Victorian election 2022: Matthew Guy grilled over Liberal candidate Renee Heath
Upper House candidate Renee Heath has engaged lawyers to respond to “discriminatory treatment” after the Liberal Party said she would not sit in the party room if elected.
Victoria
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This article is the Herald Sun’s rolling election coverage. Read on for all the latest announcements and action from the campaign trail.
Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan has been slammed by an anti-defamation body for accusing opposition leader Matthew Guy of preferencing “Nazis” on the Liberals’ campaign ticket.
The state election campaign descended into slurs on the weekend, as Labor took aim at a string of Liberal and independent candidates over their controversial views and public statements.
One candidate, Liberal Upper House candidate Renee Heath hit back, on Sunday night issuing a statement saying she had engaged lawyers to respond to the “discriminatory treatment”.
“I have never attempted to impose my religious views on others in The Liberal Party,” she said.
It came after her alleged links to a network of ultra-conservative churches were revealed on Saturday, with Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan saying Mr Guy had “failed to act, to show leadership” in the face of extremism.
Mr Guy had earlier said Ms Heath would not be welcome in the Liberal party room, angering outgoing MP Tim Smith who accused him of stoking “cultural Marxism”.
“This is Andrew Thorburn on steroids,” Mr Smith tweeted.
Labor seized on the Liberal Party’s woes, and Ms Allan called a snap press conference on Sunday afternoon, saying: “Matthew Guy’s Liberal Party are preferencing Nazis, they’re preferencing extremists, they’re preferencing Catherine Cumming.”
Angry Victorians Party candidate Dr Cumming had on Saturday made a controversial speech beside controversial “freedom fighter” Harrison McLean at a rally in the city.
Victoria Police are investigating Dr Cumming’s comments, in which she said she wanted Premier Daniel Andrews to be turned into “red mist” – a term describing someone who has been shot.
Mr Andrews on Sunday said Victoria was “much better than violent extremism”.
“We ought to leave that to the United States ... And I for one, do nothing to contribute to the Americanisation of our politics,” he said.
Another Liberal candidate, Timothy Dragan, 26, came under fire after he was caught on tape at a polling booth saying he was “100 per cent” opposed to a treaty with First Nations people, arguing “we won this land fair and square”.
The candidate for Narre Warren North also said he would vote to ban abortion.
Mr Guy, who was announcing the Liberals’ plan to replace Services Victoria on Sunday, defended the candidate, saying he had apologised for the “silly comments”.
After Ms Allan dialled up Labor’s rhetoric, reporters asked her who she was accusing of being a Nazi, but she refused to elaborate, saying “you won’t see the Labor Party splitting hairs on the word Nazis”.
A short time later Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, called on Ms Allan to apologise, saying there was “no excuse for public figures to play the Nazi card”.
“When will our elected representatives understand that recklessly throwing such terms as ‘Nazis’ to beat down and demonise an opponent is simply unacceptable?” he said.
“I should not have to say this to the Deputy Premier, but no candidate in this election is a Nazi possessing Hitler’s genocidal objectives.”
Mr Andrews had on Saturday made a similar but broader accusation after Dr Cumming’s comments at the Saturday rally.
Mr Guy, meanwhile, was criticised on Sunday for selectively backing candidates with controversial religious views. Despite his support for Mr Dragan and for Upper House candidate Moira Deeming, who in 2020 called those behind Victoria’s Safe Schools program “paedophilia apologists”, Mr Guy stood by his decision to oust Ms Heath from the party room if she wins on Saturday.
Ms Heath, who was elected to the top position on the Liberal party’s ticket for Eastern Victoria region, was reported by Nine Newspapers to have received extensive training from a global network of ultra-conservative churches, the ISAAC Network, whose senior pastor equates abortion with the “spirit of murder”.
The Liberal candidate previously sought to separate herself from her parents, who are both pastors at City Builders Church, where Ms Heath was reportedly a lifelong member.
“I am not my father. To suggest that I am is offensive, as it belittles me,” she said this year.
Mr Guy, however, said there was no room for opinions like Ms Heath’s in the Victorian Liberal Party.
“I’ve made it very clear about where we stand on mainstream political issues and where we want the party and the state to be,” he said.
Kew MP Tim Smith blasted Mr Guy’s decision, comparing the move to the forced resignation of Essendon Football Club CEO Andrew Thorburn.
“I hadn’t wanted to comment on the election, but given Matthew Guy’s attempt to cancel Renee Heath I’ve changed. Guy has no power to do what he’s proposed,” he posted on Twitter on Sunday.
“This is Andrew Thorburn on steroids. This is cultural Marxism and whilst I’m a member of our Party I’ll call this crap out.”
Mr Guy labelled Mr Thorburn’s forced resignation over his connection to controversial church, City on a Hill, “ridiculous” at the time, arguing that the move set a bad precedent.
“What are we now banning people from going to church, banning people from going to a synagogue, banning people from going to a mosque? This is ridiculous,” he told 3AW last month.
Labor pledges $34m for live music sector
A freeze on late-night liquor licences in Melbourne’s inner city would be lifted by a re-elected Andrews government, which is also promising cash grants for musicians who play live gigs.
Premier Daniel Andrews visited a bar in Footscray on Saturday to announce a plan to spend $34m on the live music sector over the next term.
This would include grants of up to $1000 paid directly to musicians to encourage venues to hold more live events, as well as $20m for large-scale gigs through the state’s “Always Live” program.
Mr Andrews also promised to introduce new planning laws that would provide heritage-style protections of specific live music venues — meaning they could only be used for that purpose.
The freeze on late night liquor licences was introduced in 2008, and extended by the Andrews Government this term.
It stopped new licences being granted to venues wanting to serve alcohol after 1am, in Stonnington, Yarra, Melbourne and Port Phillip local government areas.
