Lisa Chesters
Bendigo · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“As I said, they are unique and quite often can fall through the cracks of the very large organisation that is known as the CFA, but in my meeting with them I was impressed by their dedication to what they do. They get together. They train.”
“I'd also like to pay tribute and honour to the late Don Drummond. Don and I first met many, many years ago, before I was the federal member for Bendigo, back when Woodend was in the Bendigo electorate. Don passed away recently. Even though Woodend hasn't been in Bendigo for a long time, he had kept in touch.”
“I rise to give a special shout-out to Oscar 1 CFA. The Oscar 1 CFA is quite a unique CFA volunteer unit in Bendigo. Its focus is on mine rescue. Like many old mining regions, Bendigo is littered with empty mine shafts. When people start to renovate, one may open up out in the Whipstick Forest or many of our other forests.”
“Before it was a thing in Labor, he always started branch meetings with a welcome to country and a value statement—the commitment to the burning light, as he said. Someone of great intellect and always a great ear, he was someone who was a true believer. Vale, Don. You will be missed.”
“On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, I present the committee's R eport 233 : agreement on the social security between Australia and the Oriental Public of Uruguay . Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e). I ask leave of the House to make a short statement in connection with the report.”
“And while we'd all been to the War Memorial prior to that particular event, during that visit we heard why they wanted to build purpose built galleries. They wanted to recognise the contribution of our peacekeepers, to help tell the story of our soldiers and our ADF personnel who were deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.”
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“On behalf of the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, I present the committee's report entitled The f uture of w ork: i nquiry into the d igital t ransformation of w orkplaces , together with the minutes of the proceedings. Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e). by leave—On behalf of the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, I am pleased to present our unanimous report, The future of w ork , following the committee's inquiry into the digital transformation of workplaces. The digital transformation reaches all corners of the workplace across all sectors. It affects staff, employers, consumers and the wider community. Artificial intelligence, AI, and automated decision-making, ADM, are contributing to this digital transformation and the evolving future of work.”
“In accordance with standing order 113, I shall now proceed to put the question on the motion moved earlier today for the suspension of standing and sessional orders moved by the honourable member for Fairfax on which a division was called for and deferred in accordance with standing orders. No further debate is allowed.”
“We're saying to families—regardless of the age of your child, regardless of your postcode and regardless of the school you choose to send your child to: we are equalling the playing field and making sure that funding is there for you.”
“This is about the education of our youngest Australians, making sure that all families and children have access to at least three days a week. Scrapping the activity test is critical for that. We're paying our early childhood educators more through the changes that we made just last year. We're keeping talented educators in the system. We're making child care cheaper through the reforms of the subsidy. We're working with the states and territories to make sure that we address the desert areas like those in my electorate, where we don't have enough childcare centres—or even a single childcare centre—because of the nature of the town. We're helping to subsidise them so that they exist. This government is committed to education and to investing in education.”
“In particular, women who've taken time out for caring arrangements are seeing that their debts have been reduced. People who choose to work in a career that pays less than others, who take longer to pay back their debts, will now have less debt to pay back because of our changes. If we're re-elected, there will be a further cut to student debt. Finally, there's ECEC. Where do we begin with the great reforms that we've brought forward in ECEC? It is a combination of these reforms that needs to be focused on. We are trying to move the sector from the traditional childcare model, which was about making sure that someone was there to care for the kids whilst mum went back to work, to a universal early childhood education system.”
“We are in a skills crisis in this country, and the creation of those pre-apprenticeship course offerings and free TAFE opportunities for those skills that we don't talk about a lot—like vet nursing, for example—is encouraging more people to pursue further education and get the skills required in those areas. There is the apprenticeship payment that our government has announced. Apprentices starting on 1 July will receive a bursary, a scholarship or a payment if they continue to do their studies at six, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months. That top up will help pay for the cost of living so that they keep on their apprenticeship. With university student debt relief, the changes that have already come in, people in my electorate are saving thousands.”
