Tim Read

Tim Read (1962¹ – 19 September 2026) was an Australian politician who was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, representing the district of Brunswick from November 2018 until his death in September 2026. He was a member of the Victorian Greens and served as the party's spokesperson for Health, Justice, Integrity and Science; he was also a general practitioner and medical researcher, with a PhD on the epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Tim Read (1962 – 19 September 2026) was an Australian politician who was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, representing the district of Brunswick from November 2018 until his death in September 2026. He was a member of the Victorian Greens and served as the party's spokesperson for Health, Justice, Integrity and Science; he was also a general practitioner and medical researcher, with a PhD on the epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). ==Early life and career== Read was born in Melbourne in 1962. From 1985, he attended the University of Melbourne where he graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree. He worked as a general practitioner in community health. He began specialist training and from 1998 was a sexual-health physician. He later became the site principal at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. He was also a sexual health physician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, as part of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Service. In 2014, he completed his Doctor of Philosophy thesis titled "Studies in the epidemiology of human papillomavirus, the early detection of anal cancer and the control of human immunodeficiency virus". In 2015, he was awarded a four-year National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship at Monash University. As a medical researcher, Read contributed to over 60 peer-reviewed articles in medical literature, focusing on sexual health and men who have sex with men. His research topics include the symptoms and treatment of mycoplasma genitalium infections, the reliability and provision of HIV tests, the effects of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine on genital warts, oral HPV infection, the size of occurrences of anal cancer, and non-consensual condom removal. ==State politics== Read had previously run for the Greens at the 2013 federal election for Wills, and at the 2014 Victorian election for Brunswick. In the 2018 Victorian election he won in Brunswick, the first time a non-Labor-aligned MP had been elected for the seat. In Parliament, Read campaigned on the issues of climate change, the over-incarceration and deaths in custody of Aboriginal Victorians, and the promotion of active transportation and bike safety. His inaugural speech in Parliament listed Victoria's biggest public health challenges as: heatwaves and climate change, our approach to drugs and crime, and diabetes. In 2019, he called for pill-testing and the decriminalisation of public drunkenness in his first two adjournment matters, for the latter calling on the Attorney-General to 'form a working group to establish a process to care for people found to be intoxicated in public' and to 'establish appropriate facilities, instead of relying on police cells' – the path to decriminalisation ultimately announced by the Victorian government later that year. As a prominent drafter of private members bills, in his first term he was responsible for the Victorian Greens' bills to introduce pill-testing, reform Victoria's bail laws, raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, and to strengthen political integrity laws and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC). He also sought to amend legislation to raise Victoria's renewable energy target from 50% to 100% renewable energy by 2030. In 2020 he was credited in playing a key role in preventing a controversial change to the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958 which would have potentially criminalised the families of dead victims of sexual assault naming the victim, unless they had first obtained a court order. He was part of a successful campaign to reduce restrictions on gay men donating blood, although he continued to advocate for a further easing of the remaining restrictions. From March 2023 until his passing, Read was the Chair of the Integrity and Oversight Committee. He was elected to the role following the Andrews Government's decision to have a non-government chair. In August 2023, he was involved in a "spat" with Victorian Labor MP Belinda Wilson, after he supported a motion condemning her and her Labor colleagues for their questions which were perceived as "attempting to smear" the Commissioner. Wilson later apologised to Read for shouting. In January 2026, Read announced he would not contest the 2026 Victorian state election, following a metastatic cancer diagnosis. ==Death== Read died on 19 September 2026, following his diagnosis with melanoma the previous November. He was 64. A statement released by the Victorian Greens commemorated his work, and wrote that he died "surrounded by family". His family requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to Friends of the Earth and to the Inner North Community Foundation. ==References== ==External links== ]

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