At the time, the government said the restriction was about maintaining “community safety” due to concerns about alcohol-related crime.
Mr Andrews and Creative Industries Minister Steve Dimopoulos said it was time to scrap the ban and allow venues to apply for new trading hours.
“There will be a close look, each different late-night liquor licence application that comes forward will be judged on its merits,” Mr Andrews said.
“We think the time has come to have more venues.”
When asked whether the live music pledge was aimed at enticing people back to venues after the pandemic, the premier said that while “our restaurants are full, our bars are full” there was more that could be done.
“We are the live music capital of our nation … we just have to further support our artists and crew, we have to support our venue operators, that’s what this package does,” he said.
“When the quality is so high, I am very confident that people are going to continue to come back, continue to flock to live music, because it’s such a big part of who we are.”
Mr Andrews said the heritage-style planning laws that would stop live music venues from being sold off for high rises was about protecting important sites for future generations.
He declined to say whether the government would provide financial support to venues if they were not turning a profit but were restricted by the new overlay.
“We don’t want to see iconic venues, where everyone has got such cherished memories, and the potential for such a fantastic future, we don’t want that compromised by people turning them into apartment blocks.”
Pledge to lower power costs at tennis clubs
Solar panels and LED light upgrades would be installed at hundreds of tennis clubs under a $20m Coalition pledge.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy on Saturday revealed at least 400 clubs with Tennis Victoria clubs would have access to packages to help lower electricity costs.
LED lights would help almost 5000 courts, with 1400 across the state already relying on other bulbs.
Grants to help install solar panels will also help clubs manage rising costs by lowering electricity bills.
“Taking real action to lower emissions often begins at local level,” Mr Guy said.
“Making it cheaper for grassroots sports clubs to access renewable energy options is part of our plan to deliver a 50 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030.
“Lights are a huge expense for clubs and it hinders when they can actually play.
“That’s a huge expense, which we’re going to take off them to make sure they can actually get under control.”
Liberal Nepean candidate and former tennis professional Sam Groth was with Mr Guy on the Mornington Peninsula to announce the grants.
He was joined by the party’s Hastings candidate Briony Hutton, with the Liberals hoping for strong results in both seats which are typically part of their heartland.
Mr Groth said Hastings tennis club, where they made the announcement, had bought the last halogen light of its kind in Australia for its court and they were currently in use.
“If one of those goes out they’re up for close to $100,000 to have those replaced.”
Cindy McLeish, the Opposition’s spokeswoman for sport, said more clubs would be able to host competitions.
“Tennis is often seen as a Saturday sport, but by delivering efficient, modern lighting, this opens up the possibility of practising and playing at night too,” she said.
Guy says Liberal candidate won’t sit in party room
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy says one of his new upper house candidates will not sit in the Liberal party room after further details about her controversial religious links.
Renee Heath is the daughter of Brian Heath, a pastor at the contentious City Builders Church, who have been linked to alarming gay conversion practices.
She is in a safe spot on the party’s ticket for Eastern Victoria, knocking out moderate Liberals during preselection.
New allegations appeared in Nine Newspapers about religious beliefs held by her and the church, in particular views about homosexuality.
When asked about Ms Heath, Mr Guy said she would not sit in the Liberal party room if elected.
He said it was too late for her to be disendorsed on their ticket.
Mr Guy has previously backed the candidate, but it’s understood the party believes she has misled them about her level of involvement in other controversial religious groups with extreme views on homosexuality and homosexuality.
This included her participation in sermons led by Jonathan David who leads a network of ultraconservative churches such as City Builders.
Text messages show him urging key figures in City Builders to be “agents of change” within the Liberal party, including the campaigning “beauty of wholesome families” and making remarks against gay couples.
Ambulance union boss stands by Dan
Ambulance union boss Danny Hill has stood by the Premier despite a health system in crisis and fatal emergency services failings.
Standing side-by-side with Daniel Andrews at a press conference on Friday, Hill instead claimed the Liberal Party was a “virus” and they can’t be trusted with Victoria’s health system.
Mr Hill slammed the Liberals for going to war with paramedics when last in power.
He blamed the current health crisis on the Covid-19 pandemic, claiming under the Liberal government they had no one else to blame.
“The Liberals back then were the virus, the Liberals back then were the factor,” he said.
“I don’t ever want them near my members again.
“You don’t ever want them near your health system again.”
Latest figures show just 66 per cent of critical code 1 jobs across Victoria are being attended within the 15-minute target, compared with 73 per cent when the Andrews government came to power.
Response times reached their best levels, 83.9 per cent, immediately before the pandemic.
“There was no pandemic in 2013 and 2014,” Mr Hill said.
“We just had them, we just had the Liberals.
“We had a huge under investment in the major growth areas in the outskirts of Melbourne.”
Shadow health Minister Georgie Crozier described Mr Hill’s comments as an “extraordinary outburst”
“What very divisive comments that are an insult to every Victorian,” Ms Crozier said.
“And particularly insulting to those family members of people who have died because of failures in triple-0.
“Danny Hill should apologise.”
The comments came as the Premier announced a $16m package to boost the number of MICA paramedics by 40 by 2024.
According to Ambulance Victoria’s latest annual report, the number of full time MICA paramedics fell from 611 to 594 between 2019 and 2021.
“We’ve listened to our paramedics, who have told us we need to work in partnership with them to deliver nuanced and targeted approaches to patient care – and we’re doing exactly that,” Mr Andrews said.
A re-elected Labor government would also contribute $10m towards the country’s first Centre for Paramedicine, and establish a review into procurement arrangements for patient transport ambulances.
The review will be conducted by Melton MP and former paramedic Steve McGhie whether or not he is re-elected next week.
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