund to finance the expansion of a 100 percent renewable energy grid.
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Progressively reduces household energy bills as the power generation and transmission capacity of the grid expands.
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Increase research into marine power and energy storage
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Increase research into the development and viability of hydrogen as a fuel and form of energy storage when produced using renewable energy.
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Invest in the local expansion of solar photovoltaic manufacturing and lithium-ion battery manufacturing to supply local communities with renewable power supplies.
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Expand the state government’s Neighbourhood Battery Initiative.
PRINCIPLES
1. State and local energy strategies must be based upon the principles of ecological sustainability and social equity.
2. The climate crisis requires a sustainable energy industry that is net zero greenhouse gas emissions. The shift to renewables represents the only viable route.
3. Incentives for sustainable transformation of the energy sector need to be accompanied by disincentives for the consumption of fossil fuel.
4. All buildings, vehicles, machinery and appliances need to be energy-efficient and powered by reliable renewable energy.
5. All households need affordable energy to meet essential needs.
6. Environmental effects and pollution costs must be factored into the price of energy, especially that derived from fossil fuels.
7. Government has a central and vital role to play in creating net zero emission energy sector and industries, including drawdown.
8. Energy is an essential utility, therefore regulation of all energy infrastructure must be transparent and government controlled.
9. New utility-scale infrastructure, including energy generation, storage, networks and retail shall generally be in public or community hands whilst allowing additional private investment in further generation to accelerate the transition to 100% renewables.
10. Utility-scale Energy Storage must generally be in public or community ownership to ensure control of pricing and stability, and to ensure public control of and returns from energy exported overseas.
AIMS
Targets
1. Binding Victorian greenhouse gas emission targets from the stationary energy sector in line with a reduction to zero or net negative greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible, and no later than 2030.
2. Phasing out the Victorian use of fossil fuels using a combination of energy efficiency, energy storage, energy conservation and renewable energy.
Supply
3. 100% energy generation from renewables.
4. Boosting small scale renewable energy generation, including the introduction of a fair feed-in tariff and removing barriers to grid connection.
5. Installing new or upgraded publicly owned transmission infrastructure to ensure full and proper networks connections for all approved and installed renewable energy facilities, avoiding wasted generation.
6. Government buildout of wide-spread non-proprietary electric vehicle recharging infrastructure.
7. Supporting and assisting the development of markets for alternative sustainable fuels.
8. Construction of a comprehensive system of storage and transmission to achieve energy security and reliability from 100% renewables regulated in the public interest.
9. Cease the burning of wood chips from native forests and from waste for power generation.
10. Developing and implementing complementary policy measures in collaboration with other governments where possible.
Demand
11. An emphasis in Victoria on demand reduction through energy conservation and efficiency measures across all sectors.
12. Removing perverse incentives that encourage use of fossil fuels and growth in energy consumption achieved through reform of the national energy market and by other measures.
13. Assisting industrial and commercial energy consumers to reduce consumption, and enforcing existing energy efficiency standards.
14. Assistance for consumers to conserve energy and to access affordable and reliable renewable energy
15. Assistance for electricity users to reduce summer peak electricity demand and support for vulnerable consumers affected by outages.
16. Assisting industry to convert from all fossil fuels and their derivatives to renewable energy by, for example, retrofitting or replacing equipment.
17. Implementing measures to ensure that development across Victoria is energy, water and waste efficient.
18. Improving and implementing mandatory energy performance standards for buildings.
19. Mandating compliance with emissions standards and the disclosure of energy performance ratings for buildings prior to construction, refurbishment, sale or lease.
20. Minimum energy and water efficiency standards for rental housing.
21. Developing, funding and publicising an energy retrofit strategy for existing buildings.
22. Supporting the production of biofuels by farmers for use as tractor fuels.
23. Promoting the sustainable use of electric vehicles.
Transition and Adaptation
24. Providing structural adjustment assistance for rural and regional consumers.
25. Ensuring the provision of effective fuel poverty alleviation measures.
26. The implementation of programs to assist Victorian communities that are dependent on coal and energy-intensive industries to make the transition to other more sustainable sources of economic prosperity.
Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies
27. No public funding for the existing fossil fuel industry.
28. Ending support for the development of gas- and oil-from-coal, and associated Carbon Capture and Storage technologies.
