Jason Wood
La Trobe · Liberal Party · Australia
“'My word is my bond' is a phrase never to be used again in Australia, and we can thank the Prime Minister for that, as, when he was asked 50 times prior to the election, 'Will there be changes to capital gains tax or negative gearing?' he kept on saying no. He even belittled the media when he was asked that question.”
“Then Labor got in, and they cancelled all the funding, which is really upsetting for those local residents. The other one I was very passionate about was Wellington Road. Going from Clematis down to Lysterfield Road, Wellington Road is very important.”
“Also, under the former Liberal government, we upgraded dangerous intersections across Latrobe—this was brought to me in particular by Cardinia Shire Council, and I give them their credit—between McGregor Road, and going further down, Cardinia Road. As I mentioned, those were very important upgrades along there.”
“One of the things I'm hearing from small business and people who put trust in the Prime Minister when he made comments like 'my word is my bond' is that they took him at face value when it came to not changing capital gains tax or unit trusts. This actually really hurts a lot of people. A lot of tradies have established a trust.”
“They were advised to set up a trust through their small business. It could be a landscaping business, it could be a post office—whatever it is. They've already gone once to get advice on what's occurring with the government's changes. Now we're seeing all these changes the government's made again. Obviously, they're copping a backlash.”
“Again, it's those smaller, dangerous intersections we've upgraded. The Officer South ramps have now been completed. But one of the projects, very disappointingly, was stopped by the Albanese government when it came into power.”
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“In August 2025, the PM repeated that the government would stick to the tax policy it ran on, saying, 'The only tax policy we're implementing is the one we took to the election.' Now, in May 2026, the PM acknowledged the government had changed its stance and said, 'We've changed our position.' It's a bit like Darth Vader in Star Wars when he says, 'We're renegotiating the deal.' So many people went to that election knowing that, if the PM's word was his bond, they would be voting for the same capital gains tax, the same negative gearing and the same rules for trusts. Discretionary trusts are going to be hit really hard. From 1 July 2028, the budget proposes a 30 per cent minimum tax on discretionary trusts. Trust income is usually distributed to beneficiaries, who pay tax at their own rates.”
“On 9 April 2025, when asked if he would rule out changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax, he said: 'Yes. How hard is it? For the 50th time.' For the 50th time he's admitting that he's not going to make any changes. From 17 to 22 April 2025, he repeatedly said there were no plans to change negative gearing or the capital gains discount, saying, 'I rule it out,' and, 'No plans.' On 22 April 2025, on live TV, the PM said he would not cut the capital gains discount.”
“There is a projected decade of deficits worth about $150 billion, with gross debt of around $1.25 trillion, annual interest costs of over $42 billion per year—that's roughly $80,000 per minute. Higher taxes of about $50 billion in total were announced, including $15 billion from personal income tax. Government spending is at its highest level in 40 years, outside of the pandemic. There are 35,000 fewer homes being built. This is in Labor's own budget papers. As a member of parliament, it's always tough when you get to say you've broken a promise. The Prime Minister has just made every member of parliament look bad, but in particular himself and the Labor members. I'm going to go through the times when he was asked about changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax.”
“Either they're going to hold onto those properties or, if they do sell, obviously an investor is not going to be come in and assist the rental market up there. In those little areas that I mentioned, there are going to be a lot fewer rentals. Then we can go down to the south of the electorate. People talk about property developers. We're talking about hundreds of acres of land—or it could be 30 acres of land. That's not mums and dads and first homebuyers getting in there; that's property investors and developers going in there. So you're going to have a property investor going up against new homeowner. I just can't see that what Labor is proposing is actually going to work. The budget was just a budget of broken promises, higher taxes, more debt, lower living standards and fewer homes for Australians.”
“I know that on budget night the Labor members were patting each other on the back for a fantastic budget and doing such a great job, and I can kind of understand what the thinking was—that if you remove the negative gearing on existing properties, that's going to do something amazing. We'll have all these people go and invest in new land and build a house and negative gear that and get the capital gains tax. There is one thing the Labor members haven't thought of. In suburbs such as Gembrook, Cockatoo and Emerald in my electorate of La Trobe, there's only a five per cent rental market. Are the people who are holding onto those properties likely to sell those properties and try to reinvest down in, say, Clyde North or the new growth corridors in Pakenham? The simple answer is no.”