“On Friday I had the opportunity to talk about this increased funding and what it would mean for a number of schools in our area with my state counterpart, Maree Edwards, and the principal of Crusoe College. In the principal's words, it will mean 'smaller class sizes'. It will mean 'greater diversity of extracurricular activities and programming' and 'more subject options'. It will mean that every student will get the resources they need. Fee-free TAFE is an area where Labor and Liberal do divide, on the difference that fee-free TAFE is making.”
“I was so pleased when I dropped her off that morning to know that the school that Daisy and her friends go to is on the path to receive the same funding as the Catholic and independent schools her other kinder friends have been enrolled in. It is unfair that before this point there was a disproportionate funding arrangement in that independent and Catholic schools were already receiving the school resourcing standard—already receiving 100 per cent of the committed Commonwealth and state government funding throughout Australia—yet our public schools in many of our states were not. We've corrected that. We've reached an agreement with the state of Victoria, as well as with a number of other states, that sees those public schools now on a pathway to receiving the full resourcing standard.”
“I'm very proud to speak to this motion that has been moved by the member for Lalor, because it does give me an opportunity to talk about the great changes and improvements that this government has made to education. We believe in universal access to early childhood education. We believe in ensuring that every child, regardless of their postcode, has the resources that they need for schooling. We believe that we should be removing and reducing the fee barriers that are preventing a number of young people from starting a TAFE course or university degree, impacting their ability later in life. I'll start with school funding. I am the proud mum of a Victorian school student. My daughter, Daisy, started at Camp Hill Primary School on Monday.”
“This is a fund which we benefited from in my own electorate, where we've seen funding go to Campaspe Shire, Mount Alexander Shire and the City of Greater Bendigo to help mitigate the effects of future floods. Insurance is worth a debate, and it is a debate we need to have soon and quickly. It is alarming to talk to business owners and homeowners who are starting to go down the path of not insuring because they can't afford insurance. That is why this government established an Insurance Affordability and Natural Hazards Risk Reduction Taskforce in May 2024 to look at insurance affordability, and we look forward to their recommendations. It will require a whole-of-economy approach towards this issue. My heart goes out to those affected in Victoria. None of us want to see this in our community, and I wish them well.”
“Today the disaster recovery allowance has been made available for people in communities in the Hindmarsh, Horsham and West Wimmera LGAs whose livelihoods have been impacted by the Little Desert National Park fire. DRA provides fortnightly payments for up to 13 weeks to affected people who qualify. It is paid at the JobSeeker rate or the youth allowance rate depending upon the person's circumstances. The joint funding between the Victorian and federal governments around support for small businesses is also under discussion. The Disaster Ready Fund continues to act to help communities to become more resilient towards all natural disaster, from bushfire to flood, allowing them to prepare themselves for what may happen in the future.”
“These fires have burnt, thus far, in excess of 115,900 hectares, and forecast weather conditions this week are due to continue to pose a high risk. Emergency personnel like our CFA, Fire Rescue Victoria and Forest Fire Management Victoria are entering their ninth week of battle. I want to acknowledge the many volunteers who put their lives on hold. They put their Christmas and New Year celebrations on hold, and now many of them are putting their work obligations on hold to fight these fires. We are truly blessed and lucky to have such dedicated volunteers to support our communities through these times of crisis. Support is there for these communities. Through the Australian Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, we as a government are co-contributing to impacted communities.”
“Whilst it's dry in my part of the world, it's not devastatingly dry and scary dry, as they called it in the areas of western Victoria and northern Victoria, like we've heard about so far in this debate. What happens to a community when we have bushfires is devastating. Even more devastating is what happens to our community when those bushfires are continuing, like we have seen in the Grampians. On 17 December last year, the Grampians National Park fire started. It's continued through January and into February. Boxing Day last year was forecast to have the worst fire conditions since Black Summer. That is how hot and dry it has become in parts of Victoria. Then the day after Australia Day, on 27 January, a fire broke out in Little Desert National Park.”
