Tim Read MP | Politician
Tim Read MP
Phone: +61 3 9384 1241
Reviews
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25.01.2022 "Like everything to do with fossil fuels in Australia, the debate about taxing electric vehicles is more about choosing sides than consistency" Sign the petition to dump the EV tax here: https://greens.org.au//ca/stop-labors-electric-vehicle-tax
24.01.2022 Sam Hibbins (Greens MP for Prahran) argues in this opinion piece why a user charge for electric vehicles may also signal a dangerous step towards a privatised road user charge scheme in Victoria.
23.01.2022 The Victorian Government has announced it will allow all students who were loaned a digital device to learn from home during the pandemic to keep them. This is a big win for disadvantaged students who were unable to access a computer or tablet at home. Thank you to everyone who supported this campaign - you've helped ensure thousands of school students in need have access to digital devices to help with their learning.... I'll continue to push to ensure every Victorian school student has access to a computer and the internet at home.
19.01.2022 I support the community being able to raise genuine concerns about pollution, including noise pollution; however, the way wind farm noise complaints are managed under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act simply does not work in 2020. My full speech is here. https://www.timread.org.au/public_health_and_wellbeing_amen
18.01.2022 I'm pleased to see the Upfield Line is set to get more services in 2021. It has been the poor cousin among Melbourne's trains for too long. Details are light currently, but from my meetings with both the previous and current Minister for Transport, the barrier to increasing services on the Upfield has been the capacity of the City Loop. Removing the Frankston line from the loop frees up room for more services. I look forward to seeing the new timetable next year, and here's hoping it's more than an additional one or two services a day. I'm watching this one very closely.
17.01.2022 The future is renewable not radioactive.
15.01.2022 Good article by Royce Millar. Coastal planning regulations need to anticipate a larger sea level rise than was previously expected. This will upset some property developers, but let's hope the Victorian government gets on with it. Planning for serious effects of climate change feels a little like surrender, but we have to plan long term. I hope that when governments and businesses think about this, they'll want to cut emissions faster.
15.01.2022 Thank-you Moreland City Council for holding a Survival Day ceremony opposite the Coburg Town Hall this afternoon. It was a fitting conclusion to the huge Invasion Day rally. Pictures here from both events. Lidia Thorpe's speech was stinging and powerful. The minute's silence was incredible in such a large crowd. Gary Foley gave a wonderful optimistic speech summarising a half century of Aboriginal activism and concluding that change will happen. One jarring moment was when t...he air force Roulettes roared overhead in the middle of a quiet reflective speech. That, and the mounted police assembled behind the speakers, was a reminder of the forces of colonialism. And, a friend commented, that the crowd was assembled in front of the Imperial and the Windsor hotels and the European cafe, as well as Parliament House. It camptured two centuries of oppression of Aboriginal Australians in a moment. All of which reinforces for me the need to keep pushing to reform Victoria's criminal justice system, so that it doesn't punish the disadvantaged to the extent that one in ten prisoners is Aboriginal. We need to push the government to come good on their promise to decriminalise public drunkenness. We must also reduce the number of Aboriginal children in prison by making it easier for minor offenders to get bail and by raising the age of criminal responsibility.
14.01.2022 January 26 is a Day of Mourning for First Nations The Invasion Day rally in Melbourne is an important day for First Nations people of Victoria to express resistance, mourn and tell the truth. The march is a COVID safe event and the organisers have a COVID safety plan that attendees must follow. ... - Please wear a mask at the march - Bring hand sanitiser - Stay home (participate online) if you have cold/flu symptoms - Form groups of 100 and each group of 100 must stay 10 metres apart as directed by the marshals on the day - Everyone must follow the directions of the marshals - Follow live COVID updates on the Facebook event page And an umbrella might be useful! https://fb.me/e/4M2yNEYaR
13.01.2022 On this day in 1961, the Bintang Kejora or Morning Star was first raised in 1961 by a group of West Papuan legislators who had been promised independence by then-colonial ruler, the Netherlands. Within a decade raising this flag was a criminal offence. The Morning Star flag is a symbol of freedom and flying it is an act of acknowledgement and recognition of the hardship of the West Papuan people who have endured 55 years of human rights abuses and environmental destruction under Indonesian rule. Solidarity to all West Papuans fighting for freedom and independence.
13.01.2022 During a recent parliamentary debate, I had my very own Mike Pence moment with a large blowfly. The fly noisily circled me for another minute and even landed on my head before departing. You can read my full speech here:... https://www.timread.org.au/matters_of_public_importance_bud
13.01.2022 Today is World AIDS Day. And I have some good news, next year the Federal Government will subsidise HIV treatment for temporary residents in Australia (i.e. people who are ineligible for Medicare). I've spent 20 years struggling to obtain HIV drugs for people without Medicare, a dilemma familiar to others working in this field.... When I stopped working as a doctor, our clinic had well over 100 patients without Medicare cards receiving free medication via a number of clunky "compassionate access" schemes from pharmaceutical companies. Shortly after I started treating HIV patients, about 20 years ago, I met a woman from PNG who developed AIDS symptoms while visiting Australia for a conference. She was about to be sent home with a plastic bag of pills, which would keep her alive for a few weeks longer and that would be the end. I wrote to an Indian company manufacturing a three-drugs-in-one pill in defiance of patent laws, which would have cost $1000 a month here. They sent me six months of treatment for a couple of hundred dollars. I transferred her care to her doctor in PNG and continued the supply for a year or two until she was able to obtain a local supply. Due to international NGO efforts that little Indian company was now shipping by the container-load. But people remaining here without Medicare had less access to treatment than she did in PNG. Private cover usually excludes HIV treatments. We got patients who were changing treatments, to keep their unused pills and bring them in. Pharmacists and managers disapproved of the little plastic bags of pills lying around in filing cabinet drawers. It wasn't legal but it kept people alive. Sydney's Kirby Institute set up a supply scheme and used it as an observational study. In a way it was a free supply disguised as research. It was great, but soon it was full. Then the drug companies started compassionate supply. But it was the lobbying by the Kirby, the National Association of People with HIV Australia, and others in the community that did the trick. I also raised it in state parliament last year and with then Health Minister Mikakos earlier this year. And finally I can say thank-you Greg Hunt and everyone who pushed for this change.
11.01.2022 People deserve governments that are transparent and not influenced by big business. But we know secret meetings between local government councillors and property developers are happening across Victoria. Government should require, or at least encourage, municipalities across Victoria to establish a public register for meetings between local councillors or council staff and property developers or their representatives.
11.01.2022 Melbourne has turned out in force to mourn the losses endured by our First Nations over two centuries.
10.01.2022 Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.
09.01.2022 Children in solitary confinement; dodgy property developers; school rorts; police informants; red shirts... etc. all were exposed through Victoria's integrity agencies. Considering how effective they are It's unsurprising, but inexcusable, that the government will not resource them adequately.
04.01.2022 In this months newsletter, A budget worth waiting for The Big Housing build and why community housing isn’t public housing Why the Electric Vehicle Tax is terrible policy... Australian Institute for Infectious Disease fantastic, but it’s no CDC Upper House Voting Reforms Morelands New Councilors Speaking up for our native forests, wind farms and more See more
03.01.2022 "EV market supply to Australia is already being limited by a lack of supportive policies, and EV road taxes, without incentives, is likely to further exacerbate this major barrier to uptake" Sign the petition against the EV tax here: https://greens.org.au//ca/stop-labors-electric-vehicle-tax
