Wednesday, 17 May 2023

Matters of public importance

Economic policy

The SPEAKER (16:01): I have accepted a statement from the member for Sandringham proposing the following matter of public importance for discussion:

That this house condemns the financial mismanagement of the Andrews Labor government and the impact of debt-fuelled spending on Victorian families and businesses, noting that:

(1) debt is set to increase by 43 per cent from $116 billion in 2022–23 to $166 billion in 2025–26 and on current trajectories is set to reach $187 billion in 2026–27;

(2) interest payments are set to almost double by 2025–26 and on current trajectories are set to reach $9.2 billion in 2026–27;

(3) interest payments will grow as a share of government revenue from nearly 5 per cent to 8 per cent by 2025–26, which means less money is available for frontline services;

(4) Victorians are paying the highest taxes in Australia;

(5) unemployment is expected to increase from 3.6 per cent now to 4.5 per cent in 2025–26; and

(6) regional communities represent 25 per cent of Victoria’s population, but receive only 13 per cent of the Victorian Labor government’s infrastructure spend.

Brad ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (16:02): I rise to address today’s matter of public importance, which of course, on the Wednesday of the sitting week before the budget, you would expect, as an opposition-led MPI, to be on the state of Victoria’s economy. Sadly, I do not have good news. Victorians are paying more and are getting less. We are paying more, and we are getting less. Victorian families – Victorians right around this state – are being ripped off by this Andrews Labor government every day of the week, and it is because the Andrews Labor government are mired in debt, are addicted to taxes and have let fly a culture of waste, which is being driven by their dependence on the union movement. Waste is in their DNA. They have created a financial emergency which every Victorian is now paying for. We are the highest taxed state in the nation, with a higher amount of debt than any other state. Each and every day the people of Victoria are paying $10 million – each and every day – just to service the debt. On the government’s own figures that is increasing to $20 million a day, each and every day, just to service the debt and the economic circumstance that those opposite have got us into.

Why does that matter? Why does that matter in your community and why does that matter in my community? Because it means we have got less money and less opportunity to do the things that matter. I think of how $10 million could be transformational in my community of Sandringham. I think of how $10 million could be transformational in my colleagues’ communities. In my own community I know that $10 million would provide the needed infrastructure for three local primary schools, and that is just the interest repayment that we are paying today. What about tomorrow? At the end of the week it will be $70 million. In just two short years time, on the government’s own figures, it will be increasing from $10 million a day to $20 million a day, and on the government’s own projections in the pre-election budget update, it is only getting worse.

Victoria’s tax take is set to double since this government was elected nine years ago, and over the next three years Labor’s tax take will continue to increase, on their own figures, by more than 14 per cent. Next Tuesday’s budget is set to inflict more pain on Victorians at a time when they can least afford it. Victorian families in need of everyday cost-of-living relief are instead likely to be hit with job losses, higher taxes and cuts to health, roads and community infrastructure.

Coming out of the federal budget just last week, I would like to think that state Labor would look to federal Labor and think they had a friend. On the basis of the budget that the Albanese government delivered and the impact that has on Victoria, it is clear that they have no friend, and from a Victorian Labor perspective they have no impact with their Labor mates in the nation’s capital. At a time when New South Wales and Queensland both receive in roads funding $10 billion, Victoria receives $5.8 billion. Some people in this chamber may have had the opportunity to drive on roads in New South Wales and to drive on roads in Queensland. In comparison to the roads we have here in Victoria, they are actually all right in New South Wales, they are actually all right in Queensland, but in Victoria they are absolute deathtraps. Yes, that is in regional Victoria, and I am grateful to a number of country members and certainly National Party colleagues who are in the chamber today to hear this. They will know that better than most people. Why do New South Wales and Queensland get $10 billion and why do we in Victoria get $5.8 billion? If the Victorian Labor government in this state were looking to Canberra for a friend, perhaps they do not have a friend in me.

When it comes to health – an $810 million cut to hospitals in Victoria. The last time I checked we were in the midst of a health crisis. You still need to wait 6 hours to be seen at the Box Hill Hospital emergency department just to be assessed. We still have ambulances ramping right around this state. We still have emergency situations, code reds and code oranges most days of the week. What does Canberra deliver for Victoria but an $810 million cut to our hospitals? And then you look further north again to Queensland, where the Olympics will be hosted in about eight years time – by one measure sometime in the never-never. But in the next four years the Commonwealth Games will be hosted here in Victoria. The federal government’s contribution to Queensland for the Olympics in eight years time was around $3.5 billion in this federal budget, and what do we get in Victoria for the Commonwealth Games?

Wayne Farnham interjected.

Brad ROWSWELL: Doughnuts. Thank you, member for Narracan. Absolute and utter doughnuts. We know the Premier likes doughnuts, but in this case doughnuts mean pain for Victorians.

Not since the Cain–Kirner governments of the late 1980s and early 1990s have we seen such financial delinquency in this state. Because of Labor’s financial incompetence Victorians are now paying $10 million a day in interest alone on our soaring debt. Major projects, as I have said before and many have said before, have blown out by more than $30 billion, and we are facing future delays to the Melbourne Airport rail link and Geelong fast rail. Waste and delays are part of this government’s DNA. Victorians are paying the highest taxes of any state in the nation – $5638 per person thanks to 44 new or increased taxes introduced by this Labor government in the last nine years. They make mistakes, and every Victorian pays the price of their mistakes.

If you are a parent wanting to send your child to a state school, you pay, over the course of sending your child to that state school from foundation right through to year 12, $102,807 to educate your child – the highest education expense in a public school system in the nation. Compare that to the outcomes that students in Victoria are, sadly, receiving compared to other states, and it does not equate. Victorians are paying for a health system that spends less per person on public hospitals than any other state or territory except South Australia. Victorians time and time again, whether it be car rego with bad roads, whether it be health and hospitals with bad outcomes or whether it be more for education with worse results, are paying more, and they are getting less every day of the week because of the way that this government has managed the Victorian economy.

While the Premier blames the federal government, the pandemic, the Reserve Bank – he blames everybody except the person who is actually responsible for the circumstance that they have got us into, and that is, frankly, himself. No wonder his colleagues, like the minister at the table, the Minister for Industry and Innovation, are canvassing support as speculation ramps up about when the Premier might leave, because you cannot be the problem and also the solution. This is a tired government, mired in debt, that has run out of ideas, that has run out of a legislative program in this place, that is addicted to taxes and has no plans to get us out of that mess that it has created itself.

So what should the Andrews government do? Well, for this budget to be credible and to actually help Victorians that need help at this point in time, it must create jobs, not cut them. It must not raise taxes or introduce new ones. It must provide stamp duty relief for first home buyers and provide funding to tackle our dangerous roads. It must rein in debt and cost blowouts on major projects. It must commit to building the Melbourne Airport rail link and the Geelong fast rail, particularly when the federal government funding is there for both of those projects. Victorians have waited long enough, so what is the Andrews government waiting for? It must deliver the operating surplus that it promised in last year’s budget of $0.9 billion promised in 2025–26, and it must secure and upgrade the state’s credit rating and put Victoria on a sustainable financial footing. I am sorry to say that in my view, in our view, there is little cause for optimism. There is little cause for optimism because the Premier has spoken about ‘very difficult’ decisions ahead because of the government’s – in his words, not mine – ‘extraordinary’ debt levels, and he has refused to rule out new taxes or tax increases.

Then there is the issue of last year’s state budget. It condemned Victoria to a 43 per cent rise in debt over the next three years. It nearly doubled the state’s annual interest repayments to $7.4 billion. That is $7.4 billion that could be used, if it was not being used to pay off our debt, on the things that matter to the lives of everyday Victorians: teachers in schools, nurses in hospitals, police on the beat keeping our community safe – but we cannot do that. We cannot do that because of the economic circumstance that this government has got us in. When a household or a business has too much debt, it is often the family members, owners and shareholders who might bear the brunt of those decisions that were made. It might not always seem fair, but that is often the case. But when this government goes on a debt-fuelled spending spree, it is the 6.8 million Victorians who pay for the decisions that it has made. Some Victorians will now pay the price of the Andrews government’s debt-fuelled spending through job cuts, reduction to services and cancellation of and delays in vital infrastructure projects. The Premier himself told Victorians before the state election last November that they could have it all when he knew they simply could not. Not only did he promise something he could not deliver but he is now about to punish the people for his own and his government’s incompetence. They deserve better.

In the time that I have remaining I want to debunk just a couple of myths ahead of next Tuesday’s state budget. I am sure that over the next few weeks we will hear those opposite say that we are in this financial circumstance because of COVID. Well, let me tell you why this is not true. The projected 2022–23 net debt from 2019–20 figures was $54.9 billion. Now, let us be generous: by the government’s own figures, their total COVID spend was $35.8 billion. Well, that still does not add up, because our current net debt position is $116 billion. Before anyone pulls out the calculator, and I know the member for Frankston is very keen to do so, the difference between what was projected – and let us be very generous and say that all of the COVID spending is considered against your net debt position. There is still a difference of $25.3 billion. So to say that we are in the financial circumstance that we are currently in because of COVID is absolute bollocks. It is absolute rubbish. No-one should buy that lie, and I think very highly of Victorians. I think very, very highly of them, and I am sure that they will not buy that lie.