“Every regional MP—in particular, Victorian regional MPs—comes into the summer anxious. In my own electorate, we've spent the last few summers anxious about floods. Communities like Rochester, Heathcote and Huntly have been devastated in recent years by big flooding events. In other electorates impacted by bushfire, as we've heard from the member for Mallee and as we'll hear from the member from Wannon and the member for McEwen, who is sitting behind me, it is part of that responsibility that you take on with being a regional MP that, come the summer, you will get the call—I'm relieved that we have not been affected by bushfires so far this season—in the lead-up to Australia Day, that opportunity to go out and meet with your local CFAs and SES to talk about the conditions on the ground.”
“It is in people's kitchens, whether that be their workplace or their home, and we need to keep track of that. We also need to make sure we're developing guidelines on how best to manage that risk that people now have in their home. Finally, can I give a shout-out and a special mention to all the young workers who have contracted silicosis through their work and say that we are all thinking of you and your families in your battle ahead. Your legacy will be to ensure that no other worker on an Australian construction site will be exposed to this disease, which leads to such terrible and tragic outcomes.”
“This is based upon workers contracting this disease through going to work. So these reforms that are before us—the banning of this product—is very much in line with Labor's fundamental belief that every worker should come home safe at the end of the day. It is not just about being exposed at work to hazardous risks of an immediate danger but also about being exposed to an ongoing risk. That is why these bills are so important. I've touched briefly on asbestosis, which I think is an area related to this, and that's why I welcome the government's decision to expand the role of the Asbestos Eradication Agency to include dust related diseases, because, as I've mentioned, we now have a legacy issue. This stone does exist in our community—not to the extent of asbestos, but it is there.”
“There is more work to be done for us to support the healthcare research: ensuring that we have nurses and skilled health professionals to support those who might have been diagnosed with these diseases. The mortality rates of people who have silicosis, asbestosis or mesothelioma are far too high. And, as with previous cancers, where, as a government, as a community and as a research fraternity we have invested to improve the health outcomes of people who contract disease, we need to do something similar in this space. For people who've been diagnosed with breast cancer, the survival rate is now much, much higher. For people who've been diagnosed with melanoma, survival rates are much, much higher. We need to see that investment come into this space as well, because this is a completely preventable disease.”
“There is no safety measure that can be put in place to eliminate the risk and the aggressive lung disease. That is why the ban was necessary. A total ban is the only sensible option. Every day that passed prior to the ban coming in was costing lives. So this bill that we have before us strengthens the ban by destroying the product the moment that Australian Border Force detect and intercept it. But this is unfinished business, and something our government is up for, and I want to make a few final comments before I finish. We need to continue the investment and the research into the health care of people with silicosis and, equally, people who might have been exposed to asbestos and have an asbestos related disease, like asbestosis or mesothelioma.”
“At the time, the ACTU assistant secretary, Liam O'Brien, said that a total ban would 'save lives'. He said, 'We thank the ministers for putting workers' lives ahead of corporate profits.' Another said that engineered stone was a fashion product that was killing workers who made it. And that's the point: it was a fashion product; it was a building choice. There are other choices that we can make for our benchtops in our homes, in our units, in our workplaces. Alternatives are readily available, and we should be choosing those ahead of a product that we know puts tradies' lives at risk for fashion in our kitchens. We also know from the research—and this is one of the key reasons we pushed for this ban—that there is no such thing as safe engineered stone.”
“But what we know is that engineered stone has a higher risk of exposure because of the nature of the product. In some states reports have shown that one in four stonemasons who've work with engineered stone are being diagnosed with silicosis. It is unacceptable. That's why we had to bring this ban in, and that's why we are now amending it to see that the stone destroyed as soon as it's discovered. Scientific and medical evidence has found that even when workers cut and fabricate low-silica stone product it generates significant amounts of very fine particles of silica that can then penetrate deep into the lungs, causing the disease, as my colleague pointed out. At the time of the ban there was overwhelming relief and support from many in the medical profession and the research profession, as well as the union movement.”
“If it is in a benchtop, you are not going to have as much interaction with it as, say, a wall you might be sanding to repaint where you have asbestos. The risk is reduced because it's in the home and it has one purpose. However, it is important that people know, if they have purchased a home with this fake marble, this engineered stone, how best to manage it. Why is the ban necessary? I've touched on this briefly, but I want to end on this point. It is because workers were dying. We all remember the heartbreaking stories in our media of young families being ripped apart as workers and their families were receiving this diagnosis of silicosis. Exposure to silica dust is a health hazard for workers who manufacture, finish and install natural and engineered stone countertop products.”
