Ms GILLARD (10:40 PM) —Tonight is the first parliamentary opportunity I have had to mark in this place the first anniversary of my community's victory over the Kennett government inspired plan to put a toxic dump in Werribee. In my first speech in this place I made the following statement:

As part of Melbourne's industrial west, the people of Lalor have always had to try harder. There is a sense of community and a fighting spirit often missing from the sleeker suburbs. That fighting spirit is now being called upon in a major community campaign to stop CSR turning the local quarry at Werribee into a toxic dump. There are only two reasons why Werribee has been selected as the site for this toxic dump: CSR wants to make money by filling its disused quarry with toxic waste and the Kennett government thinks Werribee is no more than a dumping ground because Melbourne's sewage farm is located there. But Premier Kennett and CSR are wrong.

When the Victorian Premier turns to the west, he holds his nose and closes his eyes. If he opened his eyes, he would have seen the 15,000 Werribee residents who rallied to stop the dump. And by now he should be smelling the scent of a political defeat because this is a fight that Lalor, named for that great fighter against injustice Peter Lalor, will win.

Just two days after I gave that speech, on 13 November 1998, CSR and the Wyndham City Council settled Supreme Court litigation between them on the basis that CSR would not further proceed with building the toxic dump. My community has recently celebrated the first anniversary of that decision. How sweet a celebration it was when by the date of the first anniversary the architect of the plan to put toxic waste in Werribee, Jeff Kennett, had been dumped himself—dumped by Victorian people weary of his arrogance and neglect of basic issues like jobs, health and education.

I would like to record my specific congratulations to the heroes of the toxic dump fight, including Joanne Ryan and Harry Van Moorst, who led the community group known as WRATD, Werribee Residents Against the Toxic Dump.

Government members interjecting—

Ms GILLARD —I hear the interjections from the other side. It is most unusual these days to find a member of the Victorian Liberal Party who will defend Jeff Kennett, but apparently some are still rattling around. I would also like to pass on my congratula tions to the Wyndham City Council, which played a critical role in the campaign, and to our very courageous Werribee South farmers, led by Julian Menegazzo, who risked everything to ensure that the toxic dump did not come to Werribee.

Tonight I not only want to offer congratulations but also would like to speak briefly about the legacy of the toxic dump campaign. In the Werribee community it has left behind revitalised community structures and a feeling of belonging. It has created new community leaders and inculcated an active version of citizenship. This local example has convinced me that local communities, properly resourced and with a sense of involvement and empowerment, can be incredibly creative in working together to find solutions to even the most difficult of community problems.

One such problem, indeed crisis, in my community is unemployment. While this government is keen to trumpet the national unemployment figures, the national figures disguise communities like mine which remain in crisis. In my electorate the unemployment rate remains at more than 30 per cent above the national average—that is, in the most recently released ABS figures for unemployment by region, my community recorded in October 1999 an unemployment rate of 9.4 per cent—the worst regional result in Victoria.

In the last 12 months, despite national economic growth, the unemployment rate in my area has increased. Beneath these disturbing regional statistics lie stories of even more acute disadvantage. The teenage full-time unemployment rate in my community in October 1999 was 28.6 per cent. In the suburb of Sunshine, the rate for October 1999 was 14.9 per cent, and that rate increased by 1.8 per cent over the last 12 months.

If we are to address the problems faced by communities like mine which are not sharing the benefits of economic growth, we need more than victim blaming, job snob calls and punitive social policies dressed up as mutual obligation. It is time to think more creatively and to extend the concept of mutual or reciprocal obligation so that it encompasses government and communities working to gether to address local problems. I know my community has the capacity, given resources and given respect, to work in partnership with government to address the unemployment crisis. The question I would pose tonight is: does this government have the necessary vision to embrace such a partnership approach for communities like mine which are in real need.