Victorian Greens MP Tim Read Dies at 64

Tim Read, a member of the Victorian parliament from Australia, has died at the age of 64. He represented the area of Brunswick as a member of the Greens party. Dr. Read had been publicly battling metastatic cancer, a serious illness in which cancer spreads throughout the body. He had announced earlier this year that he would retire from parliament before passing away.

Dr. Read was a general practitioner, which means he worked as a family doctor, before he entered politics. He first tried to win a seat in the federal, or national, parliament in 2013. He later ran for a seat in the Victorian state parliament and won the Brunswick electorate on his second try in 2018. From that point on, he became known as a strong voice for his community.

In his final year in office, Dr. Read focused on fighting a government decision to shut down VicHealth. VicHealth is a public health agency that was created in 1987 under Labor premier John Cain. It was originally funded by taxes on cigarette sales, and it worked to warn people about the dangers of smoking. The agency also helped pay for arts and sports programs that had once relied on tobacco company money.

Dr. Read believed closing VicHealth was a mistake. He told the ABC that getting rid of the agency would create a 'false economy,' meaning the government might think it was saving money but would actually end up spending more on health problems later. He pointed out that VicHealth had helped spread important health messages, like warnings about sun safety. He said that if those messages had been shared when he was younger, they might have helped lower his own cancer risk.

Dr. Read first noticed something was wrong when his leg appeared swollen one morning as he was getting ready for work. Scans showed that cancer had spread throughout his body. Doctors found that the cancer was linked to a melanoma, a type of skin cancer, that had been removed from his leg seven years earlier. This discovery led to his decision to retire from parliament.

Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell remembered Dr. Read with great warmth after his death. She described him as 'the kindest, funniest and most fundamentally decent of people.' She also noted that he was the most well-liked member of the state parliament, respected by people across the political community. Ms. Sandell praised his 'conviction, integrity, wit and genuine humility' as rare qualities in a politician.

Because Victoria is already scheduled to hold a state election on November 28, there will be no need for a special by-election to fill Dr. Read's seat. A by-election is a vote held to replace a single member of parliament outside of a general election. The Greens currently hold the Brunswick seat by a comfortable margin over Labor. Dr. Read's legacy will likely shape how the Greens campaign for that seat in the upcoming election.