“At the moment in Victoria, under state Labor, there are only 14 of these so-called tobacco licensing inspectors for 10,000 venues. It's absolutely ridiculous—only 14! They've seized a half a tonne or something of cigarettes. It is a complete failure. I'm especially blaming the state Labor government of Victoria. If they had got on this years ago, we wouldn't be in this situation. When it comes to tariffs, I do agree with colleagues. Reducing them does make a difference. When it comes to the excise—”
“Even the surveillance powers and search warrants—again, the Australian Border Force can't use these powers. I say to the government: you need to give the Australian Border Force the surveillance powers, the telephone intercept powers, because they have to call on the Australian Federal Police when they're with these operations, with the Illicit Tobacco Taskforce. If members are seconded there and the ones who aren't have another operation—it could be a paedophile ring or major drug trafficking—that's always going to get priority. We need the Australian Border Force to get that priority. To come back to the point I was making before, the state police need to be given something similar to a penalty notice, where they can issue fines. It could be, initially, $10,000 or $100,000—and it goes to a million dollars.”
“I've been exceptionally disappointed with Victorian Labor governments. We had a police ministers conference where I actually raised it with the Attorney-General and the chief commissioner at the time, to say we really needed to do something about tobacco and organised crime. Sadly, the response at the time was, 'It's not an issue, so we don't need to worry about it.' Obviously, we've now seen all the firebombings and everything since. When it comes to law enforcement, the easiest way to do this—this is something I've been pushing for; I made speeches on it when in government—is for the states to have a penalty notice regime. The Commonwealth powers—the legislation changes and the stronger penalties—are fantastic, but the state and territory police are not going to use them.”
“I took over the role of assistant minister in the Morrison government. One of the responsibilities I had was to look at tobacco, and a request came through from the Australian Border Force. They needed certificates to have a magistrate basically declare that an item seized was tobacco. For, initially, three months they had to store the tobacco there. We changed that so it could be immediately destroyed. Once I went down there and visited the customs office where there was a mail house for items coming in from around the world. It was incredible to see how many cigarettes were being seized at that time. And then you look at shipments. In Australia, organised crime just need one shipment out of 70 to get through—it could be a bathtub full of cigarettes—and they've made their profits.”
“I go back to my time—many, many years ago—at the organised crime squad in Victoria Police. Back in 2000, you'll find, organised crime realised there was money to be made in tobacco. At the time we didn't have very strong Commonwealth laws or state laws, and they were pretty much evading tax. There was a huge investigation by the tactical investigation unit. Subsequently, the power of legislation wasn't there, and they lost the court case. I entered parliament in 2004 and was on the committee for law enforcement. We went down with the customs officers—they were showing us how much tobacco was being seized—and my question was: how do you go with prosecutions? They said: 'We don't. It's too dangerous for the customs officers.' This shows, going back in time, how bad the problem was. Over the years, it has just got worse.”
“The success of the games relies on hundreds of those volunteers I spoke about, along with support from local businesses, sponsors and community fundraising. I'm especially proud to acknowledge a local club from my electorate of La Trobe, the Baba Buddha Ji sporting club in Pakenham—otherwise known as BBJSC—will be representing our community volleyball, and I wish them every success in the competition. I congratulate BBJSC's executive team Onkar Sekhon, Jagdev Singh and Charan Singh for their friendship over the years and also for their leadership and hard work, efforts to support young athletes and help in promoting healthy lifestyles, discipline and unity. I wish all the competitors, volunteers and families a safe, successful and memorable games in Melbourne next month.”
“Congratulations to the Melbourne Sikh Games organising committee for all the incredible hard work and effort you put in making the games a success year after year in Melbourne, including President Jagjit Singh Chugha; Senior Vice President Rupinder Brar, Vice President Arashdeep Singh, Kulwant Singh—a good friend of mine; Gurpreet Shokar and Muskan Soraya; secretary Udesh Virdi and all the other committee members and all those who will be supporting. I was very proud, prior to the last election, that an elected Liberal government would commit $450,000 to support the Sikh games, and I was very glad to see the government match that funding. They're desperate for funding because they have so many volunteers.”