The SPEAKER: The member for Sandringham, that word is unparliamentary.

Brad ROWSWELL: Thank you, Speaker. I seek to make that table available to the house.

Within that COVID spending of $35.8 billion, there are certain things which are questionable. It is questionable whether they are in fact COVID related or related to items of normal government spending. Included in that by the government’s own figures from the Department of Treasury and Finance’s own website is $110 million for the government’s power saving bonus and $94 million spent on community sports, $67 million spent on Solar Homes and $38 million spent on clean energy. It is questionable that when the government says that their debt has been exacerbated by the COVID circumstance and they consider all of this as part of the COVID spending that it has in fact been COVID spending at all.

Before we hear in rebuttal from members of the government that they have doubled Victoria’s public service and therefore Victoria’s public sector wage bill, let me just draw the house’s attention to something that I found particularly staggering – a 142 per cent increase in public servants earning around $350,000 since 2019 and a tripling in bureaucrats earning more than $500,000 since 2019. This is not the reality of Victorians. This is not the reality of Victorian families. We are paying more, we are getting less. We deserve better.

Paul EDBROOKE (Frankston) (16:18:018:): Well, that kind of inspired me I think to join Toastmasters. That was great. Not much substance there though. I have seen more meat on a butcher’s pencil, I reckon. We are here this afternoon, to give this context, to hear what has become a bit of a partisan review of Victoria’s economy, which you would expect, by an opposition that is so incompetent and so bad with numbers that even their federal colleagues want to sack them and put them into administration, and these are the federal colleagues who ran up more debt in nine months than federal Labor did in six years. That is contextualising where we sit right now.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left who are not in their allocated seats will cease interjecting.

Paul EDBROOKE: Cease interjecting, please.

So that gives us a bit of a foundation of where we sit with this matter of public importance today. We have got a bunch of people that between 2010 and 2014 built nothing, have got nothing to show and did nothing at all telling us, post COVID, that we should not, I assume, have spent money to keep people safe and keep Victoria going along at a decent rate. That is what I am hearing now. I am hearing now that those opposite do not actually like the power saving bonus because it is spending money. It is bloody well spending money on Victorians. Excuse me. I withdraw.

A member interjected.

Paul EDBROOKE: I am sorry. Did the middle of my sentence interrupt the start of yours?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Through the Chair, member for Frankston.

Paul EDBROOKE: Anyway, we can see they are a little bit fired up. We know that the count is 11–19, and it is not a good sign for them. But let me be clear: we cannot change history, and I do not want to change history; I am proud of what we did during COVID to keep our community safe. But you cannot change history, and those opposite have to look back and think, ‘Well, we cavorted with conspiracy theorists.’

We had shadow ministers out there saying, ‘Okay, we need to kill the bats. We need to kill the bats in Kew.’ I miss the former member for Kew; I do love the current member for Kew. But in all seriousness, while this state opposition did everything they could, more than any other state opposition of any colour or creed in Australia, to undermine the health response in Victoria, we were using our balance sheet to protect Victorians and to protect the wellbeing of their families.

The reality is that debt is at manageable levels and we have a careful and deliberate four-step plan, which the Treasurer has been through many times in this house. Step one was creating jobs, reducing unemployment and restoring growth, because this government knows that you cannot have a sustainable fiscal recovery without first supporting a sustainable economic recovery – hand in hand, simple stuff. Step two: we are returning to an operating cash surplus. Step three: we are returning to operating surpluses, and step four is stabilising the debt levels. We are definitely making progress against that plan.

We know, as has been pointed out by the opposition, that Victorians are facing cost-of-living pressures. It is confusing to be standing here after helping more than 900 people gain their power saving bonus in my electorate – that is more than $250,000 back in the pockets of bill payers in Frankston – and hearing people opposite saying they do not like the power saving bonus but they do feel for people who are going through cost-of-living pressures. Those interest rate rises we have seen, inflation – the Victorian government is dealing with situations that are not all of its own creation, and the Treasurer is doing that very well.

The rebound in Victoria’s economy has been quite strong. If you listen to those opposite, they will howl on and cherrypick figures, but it has been quite strong. I think that is not just testament to us big-noting ourselves as a government, it is actually testament to the Victorian community and the economy that we have built together. Last year’s budget demonstrated that the government is now delivering on steps two and three of that fiscal plan I spoke about, with a cash surplus forecast for the coming financial year and the path to an operating surplus in 2025–26.

I just want to go through some of the current economic developments for those opposite, because they have said they feel a bit down, they are a bit depressed, they do not have faith, they weep for the future – things actually are moving along in Victoria at a great rate. Victoria, being the most densely populated state and the nation’s manufacturing, services, innovation and knowledge powerhouse, is still that way, and Melbourne is Australia’s fastest growing city. Under the Andrews Labor government Victoria is part of the world’s 14th largest economy, but we have been the powerhouse of Australia’s economy. In 2022 Victoria was ranked as Australia’s best performing economy, leading the nation in both retail trade and employment. Victoria’s annual rate of growth was one of the fastest at 6 per cent in the March quarter 2022. Victoria’s total value of goods and services consumption grew over 50 per cent faster than the rest of the nation in 2021 and at twice the level of New South Wales in the March quarter of 2022, and Victoria accounts for 3 per cent of Australia’s landmass but more than 23 per cent of Australia’s total gross domestic product – or in figures, $454 billion GDP coming from Victoria as part of our nation’s $2.309 trillion GDP. Victoria’s economy has experienced strong growth over the last decade and is forecast to grow by at least 3.25 per cent in 2022–23.

Currently that unemployment rate that we have heard about – 3.6 per cent – is at its lowest since records began. I remember being a wide-eyed and bushy-tailed member for Frankston in 2015. I came into this place and it was only then I realised that we were coming into government after a Liberal government in Victoria that had overseen the highest unemployment on the mainland in Australia. Again, with that kind of foundation we are working off and with that context, we have got people here trying to tell us that they know the figures and the numbers when really it is just cherrypicking, and bad cherrypicking at that. Currently the economic strength of Victoria is demonstrated through the creation of 200,000 jobs since the beginning of 2021, but Victoria actually created a target to create 400,000 jobs by 2025, and guess what? We have smashed that.

We have helped create 460,000 jobs since September 2020, and that figure is growing as we speak. That is because we have a plan. It is not about opening up, killing bats – that reactive kind of decision-making. It is about actually having a plan. Having a cohesive team helps too, a cohesive team who are all on the same page about where we go with Victoria and who endorse a vision for Victoria – and a vision for Victoria that was thoroughly endorsed by Victorians at the election. Let us not forget that. We can talk about the economy, we can talk about COVID and we can talk about the effects on the economy and where we are going, but post COVID the people in Victoria chose a government that got them through that. They chose a government that chose responsible lending and responsible spending to ensure that their families put food on the table, to ensure that mums and dads had jobs, to ensure that kids went to school, to ensure that there were enough masks, there were enough immunisations, there were enough tests to go around so we could start operating as a community again.

It is pretty obvious that those opposite have zero credibility. I mean, nothing will tell you that more than pre election. I was even surprised when I looked at the Channel 9 news and a member of the opposition could not even tell us how much their commitments were going to cost the Victorian people – at an interview designed around that question, to present to the Victorian people the Liberal Party’s commitments, the Liberal Party’s offerings at this election and how much they would cost. He had to defer. It was very embarrassing, and I honestly could not believe what I was watching. But again we stand here today, and it is not very refreshing to have those opposite questioning what Victorians have wholeheartedly and thoroughly endorsed and what I believe next Tuesday they will endorse as well, because Victorians are smart people and they know that sometimes there are ebbs and there are flows. Sometimes we have to prioritise things. Sometimes when we have unforeseen circumstances like COVID we need to spend money, we need to invest and we need to lend, and that is what this government did.

Now, I should not forget to say by way of contrast that we have got that 460,000 jobs figure under the Andrews Labor government. Can anyone remember or even guess how many jobs the opposition managed to create between 2010 and 2014? Wait – come on the member for Narracan, you have got this – 39,000 jobs, plus their own, say 50 or so, or a bit less now. But we have created those 465,000 full-time jobs, and we are establishing the Victorian Future Fund to help pay down that pandemic debt as well. Every dollar put into that fund, much like an offset savings account or an offset mortgage account, every dollar of earnings will be quarantined to use and repay COVID borrowings. I know those opposite would like us at times to think we are just in an echo chamber – and sometimes in this chamber and the other chamber I think we are – but we are not alone in this fight against COVID and to then repair the fiscal damage to our economies. All over the world this is happening, and if you look at the data, countries like Australia and states like Victoria are indeed not in the worst shape when you look at some other states and nations around the world. We are doing very similar things, though, but we are not as badly off as others. In fact there is a lot of light in the tunnel.

