https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/council
Debate will start around 3:30 local time Tune in if you would like to see the machine in action
Text from article pasted below.
Victorians may get final say on legalising cannabis in historic vote
Victorians could be asked to vote on legalising personal cannabis use, possession and home cultivation under a bold private member’s bill set for upper house debate this week.
Alex White
@alexwhitelive
less than 2 min read
August 8, 2026 - 3:00PM
The men and woman who served aboard Royal Australian Navy patrol ship, HMAS Cape Woolamai, are marching through the town of Cowes on Phillip Island as part of a centuries-old traditions - the Freedom of Entry parade.
A push is on to let Victorians decide for themselves whether cannabis use should be legalised, with state parliament set to debate a bold plan to put the issue directly to voters.
Legalise Cannabis Victoria is spearheading the push, arguing it’s time to cut through years of political inaction and let the public have the final say.
Under the proposal, the plebiscite would be non-binding — meaning while it wouldn’t force an automatic change to the law, it would send an unmistakeable message to the government about where public opinion truly sits.
The Cannabis Legalisation Plebiscite Bill 2026 will be debated in the upper house this week, the first private member’s bill of its kind to propose a straight “yes or no” question to Victorians on whether they back legalising personal cannabis use, possession and home cultivation.
It comes just months after the Labor government knocked back key recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry that had called for Victoria to adopt ACT-style decriminalisation for small amounts of cannabis.
The rejection came despite Labor’s own state conference delegates voting in favour of a regulated, decriminalised cannabis market earlier this year.
Legalise Cannabis leader Rachel Payne said: ‘‘Most Victorians I speak to feel as though the government isn’t responding to what the community wants — that they are out of touch. By allowing Victorians to have their say through a plebiscite, we can get on with what the community wants and get government to act”.
With the upcoming Victorian State the Guardian did a bit of a profile on Ben Carroll, the topic of Cannabis came up and it doesn't look like something he is going to tackle. Hopefully a hostile upper house brings them to the table with some meaningful reform plans.
The cannabis section of the article is quoted below
"Two women overhear as the conversation turns to cannabis.
“Maybe you should give it a try,” one says.
Carroll laughs. He says he has never used cannabis.
“I have been with people that have smoked it, but I just didn’t,” he says.
Several Victorian parliamentary inquiries have recommended following the ACT in decriminalising the possession and cultivation of small amounts of cannabis for personal use.
While Carroll says he’s open to discussion on removing criminal penalties, which have been found to disproportionately affect First Nations people, young people and lower-income Victorians, he does not support full legalisation.
“I’m open to a discussion on decriminalisation. I have been around places that have made it legal, though, and I have thought it has a real impact on the amenity of those areas and I don’t want that to happen in our state,” he says.
But he stresses he has “higher priorities” when it comes to social reform."
I am not a Victorian, just hoping another state will make changes so that my own will fall in line.
https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/bills/cannabis-legalisation-plebiscite-bill-2026
Good to see the LCV guys making moves. I am not sure if a public vote like this is a good idea after the NZ referendum 50.7% is a bad number to go down by and they haven't done anything in this space since.
WA LC party proposed a bill for a referendum and the wowsers in the majors voted it down. Let's see what Victoria ends up doing with it. At the very least it brings more attention to the issue.
New consultation underway. The laws for cannabis cultivation have a sunset clause and need to be relegislated.
I will be making a submission arguing for patients to have the right to grow their own medicine due to factors such as:
* Cannabis is not a narcotic
* Price of Medical
* Quality of Medical
* Consistency of product
* Discontinuation of products
* Extension of product expiry dates
* Lack of published product recall data
Please consider doing the same and we might just be able to take back some control of our own treatment.
Thanks have a great day and please share with as many like minded individuals as possible.
I enjoy the act of growing Cannabis. One thing that holds me back in the state of WA is the risk of losing your house. If the wrong set of conditions occurs, you can have your home confiscated.
If you are from WA please consider signing this petition to have this unfair punishment removed from consideration. As the petition does require your name and address it probably isn't wise to participate if you are an active grower.
Text from petition follows below
To the President and Members of the Legislative Council of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We the undersigned ...
draw to your attention the fact that the Review of the Criminal and Civil Justice System in relation to Criminal Property Confiscation and Unexplained Wealth Legislation, conducted by former Chief Justice Wayne Martin AC KC, was tabled in Parliament in 2019, yet its central recommendations remain substantially unenacted more than seven years later.
This is of grave concern, given that the Martin Report identified serious failings in regard to the operation of Western Australia’s criminal confiscation regime, including disproportionate outcomes, unjust impacts upon family members and third parties, inadequate judicial discretion, reversal of the onus of proof, and the confiscation of property unrelated to proven criminal offending.
The report further recommended substantial reform, including repeal and replacement of major parts of the current legislative framework.