“The event is expected to attract around an incredible 300,000 people over three days, with over 8,000 athletes and performers. Free food will be provided to all attendees during the event. When it comes to gurdwaras, they always provide free food for anyone who visits; they provide so much support for the community. Around 120 non-profit sporting and cultural clubs will be taking part, making the games a powerful example of community participation.”
“I rise today to acknowledge the upcoming 38th Australian Sikh Games to be held in Melbourne from 3 to 5 April 2026 at Parkville. I've been to a number of these games in the past and they are absolutely fantastic. The Australian Sikh Games are a premier sporting and cultural event for our fantastic Sikh community right across Australia. Each year the games bring together athletes' families and spectators not only from across Australia but also from overseas, including New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and the United Kingdom. The event includes a total of 17 different sporting games, and a total of 9,500 players have registered so far. A blood donation drive is being organised in partnership with Red Cross, which is absolutely fantastic, and the fundraiser will aim to raise $125,000 for the Royal Children's Hospital.”
“Their religious leaders were staying back overnight and sleeping at the places of worship. You had, I might say as a former police officer, druggies breaking in there and stealing the collection boxes and potentially putting the religious leaders in danger. That funding worked very well in ensuring those places were protected. More always needs to be done. Again I come back to sport and my daughter. It's great when you see the kids play together. They don't know the difference between nationalities or backgrounds. Kids just want to play. I think sport and children are the way forward. I'll leave it there. Again, it's very a important day, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.”
“Even back then I was shocked when I went to some of these schools. In particular, I think it was in Western Australia, I could feel the fear in those communities when I met with them. The great news was that we ended up delivering funding for those groups. It was the same with mosques. I also intervened on the Islamic Museum of Australia in Melbourne. I must admit I was a bit annoyed when the Labor Party took me to the Auditor-General because I intervened to actually assist the mosques and a number of Indian Sikh groups. A lot of these groups couldn't put in the application; they didn't have the money to pay the high-level consultants. But when you went and met them, you realised there was fear. In particular, there was fear for the Buddhist community.”
“I always know when I'm in trouble; when I hear the name 'Daddy' or 'Jason' mentioned in Cantonese, I've done something wrong! But it's great to have that in the household. I must admit, when I first started going out with my wife, Judy, I tried to impress her relatives in Hong Kong by speaking a bit of Cantonese. I tried to say, 'She's a beautiful young woman', which is 'leng lui', but I said 'leng lou', 'She's a beautiful old man.' It's very important to get language correct. When it comes to discrimination, we had that awful terrorist attack in Christchurch a number of years ago. I acknowledge the work of former prime minister Scott Morrison, who gave me the great task of looking after the community safety fund for places of worship. When it came to Jewish communities, we put funding towards the synagogues and the schools.”
“When it comes to sport, sport is one of the key things which bring everyone together. The AFL, I must admit, has had their issues over the years, but they've taken a very strong stance now. If anyone in the crowd racially abuses a player, they're not only kicked out of the game but normally banned for some time. I also think it's important, when I talk to multicultural groups, to say to them how important it is to keep the mother language at home when they speak to their children. Make sure that the mother tongue is the language they speak at home. The reason is it helps the youngster keep that traditional spirit alive. In fact, in my home the No. 1 language is not English; it's actually Cantonese. My daughter is only 11, and she speaks Cantonese fluently and Mandarin.”
“I'm going to take the words of Reverend Tim Costello. I remember I was at a multicultural event with him a number of years ago, and he said that racism always starts with lack of understanding then fear, then hate. The more we work on that in Australia, the better it's going to be. I had the great privilege of looking after multicultural affairs for three years under former prime minister Scott Morrison, and then also under opposition leader Peter Dutton. Overall, can I just say, Australia is a country which does embrace multicultural communities. I go to my local cricket teams in La Trobe, and a number of years ago you wouldn't see a Sri Lankan or Indian kid there, and now the clubs are booming with the Indian and Sri Lankan cricket players. It makes a huge difference to get involved.”
