Parliament

Carlo Carli MP is Chairperson of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee of Parliament. Earlier this month he gave this speech at a conference in Canberra

The key feature of the ‘dialogue model’ is that it creates a public dialogue between the judiciary, the executive and the legislature about human rights protection by:

• Requiring Parliament to consider whether new laws are compatible with human rights;
  
• Requiring public authorities to take into account human rights in their decision-making
  
• Giving the Superior Courts the power to identify laws that are incompatible or inconsistent with human rights;
  
• Requiring Parliament to consider whether laws identified by the Courts as incompatible with human rights should be changed.

By then I will have completed nearly seventeen years in Parliament, as the Member for Coburg and then for Brunswick.

I have been proud and humbled to represent this wonderful community. It has been absorbing and fulfilling work that I have greatly enjoyed.

However, I feel it is time to move on, and allow the opportunity for new blood.

In the next 18 months, there are a number of exciting projects to realise in the electorate – the rebuilding of the Brunswick baths, major capital investments in local schools and the continued improvement to local public transport and cycling infrastructure. In the future, I intend to return to my profession as an urban planner and I will be undertaking a postgraduate degree.

Mr CARLI (Brunswick) -- I also rise with sadness to support the condolence motion myself and on behalf of the people of the Brunswick electorate. The scale of this horror was so great that all communities have been affected. I want to concentrate my contribution on the impacts and the response from my community, but at the same time I also want to congratulate the people of Victoria on the way they have rallied together in this period of great adversity.


I also commend the City of Moreland, which moved very quickly to provide both people and resources. It did so with a heavy heart, because one of the council's longstanding employees and a much-loved worker, Jacinta Bartlett, died in the fires along with her husband, Gary, and daughter Erin. Fortunately her other daughter, Maddison, survived and was hospitalised. Also, the chief executive officer of the City of Moreland had his house burnt down and barely survived the fires.


In conjunction with the local community the council responded quickly. The workers gave blood and saved money. They set up an education trust for Maddison so she can continue her studies in the future. They certainly rallied. The health centre sent grief counsellors and social workers to help people deal with grief. The radio station 3RRR organised collections of important things. It collected toiletries and gave up a room upstairs. People did their extra shopping and came and brought toiletries, which were repackaged by volunteers and sent to the fire areas. Clem Bastow, a radio presenter, came up with the idea, and I think it really demonstrated the support offered by that local community.


People have genuinely opened up their wallets, emptied their cupboards and volunteered in this great period of tragedy.


I also helped out with the Italian language program when SBS held a telethon. After the Italian program that morning SBS radio ran its Greek, Arabic and Vietnamese programs, so I stuck around for those. The telethon raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. It demonstrated a number of things. It demonstrated the genuine success of Victoria's multiculturalism. People were rallying as Victorians, regardless of where they came from in the world.


Another aspect was that many of them -- who had often come from difficult or tragic circumstances and had found refuge in Australia -- saw giving as repaying the generosity of Victoria. They were there to contribute in any way they could, and financial contributions were certainly an important part of that. Later I went to the headquarters of the Italian newspaper, Il Globo, and its radio station. They raised $500 000. It is amazing how the ethnic communities rallied for their community -- their Victoria. A number of people pointed out that bushfires are to Victoria what earthquakes are to many parts of the world -- the great adversary that has to be fought.


Schools also raised money. My son's school basically asked all students to bring gold coins so that they would not have to wear uniforms. It raised $5000. You would expect it to raise $800, because that is what a gold coin each amounts to, but the kids brought notes and their piggy banks -- they contributed everything they could.


CERES -- the Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies -- is a much-loved alternative energy and lifestyle centre in my electorate. Pete Auty, a trainer, tea maker, storyteller, poet and personality at CERES, is originally from Flowerdale. His beloved Flowerdale was burnt down, and not only is CERES raising money but it will also send people to help in the rebuilding of Flowerdale. It has adopted Flowerdale.


I will conclude by reading an excerpt from a poem by Pete:



" The little pink cottage surrounded by black, "


" The mud-brick houses reduced to wrack, "


" The ruin, the wreck, the human cost, "


" The homes that are gone and the lives that are lost. "

Mr CARLI (Brunswick) -- I wish to raise a matter for the attention of the Minister for Consumer Affairs. I would like the minister to ensure greater protection for overseas students in the housing rental market.

There was a case in Melbourne earlier this year when Nepalese students were cramped into three houses. One of the houses, a three-bedroom house in Coburg, was set up for 48 students; another for 28 students; and another for 18 students.

These were appalling conditions and showed extreme exploitation by the owner of those properties, who was also of Nepalese origin. It was a terrible situation.

I understand the government is giving greater protection to overseas students in terms of rental properties, particularly properties associated with student accommodation and particular educational institutions.

What I am asking for is greater protection through the residential accommodation strategy to ensure that we have changes to the Residential Tenancies Act so that the phrase 'fit and habitable purpose' is put into the act. There should also be more intervention powers for the director of consumer affairs to ensure that we can deal with these incredibly appalling cases where overseas students who come with very little resources are heavily exploited.

They are vulnerable people. They are often exploited by people who are from a similar or the same ethnic background but who turn out to be incredibly exploitative. In the Coburg cases, the council raided the properties and found they were filthy. The conditions were terrible.

The students were housed in dormitory-style rooms where mattresses were stacked from the floor to the ceiling. These were not fit conditions.

There is a responsibility on both the Australian and Victorian governments to act to protect international students. They are of enormous importance to us; they are certainly economically important but also important in terms of the life that they give to the city. It is also important that we deal with unscrupulous landlords, so I ask the minister to act to ensure that the legislation and the ability for Consumer Affairs Victoria to intervene is made stronger.