Portfolio — 28 August 2026

The dominant discourse arc for Brighton in this window is justice system reform — pursued by the Member for Brighton across two distinct legislative fronts, with a recurring Coalition argument that the government's pace and ambition fall short. The Member introduced a private member's bill to amend the Magistrates' Court Act 1989 to create workplace protection orders, citing 30,000 incidents of theft and 5,000 assaults in Victorian retail workplaces over the past year [TA-260729-vichns-1853e76e6e82:s001].

The Member's accompanying critique was pointed: the Coalition had proposed the same reform 250 days earlier, Labor members voted it down, and the government's own announced response would not take effect for approximately 350 days — a gap the Member used to frame the government as reactive rather than preventive.

The same pattern — supporting reform in principle while arguing it does not go far enough — shaped the Member's contribution to debate on the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Coercive Control, Good Character, Risk Assessment and Other Matters) Bill 2026 [TA-260826-vichns-9f81c0b98fb9:s074]. The Member supported the bill's measures on coercive control, information sharing, and good character sentencing reforms, but outlined a Coalition platform that goes further: ending the misuse of suppression orders, introducing Clare's Law modelled on victim-disclosure schemes now operating in South Australia and the United Kingdom, enabling prerecorded sexual assault evidence, and addressing pseudonym and concealment orders.

The Member also hosted a roundtable on Open Courts Act reforms at Melbourne Law School, connecting the district to a broader debate about judicial transparency that the Assembly records surface but do not fully resolve.

A separate justice system capacity concern emerged from the Member's remarks on Victoria's honorary justices of the peace. The Royal Victorian Association of Honorary Justices reports 3,628 justices in Victoria with only 2,000 active, against 64,000 in New South Wales, and is calling for recruitment of 5,000 more by 2027 [TA-260813-vichns-ff06af361824:s010]. The Member raised this directly as a government handling failure, situating it within the broader justice reform thread running through Brighton's parliamentary activity in this window.

On parliamentary process, the Member contested the government's management of the legislative calendar near the end of sitting, arguing that compressed sitting days were avoidable given the government had four years to plan its agenda. The Member raised specific procedural concerns about working-from-home legislation amendments that had been announced but not publicly released, and questioned how the Assembly would absorb work returning from the Council alongside potential IBAC reforms.

The Leader of the House, the Minister for Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Economy and Minister for Economic Development, intervened on relevance during related debate, directing the Member for Brighton to confine remarks to the substantive bills in the government business program [TA-260825-vichns-1f0d21d52e31:s021].

In third-party Assembly debate, the Member for Brighton's contributions centred on the Fishing, Hunting and Outdoor Victoria Bill. The Member endorsed amendments renaming the proposed authority from Outdoor Recreation Victoria and expanding its remit to hunting, recreational and commercial fishing, aquaculture, boating, and access to public land [TA-260813-vichns-ff06af361824:s047].

The Member credited the Member for Bath with extensive stakeholder consultation across groups including the Australian Deer Association, Field & Game, Seafood Industry Victoria, and the Sporting Shooters' Association, and pressed for adequate staffing of authorised officers in the fisheries sector, citing recreational fishing groups' opposition to previous enforcement cuts.

The Member also opposed any change to duck season policy, citing support from the former Premier [TA-260813-vichns-ff06af361824:s046].

At the district level, the Member attended community events including recognition of the University of the Third Age's 45,000 members and the opening of the 115-year-old Brighton Croquet Club's season. On local facilities, the Member noted Bayside community support for an upgrade to Brighton Beach Oval while flagging opposition to Bayside Council's plan to demolish the 120-year-old Brighton Beach Bowls Club to construct a new pavilion — a local heritage and community infrastructure contest the parliamentary records surface without resolution.