![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789817772_26_43714d672be78d765f2e91a727deee678798a7956c4419dcc51022c16cff0472.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
September 19, 2026 \u2014 5:59pm<\/p>\n
Save<\/p>\n
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n
Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n \u201cMy bucket list is no longer important to me \u2026 it\u2019s more important to me now to see smiles on the faces of those I love.\u201d<\/p>\n Those were some of state Greens MP Dr Tim Read\u2019s last words in parliament, after he announced his intention to retire at November\u2019s election due to a cancer diagnosis, for which he\u2019d run out of treatment options.<\/p>\n Read died on Saturday, aged 64, surrounded by loved ones, from metastatic cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this time of incredible pain and sadness, we offer our deepest love to his wife Angela, his children Louisa and Martin, and all of Tim\u2019s family and friends,\u201d a statement from Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell said.<\/p>\n Read revealed his diagnosis in January, writing later in this masthead<\/a> that a small melanoma that was removed from his leg six years earlier had spread.<\/p>\n Read was elected to the inner-north Melbourne electorate of Brunswick in 2018, ending a more than 100-year reign of Labor since the seat was created in 1904.<\/p>\n Born in Melbourne in 1962, Read became a general practitioner before specialising in sexual health. He completed a doctorate and published more than 60 articles \u2013 mostly focused on human papillomavirus and HIV treatment and prevention.<\/p>\n \u201cTim was a brilliant local MP, doctor and scientist \u2013 but to those who knew him, he was also the kindest, funniest and most fundamentally decent of people,\u201d Sandell said in the statement.<\/p>\n Once elected to state parliament, Read quit his job as a doctor and researcher and became a prominent campaigner for a range of issues such as climate change, over-incarceration, deaths in custody of Indigenous Victorians and bike safety.<\/p>\n \u201cHis early advocacy led to major public health reforms that ended up becoming reality: pill-testing, tobacco licensing, abolishing public drunkenness laws, a statewide plan to eradicate congenital syphilis and HIV transmission, allowing gay men to donate blood, and a statutory ban on solitary confinement in prisons,\u201d Sandell said.<\/p>\n Related Article A rent freeze, updates to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission\u2019s powers to make it a \u201cstanding royal commission at half the price\u201d, integrity reforms, better bike lanes and pedestrian crossings, and an independent, funded Health Promotion Foundation to fight against preventable chronic diseases that \u201cthreaten to overwhelm our excellent but expensive healthcare system\u201d were among his final recommendations to parliament.<\/p>\n \u201cTim\u2019s contribution to Victoria\u2019s anti-corruption and integrity laws was perhaps his biggest achievement,\u201d Sandell said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe introduced laws, later picked up by the government, to: force ministers to make their diaries public, end \u2018preference whispering\u2019 and dodgy group voting tickets, and create an independent parliamentary integrity commissioner.\u201d<\/p>\n In March 2023, Read was elected as the chair of the integrity and oversight committee, after the Andrews government decided it should have a non-government chair.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the first ever non-government chair of the integrity and oversight committee, he led the landmark inquiry that helped strengthen Victoria\u2019s anti-corruption watchdog IBAC,\u201d Sandell said.<\/p>\n \u201cVictoria is a better and fairer place, and politics in the future will be much more accountable and transparent, because of Tim.\u201d<\/p>\n Premier Ben Carroll remembered Read as a \u201cman of principle and compassion\u201d who made \u201cintelligent and humane contributions to the public debate\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe knew his values,\u201d Carroll said in a statement. \u201cHe lived them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCountless times doorknocking I\u2019ve heard from community members, \u2018I\u2019ve met Tim, Tim helped me!\u2019\u201d Adam Pulford, a Merri-bek councillor and the Greens candidate for Brunswick, said in a post on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope there\u2019s a good bike lane wherever you are now \u2013 and if not, I know there soon will be!\u201d Pulford wrote about his friend and mentor.<\/p>\n Liberal leader Jess Wilson offered her condolences, saying that Read\u2019s commitment to integrity in public life was \u201cunwavering\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was an honest broker, someone who listened, engaged in good faith and approached every discussion with respect and integrity,\u201d Wilson said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cPolitics is hope in motion,\u201d Read said in his final speech.<\/p>\n Read and his family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to Friends of the Earth and the Inner North Community Foundation.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Greens](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6e97ce7bc26792cf25c2abc67d2bd6ba863d1464.jpeg\")
Greens MP Tim Read in February this year.Simon Schluter<\/p>\n![\"Greens](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789817774_394_6e97ce7bc26792cf25c2abc67d2bd6ba863d1464.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n