Melissa Horne

The Carroll Labor government announced the strongest safeguards in the country.

New data centres will have to source their own renewable energy and storage, rather than relying entirely on the grid the rest of us depend on.

They will be banned from using drinking water for cooling and will be required to use recycled or non-drinking water instead.

A minimum 150-metre buffer will be required between new data centres and homes.

Developers will have to contribute to a local investment fund for community infrastructure like TAFEs and parks, and to train local workers.

Further planning rules, including stronger community consultation, are still being developed. The Carroll Labor Government backs people over big developers. I will keep pushing for the safeguards to be as strong as they can be, and for them to be properly enforced.

Our public transport network has improved significantly across the years, but I know there is always more work to do.

We have increased services on the Werribee line, with trains running every 10 minutes during peak hours from Newport Station through to Flinders Station, to Richmond, South Yarra and Sandringham.

We upgraded North Williamstown train station, and we have made our network safer by removing level crossing removals across the electorate.

We are removing the Hudsons Road level crossing and building a 513-meter rail bridge. This is in addition to a brand-new elevated Spotswood Station, with completion scheduled for 2028.

I have continued to speak with community members about the bus network for feedback on improvements. Most recently I have been speaking to Altona North residents and asking what changes they would like to see that would help their daily commutes.

Additionally, our community has raised much interest in reinstating Paisley Station. I have been working closely with the community and in August we tabled the petition in Parliament. Now, with the backing of the Premier we will proceed with a transport study and planning to reinstate the station if re-elected.

Air quality in the inner west is something I’ve worked on through my time as local member.

One of the biggest sources of pollution in our suburbs has always been trucks on residential streets. With the West Gate Tunnel now open, no-truck zones are in force on Francis Street, Blackshaws Road and Hudsons Road.

These are enforced by roadside cameras that check every heavy vehicle’s exemption status, with fines issued automatically. The revenue from those fines will be invested directly into the community through the Better Freight Outcomes Fund.

Deliveries to local homes and businesses continue, but through-traffic to and from the port no longer drive down our streets.

This was the result of decades of community campaigning and I’m proud it’s been delivered.

On the proposed data centre at Simcock Avenue in Spotswood. I share residents’ concerns about backup generators and fuel storage close to homes and a kindergarten, and I’m putting those concerns to the Planning Minister.

The longer-term answer is the shift away from burning fuel altogether. In 2025, 44.6 per cent of Victoria’s electricity came from renewable sources, with the lowest wholesale prices in the country.

New homes requiring a planning permit have been all-electric since January 2024, and the publicly owned SEC now supplies renewable electricity to every government school, hospital and train.

Each of these reduces what ends up in the air, and in an electorate with a port, a refinery and a freeway, that matters here more than most places.

I’ve lived in the inner west for twenty-five years and watched Williamstown go from a suburb where a nurse or a tradie could buy a home to one where their kids can’t rent one.

Here’s what’s been done. 65 new social and affordable homes were approved last month at Power Street in Williamstown, next to North Williamstown station. The development is to be delivered by Housing Choices Australia with federal Housing Australia Future Fund money. They’re one- and two-bedroom homes, which is what people on lower incomes in this suburb actually need.

Across the state, the Housing Statement sets a target of 800,000 new homes over the decade, built near trains, trams and services rather than pushed to the fringe, and stamp duty has been cut on off-the-plan apartments and townhouses, with a $10,000 grant for first home buyers building or buying new.

On renting, which is how a large share of Williamstown lives, the reforms that started in November 2025 are the biggest in a generation. Now, you can’t be asked to leave without a valid reason. Rental bidding is banned, so the advertised rent is the rent. Rent increases need 90 days’ notice. Properties must meet minimum standards before they can even be advertised. Since July, your bond can move with you to the next property instead of being tied up for months.

I had the Consumer Affairs portfolio when this work started, and the industry opposed every one of these changes. But we delivered them.

On homelessness, the government announced in September a plan to end rough sleeping, with assertive outreach workers in every area of the state and ten new outreach services, including Brimbank and Maribyrnong on our doorstep. It expands Housing First tenancy support for another 1,000 people at risk of homelessness.

More than 1,200 households have already been housed through Housing First responses, and the evidence is clear that getting someone into a home first, then wrapping support around them, works better than the other way round.

There is more to do, and I will keep advocating for Williamstown.

I support a woman’s right to choose.

Abortion is health care, the decision belongs to the woman and her doctor, and I will oppose any attempt to wind back access in Victoria.

Victoria decriminalised abortion in 2008 and introduced safe access zones around clinics in 2015, so that women can walk into a health service without being harassed. There are now 20 women’s sexual and reproductive health hubs across Victoria. In the last financial year more than 12,500 women used them, including over 1,700 who accessed abortion care.

The Virtual Women’s Health Clinic provides abortion care, contraception and sexual health care by phone and video, which matters for women who can’t easily get to a clinic or don’t want to be seen walking into one.

The 1800 My Options line has taken more than 50,000 calls since 2018, connecting women with abortion providers and advice.

We also announced on 15 th October that $30 million will be invested for free abortions and to remove women’s ‘postcode lottery’ of care. Those needing to travel to get access to it will have their expenses reimbursed.

Only Labor will protect a woman’s right to choose. Abortion care is healthcare and Labor will make it free.

One Nation’s stated platform is to reduce the gestational limit for abortion, require mandatory counselling for women considering one, and expand doctors’ rights to refuse. Those are policies to make abortion harder to get, and they are on the table from a party the Liberals may need to form government.

The most recent Crime Statistics Agency figures, for the year to June 2026, shows it has started to turn: recorded offences fell by about 13,000, the offence rate fell by almost 4 per cent, and offending by 10- to 17-year-olds fell by 8.1 per cent.

Victoria Police still describe the overall level as unacceptably high, and I agree with them. But the direction has changed, and it changed because of decisions this government made.

On consequences, Adult Time for Violent Crime became law in December 2025. Anyone 14 or over who commits a home invasion, carjacking, armed robbery or a machete attack is now dealt with in the County Court and faces adult sentences, with life available for aggravated home invasion and aggravated carjacking.

Victoria was the first state to ban machetes, from 1 September 2025, with up to two years’ jail for carrying one.

Police have expanded stop and search powers, and bail has been tightened so that it’s much harder for serious repeat offenders be granted bail.

Consequences on their own don’t stop the next kid from offending, so the second part is early intervention.

The Violence Reduction Unit, based on the model that cut violent crime in Scotland and London, is now a permanent part of our justice system with $30 million in this year’s budget. Blue Light Victoria’s youth mentoring program is running in Brimbank and Melton and expanding. The point is to find the young people drifting toward serious offending and pull them back before they get there.

The third part is police. The Labor Government has committed to recruiting 1,500 extra frontline police and establishing a second police academy in Wyndham, so recruits for the west train in the west. So, my answer is three things together: serious consequences for serious violence, early intervention so fewer young people get there, and enough police, properly located, to do the job.