Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am proud to come from the great state of Victoria. Victorians have good memories. We remember those who played politics during the pandemic and we remember the absurd statement that we were too afraid to go to restaurants at night. Yes, that's right. The Leader of the Opposition reached into his drawer of dog whistles and pulled out the line that we were too afraid to go to restaurants at night.

The only person too afraid to go to a restaurant in Melbourne would be someone who's afraid of a decent meal. That's the only person. Melburnians know that some of the best food and coffee is right there in our great city. In fact, you haven't visited Melbourne if you haven't been to some of the world-class restaurants and food destinations in my electorate of Macnamara: Cicciolina, the Village Wine Bar, Carter Lovett, Monarch Cakes, Balderdash, the Wall in Carlisle Street, Jaggers, the Railway Club Hotel—there are just too many to mention. I even proudly brought the minister for health to our South Melbourne Market last week. We walked through all the local traders, and the only thing the minister was afraid of was having his tastebuds tantalised by all of the options he had before him.

We Victorians aren't interested in the dog whistles that we heard from the Leader of the Opposition. We're about celebrating the food, sporting and cultural capital of our great country.