Net debt will be lower in every year than previously forecast, reaching 24.6 per cent of gross state product by June 2026. Some asked for the source before. That is from the pre-election budget update I believe. Interest repayments are manageable because this government is doing the legwork to bring the budget back to sustainability. There is a reason why I think we on this side of the chamber are delivering the budget next week and those opposite are not, and it is again because Victorians knew at the previous election that there is zero economic credibility – which is kind of strange, because we still have people in certain parties propagating the stereotype that they are better economic managers. I think that fallacy has been done and dusted and no-one believes that anymore, that is for sure.

We are committed to ensuring also that our tax system remains fair and competitive, and I note that there have been some tales told, some inaccuracies, by those opposite. We are the party that cut the payroll tax to 1.2125 per cent, the lowest in the nation. It is interventions like this that have seen the unemployment level at a regional level fall to historic lows. There has not been a single month where regional unemployment was higher under this government than it was under the coalition, in fact.

Speaking of taxes, as I said, there have been some untruths. We have heard the Liberals talk about tax changes under this government while referring to some dodgy tricks and whatnot – you know, surcharges for foreign landowners and taxes to them. Well, here is a newsflash: that is not a tax on Victorians. That is a tax on people that live overseas and own land in Victoria; it is not a tax on Victorians. But that shows how desperate the opposition are to create a dialogue around this government and the economy. I do not think anyone in Victoria is listening. They voted us in on our strong economic credentials. They voted us in to do what needed to be done, and certainly we have done that.

Today we have heard some interesting reflections on the Premier as well, and I will go on record as saying I do not think anyone on any side of politics will know how hard that might have been for an individual leader. People in here might pass judgement, but when you have been through what the Premier has been through and made the decisions that the Premier has made, I am sure the opinions of those opposite are like water off a duck’s back. I do not think it matters too much; I think he is too busy being interested in the opinions of the Victorians he speaks to every day.

The Victorian government is committed to the economy of the future. You will hear other Labor members speak on this – our support on initiatives including the Big Build of course but also an unprecedented $1.7 billion energy package creating renewable energy hubs across the state of Victoria and jobs following the pandemic. We are estimating nearly 59,000 jobs for the SEC, but also what comes with that is the net zero emissions target, which was for 2050 and now is for 2045, with 75 to 80 per cent less emissions by 2035, which is among the most ambitious targets in the world.

On that, I would like to conclude by saying it is one thing to talk about the economy and it is one thing to talk about repairing the economy, but also this is a government that can actually walk and chew gum at the same time. We are leading the nation. We are leading the state as well as repairing this economy. We will always be the powerhouse of Australia, whether it be through innovation or whether it be through manufacturing, and we will continue to do that through the great decision-making of this Treasurer and this Premier.

Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (16:33): I am pleased to rise to support the member for Sandringham on his excellent matter of public importance, which is a ripper, but it is a very sad state of affairs that we are talking about today. I was looking just today at the pictures of the 60th Parliament. I saw an old bald bloke in there, and I suddenly realised it was me. I am actually not as old as I look, but I am reasonably old, and I remember the 1980s and 90s. I am seeing in this matter of public importance and the issues that we are addressing that we are feeling a bit of history here. We are going into the third term of a Labor government. We have got budgets in deficit. We have got debt going through the roof. We have got a Premier who is about to hand over the mess to a female replacement, and we have got the SEC in trouble as well. It is just a bit like the Cain–Kirner days. I know I have been around for a bit and we have been saying this about Labor governments for a while, but it is now absolutely coming true. As we headed towards 25 per cent of gross state product being made up of our state debt, I remember asking the Department of Treasury and Finance in a Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing last year if we have seen worse. The answer was no. This is getting worse – worse that the Cain–Kirner years – and it is a fact that this government has lost absolute control of the state’s finances and it is Victorians that are paying.

James Newbury interjected.

Danny O’BRIEN: Well, I could have added, member for Brighton, that on the horizon is a Liberal leader from the eastern suburbs who is going to have to come in and clean up all the mess when he becomes Premier. That is the next thing that is going to have to happen, because this mob have showed time and time again that they are incapable of actually delivering and picking up the pieces of the mess that they make consistently.

The member for Sandringham is belling the cat, and I think it is true that Victorians are starting to wake up. They are just starting to see, and people are starting to say to us on a daily basis: ‘$10 million a day – is that right?’ We are paying $10 million a day in interest repayments. I hear those opposite a lot when they are in government talk about cuts by the previous Liberal–National government, by the Kennett government and by the federal coalition government, but what they never talk about is the economic management required to ensure that the budget is balanced so that you have the money to deliver the services and the infrastructure that the public needs. Ten million dollars a day, from a local perspective for me in my electorate of Gippsland South: I am looking for a new Sale college in the budget next week; that could be delivered in a week of interest repayments. I have got the fire stations at Mirboo North, Foster and Yarram that I am waiting for funding on. You could do those in about 18 hours with the funding that is being spent on interest payments. I have got ‘kamikaze corner’ in Leongatha, which the Leader of the Nationals has come with me to a couple of times. Every time I take him there to highlight how bad it is, there is nearly an accident while we are getting the photo, and that could be fixed in probably three or four days with the money that this government is spending on interest payments every day – $10 million a day. And if I look at the matter of public importance, which indicates that by 2025 interest payments will be $9.2 billion, well, that takes it up to $25 million a day.

That is absolutely reckless economic management, and it is going to hurt Victorians, who are paying more. We have had 44 new or increased taxes by this government since 2014, and Victorians are getting less because the services and the service delivery are just not there. That is the importance of economic management. Economic management is not about lots of black in the columns. It is not about making a Treasurer feel good about themselves. It is about making sure that you have the finances under control so that you can deliver the services and the infrastructure that Victorians need.

It is extraordinary that we have got to this position. I want to talk a bit about how we got here. As the member for Sandringham has indicated, a lot of the blame is put on COVID. I am just going to back up some of the things he said. What is never mentioned by the Premier or the Treasurer or the Deputy Premier is that before we went into COVID, in March 2020, the state budget had already gone into deficit. In the December quarter of the 2019–20 year the state government budget was in deficit. We had a government that promised in 2018, two days before the election, that they would raise government net debt from 6 per cent of gross state product to 12 per cent, and we are now, as I just said before, heading toward 25 per cent. So to suggest that we have just had this happen because of COVID is a fallacy. For all my sins I have done eight years on the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee.

A member: You are still there.

Danny O’BRIEN: I am still there, and I am really looking forward to the minister at the table the Minister for Public Transport coming to PAEC in a couple of weeks because we have got some rippers for him too. But in PAEC every year we see the budget figures showing what the public service is going to cost, and every year the estimate is wrong because the government cannot keep control of the numbers in the public service and the cost of the public service. It says that this was all about COVID. The member for Sandringham has indicated that it was not; he has given us the figures. The member for Frankston has actually gone out now to go and check the member for Sandringham. He is out there with a calculator now. But if it was true, let us look at the results of how we went through COVID.

We had the most cases in Australia. We had the most deaths, particularly in that first wave in 2020 when we had the infamous hotel quarantine. We had the world’s longest lockdowns. We had the biggest impacts on business. As a result of all that, as a result of the government’s great management of looking after COVID, they are the results we got, and we have ended up with the biggest deficits and the biggest debt – more debt than New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania. Obviously, as everyone knows, COVID did not happen there. There was no COVID in the other states of Australia, was there? Oh, was there? No, maybe there was. For the Premier to say that this was all the COVID debt and now we have got to pay it back – and the absolute gall of his statements last week to blame the Reserve Bank and say, ‘They made me do it. It was the Reserve Bank, everybody, that said I had to go out and rack up this debt.’ Well, Tasmania, Queensland and New South Wales did not rack up $165 billion of debt, so that line is absolute bullocks. The Premier needs to come back to the facts and understand that Victorians will see through this. If we are paying for the management of COVID, then we are paying for something we did not get because it was not very good.

There are so many issues that are now being affected. I have indicated before, as the member for Sandringham said, there are 44 new or increased taxes. Half of those new or increased taxes are on property, and now these geniuses opposite and their fellow travellers in the Greens up there are surprised that we have got a housing affordability crisis. He attacks housing and the prices go up. How can that possibly be? That is just unfathomable – that continued mismanagement of the finances when you have just got to keep on jacking up the taxes, keep on jacking up land tax and raking it in.

Brad Rowswell: Debt-fuelled spending.

Danny O’BRIEN: It is debt-fuelled spending, as the member for Sandringham says, and it is hurting Victorians. It is hurting them on things like housing affordability, and it is hurting them on things like the cost of living. I mentioned the SEC. I do not have time to go into energy prices and how well that is going under this government. But in return, what are we getting? We have got a disaster of a health system at the moment. It is not getting any better. It is now over 12 months since the worst of the pandemic, and the health system is still in crisis. You cannot get an ambulance half the time. We have got allegations on the front page of the Herald Sun today about how the government manages ambulance response times in the public domain. We have got our roads crumbling right across the state, and regional Victorians know it all too well.