“The ban means engineered stone cannot be imported whatsoever. Almost all engineered stone in Australia is manufactured overseas and imported. An import ban provides an additional layer of deterrence at the border, stopping this stone from coming in. I should also say that this is a relatively new product, so it is not like asbestos, where we had decades and generations of legacy product in our built environment. It's a relatively new product, so it means that the number of homes and buildings with this product is a lot smaller than the challenge that we face with asbestos. But that stage of the campaign will come next. How do we then make sure that we are tracking where the stone is so that people who may have purchased a home with it know that if they want to do any work on that home they have to handle that stone product with care.”
“Who is most affected by this change? Only the importers that are still attempting to bring in engineered stone when they are not supposed to. Previous speakers have spoken about the nature of this product. Talking to builders and workers in my electorate and to people associated with the building trade, it is essentially a bunch of crap. It's a whole bunch of things slapped together in a slab, sold as fake marble, trying to convince homeowners they can still have a marble finish but with a product that is not marble. It is used in homes to sell a finish that it is not. What we know from the workers, their unions and health professionals is that the cutting of this stone and the concentration of silica and silica dust coming from this stone is what is creating a high level of disease amongst their workforce.”
“Whether it is deliberate or unintentional, asbestos is still finding its way into our country, and Border Force officials are working really hard to stop that from happening. It has been found in car tyres, children's crayons and building materials where things have been labelled wrongly. So this bill before us says that, in cases where it is discovered, it will be destroyed immediately. It is important that we have these protections in place to ensure that this dangerous stone is destroyed. Managing engineered stone as a prohibited import without this amendment would result in a significant increase of these goods having to be stored and also an increase in the associated work that Border Force would have to do to regulate and administrate the management of it after being seized when those resources could be used elsewhere.”
“Similar provisions already exists for other prohibited imports such as tobacco, vapes, dangerous perishable goods and illicit drugs. It is the easiest way to dispose of this product. It is important to note that engineered stone, because it is used in benchtops and in home building, it is a big bulky product, so by destroying it straightaway, it does not take up space. There is no room for appeals, denials, negotiations. It is imported, it is discovered, it is confiscated, it is seized and it is destroyed. It adds an extra layer of deterrence to those who might try and sneak the product in. As we know with the asbestos example, it doesn't stop countries or importers from trying to sneak it in. I've lost count of the number of times that our Border Force officials have found asbestos in products being imported into Australia.”
“The Australian government has committed to protecting Australian workers from the harm associated with silicosis and silica related disease, and that's why, as I said, on 1 July 2020, the government joined with states and territories to implement world's first ban on the use, manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone benchtop panels and slabs in Australia. We didn't say, 'Let's drill it with water,' or try a separate way. The research was in; the evidence was in; we needed to go for a straight ban. This measure that we have before us now supports and strengthens that prohibition and that ban on importing engineered stone that was implemented on 1 January 2025. What this bill does is amend the act to say that where Border Force and officials come across the stone, it can be seized and destroyed immediately.”
“Our government, like previous governments, is working with the states and territories on how best to remove it, when to remove it—whether it be heat maps, whether it be working with the real estate agents or with the building industry—to make sure it is removed safely and as effectively as possible. Public buildings, schools, hospitals, homes—you name it—asbestos is almost everywhere. As I said, it is in a third of homes. When the issues first started to arise in relation to engineered stone, the medical profession, the experts within those fields of research, the union movement, did not wait to say, 'Look, we might need to address this.' It soon became a campaign to ban engineered stone. I was very pleased to be in a government that worked with states and territories to introduce that ban.”
“After a very long community campaign, eventually we did ban asbestos in this country, and we are working now and living with the legacy of that ban. Over a third of Australian homes have asbestos in them, and the rate of death in relation to asbestosis and asbestos related diseases continues to be above 6,000 a year—too many for a product that people put into their homes during a particular period. It is a legacy that we continue to live with, and it is expected that death rate will increase, unfortunately, because we still have so much asbestos in our built community.”