Reduced Emissions from Transport
29. Government buildout of wide-spread non-proprietary electric vehicle recharging infrastructure
WATER AND INLAND AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS POLICYPRINCIPLES1. Access to clean and adequate water is fundamental to life.2. Victoria’s freshwater resources are coming under increasing pressure as a result of climate change and growing human demand.3. The health of Victoria’s catchments, rivers, wetlands, groundwater systems and estuaries underpins the health of our environment, communities, agriculture and industry.4. We have a responsibility to restore, maintain and protect Victoria’s rivers and freshwater environments as part of our natural heritage and future prosperity.5. As water is a scarce and fluctuating resource, Victoria’s water utilities must be publicly owned and managed through a system of regulated water allocation.6. Victoria’s water management strategies must be environmentally and economically sustainable. Their objectives must include the preservation or improvement of ecosystem health.7. Pricing regimes for all water uses should be transparent and structured to reflect scarcity, true delivery costs and to encourage efficient use, while ensuring that essential use to meet human needs is affordable for all.8. Local communities, including First Nations People, must have the opportunity to participate in water catchment planning and management.9. Government should not aim to profit from the supply of water.AIMSThe Ecological Health of River and Groundwater Systems1. A statutory framework which requires environmental outcomes to be met to protect water sources and their dependent ecosystems, consistent with the National Water Initiative, including a permanent prohibition on new large-scale dams on Victorian rivers.2. A comprehensive, and representative system of reserves that is sufficient for Victoria’s unique and high conservation value freshwater ecosystems.3. A water allocation framework that provides legal recognition of and protection for all environmental water, including a positive obligation on decision-makers to ensure that an environmental water reserve be maintained to preserve the environmental values and health of water ecosystems.4. A water allocation framework that explicitly recognizes First Nations People’s cultural values and native title rights, provides legal recognition of and protection for cultural flows, and provides statutory roles in water governance for Traditional Owners.5. Restricted extraction from groundwater systems unless an independent hydrogeological assessment verifies that recharge rates will not be exceeded and extraction would be sustainable.6. A water allocation framework which is transparent, subject to regular independent review and resource assessments, based on best available scientific analysis, to monitor the health of water resources (including long term decline in water availability), and determine what actions must be taken.7. Planning and management of the equitable use of Murray Darling Basin water resources that limits extraction to environmentally sustainable levels, maintains the health and resilience of the river and its ecosystems, and supports sustainable food production and rural enterprises for the long-term viability and well being of basin communities. [1] 8. Return of water to environmental flows through improved water efficiency measures for irrigated agriculture and buy back of water entitlements in severely degraded and over-allocated systems.9. Rigorous environmental impact assessments, prior to commencement, for schemes involving re-insertion of waste-water into an aquifer.10. Action to address threats to Victoria’s freshwater systems such as land clearance, mining, drilling and exploration, erosion, sedimentation and pollution.11. Improved riparian quality and connectivity, by amending Crown water-frontage grazing licences to reward responsible management.12. Adequately resourced waterway rehabilitation and farmer extension programs that encourage ecologically sustainable water management.13. The elimination of all polluting and untreated sewage ocean outfalls, and the reporting of all existing sewage discharge on the National Pollution Inventory.14. Prioritise environmental needs in the re-allocation of water entitlements freed up by the de-commissioning of coal-fired power plants as Victoria transitions to renewable energy.15. Supporting irrigation communities to adapt to reduced water availability, by integrating structural adjustment and regional development funding into effective transition strategies.16. Recycled wastewater systems should be located close to the source and as isolated as possible to prevent environmental leakage.Water Conservation and Provision17. Maintained and updated programs for monitoring and removing toxicants from water supplies.18. Integrating Victoria’s groundwater and surface water regulatory regimes to create a single system governing the extraction, allocation, monitoring and enforcement of all water uses throughout the water cycle.19. To ensure all bulk surface and groundwater supplies for commercial, industrial, agricultural and private discretionary use are priced to encourage sustainable levels of consumption as well as to reflect the true environmental and social costs of extraction.20. To introduce mandatory targets for water corporations, enforceable by financial penalties, that result in a reduction of extraction of water from bulk surface water and groundwater to sustainable levels.21. Monitoring and reporting of water quality to ensure that Victorian drinking water consistently meets or exceeds World Health Organization (WHO) and National Drinking Water standards.22. To ensure that sustainable water use is a compulsory element of planning in Victorian water reform legislation and agreements, including for new developments, mining, infrastructure and agricultural projects.23. Urban water resource management that is consistent with integrated water cycle management principles, prioritising water efficiency, recycling, re-use and rainwater harvesting over expensive, environmentally damaging supply augmentation options such as desalination and new dams.24. An increased community awareness of the large quantities of water used in water intensive industries.25. Public ownership and control of major water infrastructure systems.26. Victoria to adopt targets for reduction in water consumption and increases in recycling and reuse.27. Comprehensive minimum water efficiency standards for new residential, commercial and government owned buildings and industries as well as new domestic and commercial appliances.28. Upgrading the water efficiency of residential, commercial and government-owned buildings, by implementing a mass retrofit program through a mix of government investment, incentives and regulation.29. Banning native forest logging within water catchments.
