Members – Enterprise Ireland and Network Kokoda
In this role we get to meet some pretty interesting people. Cooperation and kindness were the the themes of two groups I met with recently, and I congratulate them and wish them well in their future endeavours.
MEMBERS – Scotty James, Warrandyte’s snowboarding champion
I am very pleased to extend my congratulations to Scotty James, a young Warrandyte snowboarder who has just completed an incredible feat of 10 consecutive wins at half-pipe snow boarding championships around the world.
MEMBERS: North East Link EES submissions
Recently I have engaged closely with the community in my electorate to ensure that they are aware and they have assistance in preparing their submissions for the environment effects statement (EES). In the past fortnight my office has received a huge number of calls, emails and messages from residents, sporting clubs and local councils.
MEMBERS – Madison Paige
Mr BARTON: I also want to say one other thing. I am also very happy that the Maggies are up and about, President, but the highlight of the week for me is my daughter. Throughout her pregnancy the baby was referred to as ‘Marshmallow’. She was born on Monday. We have now got the very gorgeous Madison Paige. So thank you
MEMBERS – Class Action against Uber
Mr BARTON (Eastern Metropolitan) (09:50): Around three years ago I sat down at a dinner table with a couple of my mates, Mr Andre Baruch and Nadav Prawer. Nadav is a lawyer, and we were discussing the illegal entry into Victoria of Uber. That evening set the wheels in motion that brought us to 3 May, when the law firm Maurice Blackburn filed in the Supreme Court a class action against Uber. We started this originally just for our original members, but this has now grown to Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. This is going to be the largest class action this country has ever seen. I am very happy to be able to say that, and I am very proud of all of those people who have joined together to tell Uber that they are not making the rules. I am very happy about that.
MEMBERS STATEMENT: Bullying. No Way!
Mr BARTON (Eastern Metropolitan) (09:51:00): Last Friday schools across the country participated in a national day of action against bullying. Over 2.4 million students from 5726 schools across Australia united to spread a very powerful message. I am proud to say that many schools in my Eastern Metropolitan Region took part—there are too many to list.
Bullying is never okay. Bullying is a misuse of power. It is ongoing and repeated and it causes harm. We can all take action every day to stop it. Call it out when you see it. Stand by friends who experience it. Tell someone if it is happening to you.
Life is very different for young people today than when I was at school. They did have schools when I was that age! Our use of social media takes bullying out of the schoolyard and it follows them into their homes, into their safe places. Approximately one in five young people under 18—20 per cent—report online bullying in any one year.
I thank everyone involved in this conversation, and I encourage school communities to say, ‘Bullying. No Way!’ and take action every day.