Mr FINN (Western Metropolitan) -- I listened to the comments of my friend and colleague Mr Atkinson with considerable interest, because I have similar concerns about the Minister for Planning. If there is any particular instance that indicates just how much this government has lost touch with the community, if there is one instance which indicates how much this government just refuses to listen to people, it is a development in my region at the Sunshine RSL. The Sunshine RSL is developing a social housing project, a halfway house to a degree, a place for women in distress and in need, and such a place is needed; I have absolutely no doubt about that at all, but not attached to a licensed premises. The last thing that a lot of these women need is to be stuck next to the pokies and a pub, in effect a pub. That is not what they need.

Many people in the Sunshine community have raised these concerns. They have certainly raised them with me, and as members of this house are aware I have raised them in here, in the hope that the Minister for Planning might listen. Many phone calls have been made to the Minister for Planning, many letters have been written to the Minister for Planning, many attempts have been made to meet with the Minister for Planning on this issue. How many has he responded to?

Mr Dalla-Riva -- How many?

Mr FINN -- Zilch! None; not one did he respond to. Such is the arrogance of Justin Madden, the Minister for Planning in this state. He takes himself far too seriously and unfortunately does not take his portfolio responsibilities seriously enough. That is the simple fact of the matter. It is a joke that the Premier of this state would appoint him Minister for the Respect Agenda.

If the Premier really wanted the community to take this whole respect portfolio seriously, the last person he would appoint as minister is Justin Madden. He has got no respect for anyone, and he shows it on a daily basis. Go to any suburb in Melbourne, go to any country area and they will tell you the same thing. They cannot get any sense out of Justin Madden, they do not understand how his mind works, they cannot even talk to the man. That is our planning minister in 2010, and he is the man who is telling us all that we have to respect each other. A bit of leading by example would not go astray I would suggest.

All Justin Madden is interested in is keeping his job. He does not care about his planning portfolio; he does not care about his responsibilities. He does not care about communities; he has not got the first interest in communities. He is just interested in keeping his job. Like so many in this Labor government, he does not care about the people who put him there.

I have to say as a fellow member representing Western Metropolitan Region that in the almost three and a half years that I have represented the region in this place I have been to many functions in the electorate -- community functions, ethnic functions, you name it; I have been to every dogfight that is going. I have never seen Justin Madden at one, not at one.

Mr Barber -- You should carry a camera with you. It would be like the Loch Ness monster!

Mr FINN -- Let me tell you, Mr Barber, you would have a far greater chance of getting a shot of the Loch Ness monster than you would of Justin Madden in his electorate; that is the truth of the matter. In almost three and a half years I have yet to see him once in his

electorate. I am sorry; that may be a small error in that I did see him one night. When I was walking into a function I saw him driving home. That is the only time I have seen him in the electorate in almost three and a half years. He is not just a minister who does not care about his portfolio and does not take his responsibilities seriously; he does not give a damn about his electorate or the people who live in it, and he is the minister for respect. This is the Labor Party's definition of respect.

That tells us all. That tells us all about this government, where this government is leading us and where this government is going. It just does not care. In 2010 in Victoria Labor does not care.

Members would be much aware that I have spoken at some length -- --

Mr Jennings -- And often.

Mr FINN -- And often as well, Minister, on the subject of policing and law and order, particularly in the western suburbs. It is understandable. I am sure Mr Eideh will agree with me that we have a real policing problem, a policing crisis in fact, in the western suburbs.

Honourable members interjecting.

Mr FINN -- They are putting more on? Who is a moron?

We have a real policing crisis in the western suburbs. Long-suffering western suburbs residents have to put up with an enormous lack of police. The Police Association is telling us that in some stations we are down by 60 or more police. That is an intolerable situation. We are aware, for example, that in Werribee the shortage has been going on for a decade.

For the 10 years that the Labor Party has been in government in this state the police shortage has been a matter of fact in Werribee. Has the government done anything about it? No. Does the government care about it? You would have to say no. However, the government is, as we speak, building a police station at Tarneit, one of the newly developed areas just outside of Werribee. They are building a new police station in Tarneit just in time to open before the state election. Is that not a coincidence?

While this new police station might be fine and dandy to look at and it will be a sensational opening -- I am sure there will be scones and cups of tea, and perhaps there will be some McDonald's cordial -- which will be on the front page of the newspaper the next week just in time for the election, there is one problem: there will not be enough police to man the station. This great building in Tarneit will house only a 16-hour police station.

Perhaps police should letterbox the general area advising the local crooks to commit crimes only between about 7 o'clock and 11 o'clock, when the police station is open. It is ludicrous, it is ridiculous but it is so typical of what we have come to expect from this government. Again it shows, as it always does, that the government just does not care.