“I rise as well to speak in favour of the bill that's before us, the Customs Amendment (Expedited Seizure and Disposal of Engineered Stone) Bill 2024. I note that I rise to speak after two members whose careers before entering this place, which continue whilst they're here, are in the health profession. They, like the entire health community, know of the dangers of silicosis and silica related diseases that are the result of workers and homeowners who might be working with engineered stone. When our state governments around Australia came together in this place to ban engineered stone, the recognition was that we did not want engineered stone to become the new asbestos. I would say that, in a very real way, the medical profession, the unions, the experts, were not listened to when it came to asbestos.”
“The Victorian Goldfields gaining World Heritage status is expected to boost tourism in the area, with an additional 2.2 million visitors annually within the first 10 years of being listed. That's good for business. That is not woke. For decades this project of World Heritage listing the Victorian Goldfields has been talked about, but it's only now happened, because of a federal Labor government. We get heritage. We get that it is an opportunity to share our stories with the world and give people who travel to World Heritage sites another place to go on their bucket list.”
“Last Friday, the Minister for the Environment and Water and I announced that the Victorian Goldfields have been added to Australia's Tentative World Heritage List. This is the first and foremost step for World Heritage status. From the open-cut mines of Castlemaine to the Victorian-era buildings of Bendigo, the region is considered one of the most extensive and best-surviving gold rush landscapes in the world. A successful World Heritage bid is great for many local businesses and our hospitality and tourism industry, but what puts this at risk is the Liberal and National parties. The National Party hate anything to do with heritage—they call it red tape—and they call the World Heritage List woke. It is not.”
“We've restored confidence in the grants system and turned it around. There are the changes on water. I wish we could have an MPI on water, so I could talk about the inefficiencies in our water system, including in my electorate. We are a government that cares about the regions; we're a government delivering for the regions.”
“It disproportionately impacted regional communities and smaller schools—fewer students meant less funding. That was under their watch. We have changed that through new funding agreements with all states but New South Wales and Queensland. As a Victorian, I welcome this. I have so many small schools in my electorate—public schools delivering good-quality education but falling behind simply because they don't get the same money. This will change lives and give every student, regardless of their postcode, a decent education. Yet, rather than joining us on a unity ticket around school funding, those opposite give us babble. I could talk about health care and how we've had an increase in bulk-billing rates. The top two electorates? Mayo, in regional South Australia, and Bendigo, in regional Victoria.”
“In my electorate alone, it will improve people's lives. We are getting the access and speeds that we need for businesses, home businesses, families and schools. I now rarely get complaints from families that can't connect all at once to do their assignments, do the books for the business and get things done. That's because they're getting the speeds that they need. There have been tax cuts for every worker. Under our government, every single worker—not just those on the top incomes working in the city but every worker—got a tax cut: retail workers, aged-care workers, health workers, people living in regional Australia. There is fairer funding for all our schools. I really want to emphasise this. It was the previous government that changed the funding arrangements, which saw our public schools get less.”
“We've been making child care cheaper by reforming how the subsidy works and investing in the workforce, which is critical to getting people to stay and move to the regions, because they can earn a decent income, something that the other side don't want to talk about. And then there are the more recent reforms that we announced today, which is scrapping the activity test. In regional communities, there is a less rigid work structure, so the activities test was knocking people out of accessing quality care. People on my side have talked about the NBN. The NBN didn't get completed in the regions by those opposite; it took our government to invest in the rollout of fibre-to-the-kerb everywhere and finish the job. The NBN is critical to ending the digital divide between the regions and the cities.”
“If I can use this area of ECEC as a moment to segue, when we came into government, the deserts of accessing early childhood education in the regions were profound. We had people who couldn't move to regional communities to be the nurse, to be the teachers, to work in mining or to establish their lives in a regional centre, because they had no access to early childhood education. It didn't exist. We had farming communities and farming families frustrated that they had no access to early childhood education. It's taken the election of a Labor government and the record investment that we have made to early childhood education to turn this around. We haven't just invested in building more childcare centres and the new announcements about more bricks and mortar.”