The final point to the matter of public importance is the absolute disregard for regional Victoria. It is 25 per cent of the state. As the report that we had produced by the Parliamentary Budget Officer last year stated – the independent Parliamentary Budget Officer; he was so independent he has been let go by the government now, because he actually belled the cat as well on things like that – 13 per cent of infrastructure spending was happening in rural and regional Victoria. So we are getting less under Labor. We are getting more debt and bigger deficits. Victorians are paying more and getting less.

Chris COUZENS (Geelong) (16:42): I am very pleased to contribute to this matter of public importance and my contribution will primarily focus on regional Victoria, given the comments that we have just heard from the last speaker and the points of this MPI. I think regional Victoria is very important to all of us. We have, I think, 18 regional members.

A member: Eighteen?

Chris COUZENS: Eighteen – I believe it is 18 regional members. I will mention the fact that we did pick up Ripon in the 2022 election with an amazing candidate, the now member for Ripon. We should be very proud of that, and she should be very proud of the work that she has done to enable us to pick up that seat.

I do want to focus on regional Victoria, given that the Geelong region is really important to Victoria – obviously. My seat of Geelong, the seat of Lara, the seat of South Barwon and the seat of Bellarine were all picked up again in the 2022 election. So in 2014 Labor won the election. In 2018 Labor won the election. In 2022 Labor won the election. Why did we win the election? Because those opposite are still banging on about the same old stuff that people have passed over – banging on about the impacts of COVID and the money being spent and all those ridiculous comments that you have just come out with. And who won the election six months ago? Not you. People are over that.

They know that this government has provided a safe and secure environment for those people that needed it during one of the worst periods that this country – that the world – has seen in our lifetime. So for the opposition to make ridiculous comments about spending too much money and not creating enough jobs is ridiculous. It is absolutely ridiculous. I am shocked that they have actually put it on the table, because it gives us an opportunity to reflect on what we have delivered since 2014 and in particular what we achieved and what we did during the worst period of this state’s history in dealing with COVID-19. For the decisions that the Premier and senior ministers had to make during that time they deserve applause, not the criticism that we continue to hear from this mob over here.

These are important things. We had the Leader of the Opposition in 2022 come to Geelong and tell my community that they were not going to give them any further business support, that Geelong would become part of Melbourne and that key areas like climate change were the responsibility of industry and not government. Is it any wonder they lost the election and did not come anywhere near us in Geelong?

A member: Was Darryn Lyons the candidate?

Chris COUZENS: No, that was 2018; 2022 was a different candidate. What we have now got in Victoria is that this government holds 18 regional seats. Every one of those regional members is representing and advocating for their community all the time, and they are delivering for their community. We see lots of announcements across regional Victoria, and there are lots of announcements in my electorate of Geelong. The big infrastructure projects are actually creating jobs. We do not have an issue with jobs in Geelong. We want those things to be coming into our community, the infrastructure jobs: the great things like the women’s and children’s hospital and the jobs that that will bring – and we are all looking forward to that building over the next couple of years – and the schools and upgrades that have happened there and the rebuilds of schools. We have had a significant share in my community of Geelong and right across the Geelong region. There is the tech school, having that built and the jobs created from that, and then the jobs created for the really amazing teachers that are in there teaching our secondary school students. There is the Green Spine and the Geelong Arts Centre, which we are about to see open in August this year.

The investment in Geelong has really been significant, and what it has done is create jobs and create a vibrancy in my community, where people can see what we are delivering every day that we are in government. They appreciate that fact. They are not worried about what those opposite are saying over there, I can tell you now. They will often say that they have not delivered anything for them. They do not even go and talk to them, in fact. We picked up South Barwon in 2018. We have been able to maintain those four key Labor seats in Geelong, and I think we will continue to maintain them if that is the performance that those opposite are going to deliver and talk about – making Geelong a part of Melbourne and not supporting the community and infrastructure not being the role of government. Well, my community would differ on that opinion, because we like to see those big infrastructure projects coming in. We want to see three-year-old kinder being rolled out. That will make such a huge difference. The childcare facilities that we have committed to over the next decade will enable women to go to work or parents to go to work and not have to worry about having to pay for child care.

These are really significant reforms that this government has made, which is why regional communities are continuing to vote for a Labor government. It is because of what we are doing. We have made significant reforms from the time we were elected in 2014 right up until the current day, and we will continue to do that, because we listen to what regional communities are saying. We are listening to what they need in terms of services and the changes that the communities want to see. We do not need negative stories coming into our community that are not even true, I have got to say. The misinformation that gets put out there by those opposite in our communities is unacceptable. It is all they know. It is about telling misinformation to communities like mine and others across regional Victoria.

Regional Victoria plays such a significant role. We can talk about agriculture and all those really important things. I know the minister responsible in the other place has such a strong commitment to agriculture and to regional Victoria. What she has been able to deliver is incredible, and also in our TAFE sector, delivering free TAFE. That free TAFE, we are now seeing the results of. When I go to the TAFE in Geelong or I go to visit an employer, I meet those people that have been the beneficiaries of a free TAFE course, people who may never have had that opportunity in the past. A lot of them are the first people in their family to actually get a qualification. That is really significant, and they are the things that matter to our communities, not this rubbish that gets put out by those opposite. It is those people out there that are actually experiencing the results of our reforms and our delivery of infrastructure and the things that really matter to people. That is why people are voting –

A member interjected.

Chris COUZENS: The social infrastructure, that is right. So these are really important things to keep in mind when we are talking about regional Victoria. Those opposite delivered nothing in Geelong when they were in power, I have got to say, not one thing – not a school, not an infrastructure project that they could hang their hat on for the whole time they were in government.

A member interjected.

Chris COUZENS: Yes, they were all floating around big-noting themselves, but at the end of the day they delivered nothing. My community of Geelong were very much aware of that, and I think regional Victoria are very much aware of, I suppose, the inadequacies of those opposite. This matter is a ridiculous matter, I have to say. This MPI says nothing to regional Victoria or any other Victorian in this state because what they are saying is a load of rubbish. People are not interested in listening to it, and they can go on and on and on, because people are not listening to them. They are listening to the Andrews Labor government and they are supporting the Andrews Labor government, and regional Victoria is very grateful for that.

Jess WILSON (Kew) (16:52): It is a pleasure to rise to speak on the matter today and support the member for Sandringham’s matter of public importance. I have to say I echo the comments that the member for Sandringham made, and of course the member for Gippsland South, because Victorians are paying more but they are getting less. As we face the horror budget that we expect next week, the parlous state of Victoria’s economy is a great cause of concern for all Victorians.

I think more concerning yet, however, is this government’s cavalier attitude to how its own decisions are making these conditions worse and worse for Victorians. This government continues to spend as if debt and deficit are of no consequence. But perhaps that argument would have more weight if we were not coming off nearly 11 consecutive interest rate rises. Victorian families are feeling the pain. They understand what debt means and what interest rate rises mean for their mortgage repayments. I know the Premier and those opposite like to blame the RBA for the situation that Victoria is in today; they like to blame everyone they can rather than their mismanagement. But net debt in this state has literally never been higher, as the member for Gippsland South very adequately pointed out earlier, and it is set to reach around $166 billion by 2025–26. This represents a whopping 25 per cent of the economy. That is 50 per cent higher than any other state in the federation. Since Labor won government in 2014, net debt as a percentage of gross state product has quadrupled from 5 per cent. We know those opposite like to blame COVID, but as the member for Sandringham pointed out, COVID is a small portion of that debt.

If we cast back to the post-Cain–Kirner recession, net debt as a percentage of GSP peaked at 16 per cent in 1993. Indeed Victoria’s current level of net debt compares to the post Cain and Kirner recession peak of $18.8 billion in 1995. That is equivalent to around $35 billion in today’s currency, so compared to back in the Cain–Kirner recession we are now more than $100 billion further in debt than at the worst time in our state’s history. No family would run their household budget in this way. It is irresponsible, to say the very least. It is impossible for a family or for a small business to have the capacity to run their budget in this way, and as we have heard today every single day Victorians are paying $10 million in interest repayments on Labor’s debt. Interest alone will be over $7.3 billion within two years. That is money that could fix crumbling classrooms or reduce hospital waitlists for Victorians that are needing much-needed surgery, and as the member for Gippsland South pointed out, what could that do in your local electorate? In a couple of days we could have funded major upgrades to many of the schools in Kew – in Balwyn Primary School and Kew East Primary School. We could fund in about 10 days the much-needed infrastructure upgrade to the 48 tram. That is what that money could go to if it were not being spent on interest repayments.

It is not just us on this side of the house that are concerned about the Labor government’s debt. The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry noted in its own budget submission to the Treasurer that:

The Government should also focus on fiscal repair to reduce the State’s debt via cost reduction and project control. It’s imperative that the forecasted path to budget surplus is met, as we must protect the State’s ability to borrow money at competitive rates, via our credit rating.