Regional, Rural, & Agriculture

PRINCIPLES
1. The sustainability of agriculture and the long term productivity of farming systems depends on the health of underpinning ecological systems.
2. To become ecologically sustainable, food and fibre production must address land and water degradation and the loss of bio-diversity.
3. Climate change is having, and will increasingly have, major impacts on agricultural viability and productivity requiring urgent mitigation and adaptation.
4. Agriculture has an important role in climate change mitigation, with many opportunities to reduce and capture greenhouse gas emissions and to reduce dependence on non-renewable resources.
5. Farmers and land managers play a critical role in maintaining healthy landscapes and ecosystem services.
6. Urban and peri-urban agriculture are important components of sustainable and community food systems in Victoria.
7. Sustainable agriculture cannot be delivered without a skilled workforce and a Victorian population that understands and values our food systems.
8. Ongoing innovation, research, development and extension are essential to maintain and improve the sustainability and prosperity of Victorian agriculture.
9. The Precautionary Principle, as defined in the Convention on Biological Diversity, must be applied to all new agricultural technologies and the use of their products in the environment.
10. Animal husbandry must respect animals' sentient natures.
AIMS
1. Assistance for farmers to implement sustainable agricultural systems that repair, maintain and improve soil health including carbon storage, water quality, water use efficiency and biodiversity, modelled on natural systems at the landscape scale.
2. To foster community-based decision making and empower and resource Victoria's rural communities to implement sustainable agricultural systems and address key challenges such as climate change and oil scarcity.
3. Support for initiatives that increase local product quality and nutrition, local value-adding and local distribution, fair prices for farmers, and the promotion of Victorian produce to the Australian community, including urban agricultural initiatives.
4. To develop and implement measures to eliminate waste in the entire food production system, including fuel, transport, packaging and consumption.
5. To incorporate teaching on sustainable agricultural and food systems including landscape management into school curricula for primary and secondary levels.
6. Farmers and the agriculture sector should be supported in the transition to regenerative agriculture.
7. To improve the uptake of tertiary and vocational agricultural courses to increase Victoria's agricultural skill base and workforce retention.
8. Improve the participation in agriculture by women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other people who may face unfair barriers.
9. To develop and implement an effective framework including financial incentives, pricing mechanisms, extension services and regulation to ensure that farmers and land managers are rewarded for the repair and maintenance of ecosystem services.
10. Protection of prime agricultural land, water and infrastructure from urban expansion, mining, inappropriate biofuel crops and other competing uses and encroachments.
11. Support for the development and use of biofuels which are derived from agricultural waste, or from biofuel crops grown to rehabilitate marginal and degraded land.
12. The agriculture sector must consider the full impacts of agricultural practices on the environment, biodiversity health and animal welfare.
13. To ensure Victoria maintains and properly resources an effective biosecurity system, including the recognition of internal regional differences in pest and disease-free status, to protect Victorian agriculture and the environment that supports it from invasive species, pests and diseases.
14. To encourage the sustainable and appropriate use of local native plants for food and fibre to reduce land degradation, greenhouse emissions and increase their protection.
15. To reinvigorate rural communities by providing programs that support young people wishing to become farmers or work in agricultural industries.
16. To ensure that drought assistance and other incentives for land managers encourage long term risk reduction strategies.
17. Adoption of enforceable Codes of Conduct in Animal Welfare by all sectors of the livestock production industries, and adequate funding of the authorities responsible for monitoring of these activities.
18. Conducting a comprehensive review of current regulations and codes of practice governing Animal Husbandry, and developing amendments as needed to protect animal welfare, public health and the environment.
19. The promotion of organic farming practices.
20. The development and adoption of practices that increase levels of soil carbon, both to enhance soil fertility and to contribute to the lowering of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
21. The strengthening and integration of programs to eradicate or control pests (including feral animals), diseases and weeds in accordance with the principles of ecological sustainability, reducing reliance on agri-chemicals.