“Australians are paying around an incredible $50,000 every minute to service that debt. Families are feeling the impact everywhere. Electricity is up by 32 per cent from last year. Insurance is up 39 per cent. Energy is up 38 per cent. Rents are up 22 per cent. Health is up 18 per cent. Education is up 17 per cent. Food is up 16 per cent. It is very tough for all Australians, and the Labor government must be condemned for failing to act on inflation.”
“In my electorate of La Trobe, residents are doing it really tough, with a 40c increase to fuel. I know this is occurring right across the country, but the cost of living under Labor has been very bad, particularly when it comes to inflation. Domestic inflation is running at 4.9 per cent, showing that pressure is really going hard on all Australians. Inflation in Australia is now higher than in major advanced economies. It's higher than the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Japan. That is why interest rates have gone up again, and we expect that to occur again in the future, which is going to be very tough, especially for my electorate of La Trobe. For nearly four years, the government has been spending at record levels outside of a recession. The government's debt is racing towards $1 trillion.”
“They've been absolutely fabulous Australians, and I thank them for everything they do in Australia. It's a shame the Labor Party doesn't support the Chin community.”
“They are lived experiences for many people in the Chin community in La Trobe and right across Victoria. They are stories the Chin community carry with courage and dignity. Australia has become a safe place of hope for many Chin refugees, and today there are more than 10,000 who call Australia home, including many in the electorate of La Trobe. I will just make this point. We hear parties like One Nation, and even my own party and the government, talk about reducing visa numbers. When it comes to humanitarian visas and the Chin community, they must be one of the groups at the top of the list. They come to Australia— I can't believe I'm getting interjections from a Labor member on this, when I'm supporting the Chin community for the great work they do.”
“I must say that every time I do a citizenship ceremony the Chin community come out, and they are always in their traditional dress. They're so proud of their history but also proud of becoming Australian citizens. Many Chin families living in Australia today have endured experiences that are hard for others to imagine. The Chin community in Myanmar are mostly Christian and for decades have been targeted because of both their ethnic and religious identity, and simply because of their strong support for democracy. The military carried out violent crackdowns, including the destruction of homes, churches, schools and entire towns. Just prior to the event, aircraft had bombed schools—something which is unbelievable. These are not distant events.”
“I recently had the wonderful opportunity to join the south-east Melbourne Chin community to celebrate the 78th Chin National Day in Pakenham, in the electorate of La Trobe. I thank the president, Robert Khua Tin Tang, who gave a fantastic speech about Australia and the community's strong connections with Australia; the secretary and event manager Tin Mualcin; and Reverend Mang Sangkim. It's great to see that the new Chin Baptist Church—the reverend was telling me about this—should be opened up in September of this year. The work the south-east Melbourne Chin community do, especially to support new arrivals, is incredible. Chin National Day is a powerful celebration of freedom, unity and identity. It honours the courage of generations who have fought to preserve their culture and their democratic values.”
“We announced back in 2019 work on the children's emergency department at Casey Hospital. It still isn't finished. I think it's started and the work is now supposed to be completed in another two years. I make this point. I spoke to Rob Evans today. Sadly, his daughter Liv took her life. She suffered from an eating disorder. That was the point he was making to me—to make sure hospitals in the south-east are treating children for eating disorders so that what occurred with his daughter, Liv, never occurs to any other children. So, again, we obviously support the bill when it comes to the appropriation.”
“If there's a car accident while people are trying to leave—and there's probably 15,000 residents—there are two directions they can go. They can either go south towards Pakenham or go east. It obviously depends on what way a fire's going, but if a fire comes from Bunyip Way, and there's a crash on that freeway—also, the Ash Wednesday fires devastated Belgrave South—residents would be trapped in that area. We saw that in the Black Saturday fires with those residents escaping Kinglake West where they had one car and ended up having a crash. The other cars went in behind and, tragically, a number of people died. So, again, eventually there will be a fire there and, sadly, if there's an accident and the road is blocked off there'll be a lot of casualties there. When it comes to residents in La Trobe, they've been doing it very tough.”
