Tim Read Obituary
Victorian Greens MP Tim Read Dies Aged 64 After Battling Melanoma
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Victorian Greens MP Tim Read has died at 64 after a battle with metastatic melanoma, with party leader Ellen Sandell saying he passed away surrounded by family. Read represented Melbourne’s inner-north seat of Brunswick from 2018 and was re-elected in 2022 after defeating Labor’s century-long hold on the electorate. A physician, sexual-health specialist and medical researcher, he was widely respected for combining scientific expertise with advocacy on public health, climate change, Indigenous justice, prison reform and bike safety. Read announced in January that he would retire at the November state election after exhausting treatment options, and he spent his final months opposing the Victorian government’s planned closure of VicHealth. He is survived by his wife, Angela, and their children, Louisa and Martin, while political leaders from both the Greens and Liberals praised his integrity, compassion and decency.
Key Points
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Read’s public-health advocacy contributed to reforms including pill-testing, tobacco licensing, the abolition of 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.
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Before entering parliament, Read specialised in sexual health, completed a doctorate and published more than 60 research articles, primarily on human papillomavirus and HIV treatment and prevention.
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Read’s activism sometimes involved civil disobedience: Ellen Sandell said he was arrested for spray-painting health messages on tobacco billboards before entering parliament, and later continued challenging the premier in Question Time.
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No by-election will be held for Brunswick because Victoria is already scheduled to go to the polls on November 28; the Greens hold the seat with a 13.7 percentage-point two-candidate-preferred margin over Labor.
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Read said VicHealth’s sun-safety campaigns might have helped reduce his cancer risk if they had been promoted when he was younger. He had first had a melanoma removed from his leg seven years earlier before scans later showed the cancer had spread throughout his body.
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