I suggest that members go to Sunshine. If you can get through the door of the Sunshine police station, good luck to you. It is horrific that police have to put up with the conditions they are faced with every day at Sunshine. They are so undermanned, overworked and stressed that there is no way they can possibly keep up with the demands of the crime wave that is increasingly hitting Sunshine and surrounding areas. Sunshine -- the Brimbank area generally, but Sunshine in particular -- is suffering enormously as a result of this government's refusal to accept that the people of the area need proper policing. The government again shows that Labor just does not care.

Footscray needed some new police, so the government closed the Williamstown police station overnight and put the police in Footscray. Of course the people of Williamstown do not need policing overnight; they do not get robbed or bashed! Too right they do, and at a far higher level now that they have no police at night.

When Labor ministers come in here saying that the government has put so many extra police on, that they are on the ground and are doing a marvellous job, members should not believe them. We have a real policing crisis and a real crime crisis in this state, and it is a direct result of the fact that when it comes to law and order -- particularly in the western suburbs, but it has to be said right throughout the state of Victoria -- this Labor government just does not care.

A good indication of how little it cares and how it refuses to listen is the fact that Bob Cameron is still the Minister for Police and Emergency Services. Has there ever been a more incompetent police minister anywhere in Australia in the history of this nation than the bloke we have now?

Mr P. Davis -- Possibly, but I do not know who it was.

Mr FINN -- Mr Davis, if you can name him, I will buy you a slab, because Bob Cameron has to be the most pathetic, insipid police minister that the state has ever seen -- --

Mr P. Davis -- I know -- Andre Haermeyer!

Mr FINN -- No, Andre Haermeyer was an absolute champion compared -- --

Mr Atkinson -- I saw him last week. He sent his regards.

Mr FINN -- I am sure he is enjoying life. I have no doubt of that. Andre Haermeyer was a champion of the people compared to the dill we have now. People are constantly telling the Premier, 'Get rid of him. He is no good, he does not know what he is doing and he cannot string more than two words together'.

I remember about a month ago just after the Liberal Party had announced that it would remove suspended sentencing if elected in November the government rolled out Bob Cameron to refute our argument on 3AW. He botched it so badly that within the hour the Premier was on the same radio program saying the same things, except he was saying them a lot better.

Here we have a police minister who does not have a clue about what he is doing, who is continuing the destruction of policing in the state and who does not seem to have any interest in law and order or in protecting the general community -- --

Mr Atkinson -- He is a good media performer!

Mr FINN -- And his media skills are zilch. I have seen monkeys at Taronga Zoo who could perform better on television than Bob Cameron does. However, the minister stays despite the calls by many from one end of Victoria to the other. So many are calling on the Premier to get rid of this bloke, but he is still there. For the life of me I cannot work it out, I have to say. It just goes to show once again that John Brumby is not listening. Quite frankly, he does not care.

I have spoken out strongly on the issue of gangs, particularly in the western suburbs. I first raised my concern about gangs in the western suburbs about two and half years ago. I was told by the Premier, the police minister and the Chief Commissioner of Police, 'There are no gangs in the western suburbs'. That is what they said. Clearly none of them had ever been to the western suburbs, because I have seen the gangs there. All you have to do is drive through certain suburbs and briefly pause on a street corner, and the gangs will gather around you. They are like flies, and they will be attracted to you.

Ms Hartland interjected.

Mr FINN -- You come with me!

Ms Hartland -- I have been there for 25 years.

Mr FINN -- Come down to the Sunshine station, Ms Hartland. It is a bit after 9 o'clock now and it is dark. All the gangs will be down there now. I have seen them. It is a dangerous place to be. However, when I raised this issue the government did not want to know. It was not interested.

Ms Hartland interjected.

Mr FINN -- I have this magpie sitting on the fence over there -- I wish somebody would shoot it down!

On the issue of knives, I recall raising this issue years ago, and I raised it again when I returned to this Parliament. The issue of knives is a very real one. I know Les Twentyman has been raising it for a long time. I remember him telling me a decade ago that this grave concern about knives really had to be addressed.

The government was told time and again that knives were becoming a real danger not just in the western suburbs but right throughout Melbourne. It has been told for a decade that knives and gang culture were a major concern. What did the Labor government do? It did absolutely nothing until it saw the chance for a photo opportunity the other day. Then it decided to do something. Again the government shows that it will not listen, and Labor just does not care; it could not care less.

I remember many years ago when I was working at a radio station that has now gone -- the late, lamented 3DB.

Mr Dalla-Riva -- You are going back a long way.

Mr FINN -- It is going way back, Mr Dalla-Riva. There was a jingle.

