Brunswick Labor.net

Speech to Parliament, Wednesday April 9th...

Mr CARLI (Brunswick) -- I wish to congratulate the City of Moreland for staging on Sunday, 13 April, the second Cyclovia event. Cyclovia was first staged in Moreland in 2006, and it involves closing Sydney Road to cars for 4 hours between the hours of 10.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m. Basically it allows locals to walk, cycle, push the pram, rollerblade or take whatever other means of active transport they choose. It is really a celebration of reclaiming the streets, promoting health and promoting active forms of transport.


The movement has become worldwide. It started 30 years ago in Colombia, and it has now spread to countries like France, Italy and beyond, and obviously it has arrived in Moreland. It is a local event which tries to emphasise the importance to people's health of being active in their choice of transport, and which celebrates modes of transport other than the motor vehicle. It is an event which is designed not to totally close off Moreland from traffic, and obviously there are other roads that are made available for cars, but it certainly allows Sydney Road to be a great celebration point.


Moreland is the centre of the renaissance of cycling. My electorate of Brunswick has the highest proportion of people commuting to work in Melbourne. Many people now travel using bicycles.

More than 90 bills were considered in Parliament this year and 74 bills were passed, as the Victorian Government got to work on implementing its election promises and continued to set the agenda for the future on important issues like the environment.

Parliament has passed a number of key bills in 2007, ensuring that Victoria continued to lead Australia in a number of areas. These include:

• The Victorian Energy Efficiency Bill, which will introduce energy efficiency targets for energy retailers to meet and will provide incentives for homeowners to save energy;
• The Infertility Treatment Bill – keeping Victoria at the forefront of medical research by allowing scientists to carry out stem cell research and to continue to pioneer new medical treatments for diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s;
  
• Increasing the assistance for Victims of crime and increasing sentences for a number of offences, including possessing a prohibited or controlled weapon;
  
• Strengthening the laws on DNA and enabling use of a national database;
  

Mr CARLI (Brunswick) -- Brunswick Secondary College had some fantastic successes at the grand final of the 2007 Rock Eisteddfod Challenge. It was an enormous success by Brunswick Secondary College. I know of the Acting Speaker's long association and that of his family with Brunswick Secondary College. This is very good news. This school had terrific success in a competition with metropolitan, regional and independent schools and students from all over the state. It is in fact the largest youth performing art program in Australia, and Brunswick did extremely well. It won awards for choreography, for stage use, for performance skills, for concept, for drama, for design and function, and for visual enhancement, lighting and design, and it won the Rock Eisteddfod Challenge entertainment award. It was an enormous success.

I congratulate Catherine Weatherhead and all the team and all the students on this fantastic result. It is much appreciated by the school community at Brunswick Secondary College and, I must say, by the local community. It was a terrific night and a terrific event. We are already looking forward to the Rock Eisteddfod for 2008 and further success for Brunswick Secondary College.

Last week Moreland City Council launched the Coburg Initiative, a $1 billion plan for the urban renewal of central Coburg. Feedback from this has been almost universally positive and Coburg residents in particular have shown themselves ready to engage and get involved in making their suburb a better place to live.

Below the fold is a speech given to Parliament on the 31st of October regarding this project.

The Melbourne and Olympic Parks Amendment Bill is being debated in Parliament. The Bill makes some changes to facilitate the construction of Melbourne's Rectangular Stadium next to the current Olympic Park and will be used by Football and Rugby.

Mr CARLI (Brunswick) -- Tomorrow, 9 August, the International Transport Workers Federation and the International Trade Union Confederation have called an international day of action over the arrest and detention of two Iranian trade union leaders.
I too want to voice my concern and protest at the imprisonment of two trade union leaders in Iran.

Mansour Osanloo, president of the Tehran bus workers union, has been arrested three times over the past year and a half, and he continues to be in detention. He was arrested while travelling on a bus on 10 July. He has been charged with conspiracy against national security.
Also Mahmoud Salehi, a founding member of the Saqez Bakery Workers Association and the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers Organisations, has been arrested and is being detained. He has major health issues, and it seems his health is dramatically deteriorating as a result of inadequate health care.

There is an international movement to seek the release of these two trade union workers and to ensure that the rights of trade unionists and the right to organise in Iran are protected. This involves numerous activities around the world, particularly putting pressure on Iranian authorities

On Thursday 12 July Carlo Carli spoke to an Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission Forum on the Charter of Human Rights & Responsabilities.

Below the fold is his speech on the role of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee in scrutiny of legislation and of our human rights.

In periods of adversity communities pull together, and that is exactly what has been happening in Moreland amongst the 12 soccer clubs in the area. Those clubs have now established the Moreland football forum. Over the summer only four soccer pitches were being watered, and basically a number of clubs did not have any facilities, any grounds or any training areas. The teams and the clubs came together and started to share grounds and support each other in a period of adversity. They are also providing a unified voice to deal with the council to ensure that there is a contingency plan for watering next season that will sustain the various clubs.

The clubs are numerous. There are 12 clubs in the Moreland area.

I did a little estimate and found that there are 149 teams, with something around 2500 players; the vast majority are juniors; women and girls are the fastest growing component, which is growing at an exponential rate; and there is also all the growth that followed the World Cup and the success of the Socceroos.