22. The protection and management of remnant native vegetation and existing wildlife corridors.
22. The revegetation of riparian zones, degraded farmland and the re-establishment of wildlife corridors.
23. Farm diversification, which may include ‘mixed species’ farm forestry where this is zoned.
24. The protection of natural and agricultural ecosystems, public health and safety, and food and fibre markets from any negative impacts of new technologies and their products, including in particular, such impacts that may result from the release of any genetically manipulated (GM) organisms or nano-particles that are invasive or damaging into the environment or food supplies.
25. Re-establishing a state-wide moratorium on the commercial release of GM organisms until all marketing, environmental and public health issues are resolved.
25. Rebuilding the extension and advisory capacity of agricultural research institutes to provide ongoing support to farmers taking up sustainable farming practices and diversifying their farm production.
26. Strengthening the role of Catchment Management Authorities in the development and implementation of comprehensive strategic plans for sustainable land and water management.
27. Amending State Planning Provisions to establish clear objectives and criteria and mandated provisions for rural land use planning, natural resource protection and biodiversity conservation, including schedules of priority areas for biodiversity conservation with applicable land use restrictions.
28. Assisting in the establishment of Farmers' Markets and community food growing and marketing initiatives in urban and rural communities.
29. Changing the restrictions on farmers to allow them to sell their value added goods from the farm gate.
30. Establish an inter-departmental Ministerial Food and Agriculture Forum to integrate policy objectives around environmental sustainability and health with food production, processing, distribution and consumption, coupled with appropriate decision making powers.
Rural and Regional Policy should be read in conjunction with our other state and federal policies; this policy draws attention to specific issues of importance in rural and regional Victoria across a range of policy areas under Victorian state jurisdiction.
PRINCIPLES
1. The vitality, sustainability, productivity and resilience of rural and regional communities and environs are vital to a socially cohesive and economically prosperous Victoria.
2. The localised provision of goods and services offers social and economic benefits for rural and regional communities.
3. The rapid transition to a low-carbon economy is required to limit and mitigate the impacts of human-induced climate change. Rural and regional Victoria is positioned to meet an increasing demand for renewable energy, for environmentally sustainable products and services, and for carbon sequestration.
4. The health and biodiversity of all ecosystems in rural and regional Victoria are essential to our collective future, and these ecosystems must be protected, and regenerated where they have been degraded.
5. Aboriginal peoples cared for and lived sustainably on the land throughout Victoria for tens of thousands of years. Justice, reconciliation and self-determination for Aboriginal communities is an essential part of rural and regional development.
6.Rural and regional residents have the right to high quality, accessible services, and should largely determine the mix of services and the method of delivery for their own communities.
7. Rural and regional communities have the right to strong local governance, consultation and engagement arrangements that allow them to manage the development of their communities.
8. Rural and regional communities have unique relationships with, and unparalleled opportunities to preserve, environmental, cultural, and historical resources.
9. Rural and regional areas have unique characteristics that have the potential to grow and sustain strong local industries, including: agriculture, agricultural processing, ecotourism, natural resource management, renewable energy generation and the arts.
AIMS
Community Resilience and Local Provision of Goods and Services
1. Local food producers are preferred suppliers to local facilities such as schools and hospitals.
2. The facilitation of direct sales by of local produce.
3. Support for local suppliers of goods and services to apply for government contracts with prompt payment terms.
4. Procurement decisions that factor in the social and environmental benefits of local provision.
5. Initiatives to provide just transitions resulting from social and economic changes.
6. Initiatives to enhance rural and regional youth employment and reduce the drift to cities.
7. A compulsory code of practice for the purchasing of produce by supermarket chains and processors to ensure adequate payment to producers.
8. Employment schemes and skills training in environmental services and natural resource management available to local residents.
9. The protection of agricultural land and the water table from inappropriate and damaging use, including unconventional gas exploration and urban sprawl.
Strong Sustainable Local Economies
10. The marketing of regional goods and services through the use of the use of labelling that identifies regions and producers.
11. Financial incentives and advisory services for primary producers and regional processors to form cooperatives.
12. The provision of assistance, including R & D, for primary producers to move away from mono-cultures towards greater diversity of outputs that are regenerative, ecologically sustainable and that sequester carbon.
13. The acceptance of farming as a viable family business.
14. The compensation of land-holders in recognition of economic value of ecological services they provide.
15. The direct economic benefits of the conversion of rural land to renewable energy generation are fairly shared with farmers and regional communities.