I will not sing it for the benefit of the members, but the wording was, 'West Gateway to tomorrow, the West Gate Bridge will be a symbol of our city for all the world to see'. That was about 25 years or maybe even 30 or more years ago. How prophetic was that? Yes, the West Gate Bridge and the West Gate Freeway have become symbols of our city for all the world to see, because you will see the same congestion on the Tulla, the Monash Freeway and the Eastern Freeway as you see on the West Gate. Wherever people try to get into the city, you will see traffic jams. You will see these car parks gathered for miles and miles. What has the government done about this?

Mr Vogels -- A congestion tax.

Mr FINN -- It has not even got to that point, Mr Vogels; it has done absolutely nothing. I often wonder how many hours -- --

Mr Atkinson interjected.

Mr FINN -- No, let us not talk about that. The government has done absolutely nothing about this. Over the past decade the congestion on Melbourne's roads has got to the point where it is obscene. You have to wonder just how many man-hours are wasted every day by people sitting in traffic jams. You see car after car -- every car obviously has at least one person in it -- and you have to wonder. If you were to add all those up, how many hours are wasted by people stuck in traffic jams, trying to get into town? What does the Labor Party do about this? The Labor Party continues to do nothing. Why does the Labor Party continue to do nothing? It is because John Brumby and the Labor Party do not care. Labor just does not care. It is another example of the way it refuses to listen and it refuses to care.

Public transport is no better.

I have to ask the question: who was Labor listening to when it came up with the idea of myki? It must have been a late-night session -- that is all I can say. At the last count $1.35 billion has been spent, and we still have not got a ticketing system. I cannot walk out of this Parliament tonight, walk across the road to the tram stop, get on a tram and travel down Bourke Street using myki. After $1.35 billion has been wasted by this government, I cannot get a tram ticket down Bourke Street.

How much is it going to cost before we have a system that actually works? It is a total mystery to me, because I can go to Sydney, I can go to Brisbane, I can go to Perth, I am told that I can go to London, I can go to all sorts of places around the world and I can buy a ticket and I can use public transport. But I cannot do it in Melbourne. This new public transport myki ticketing system is going to come in as one of the greatest white elephants that this country, if not the world, has ever seen. What an extraordinary effort!

As I asked the other night: when will this government draw a line in the sand? When will it stop throwing good money after bad on this and realise that it is a total, unmitigated waste of money. Will we get to $2 billion? Will we get to $3 billion, maybe $4 billion? We have heard of Sale of the Century; this could be the auction of the century, as far as this government is concerned. But again, it is only taxpayers money. It is only funded by the people who go out and work every day and pay their taxes. John Brumby does not care. Why would he? It is not his money. That is what socialists like doing -- they love spending other people's money -- and he is a classic example of that.

I have to wonder, coming up to November of this year, if John Brumby will be starting to listen just a little bit more. Last Saturday week the people of Altona spoke for the people of the western suburbs when they sent a very loud and clear message to John Brumby that they are sick to death of being neglected.

They are sick to death of being used and abused by the Labor Party in the way they have been for decades. I was staggered to wake up on the morning after the election to see John Brumby on the television and to read John Brumby in the newspapers telling everybody what a great result it was. It was nearly a 13 per cent swing against Labor. Labor held a seat that had a little over 20 per cent margin. That seat now is held by a margin of a little over 7 per cent. If that is a great result, I am member of the Collingwood cheer squad -- and I can assure members I am not and never would be.

Could this Premier be any more out of touch with what is happening in our community than to look at a 13 per cent swing in a by-election and crow about what a great result it is for the Labor Party?

Mr P. Davis -- Wasn't he talking about the Liberal Party?

Mr FINN -- A great result for the Liberal Party; no two ways about that at all. It is interesting because the comments on by-election night by the Premier pretty much backed up what I had heard time and again as I went around doorknocking in Altona in the lead-up to that by-election. As I knocked on doors and pounded the footpaths campaigning for Mark Rose, an outstanding candidate, it has to be said, people were telling me, 'We don't like Brumby'. Some of them were telling me in harsher terms than that. They were saying, 'We don't like Brumby. He is arrogant, he is out of touch and he has to go'.

There were a lot of lifelong Labor voters in the Altona electorate who broke the habit of a lifetime -- and it is a very bad habit to vote Labor every time you go to a polling booth -- and voted Liberal. For them to do that, as they did in such large numbers, things have got to be crook, and people know things are crook. They know things are crook in the western suburbs, and they know things are crook right throughout the state of Victoria. But who does not know?

Mr Brumby does not know things are crook. And why does he not know? Because he is not listening. He refuses to listen because he is too arrogant. In the old days some would have said in a crass way he could be regarded as being up himself. That is what some people would say. I would never use those terms, but that is a term that people openly use about our Premier.

We have got to the stage now that Victorians are suffering and Victoria is suffering across the board on a whole range of issues, and the Altona by-election is indicative of what is coming the way of this government on 27 November this year. I stand up in this Parliament tonight and say to Mr Brumby and this Labor government: listen, listen well or get out.