“That blew out amazingly from $110 million under state Labor to $900 million, and, to my great annoyance, the Albanese government removed that entire $110 million because they said the project couldn't go ahead. So we are going to have serious accidents and fatal accidents for years to come, but my biggest concern—and I've said this so many times—is that there's going to be a bushfire out that way. People may not be aware, but in 1983 we had the Ash Wednesday bushfires where the township of Cockatoo was decimated as were many parts of the Dandenong Ranges and also down at the Belgrave South area, which is no longer in La Trobe but in Casey. For residents living in areas in La Trobe like Cockatoo, Emerald and Gembrook, their major escape route away would be Wellington Road.”
“I must admit, it was at the request of Yarra Ranges Shire Council, but that funding should never have been diverted. Again, back under the Morrison government, we recommitted $110 million for the duplication of the entire freeway. I shouldn't say freeway. It's one lane in each direction. In say that, too, this time we had the cost estimates put together by Knox City Council, Casey City Council, Cardinia Shire Council and Yarra Ranges Shire Council. Knox City Council worked on costs if you're trying to duplicate the road in a high impact area where it's got traffic lights and telephone poles, but it had none of that. Most of it's just bush.”
“Some other great projects we did get involved in are upgrading 36 kilometres in each direction of the Monash Freeway, which is so important, and also other upgrades right across the La Trobe electorate. There's one, though, that was really disappointing, and that was Wellington Road. I first committed funding to the duplication of Wellington Road from Clematis going right back into Glen Fern Road—can I just say, it's a single lane in each direction. There have been so many serious car accidents over the years, and I actually lost my seat in 2010. My last letter was to the now Prime Minister Albanese, when he was transport minister, and it said, 'Do not allow this funding to go away.' It was for overtaking lanes there. Guess what? He diverted the funding.”
“When it comes to mums and dads buying houses or a commercial project, it just becomes so very expensive. Another example was the Berwicktrain station. I know the Labor Party doesn't like us talking about train stations and upgrades, but I do note that the state Labor members went and tried to claim the glory for the train station carpark. It was opposed at a federal level, but they tried to celebrate it at the state Labor level. Again, that blew out from $15 million to $64 million of taxpayers' money. I do note that that included a bus drop off and pick up, but that is still an incredible amount. When you went to Maroondah Council, I believe it would be, the Mitcham carpark was constructed for under $15 million. Why? Because the council built it and didn't have all the CFMEU et cetera involved.”
“When I spoke to their team of engineers, I said, 'How could this possibly cost in the vicinity of $250 million?' They just said clearly to me, 'It's the CFMEU.' Then you look around at these projects, and I noticed recently they've taken the CFMEU flags down, but when we have $15 billion of rorted funding from the CFMEU—and can I say, state Labor has allowed this to happen—that really puts pressure when it comes to inflation. People may say, 'Does it really matter because they're getting the money?' But it also puts huge pressure in private industry. When I've spoken to those in construction, they say they now must compete with the CFMEU worksites where they're getting these ridiculous amounts of money, so, for those other construction workers, their costs go up.”
“We took former prime minister Morrison out to Racecourse Road, and he made a great announcement there. When it came to Racecourse and McGregor roads, those road project proposals were put forward by Cardinia council—their engineering team. They estimated those projects to be $82 million. That's what we committed and, lo and behold, under state Labor, came back and said, 'Take it or leave it—$398 million,' which is quite a hefty change. Then we also had Clyde Road. That was $70 million, and it blew out to $250 million—and that's only 900 metres of road from the train line over to the Monash Freeway. I spoke to Casey council. Casey council is a very big council; it's nearly like the size of Tasmania.”
“I'd go to other multicultural events and, lo and behold, Karthik, you would be there. Eventually, after three or four months, I thought, 'Well, if he's going to every event, I may as well put him on the staff.' He did a fantastic job. Thank you for everything you did. We look forward to your future working for Jess Wilson, who is, hopefully, the next premier of Victoria. I wish you all the best. Thank you for giving us allowance, Madam Deputy Speaker Scrymgour. On that note, I'll now talk about infrastructure projects in the seat of La Trobe. Can I just say again that, when it comes to infrastructure funding, it is so important in electorates, especially those like La Trobe. At one stage it was actually the fastest growing growth corridor in Australia.”
