Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Schools) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today as a particularly proud Victorian and I take this opportunity in this place to congratulate the Daniel Andrews Labor government on an emphatic re-election at the Victorian state election on Saturday. I also, equally importantly, take this opportunity to thank the Victorian people for rejecting the politics of division and hate on the weekend and standing up for a positive vision of our communities. I'm so pleased to be able to acknowledge that the great campaigns run by my colleagues in the Scullin electorate—Vicki Ward, Danielle Green, Colin Brooks, Bronwyn Halfpenny and Lily D'Ambrosio—were all rewarded by very strong swings.

I read today about the frosty reception that colleagues in this place from the other side got at polling places. I can say that that was not a reception that I experienced with my state Labor colleagues. People were so keen to support the re-election of the Andrews government and recognise the enormous investments that have been made in the north as well as the way in which the government has gone about rebuilding trust in politics—a matter that government members should pay careful attention to.

The weekend's result was Daniel Andrews's victory and a vindication of his government, but it has significant implications for this place. There is a message here that government members should heed. It wasn't just the dysfunction in the federal Liberal and National parties that affected Victorian voters; it was the same nasty message that has been propagated here that the Matthew Guy opposition tried and failed to sell in Victoria. Government members should take note— (Time expired)