16. Increased support for new locally developed, owned and operated industries that are socially useful, support a healthy environment and provide fulfilling work.
17. The relocation of businesses, government agencies, professionals and families from Melbourne.
18. In association with local communities, the development and implementation of strategies to attract new residents, including refugees and asylum seekers, and retain existing residents, in rural and regional areas through the provision of appropriate financial incentives, housing, community services, and cultural engagement.
19. Increased support for rural and regional arts, festivals and sporting fixtures.
Rapid Transition to a Low Carbon Economy
20. Support for rural and regional communities to become carbon neutral, self-sufficient in renewable energy, and owners of local renewable energy infrastructure.
21. The manufacture of renewable energy plant and equipment in rural and regional areas.
22. The co-location of appropriate industry with renewable energy infrastructure.
23. The provision of transition programs and support to communities that are economically reliant on the generation of coal-fired power and the logging of native forests.
24. The development and implementation of adaptation plans to manage climate change impacts.
Justice and Self Determination for Aboriginal Communities
25. Support for to Aboriginal communities to maintain, strengthen and renew their cultural traditions and practices.
26. The public recognition of Aboriginal history and culture through education, signage and the use of Indigenous names for geographic features.
27. Aboriginal communities having opportunities to acquire skills to manage their country and take an active role in the management of public lands, waterways and coastal areas.
28. The inclusion of Aboriginal communities in relevant community events and their representation on relevant boards, community organisations and local government committees.
29. In consultation with Aboriginal traditional owners, the provision of assistance for developing culturally appropriate eco-tourism services.
Protection and Regeneration of Natural Ecosystems
30. Increased support for locally managed restoration and conservation programs, such as Landcare, and better resourced government programs to address land degradation, salinity, pest plants and animals, and loss of biodiversity.
31. The transition of rural and regional state forests to state park or national park status.
32. Mining companies being responsible for the complete rehabilitation of mine sites including the removal or proper management of toxic waste.
Equitable Provision of Services
33. Adequate resourcing of rural and regional local governments to ensure the delivery of much-needed community services and the improvement and maintenance of local infrastructure. Where economies of scale severely restrict service viability then substitutes such as fast reliable internet services, rural transaction centres and shared facilities in public libraries and community centres are supported.
34. All people in rural and regional areas should have access to education and training from early childhood to school to TAFE and university.
35. Financial services in rural communities will be maintained through community partnership models with existing financial institutions and the encouragement of state-secured, rurally focused financial cooperatives.
36. Comprehensive provision of emergency services across regional and rural Victoria will be resourced.
37. Improved accessible public transport through increased frequency, longer operating hours and better connectivity between services, with support for community owned and operated local transport.
38. Accessible, co-located and community-controlled service with a full range of comprehensive specialist services including drug, alcohol, disability, mental health, homelessness and family violence services.
39. More and varied rehabilitation resources for alcohol and drug addiction in rural and regional areas including residential treatment, counselling, legal services, crisis accommodation, training and family support.
40. Provision of affordable, reliable, fast internet services to rural and remote Victorians.
Preservation and Enhancement of Environmental, Cultural and Historical Resources
41. Provision of adequate and sustained resourcing for the effective management of state parks, state forests, water catchments and regional reserves.
42. Support for landholders to implement safe, effective, humane and regionally coordinated measures to control introduced pest animals and plants.
43. Development of low-impact tourist activities focussed on local ecology, culture and history with regional planning and local participation and employment.
44. Rural communities supported to enrich their culture through the establishment of regional galleries, recognition of Aboriginal heritage, and protection for historic buildings and sites.
45. Increased support for community-based club-level sporting and passive recreational facilities and opportunities.
Fair Consultation and Participation in Governance
46. Regional governance structures should reflect the diversity of the general population, including with respect to gender balance, disability, wealth and cultural backgrounds.
Children

PRINCIPLES
Establish universal access to free, quality early childhood education or childcare services, across a longer span of hours.
1. Government has the responsibility to ensure that the rights of children are upheld according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
2. Early intervention in the family unit is critical to ensuring that children and young people receive the best possible start in life and to mitigate the significant costs to the community of adverse outcomes.
3. Government should ensure that all children and young people are properly housed and cared for and protected from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.
4. Laws and actions affecting children and young people should put their best interests first, and should take into account the wishes of the child on an age-appropriate basis.
5. Children and young people should not be separated from their parents unless the risk of harm outweighs the risk of being removed, and have a right to stay in contact with their parents, siblings, and extended family as long as it is safe to do so.