“It was a great honour, under the Morrison government and also under the former leader of the opposition Peter Dutton, to be looking after the multicultural communities. It was great to meet so many multicultural communities and, in particular, have funding which we put forward regarding making places of worship much safer. I have my adviser Karthik Arasu here. I want to give Karthik a shout-out because it's his last week here in parliament. He's just had some great news too, with his wife Ankita just having a baby, Kyra. We wish you all the best on that new journey. Karthik, can I just say, first came to my office from the western suburbs and told me about issues in the multicultural community where temples were being damaged. Then he took me out there to meet the relevant people and arrange various meetings.”
“That's correct. During the MPI today, the member for Bruce claimed that my hand-picked Liberal candidate for Bruce made an election commitment double that of the member for Bruce, which was $670,000, for the TAHA association. I was shadow minister in charge of multicultural affairs and grants, and neither the Liberal Party, nor I, nor the candidate made a commitment to the association. I've spoken to the Liberal candidate for Bruce, who advised that, during the election campaign, he made no such commitment and did not visit the TAHA association. So, if the member for Bruce has evidence, such as a video, media release or Facebook post, he needs to produce it. Otherwise, I request that he retract that statement.”
“There's no way these women should be allowed in Australia. There's no way the government can give a guarantee that these women will come to Australia and not in any way try to seduce others to follow their cause, because when it comes to deradicalisation—again, my background in counterterrorism—it is so difficult to achieve. We are taking a huge risk in Australia under this Labor Albanese government, and it shouldn't be taken. We need to make sure Australians are protected.”
“All Australians need to be made aware of the facts behind how the home affairs minister and the Prime Minister somehow allowed 11 women and 23 children linked to ISIS to be issued with passports. My previous role, as the assistant minister for customs, meant I also looked after the Australian Border Force. Can I make it very clear to every Australian that the Australian government very much overlooks who actually gets Australian passports, especially when they're overseas and passports are being lost. The minister must come clean on why they have these Australian passports. Let's make no mistake at all. These ISIS brides left Australia to support ISIS terrorists who were killing Australian allies and also Australian soldiers. You saw the most barbaric scenes of these men holding up human heads.”
“The $70 million was a figure put out by Casey council, a very large council which has teams of engineers. When I spoke to them, when all of a sudden it was going to be $250 million, they said simply, 'It's an absolute rort.' And that's what it is. Get on with it, Labor. Again, it's disgraceful behaviour.”
“Being stuck in traffic is very annoying. In Clyde Road in Berwick, residents have had enough as roadworks continue on. I must say that, back under the Morrison government, we committed $70 million to put dual carriageways each way from the train line to over the Monash Freeway. State Labor said: 'You have to take it or leave it. It's going to be $298 million.' We all know the reason why. It came to the CFMEU taking their 30 per cent cut—and they were very proudly putting up their shameful CFMEU flags. The point I'd really like to make here is: why has it taken so long? That was funding committed under the Morrison government, and the final project still hasn't been delivered. It's driving residents nuts. It's a disgrace in the first place and an absolute rort how this project has blown out from $70 million.”
“They've been in power since 2022, and it's just disgraceful that for one of the busiest locations in Australia—the initial announcement was made back in 2019, but I can't see the work being completed for another two or three years. Shame on state Labor and shame on Mr Albanese for not making this happen earlier.”
“We've seen so many people move into areas in Clyde North, and we go right up to Pakenham, where the state government's building a so-called community hospital. The emergency department work should be finished by now, yet it still hasn't started. I feel so sorry for the parents and so many people every time they go down to the emergency department, in particular the staff. I have paid a few visits there over the years and the staff and the nurses tell me they have been waiting to get this new emergency department started. It just never seems to happen under Labor. I call on the federal health minister, Mark Butler, to really get onto this.”
“At the time I got on the phone to the then minister for health Greg Hunt and said, 'This is a huge issue; we need to do something about it.' Back in 2019, under the former Liberal government, we committed half the funding to a children's emergency department at the hospital, something we're very excited about. The state government also agreed to put in half the funding. It was a joint announcement and very exciting at the time. That was back in 2019, and just last Friday, 6 February 2026, the government issued a press release stating that a builder has been appointed to deliver the expansion. It was announced in 2019, and we haven't even seen works started. They described this as a major milestone. I say it's a major disgrace for all those parents in one of the fastest growth corridors in Australia.”
