Mr FINN (Western Metropolitan) -- I have spoken before in this house about the roar that is coming from Melbourne's west. We heard a little of that roar on Saturday, 13 February, when the people of the western suburbs started to vent their anger on a government that has treated them so badly. With close to a 13 per cent swing against the Brumby government on what Labor so arrogantly calls its own turf; it was a message from the people of Altona that they have run out of patience. They were speaking on behalf of all the people of the western suburbs, because the people of the west have had enough. We are sick of being ignored. We are sick of being neglected. We are sick of the blow-ins from out of town that are dumped on us by the Labor Party. The people of the west are now turning on Labor in the way that Labor long ago turned on them.

My congratulations go to Mark Rose, who was an outstanding candidate and would have made a great member of Parliament, but he did not quite get there on this occasion; Andrew Elsbury, who was instrumental in putting the campaign together, and all the Liberals of the western suburbs who should be very proud of the outstanding campaign in the lead-up to the Altona by-election. If it were not for Labor's best friends, the Greens, Mark Rose would now be a member of Parliament. That is a sad fact for the people of the western suburbs. I assure them to hang in there, because I know the best is yet to come.