6. Children and young people who cannot be looked after by their own family must be looked after properly by people who understand, respect and support their religion, culture and language.
7. With respect to children and young people from Aboriginal communities, every effort should be made to uphold the principle of Aboriginal self-management and self-determination, with appropriate consultation of Aboriginal agencies.
8. Children and young people should not be disadvantaged on the basis of where they live within Victoria.
9. The state should ensure that children and young people in out of home care achieve parity with their peers in educational outcomes and standards of physical, mental and emotional health and well-being.
10. Young people leaving care should have capacities and opportunities that are comparable to those of their peers, with every effort made to reduce the number who enter the juvenile or adult justice systems, become unemployed or homeless, or fall to substance abuse and addiction.
11. Forgotten Australians, that is, older Australians previously in care and who may have suffered abuse and neglect, should have access to a reparation fund and targeted access to universal services such as health, housing and education.
AIMS
Child Protection
1. Existing early intervention programs should be strengthened through better funding and increased staffing.
2. The Child FIRST system should be reviewed and its capacity increased to meet demand.
3. Successful innovative placement prevention programs should be identified and replicated around Victoria.
4. Creation of an effective long-term human resources plan for Child Protection services.
5. Improve the operation of the responsible agencies and courts, including adequate funding and timely processes.
6. Increase in the level of guidance and support provided to parents in meeting the requirements of the Court and enabling family reunification.
7. Continued support for the independence of the Commission for Children and Young People.
Out of Home Care
8. All care provision delivery to be based on evidence of the effects of trauma on child development and wellbeing.
9. Significant increases to the financial support of carers and staff to meet the needs of children and young people in their care.
10. Reduction in the number of children and young people, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, who are placed with carers who do not share their cultural or religious background.
11. A significant increase in number and support for trained First Nations people carers
12. Expansion of effective therapeutic care programs across the Victorian Out of Home Care system, including residential care.
13. All children and young people entering care to receive physical and psychological assessments and ongoing health services including counselling as required.
14. Siblings are placed together in care wherever possible and appropriate.
15. Carer allowances provided to foster, kinship and permanent carers properly and fairly represent the true cost of providing care.
16. Establishment of a carer intake service to recruit, train, assess and support foster, kinship and permanent carers in a more cohesive manner, and able to service urban, regional and rural areas of need.
17. Development of an Out of Home Care Learning and Development Strategy that provides ongoing training to carers and staff involved in Out of Home Care service provision.
18. Development of more efficient permanency planning processes for children and young people in Out of Home Care, including streamlining the conversion process from foster or kinship care to permanent care.
19. Provision of a secondary consultation and training service to raise the cultural and linguistic competence of carers and workers involved with children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
20. A significant increase in the number of places available for young people entering residential care, allowing for more suitable matching, and guaranteeing a bed for all young people under the age of 18.
Leaving Care
21. Development and implementation of specific strategies for support and care of young people who have left care up to the age of 25.
22. To ensure that all young people aged 15 and over have appropriate care transition plans to allow them to transition successfully from care to independence as adults.
23. Provision of free tertiary education and life skills programs to young people who have experienced care.
24. Ensure that young people exiting care have safe and appropriate housing options.
25. Increase support for improved homelessness prevention programs and post-care housing monitoring for people discharged from Out of Home Care programs.
Forgotten Australians
26. Establishment of a reparations fund for the victims of neglect and abuse in Out of Home Care.
27. To make counselling and therapy services available to all Forgotten Australians.
28. To ensure that the experiences of Forgotten Australians inform current and future Child Protection and Out of Home Care policy.
29. To support the recognition of, and commitment to, Forgotten Australians and their needs.
Education

PRINCIPLES
1. A strong public education system for all stages of life is key to building a just and cohesive society. The opportunity to learn unlocks potential, reduces inequality and allows people to live a good life.
2. Education is a public good and is an essential investment in Australia's economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, personal and community well-being and social fulfilment.
3. Public education should be free, secular, well-funded, and high quality, and life-long public education and training should be available to all.
4. Differences in educational outcomes should not be the result of differences in wealth, income, power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexuality, disability, or geographic location.
5. The state government has a primary responsibility to fund all levels of the public education system, with the exception of universities, and should prioritise early childhood education, schools, vocational education and training, and adult, community and further education, at levels commensurate with international best practice.
6. Early childhood education is an essential component of learning and should be free and culturally appropriate.
7. Decision making in education should be open to input from teachers, academics, parents and students through their representative bodies such as unions, councils and pr