A clear warning there from the Victorian chamber. This is the debt and interest on debt that will have to be paid off by future generations in Victoria, and it is absolutely unconscionable that we would choose to burden the youngest members of our society with this responsibility. Of course, that is not to say that current taxpayers are spared this burden. This government, as we know, is addicted to taxes. Victoria is the highest taxed state in the nation and has the highest amount of any state within the federation. Victorians, as we have seen, are paying more than $5000 per person, yet tax revenue is forecast to increase by 14 per cent by 2025–26. What does that actually mean? That means an extra $650 per person for every single Victorian in the years ahead because of rising taxes under this government.

As the Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and Housing Affordability I have particular concern when it comes to this government’s addiction to property taxes, and this is driving a housing affordability crisis we are seeing in this state. ABS figures show that Victoria has the highest reliance on property-related taxes compared to all other jurisdictions, equivalent to around 59 per cent of total tax revenue. Last financial year stamp duty alone contributed 33.9 per cent to the state’s coffers. That tax directly hits homebuyers. Stamp duty tax directly hits first home buyers. Those opposite may be comfortable with that, but it is harder for people to get into their own homes and harder for them to buy their own home with taxes rising at every opportunity. We know those on the other side and the Premier himself have said that people do not care about home ownership anymore, it is no big deal and Victorians just want to rent forever. Well, we know that is not the case. We know that because a recent survey held by the Age showed that of those Victorians between 18 and 34, only 1 per cent said they did not want to buy their own home. It is clear that home ownership remains the goal of so many young Australians who seek the stability and the assurance that owning their own piece of this great state brings, and yet this government is doing nothing to fix this. In fact they are doing the opposite by raising taxes, whether that is stamp duty or whether that is land tax. Every part of this government is focused on how to make it harder for Victorians to get into their own home.

On the issue around housing affordability, if we look at some of the metrics here in Victoria, just today we saw those opposite in the other place vote against an inquiry into the rental crisis in Victoria, vote against an opportunity to bring people to the table – tenants, landlords and experts in this space – to better understand how we can actually put forward solutions to fixing the rental crisis in Victoria. But those opposite voted against that. Those opposite do not care about the opinions of those in the rental market. Home loans in Victoria are down 33 per cent on what they were one year ago, the biggest drop of all states. And out of all the states, new builds have fallen the most in Victoria, down in the past 12 months. It is getting harder and harder to own property in Victoria.

Beyond housing affordability, one of the big issues at play in this budget is clearly infrastructure cost blowouts. As a result of these cost blowouts we are seeing many of the major projects promised by those opposite being put at risk and not being built, whether that is the Geelong fast rail, the Melbourne Airport link, the North East Link, the Frankston to Baxter rail line, the Shepparton bypass or the Canterbury Road upgrade – all of these projects are seeing significant blowouts – or whether it is the $13 billion on the North East Link, the $8 billion combined on the West Gate Tunnel and the Metro Tunnel or the enormous blowout on the Suburban Rail Loop, which was initially looked at at $50 billion but the Parliamentary Budget Office recently costed it at over $125 billion. This is contempt for taxpayer dollars. There is no value for money, and now we are in a situation where the government has overpromised and is going to underdeliver.

On top of all of that, we have got agency blowouts, whether that is WorkCover, the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority or the Victorian Building Authority – all in the red. Whether it is the Andrews government’s budget itself or its agencies, we are seeing major financial mismanagement right across this state.

Next week the Labor government faces a crucial test. Will this government be up to the task of budget repair? Will it knuckle down and do the hard yards needed to get Victoria’s economy back on track, or will there be more taxes, more deficits, more debt, more recklessness and more waste? Will the promised operating surplus of 2025–26 be delivered? Victorians deserve a budget that cuts taxes, particularly those property taxes that are crippling housing affordability in this state and making it harder for first home buyers to get into the market. They deserve a budget without blowouts. They deserve a budget that brings down debt levels. They deserve a budget that will put Victoria on a sustainable financial footing where investment can occur in our hospitals, our schools and our roads so we can actually all get ahead. Victorians are paying more, but they are getting less.

Iwan WALTERS (Greenvale) (17:02): Deputy Speaker, it is great to see you in the chair. It is a pleasure to rise to speak on this motion – and the Shadow Treasurer, wasn’t he full of zip and pep? But what he had in delivery he lacked in substance, and that selective cherrypicking of facts was matched by that hoary old trope, that Thatcherite trope that a state’s or a nation’s economy is just like a household budget. Spare me; if we are going to manage an economy like that, then no wonder those opposite are going to be out of power for a lot longer.

The federal Liberal Party might prefer it to be otherwise, but Victoria is not an entity unto itself. We are part of a federation. I believe the Shadow Treasurer touched upon the nature of federalism in his speech when he talked about roads in New South Wales and Queensland, but what he failed to mention is that Victoria exists as part of a federation, and at least since 1942 the federal government in Canberra has held the majority of the fiscal drivers of this country, the key levers and the drivers of national economic policy and prosperity.

I want to provide a little bit of context for the member for Sandringham. Under the Morrison government Australia was falling behind the rest of the world on a number of key economic and social measures. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, that government had badly managed the national economy. Real wages in Australia were 0.7 per cent lower in 2019 compared with 2013, with Australia ranked third-last out of 35 OECD countries for wage growth. Over eight years of that previous federal Liberal government Australia’s productivity rate steadily declined, from 2013 when Australia ranked 10th among 34 OECD nations to 2018 when it ranked fifth. The federal Liberals under their revolving door of prime ministers presided over the worst period experienced by Australian household economies since the Great Depression – that might be a laughing matter to some members, but I think it is a tragedy for Australian households who experienced that decline. Real household disposable income fell by 1 per cent in the quarter leading up to March 2020, the last quarter before COVID hit. At that point it was half a per cent lower than in December 2011. So thanks to the policies of the previous federal Liberal government, Australian households did not just stand still. The policies of that party – the party opposite – sent them actively backwards. The typical Australian household experienced zero real income growth under that rotating door of the previous federal government.

Now, I want to talk about per capita incomes as well.

Brad Rowswell: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, I have been listening quite closely to the member who is on his feet at the moment. Having drafted the matter of public importance together with the Clerk that is before the house at the moment, there is no reference in the matter of public importance that I have drafted for the house’s consideration that refers to the former federal Morrison Liberal government. On relevance, I would ask you to bring the member back to the matter of public importance being discussed.

Iwan WALTERS: On the point of order, Deputy Speaker, the Shadow Treasurer has proposed an MPI that refers to the fiscal management of this state. As I was saying, this state exists as part of a Commonwealth in which fiscal policy and macro-economic policy are determined at a federal level. The policies of this government are responsive to that government.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I will rule on the point of order. I did actually listen to the opening contribution, and the federal government was mentioned in that contribution to my recollection, so it has been a fairly wideranging debate.

Brad Rowswell interjected.

Iwan WALTERS: No, that is right. Much appreciated, member for Sandringham. Thank you, Deputy Speaker, for that clarification. I am not surprised that the Shadow Treasurer does not want to hear more of this important context, because if he did he would be trying to hide the fact that on a per capita basis the Australian economy managed by his party had a deep recession in the year just before COVID. It had a fixation on headline numbers, which were propped up by Australia’s rapid population growth, and indeed it is only that population growth that prevented technical recessions from occurring on a regular basis through his party’s management. I want to contrast this with the reforms of Labor, the Hawke and Keating government, which saw Australian per person GDP peak at about 3 per cent a year 20 years ago. It hit rock bottom under the Abbott–Turnbull–Morrison Liberal governments. Between 2013 and 2020 growth in real GDP per Australian citizen was the worst since the Great Depression, and that is what the Andrews Labor government’s economic policies were always combating for the first two terms of our government. Isn’t it great to have a new partner in Canberra that is committed to getting Australian wages moving again. That is why it is so relevant that this afternoon the ABS has just advised us that wages growth is at the highest level since 2012, at 3.7 per cent.

The Andrews government’s investment in infrastructure is an integral part of our fiscal policy, but we are playing catch-up after four years of apathetic neglect, infighting and inaction that this party experienced or indulged in when it was last in power. Does that sound familiar to anybody else? Because it does to me. The infighting that is racking them at the moment was prevalent between 2010 and 2014, and that infighting meant that they were focused more on themselves than on delivering for Victorians. While those opposite sat on their hands for four years, we have been getting on with delivering the infrastructure and the services that growing communities absolutely need and deserve: schools, roads, public transport. This is a government in the tradition of Bracks and Brumby: sustainable fiscal management to enable delivery of quality infrastructure. I remember those years before 2010 when the Deer Park bypass was built out towards Melton – I was on that every week going up to Stawell; the Craigieburn bypass; the Calder Freeway extended road to Bendigo; the Craigieburn extension that residents in my community rely upon. What did we get between 2010 and 2014?

A member interjected.

Iwan WALTERS: Doughnuts, as the member for Narracan might say.