“When it comes to any parent, any time their child needs emergency attention and goes to hospital, they want to make sure the child is seen very quickly. It's the same with anyone who needs to go to the emergency department at a hospital. That's so important. I had this experience back in 2019, when my daughter, Jasmine, had an anaphylactic reaction to cashew nuts. We urgently ran down to the Casey Hospital at the time. Like I said, it was 2019. The hospital staff were amazing. They saw her quickly, and everything was fine. But the line of people waiting to be seen went right out of the emergency department.”
“To Geoff and his wife, Jayne; Gavin and his wife, Toni; the six grandchildren; and the four great grandchildren, we feel your immense loss, and we also feel your immense pride knowing what Carol and Rob have done for the electorate of La Trobe and especially for the people of Officer. May they both rest in peace.”
“She worked with everyone in the community to make sure that, whatever the project was, it would be delivered to our community. Many conversations I had with Carol over the years started with Carol saying, 'Jason, somebody needs to tell you,' to which I would reply, 'Carol, why is it always you?' She's one of those constituents who would never give up. Her husband, Rob Porter, is sadly not with us any longer. He was also awarded an Order of Australia. They championed the Officer recreation reserve, and it's got new basketball courts in it. Carol was the one who led the charge there. The next mission was the sports club, which was upgraded. And, finally, there were the social rooms. I say to the Porter clan: thank you very much for allowing Rob and Carol to do so much for our community.”
“That's a major project she fought to get. She also fought and stopped the poker machines coming into Officer. I think it's one of the first times a case has gone to VCAT and VCAT decided in favour of the local community, to keep pokies out because of the damage pokies do to families. She's always been an amazing contributor to our local community. She received—as you would expect based on what I've said so far—the Medal of the Order of Australia to recognise her for amazing community service. Madam Deputy Speaker Sharkie, you'll love this. She was a staunch Liberal. She was very Liberal. She was the person who, right from the start, got behind me. If it weren't for Carol, I wouldn't be a member of parliament. She's been a great mentor. I also want to say she's a very fair person.”
“One day Australia Post decided to move the Officer post office box, and Carol got me down there and said we want it back. I said, 'Carol, you can't go up against Australia Post.' She said, 'Well, you'd better start making speeches and petitions.' We did all that. Eventually we had the Australia Post regional manager in the office, and, after the meeting, the regional manager said to me, 'Is this Carol Porter going to give up?' I said, 'Make our lives easier and bring the thing back.' I may have used a few other words. Lo and behold, Officer now has its post office box back—all due to Carol. It's the same with the traffic lights at the intersection of Tivendale Road. There's also the big one, Beaconsfield interchange. Carol was on the Officer township committee and worked with the Beaconsfield Progress Association.”
“She also served her community through her work with the Officer community association, the Probus club, the Red Cross and the Officer Memorial Gates. Those gates were moved when the oval had to be realigned, and Carol was the one who did all the hard work putting the application in. Carol also played a significant leadership role as a director of the Board of Directors for Beaconsfield District Community Financial Services, serving since it was established nearly seven years ago and helping ensure local banking profits were reinvested back into our local community. Carol's advocacy helped shape the Officer community we know today. She was instrumental in so many local achievements. She fought to return the post office box to Officer, and that was a very interesting one.”
“I rise today with a heavy heart to honour the life and legacy of an extraordinary woman, Carol Porter OAM, a longtime resident of Latrobe, a pillar of our community and a very close and dear friend to myself and so many. Just two weeks ago we lost Carol. With her passing our community has lost one of the greatest champions. Carol Porter was a local legend who impacted many lives with her selfless service. A lifelong resident of Officer district, Carol poured her heart, energy and her remarkable generosity of spirit into helping others, particularly in the community. Carol was involved in an incredible 15 organisations. She served with the Officer Hall Committee, the Officer Football Club, the Officer Union Church committee, the St John of God hospital and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.”