The 12 clubs have set aside their sporting rivalries to work together in a common cause. They are working together in a time of adversity to ensure the viability and sustainability of world football in the Moreland area. I congratulate all 12 clubs for their willingness to work together.

 
The credibility of the Greens Party in Victoria is in tatters after its Upper House members voted down an important anti-nuclear law.

The Greens joined the Liberal, National and DLP members to vote against the Bracks Government’s Nuclear Plebiscite Bill.

The Bill would give Victorians a chance to express their views, through a referendum, on any move by the Howard Government to allow a nuclear power plant in Victoria.

In the recent State Election campaign the Bracks Labor Government rejected Howard's vision of a Nuclear Australia.

To help protect Victorians from the Howard Government imposing nuclear power on Victoria, the Bracks Labor Government has put forward amendments to the current law that outlaws nuclear activities in Victoria. In the future an amendment to permit nuclear power stations will require a plebiscite of the Victorian people before it is successful.

Below the fold is Carlo's speech on the issue.

The Bracks Government has been elected for a historic third term and I have been elected for my fifth representing first Coburg and now Brunswick.

In Tuesday Parliament resumes to continue the work of Labor - reforming Victoria so that we can have a better education, better healthcare, a clean environment, secure water supplies and reductions in greenhouse emissions.

It has also been preceded by the exciting news that the Charter of Human Rights & Responsabilities will be proclaimed on New Years Day - 1 January 2007. A better holiday gift no government could give the community.

Carlo Carli was elected to the Victorian Parliament in May 1994 for the State seat of Coburg, which in 2002 became Brunswick. Carlo is a member of the Legislative Assembly in the Parliament of Victoria. In Parliament Carlo is Chairperson of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee. In the previous term of the Bracks Government Carlo was working with Peter Batchelor, then Minister for Transport, as Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure.

Carlo has an extensive background in policy development for planning issues (see below).


Carlo has a longstanding interest in public transport and urban planning, and continues to be active in promoting sustainable transport policies. In his current role as Chairperson of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee, he is keen to be part of the implementation of Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsabilities.


Contact Details

NAME Carlo Domenico Carli

eMAIL carlo.carli@parliament.vic.gov.au

TEL (03) 9384 1241

FAX (03) 9384 0481

ADDRESS 47 Sydney Road, Coburg


Curriculum Vitae

Date of birth: 6th April 1960

Place of Birth: Australia

Qualifications:
Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Melbourne University

Diploma in Italian Language, University of Siena (Italy)

Masters in Urban Planning, Melbourne University

Language Skills:
Fluent in Italian, English, Spanish and Veneto.




Carlo and his partner Siobhan Hannan have 3 children: Annalivia (, Gabriel (6) and Aoife (3).


Background notes


Carlo was born in Melbourne in 1960.
His parents came to Australia from Italy after WWII. They come from Vicenza, in the old Venetian republic.


The family followed the typical path of living first in Carlton and later in Coburg, working double shifts in factories, and pinning their hopes on a better life for their kids.
Carlo worked alongside his father at General Motors, during his student years, and developed a lifelong passion for cars - but not, like most lads, for cars and engines, so much as for the car industry and productions methods.
He is very knowledgeable about manufacturing industry, fordist and post-fordist production, and other related matters.


This makes him ideally suited to represent the northern suburbs seat of Brunswick, which is a historic centre of Victoria and indeed Australia's manufacturing industry, which has ridden the highs and lows of manufacturing fortunes over the years.


After matriculating at Newlands High School, Carlo went on to study politics and languages at Melbourne University - where he found himself very much in the minority as a product of a state school, and a working class suburb and family.
As well as developing his already keen interest in politics, Carlo used his university years to convert his knowledge of Venetian dialect to standard Italian, and to learn Spanish.


His daily life has now become very polyglot, with the addition of Greek speaking relations by marriage to the already bilingual family. And of course, the Brunswick/Coburg area is one of the most multicultural in Melbourne, with large Italian, Greek, Arabic, Chinese and Turkish communities, as well as representatives of about 80 different language groups.


Carlo has more recently taken up a long standing interest in urban planning. He has completed a Masters thesis for the Melbourne Uni MUP on the medium density housing boom.


Carlo has been a very active member of the ALP for some 20 years, in the Brunswick area, and has been a community activist in many areas.
His work background includes the trade union movement, local, State and Federal government, including a stint as Ministerial Adviser in Housing in the twilight months of the Kirner government.

Today I announced a $35,000 Bracks Government project would skill up local clothing outworkers to become qualified pattern makers.

The project will help at least 10 outworkers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to upgrade their skills, which would in turn help meet a shortage of pattern makers in Victoria.

Last night I called upon Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs, Jacinta Allan to improve training opportunities for textile workers - and more particularly outworkers - in Parliament's adjournment debate.

In 2003 the Bracks Government passed the Outworkers (Improved Protection Act) which increases the entitlements of outworkers and provides a simple low-cost process to recover money owing. The Act also gives outworkers more rights such as:
- Long Service Leave
- Paid Public Holidays
- Occupational Health and Safety

The speech is over the fold.