What is really important to me is that this government’s fiscal policies have enabled investment in school infrastructure and the quality of teaching across Victoria. I was a teacher between 2010 and 2014, when educational standards and educational infrastructure atrophied in this state. What supports those is a sound, prudent fiscal policy and investment in the future. If we want a productive, diversified, successful economy that delivers for Victorians and provides them with the skills they need to thrive into the future, we need to be investing in education. What has this government done? It has built the Education State. It has invested in education infrastructure at a record level: $12.8 billion of new and upgraded school buildings across Victoria, a record investment in our specialist schools, a record investment in TAFE and training after it was gutted by those opposite. I have worked in that sector, and it was shambolic, what we took over in 2014. Building the Education State is not an abstract concept, it is grounded in fiscal policy – grounded in this government’s budget decisions. We put our money, Victorians’ money, where our mouth is. We are committed to education because it delivers for Victorians.

So it is a bit rich to take lessons from the opposition, who have been out of power since 2014 I would argue precisely because they did not respond to the priorities of Victorians with their fiscal decisions. They did not deliver the infrastructure and services that a growing economy, a growing state, requires. This government has, as I said, with $12.8 billion in new schools, ensuring that every Victorian family regardless of where they live have the infrastructure and the services they need to thrive through their life. There are 1890 capital projects at schools across the state. There are 100 new schools being built between 2019 and 2026, and we are ahead of schedule, with 75 already built. Victoria is leading the way on new school construction, with ABS data showing that nearly half of new schools that were built in Australia were built in Victoria, and the previous Parliamentary Secretary for Education knows that very well. I believe the shadow minister at the table talked about population growth driving some of those things. It does drive those things, and that is why our fiscal policy has been responsive to that population growth. We have not sat on our hands doing nothing for four years, we have made sure that services and infrastructure keep pace with the growth of our state. That costs money. But it is an investment in our future, and the Treasurer will deliver another great budget next Tuesday.

Cindy McLEISH (Eildon) (17:12): I am just horrified to think that the member who has just spoken has been misled, because he is the only one who is saying that it is going to be a good budget next week; everybody else is saying it is going to be a horror budget. Now, it is no secret that Victoria is mired in debt. Every day the state’s finances take another hit and we go further and further down the gurgler. It is indeed very worrying. Nothing could be truer than the statement that we are paying more and getting less. Victorian families are being ripped off. It does not matter where you look, they are being ripped off, because this Andrews government is mired in debt. At the same time, they are addicted to taxes. This is one area where they have overdelivered, because Daniel Andrews said that there would be no new taxes. Even though there are 44 or so – I guess 44 times zero is still zero – that he has introduced –

Brad Rowswell: Underpromise, overdeliver.

Cindy McLEISH: He has underpromised and overdelivered with taxes. When you look at the figures that the taxation is drawing in, you can see why he is having to do this, because there is so much waste and so much mismanagement. This did not sneak up on us; this has been happening gradually. I think if you go back and have a look at the figures from the budget in 2019–20, where we had debt at $44.3 billion and it was projected that by this time, 2022–23, it would be $54.9 billion – whoa. From $44 billion up to $54.9 billion would be a $10 billion jump in that four-year period, but it actually went up to $116 billion. That is today; that is not over the forwards, where it is expected to go to $166 billion. I do not know if the members on the other side are really aware that this has to be paid. Someone has to pay this money back. We cannot borrow and borrow and borrow. And who pays? The taxpayer pays: Joe Average, the family, everybody.

I want to go back to the 2019–20 levels, because at the time I remember us being quite concerned that debt was going to jump to $54.9 billion. Then the bushfires hit and I thought, ‘Well, they’ve got no hope of those projections.’ Blow me down, you know, there were bushfires. We remember my electorate was hit. Mallacoota was hit quite badly, down in Gippsland. There were areas that really suffered badly, and the government was going to have to help with some of that. On top of that, we had COVID. When we look at why we have got this huge debt, it is pretty easy for people to say, ‘Oh, we had bushfires and we had COVID.’ Well, no, we have had an extraordinary culture of waste and mismanagement. If you have a look at the government’s numbers on what COVID cost, COVID cost $35.8 billion. With where we are today, with the debt that we have, that is a difference of $25 billion anyway, so we have still got that extra $25 billion. And it is not creeping up. The government has known this. They have had to try to do a few smoke-and-mirrors tricks, to have a look at the books a different way that they might be able to present them so it is harder to find. I will tell you, when you are going through the budget and you are looking for your portfolio’s finances, there is a little bit here and a little bit there, and you have got to look under that rock because they have got things all over the place, which makes it harder to track. But we are pretty dedicated and committed to getting to the bottom of all of that.

With the state of our finances there is the obvious comparison with the Cain–Kirner government, and weren’t we all in a bad state at that time. The Victoria everybody knew was well and truly down the gurgler. Their debt was $18.8 billion. Wow – what am I saying now? $116 billion is where we are. But let us have a look at what that is in today’s terms: that is $35.8 billion. That is a third of what we have today, and we were so worried about where Victoria was going to end up because of the financial debt mismanagement. I wonder very much if the same thing is going to happen. At that time the Cain government was mired in debt as well, and the Premier left the Parliament and put Joan Kirner in place. She had to deal with it. I wonder if the same thing is going to happen, but I am not sure whether we are going to have the member for Bendigo East as the next Premier or the member for Niddrie, because I understand there is a little bit of argy-bargy about who it is going to be. We might have one anointed by the Premier, but –

Brad Rowswell: Calculator at the ready, happy to do the numbers.

Cindy McLEISH: Absolutely. We know the member for Niddrie is out there. We know he is having a look at how that might go.

When we are having a look at this culture of waste and mismanagement, this is why we have the debt. It is not because we have been unlucky. We started from a bad position before COVID, before bushfires. We started from a pretty ordinary position, and it has just got worse. We know that waste is absolutely in the DNA of the Labor government. The projects so far are calculated at well over $30 billion of waste and over-budget costs.

On top of that, we are the highest taxed state in the nation in Victoria – Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania combined. It is a pretty sad state. But not only that, we are spending $10 million a day just to service our debt, and that means we cannot do other things that matter. I know Mansfield really need a new hospital, and that would take seven full days, $70 million. That would work just nicely for them. I know there are so many other issues in my electorate – the roads. Gosh, wouldn’t it be nice to have a good solid investment in roads, because I can tell you right now we do not have it. And I will tell you also who is making all the money. It is Tyrepower and all the tyre repair places. Driver after driver is having to head into these businesses because their tires have popped. I have spoken to Tyrepower in Benalla, Croydon and Seymour and the dealership that do it in Healesville. They are all saying they have people constantly coming in because the government does not have enough money to invest in the state’s roads.

I am just going to touch for a moment on small businesses, because they are doing it tough as well. We see that they do not get much help from this state Labor government. We had a federal budget the other day, and Jim Chalmers got up there and he talked about ‘Isn’t it fabulous, you’re going to have a $650 bill relief in small business.’ We are not sure if it is really an energy relief payment or a bit of a rebate from the way it is being done, but he said, ‘Isn’t this great for small business.’ Let us have a look at the energy.gov.au website on the Energy Bill Relief Fund for small business. How much can you get? It depends where you are, because you will get $650 of bill relief if your eligible small business is in these states and territories: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Guess who is not there? Victoria is not there –

Brad Rowswell: There’s nothing for Victoria?

Cindy McLEISH: Nothing for Victoria. We have the Minister for Energy and Resources banging on and saying everybody gets that $250 at home. Let me tell you, the small business owner has a home. They have got the heater on at home and they have got the air conditioner on at home and they are trying to run a business – they are trying to employ people. It might be a retailer, it might be somebody in the tourism sector – a whole host of areas. They are trying to run their business and they need to use energy to do so, so they have been shafted by this government. It seems that every other government around the country can match it, but not Victoria.

Again we have to have a look at why Victoria cannot match it. It is because we have got this massive debt and we cannot afford it. We cannot afford it because the government cannot get its finances in order. Their financial acumen is very, very poor. In fact I think it is pretty well missing. We know what they are good at. They are good at waste – that is part of their DNA. I have said that before. But we have pretty well got, I would say, a state of financial emergency in Victoria. We have a rental crisis. People are trying to pay bills. They are trying to keep their car on the road and fix those popped tyres that are happening, if you are in the bush, all of the time. They are trying to get on with their lives and they are finding inflation is running very quickly, moving quicker than the government certainly would like. They are being slugged every which way.

Since the Andrews Labor government was elected nine years ago, Victoria’s tax take is set to double, and it is going to increase by another 14 per cent over the next three years. So I think what the Shadow Treasurer has put down before us today, a matter of public importance, is in fact extremely important. It is important for every single one of us – every person who contributes to society, every family, every child at school that might miss out because the government cannot get enough mental health practitioners in schools because we are having workforce issues. We have got agencies reaping the rewards, not the agency staff reaping rewards. There are so many issues, and this government is not onto them.

Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (17:22): I would say it is a pleasure to rise and speak on the matter of public importance (MPI) of the opposition, but it is a bit of cheap politics here from the member for Sandringham. It is that cheap politics that we saw leading into the 2022 campaign, and it feels like a re-run, like a really poor sitcom – or maybe, as the member for Bulleen said, ‘You know they got it wrong’, and it is the internal leaks rather than this issue that has already been played out with Victorians over and over and over again. We saw the debt, we saw the deficit conversation that was had and Victorians saw through a cheap six dot point shopping list here. They saw through that because Victorians realised what journey we had been on with the impact of the pandemic, with impacts on –

Cindy McLeish: Weren’t you listening to me?

Tim RICHARDSON: Yes, I did listen, and I tell you what it was a struggle, member for Eildon. We did listen. I dug deep. It is like me running 5 kilometres: I have just got to keep telling myself to go, and it was like ‘Just listen’. But I did hear your contribution, which was well out of the realms of reasonable. But you had a crack. Good on you.

The reality of this MPI is that Victorians have seen through the cheap politics of those opposite. When we consider the journey that our state has been on and the impacts of the pandemic and the costs, it is quite extraordinary. When we saw federal debt come up, two-thirds was before the pandemic and one-third was attributed to the pandemic, and we did not see any one of those opposite at all talk about that, especially not the hero of the member for Kew, Josh Frydenberg. What did Josh say when there was the COVID recovery budget? ‘The more debt and deficit is the price on saving livelihoods.’ That is what the federal Treasurer at the time Josh Frydenberg, the hero of the member for Kew and so many others, was on the record as saying with record debt going towards $1 trillion. Then there was a great deal of uncertainty, and the health crisis had such a severe economic impact.

A member interjected.

Tim RICHARDSON: That is right. We agreed, and that is what Victorians experienced during that time. We had an unprecedented one-in-100-year pandemic, and it required Victorians to wilfully go into debt to support our economy, to support jobs and to support the health and wellbeing of Victorians. That is the absence in the story of debt that those opposite have not confronted. When we were confronting the challenges and the economic crisis, those opposite were tearing down health messages, wearing silly masks, sledging people, as the member for Brighton would say, and undermining the economic reforms and impacts that we were having. What it says is that they would not have taken the action. They would have sent our economy spiralling even further. It would not have been the V-shaped recovery that we saw, it would have been U-shaped or worse. It would have flattened out and caused generations of disadvantage and economic impact. But we reached in, and as the Treasurer said at the COVID budget hearings when I was a member of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, we made that decision and we knew that we would have to come back in years to come and fix that.

There has been a lot said about infrastructure. There is a Liberal hero that those opposite love to refer to time and time again, the most successful Liberal leader certainly in recent times. ‘Who is that?’ they say. The member for Brighton is going, ‘Hang on, it wasn’t me. I’m not the leader yet.’ The member for Kew did a much better job than the member for Sandringham. I think the member for Kew might be getting the next MPI, but that is okay. But who is it? Who is the person that said those immortal words? With a building boom in new infrastructure on Australia’s east coast pitting states against each other, this Premier said, ‘It’s okay if costs are increased from estimates at the start of projects.’ Who was it? Who said that comment? Who do they refer to time and time again as the gold standard for economic reform and jobs? ‘We all want to go back to colonial times and have just one big state – New South Wales.’ Premier Dom Perrottet. Remember those opposite: ‘Oh, we’ve got to be more like Dom. Oh, we’ve got to be more like Gladys. Come on, Dan.’ Well, it was Dom Perrottet that said that it can increase from that time.

James Newbury interjected.

Tim RICHARDSON:It’s not all about you, member for Brighton. I know it is the tutu, look-at-me episode and you get your time on camera. I mean, rumour has it you are the fastest to request broadcasting and get video footage in this Parliament’s history. ‘Can I get the video footage? I’ve got to see myself.’ Rumour has it he is in the lead on that.

But Premier Perrottet went on to say, ‘These increases are not unique to New South Wales. It’s happening right across the eastern seaboard.’ Last time I checked that includes Victoria, so we are on a unity ticket there with the most successful Liberal government in recent memory in the nation, the Perrottet–Berejiklian–Baird–O’Farrell government. There were a few, but it was the most successful Liberal government. But then what did Premier Perrottet go on to say?

We have a duty to make sure we get our projects built that are value for taxpayers, but ultimately, we’ve got to keep going.

And that is exactly right. We are not immune to some of those impacts and those issues, so it is cheap politics to come in here and re-run a 2022 campaign narrative that failed so spectacularly. We have never seen the primary of the Liberals this low in living memory. This is because you cannot come in with six dot points that you have practised in front of the mirror for 15 minutes as your contribution and think that is enough. Victorians are onto this. They know the choices that were made, and those were difficult choices made under duress. They knew that there would be a debt impact and we would have to pay it back. That is why we have established the Victorian Future Fund to help pay down the pandemic debt, and every dollar put into this fund and every dollar of earnings will be quarantined and used to repay those borrowings. Those are the responsible decisions. We had an impact and we responded to that.

For those opposite to come in here and do the cheap politics and the shopping lists and the same dot points that we hear over and over again – I mean, dig deep. Listen to your former leader the member for Bulleen and learn the lesson that it was about the leaks and dishonesty with the Victorian people. That is what it was about. It was the undermining; it was the poor narrative. You lost your way. Come in here and have a sensible debate.

Those in the northern state that had the most successful government in recent history for the Liberals acknowledged that we had to go into debt. One of the heroes of the member for Kew, Josh Frydenberg, made that point over and over and over in 2020 and 2021: ‘It’s okay to have a trillion-dollar debt.’ Imagine if you applied the narratives of the member for Kew and the standard that has been set by the member for Sandringham today on their heroes. They could not find him a seat. He could not go back in through Aston; that would have been a disaster. But that is where we are at the moment, and that is an important point when we are the engine room. The member for Sandringham goes, ‘Well, we should just keep creating jobs.’ Hello – 460,000 jobs since September 2020. We are the engine room of the nation’s economy. Half of the jobs in Victoria from before the pandemic have been recreated in our state. We have the tools and the energy and the purpose, with our people in Victoria and the investment attraction that we take in, to really surge through in the years to come. The aspiration and hope in Victoria are substantial.

Those opposite can talk down the Victorian economy; they can talk down jobs. I mean, I thought I was having a laugh here. I thought, no, the glasses are playing up: 3.6 to 4.5 per cent by 2025 – that is what they are talking about for the unemployment rate. I thought, ‘Goodness me, the member for Sandringham must have fallen out with the member for Malvern’, because what did he preside over – a 6.7 per cent unemployment rate. I thought, that is a bit cheeky. I know they were close before, and they were part of the 18 or 19 team. I am not sure of the 11 – we are not quite sure. But I thought that is an extraordinary number to draw attention to how successful the Victorian economy has been post when the Liberals had that blip of four years where they did not do anything. They come in here and say, ‘Oh, we’re better economic managers. We can run projects better.’ Are they going to get on the shovel, like we have seen Dom Perrottet, saying that this is the economic impact? Are they better economic managers? They did not build anything during that time. They did not deliver a major infrastructure project during that time. In my community we have delivered major roads and level crossing removals. The Suburban Rail Loop is not far away from being in the ground; Metro Tunnel is not far from being completed.

I thought, ‘Well, they keep coming up with this.’ Debt during the pandemic – the feds’ was two-thirds. One-third was during the pandemic, two-thirds was pre that budget, and I thought, ‘They keep making this mistake’, because the narrative is so contradictory they are going to be found out between what their federal counterparts did, where the whole nation’s economy was and where the New South Wales example was. I thought I had better simplify it; I had better draw it back. So two-thirds of the debt before we came into the pandemic was federal. That is like 19 or 18 numbers out of 30. Then on the other side was one-third. One-third of that was related to the pandemic. That is like having 11 numbers out of 30. Just to give them a sense, they had those numbers recently during that leadership shemozzle: there were 19 that barely had confidence in the Leader of the Opposition and then 11 that cannot stand him and just want him gone. That is the level. That is the narrative around a two-thirds and a one-third majority, because Victorians understand that difference, and that is why they resoundingly voted for an Andrews Labor government to continue to get on with delivering for all Victorians. That is why this MPI is an absolute shambles.

Sam HIBBINS (Prahran) (17:33): I rise to speak on behalf of the Greens to this matter of public importance put forward by the member for Sandringham. There has been a lot of talk in this debate about debt and deficit, but why has no-one mentioned or brought up the real impacts of the social and environmental deficit that people are currently facing right across Victoria? Just look at homelessness rates: over 30,000 people experiencing homelessness in Victoria every single night. That is an increase of around 24 per cent since the last census, well above the 5 per cent increase nationally. You have got up to about 120,000 people, including children, on the public housing waiting list. It is going up, and it has gone up almost every year since this government has been in office. You have got young people who are experiencing mental ill health waiting six to 12 months to access the care that they need. You have got people on the public dental waiting list waiting on average 16 months for dental treatment. You have got the cost of living skyrocketing, with people needing emergency relief, food and material aid. You have got community service organisations struggling, unable to keep up with demand. You have got workers experiencing the biggest real wage cut on record. You have got our ecosystems on the brink of collapse, the number of threatened species continuing to rise – over 2000 plants and animals under threat. This is the real debt and deficit that we are facing here in Victoria, and it comes at a time when we have already got, in Victoria, below the national average funding for public education, below the national average funding for public hospitals and below the national average funding for public housing. This is data from the Productivity Commission.