Your petitioners therefore respectfully request that the Legislative Council does everything within its power to ensure that the Government:
Urgently acts upon the principal recommendations of the Martin Report;
Prepares and introduces replacement criminal confiscation legislation as soon as practicable; and,
Ensures that any new legislation restores proportionality, judicial fairness, and appropriate safeguards for innocent parties.
And your petitioners as in duty bound, will ever pray.
2.5 million recent users. While this sounds like a minority is actually a bigger group of Australians and larger than these communities combined:
* Indigenous Australians
* Muslim Australians
* Hindu Australians
* Jewish Australians
If we were a state we would have a bigger population than South Australia or the 4th biggest city after Brisbane.
We outnumber by a significant margin
* Defence force Personnel
* Health Workforce
* Police
And rival the public service which consists of 2.6 million workers.
Let's not leave out recreational clubs. We outnumber the membership of the AFL clubs and the organised sport with the highest amatuer participation is soccer with 1.93 million.
Why do we allow the smallest minority of all, politicians keep ignoring this issue. Arguments we hear are include:
* We do not have a mandate - Yet ram unpopular legislation through parliament without considering private consultation or sufficient debate
* It is a state/federal issue - easy cop out excuse to lay the blame at the other parliament
* Not part of our policy platform - support for the LCA party in WA/Vic/NSW via the membership of upper house members indicates there is support for action in this arena and the majors should start to update their policy
* Increases in XXX (health costs, crime, underage use, number of users) - when studies around the world from legalised/decriminalised markets including the ACT show the opposite.
It's time for some action and I am sick of being ignored on this issue. The government has shown with its latest budget changes (targeting investments/trusts, yet still running deficits for the next decade) that it is in dire need of new revenue sources and is about to remove support from vulnerable citizens currently on the NDIS or capping Veterans benefits/services ($5000 limit, $750 million cut from budget over next 3 years)
Thanks all for taking the time to read my rant. Hopefully we can get some attention and drive some change, update outdated attitudes, remove stigma/discrimination and accept Cannabis as a recreational activity unworthy of punishment or persecution.
https://www.cannabiz.com.au/tga-officials-to-join-cannabis-prescribers-for-annual-anzccp-conference/
Hopefully a good sign after the past few weeks of doom and gloom reporting. We will have to wait until after next weekend to find out more.
Full article text below
TGA officials to join cannabis prescribers for annual ANZCCP conference
by Steve Jones
May 22, 2026
Officials from the Therapeutic Goods Administration will join prescribers in Noosa next week for the third annual conference hosted by the Australian and New Zealand College of Cannabinoid Practitioners.
Office of Drug Control assistant secretary Avi Rebera and assistant director of the TGA’s medicinal cannabis regulatory reforms section, Deborah Greenbaum, will both attend the event which opens at Elysium Noosa Resort on May 29.
Elysium Noosa Resort will host the third annual ANZCCP conference which starts next Friday
Under the theme ‘precision, compassion, evolution – the next chapter in cannabinoid medicine’, the conference will feature three days of debate and discussion and explore latest research and practical insights for clinical practice.
Rebera and Greenbaum will provide health practitioners with an update on the special access and authorised prescriber schemes and the TGA’s regulatory review.
The gathering comes at a critical time for the industry which is facing the threat of regulatory reform, external scrutiny and falling prices.
ANZCCP vice president Dr Orit Holtzman said practitioners are under increasing pressure to show medicinal cannabis has a genuine role to play in healthcare.
“On both sides, clinicians are navigating prescribing standards, affordability barriers, and the pressure to demonstrate that this field deserves its place in legitimate healthcare,” she said.
“This is exactly why the ANZCCP conference exists. It brings together clinicians and researchers from across Australia and New Zealand doing this work at the coalface. If you’re a practitioner serious about raising the standard of care in this space, this is where you need to be.”
Along with previously announced speakers – including New Zealand-based acute care clinician and ANZCCP board member Dr Michael Murphy, Israeli researcher professor Dedi Meiri and palliative and supportive care specialist associate professor Judith Lacey – the event will welcome Medical Cannabis Australia clinical educator Luiza Guizan who will unravel the complexities of the national and state regulations, while Mandi Jacobson from law firm Thomson Geer will discuss the art of advertising without incurring the wrath of the regulator.
Other speakers include Dr Shiksha Gallow from South Africa who will address the conference about compassion in clinical cannabinoid practice, and Roei Zerahia from MSICS Pharma, also in Israel, who will present the latest psilocybin research.
Dr Jim Connell, nurse practitioner Lisa Dick, Dr David Gunn, assistance professor Daryl Efron, Dr Jeremy Lim and Dr Priya Ayyar will also address the conference.
Click here for more information and here to buy tickets.
Choice report on the medical industry. It looks to me that this is part of a campaign to get the straight down the line section of the community on side for the impending crackdown by the TGA.
Let's see if this reporting spreads to other outlets or gets mainstream tv news coverage.
Further update to TGA review story I posted a couple of weeks ago.