“Most of you know of my son Charlie. I like to share his little anecdotes. When a photo of Parliament House comes up on the TV or he sees it in a book, Charlie often refers to it as Canberra kinder. 'Hey, Mummy, that's Canberra kinder.' For Charlie, that was true. He did go to the childcare centre here for many years, so he has that connection to the building. It was his Canberra kinder. But at some points I have moments in this chamber where I feel like it's more than just the childcare centre. With the behaviour that we have had, particularly, unfortunately, by some of the National Party representatives, it does feel like we're in a kinder. The babble from the Nationals in this debate has hit a new level of silliness when this is a really important issue. How do we support and invest and help our regional communities expand and grow?”
“When you have a competitive, transparent grants process, regional centres do well. The city of Greater Bendigo and Mount Alexander have not missed out. Bendigo Thales has not missed out. This is the kind of smart investment our government is doing in the regions.”
“The project connects the CBD centre to the railway precinct. It will include local Indigenous art into the streetscape, a very iconic Gold Rush era streetscape, but it will also improve accessibility and help solve some of the challenges that we have with access in the area. Mechanics Lane is one of the areas that will receive a lot of attention. It is already the heart of Castlemaine, but it is a bit dangerous, so this will help support the transformation of this community space. It's already the home of our festivals, and it's where we have our community house, our library and the Phee Broadway Theatre, as well as a number of other important community buildings. These are just three of the funding announcements that our government has made about my electorate in January alone.”
“This is a practical way that our government is helping to achieve the goal of 1.2 million homes in the next five years. We're giving the money to local government, who have gone through a competitive tender process. The top projects are awarded the funding to help get the houses on the ground sooner. It's not being passed on to developers. It's not then being passed on to the first home buyers or the homebuyers. This kind of fund is making a difference when it comes to the housing in our community. One of the other projects that we announced funding for was the most recent round of the rPPP, the regional Precincts and Partnerships Program. I'm so pleased that a small shire in my electorate, Mount Alexander Shire, will receive just over $12 million from our government to transform public space in the heart of its CBD area.”
“We also announced funding for Marong, a growth suburb of Bendigo, through the Housing Support Program. The City of Greater Bendigo made an application through the Housing Support Program for funding to upgrade sewerage works. I understand that sewerage may not be the most sexy project that you can announce, but it's critical. It's the most practical way that our government could support a city with growth pressures. Thanks to Labor and through this fund, $11.3 million from the government's Housing Support Program will go to the City of Greater Bendigo to upgrade the sewerage infrastructure in the region. That will allow an extra 2,400-ish homes to be built in the community. Included in that is at least 300 social and community houses within that.”
“They had no work locked in for the future, making their entire workforce redundant and leaving hundreds of workers and families without a job. Our government has invested in these contracts, saved the site and secured the long-term sustainability for these vital defence jobs, producing a product that our army needs and the rest of the world needs—the iconic Bushmaster. It not only is accredited to saving Australian lives but is doing its bit in Ukraine and over 10 other countries. This is the kind of smart investment that our government is doing, working with industry and business to deliver what we need. I'm proud to stand here today to say that the site has a future, and it's thanks to this government. But that's not the only announcement that we made in January in my electorate.”
“It's been a great summer in central Victoria and in the Bendigo electorate. We've had a number of great funding announcements for awesome projects through January, and I want to take a moment to share those with the House. In early January, straight after the New Year's break, the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, Hon. Pat Conroy, came to Bendigo to announce a further $100 million contract for Bendigo Thales to build more Bushmasters. This is on top of the $160 million announced in 2023 and the $45 million announced in 2024—a combined investment of over $300 million which helps secure jobs at the site. Something I didn't share at the time was that, prior to us coming to government, on the eve of the last federal election, Thales met with me to say the site was at risk of closure.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. What work is the Labor government doing to address the challenges of today while working to continue to build for the future? Are there any alternative approaches that would leave Australians worse off?”