Mr J. BULL (Sunbury) (19:20:50) — (13 608) My adjournment is for the Minister for Youth Affairs in the other place, and the action I seek is for the minister to meet with me and representatives of her department to discuss ways the Andrews Labor government is supporting young people in Sunbury and right across the state. My electorate is home to many outstanding young people, those with terrific ideas on ways to make our society stronger and fairer. I am certainly a believer in encouraging and fostering greater participation in the political process, which is fundamental to supporting our youth.

That is why I committed to forming a Sunbury youth advisory council (YAC). In 2015 I wrote to the four secondary schools in my electorate asking for nominations, and I very warmly welcomed Jason, Josh, Keeley, Natasha, Nathan, Orkan and Zoe as inaugural members. The youth advisory council held meetings on 18 November 2015 and joined the member for Yuroke and her youth advisory council to meet the Minister for Youth Affairs. Members of the youth advisory council showed extraordinary passion and dedication to local youth issues, and I was extremely proud of them and thankful to the minister for her time.

You can only imagine my surprise then when I learned that today in the upper house the Liberal member for Western Metropolitan Region, Mr Finn, claimed this commitment was not delivered. So despite the fact that YAC members attended meetings and came to Parliament and that there were numerous posts on Facebook and letters written to schools, Mr Finn claimed that this somehow did not happen. This is an insult to members of the youth advisory council and the young people of Sunbury. I am astounded that these comments were made.

When in government they decimated TAFE, and in 2017 the federal Liberal government cut all funding for National Youth Week. Compare that to the Andrews Labor government, which made a 30 per cent increase in the 2014–15 state budget for youth affairs. We doubled our investment for Victorian Youth Week, underpinned by a $200 000 investment, not to mention our Youth Policy: Building Stronger Youth Engagement in Victoria. The list goes on. To those opposite: do not play politics with our wonderful people. Do your research; learn the facts. I commend the minister for her outstanding work, and I thank my youth advisory council for their incredible work.