Ms SPENCE (Yuroke—Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Community Sport, Minister for Youth) (11:41): Today I am pleased to rise to speak on the Electoral Matters Committee report on the inquiry into the conduct of the 2018 Victorian state election, and I do so as someone was incredibly pleased with the outcome of that election, which delivered an outstanding result for the Andrews Labor government. But I also want to speak on this report as the former chair of that committee, as I held the role for the majority of the time that the inquiry was conducted. As such, there are a few comments that I would like to make.

Firstly, I want to note my thanks to the committee members who participated in the inquiry while I was chair: the deputy chair, Bev MacArthur in the Council, the members for Pascoe Vale, Footscray and Brunswick, as well as Cesar Melhem, Bruce Atkinson, Wendy Lovell and Tim Quilty in the other place. I do note that since that time the member for Bulleen has taken the place of Mr Atkinson, so I acknowledge his contribution also, and of course I acknowledge the current chair, Lee Tarlamis in the Council, and congratulate him on his appointment. During my time as chair I was really pleased with the cooperative and collaborative approach of all members, and I thank them for that. There is no doubt that the committee work undertaken by members in this place can be some of the most rewarding and it can often be where our best or at least our better selves can be seen.

I also want to acknowledge the support that was provided to the committee by the committee secretariat and give my thanks to Christopher Gribbin, Joel Hallinan, Maria Marasco and Bernadette Pendergast. To each of you, your support was greatly appreciated, especially as we entered the challenging and uncertain times of working from home. A couple of special thanks: to Maria, for waiting outside in the stifling heat during the CALD community forum just in case any other committee members arrived, and to Bernadette, for always checking that there was a peppermint tea in case I wanted a hot drink. Your efforts were always noticed and greatly appreciated.

I also want to thank those who made submissions and presented evidence to the inquiry, enabling the committee to consider a wide range of views and issues that were put to the inquiry. There were 106 submissions and evidence was received from 13 organisations or individuals. As well, there were two additional community forums with members of CALD communities in Box Hill and Melbourne. Post my time on the committee there were virtual interstate meetings held with electoral bodies, parliamentary committees, community groups and academics. All of this consultation and engagement culminated in this really well-considered report, which makes 76 findings and 49 recommendations. These range from inclusive election indicators of enrolment turnout and formality, to trustworthy, transparent and competitive elections and reforming the upper house electoral system.

Many of the issues raised during this inquiry were not new—members will have heard frustrations about them over time—such as the need to address high levels of voter informality and low levels of voter turnout, particularly with regard to young people and communities with large populations of CALD voters, and the need to find more suitable voting centres, more accessible voting centres and indeed more voting centres in regional districts. And the report also considers other issues, such as the most recent changes to the Electoral Act 2002 that were first implemented in this election.

So in closing I just want to return to where I began. I speak on this as someone who is really pleased about the report but also pleased about the outstanding result. It is not often that you see an incumbent government get a 5 per cent swing, and I want to congratulate the 10 Labor members that won seats and joined this government, making it 55 out of 88 members. So congratulations to the members for Bass, Bayswater, Box Hill, Burwood, Hawthorn, Mount Waverley, Nepean, Northcote, Ringwood and South Barwon. They all make terrific additions, and I look forward to working with them for many years to come.

I did also just for a few moments want to acknowledge that this is the second inquiry into a Victorian election that I have worked on as a member of that committee. The first was in 2014 when I was deputy chair and Louise Asher was chair. It was during that inquiry that I came to know Louise’s husband, Ron Best, a former member of the Legislative Council and an all-round really good bloke. He passed away recently, and I just want to take this opportunity to express my condolences to Louise, to Ron’s family and to Ron’s friends and colleagues in The Nationals and the Liberal Party. He will no doubt be very widely and sadly missed.