Let us talk about young people, who are being left behind and facing the prospect of being a generation that is worse off than the one that came before them. It is harder to afford a house, harder to get a secure well-paying job, harder to get by and easier to find yourself in poverty or homeless if things do not go right, and of course they are facing the impending climate crisis. These are all political choices, and the idea that people in need and our environment can afford the austerity budget that is coming up that cuts funding to services and programs and that cuts jobs is just ridiculous. When I made my first speech in this place, I said –

A member: Was it as memorable as this one?

Sam HIBBINS: Well, mate, you should listen. I said that in the good times we must move away –

Members interjecting.

Sam HIBBINS: As I was just saying, you should listen to this. Obviously you were not listening to my first speech in 2014, because you might have taken a different direction, or maybe you did listen and you chose a different direction.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I remind the member for Prahran that ‘you’ refers to the Chair.

Sam HIBBINS: Thank you, Deputy Speaker. We must move away from the boom–bust cycle of governing, where in the good times the chequebook opens and in bad times the red pen comes out and rules a line through programs and infrastructure that people depend on.

Pre election the state government did not tell anyone that this was going to be a slash-and-burn budget, their first budget coming up. In fact when they released their Labor’s Financial Statement 2022, as I outlined during question time, they said their promises were fully funded and fully costed. They said that and made points about cuts and closures. They said:

… Matthew Guy’s Liberals want to try to cut and close and call it good management …

They said:

“Matthew Guy’s Liberals’ plan for cuts and closures would not only hurt Victorians’ jobs and livelihoods – it would put our state’s entire economic recovery at risk.”

They said:

“Our election promises are fully-funded … without privatising, increasing net debt or introducing new taxes.”

They were providing themselves with an economic straitjacket. They are not the first government to do this. I think we recall when the Liberals were elected in 2010 promising no increase in taxes, no increase in debt and no cuts to public sector workers. Well, of course when they were in government there was next to nothing when it came to infrastructure, they cut public sector jobs and promised a massive pay rise for teachers – the best paid in the country they said they were going to be. That did not happen. And they did end up having to break the fiscal straitjacket that they set for themselves. But why do governments seem to feel that they can just make these promises prior to the election and in the first budget after completely break them – in this budget? Why is it that public sector workers should cop it when they have got to break these promises? Why is it people in need that cop it when they have got to break these promises? And what is coming up? If the budget is what has been foreshadowed, it is going to be exactly what the Liberals did in their time in office.

In terms of economic management, I will just make a couple of points. In terms of infrastructure and debt, of course we should be borrowing to build, and certainly that was something the Greens very much supported and very much encouraged. We should be using public debt to fund infrastructure. But where this government has erred is that it cannot just be a case of ‘Well, the other mob didn’t build, so we’ll just build.’ The frameworks in terms of what you were exactly investing in – there were none. For example, the North East Link, something I have raised in this house, started at $10 billion, went to $16 billion and is probably going to be more than that. That is going to put 100,000 cars on the road. We have now got the Suburban Rail Loop at many billions of dollars. When they were first promoting that, that was going to take 100,000 cars off the road. So you are spending $18 billion to put the cars on the road and how many billions to take them off the road? Why don’t you just take them off the road in the first place? We have got billions of dollars being spent on jails for these tough-on-crime policies. Now the jails are sitting empty. Then we have got the addiction to sweetheart deals and public-private partnerships that are no doubt going to come back to bite the government, and there have been very generous deals.

There is a clear pathway for this government, and every decision needs to put people in need and the environment at its heart. It is always people that miss out when governments need to make so-called ‘tough decisions’. They need to be raising revenue from profiteering corporations like the big banks, property developers and the gambling industry. The big banks are on track to raise $33 billion of profit this year – record profits at a time when people are struggling and Victorians are struggling with the cost of living. These banks are too big to fail and they are given effectively a subsidy by the government, so a levy is an absolutely fair return and a fair level of taxation that could deliver billions of dollars of revenue here in Victoria.

And what could that pay for? What do we need: more affordable and public housing here in Victoria, direct investment in building public housing – not some sort of convoluted privatisation deal but actual direct investment in public housing. We need much higher wages for public sector workers. We had one of the harshest wage caps here in Victoria. It has gone up to now 3 per cent; they should abolish it. We need more free GPs, dentists and psychologists. The waiting lists for people needing dental care or needing mental health care or even to see an affordable GP – we have got the community health sector crying out for more funding to be able to deliver these services, and this government is cutting funding to them. And then we need dedicated funding to end extinction. The Parliamentary inquiry into extinction last year showed it was very clear: to reverse the decline in species here in Victoria needs dedicated funding.

I have got to mention in the time that I have got left, in regard to housing, it is extraordinary that today the Labor Party teamed up with Moira Deeming on the crossbench in the other place to vote down an inquiry into the rental crisis. This is a government whose current housing policies include no rent freeze, no ongoing rent caps, a weak vacancy tax, no social housing levy, privatised public housing land, no regulation of short stay and no reform to stamp duty. This is a government that do not want an inquiry into the rental crisis because they do not want to listen to renters who are struggling.

Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (17:42): I am very pleased to join my colleagues on this side of the house to talk about the member for Sandringham’s shocking, yet not surprising, matter of public importance that has been put forward to this house today. It might be the end of the day, but there are two things that have really stuck with me after listening to the debate in this house today, and I have been sitting here for many, many hours today listening to both sides of the house. The first thing I want to say is that, as someone who was not born and bred in Victoria, this is an amazing state. I love Victoria. I feel very, very optimistic about her future, and I feel very optimistic and have faith in the Victorian people, their spirit and their resilience. We saw that on display for two very difficult and long years during a one-in-100-year pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an amazing state. I listen to those opposite and certainly as it comes to the end of the day I quite often wonder why they are still sitting here and living here in this state. Victorians that would be listening to your contributions today would also be wondering why you bother staying here if it is constant doom and gloom. Your lack of belief in Victorians and progress and the future that this state has is truly, truly depressing.

The second thing I would like to say, and I know the member for Gippsland South will love this: those opposite stand for two things, and these are two things that my community talked to me about in 2018 and 2022 – you are all looking at me like there is going to be some surprise, and I promise you there is no surprise – cuts and closure. That is absolutely what you stand for. Time and time again you have sat in this place talking about not wanting to see investment in infrastructure in this state. Victorians in this state and most certainly in Melbourne’s western suburbs know, because we are sitting in one of the largest growth corridors in this state, in this country, that we need to get on and we need to invest in the services and, most importantly, build the infrastructure that we need in Victoria today and will need in the decades to come, because it is no surprise that in decades to come we will have the largest population in the country here in Victoria and surpass Sydney and New South Wales.

Cuts and closures: I feel like we will be going to an election in 3½ years and that will again be something when I am on my feet out on the hustings – not having to talk about it, mind you. I do not need to go and talk to people about cuts and closures. That is what those opposite stand for and the Liberal Party has always stood for – no surprises there. I know the member for Sandringham tried to talk about what is in the DNA of this side of the house. Well, the DNA of that side of the house is cuts and closures every single time. You have learned nothing in eight years, and I have no doubt that in 3½ years you will not have learned anything else. I also feel like for the first time in eight years –

Danny O’Brien: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, you have picked up previous speakers on the issue of using the term ‘you’, which refers to the Chair. I ask you to ensure that the member is referring to members correctly.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: On the point of order, yes, I have, and I do try and allow some context when that is used. I would remind all members that ‘you’ refers to the Chair.

Emma Kealy: Just be straight.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am straight on that one, thank you very much, member for Lowan. I remind all members that ‘you’ refers to the Chair and reflecting on the Chair is out of order.

Sarah CONNOLLY: Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Just for clarity, when I talk about ‘you’ I am meaning those MPs on the opposite side of the house and I am talking about the Liberal–National parties.

There is also something that has stuck with me today. I have been sitting here for four years, and we have been eight years in government. I am sure if someone – it is a shame there are no journos in the gallery – went back and checked Hansard, there would be two words that have been used today, and I am not talking about cuts and closures, more times in this house, in this place, than in the eight years that we have been in government, and that is ‘federal government’. It is almost like those opposite have realised there is another level of government, and in the very, very brief time that the Albanese federal Labor government has been in power, they are suddenly somehow interested in the contributions and the co-funding that comes towards Victoria. Not once in the four years that I have sat here have you ever, ever talked about the lack of funding to this state from your counterparts, your mates in Canberra.

What has struck me as most shocking is that even during the COVID-19 pandemic – when the former coalition Prime Minister forgot to order vaccines and then when the vaccines came into the country sent those vaccines to New South Wales, not Victoria – not one of those sitting opposite ever mentioned the federal government and the lack of funding, the lack of support for Victorians. Even though the former federal Treasurer, the former member for Kooyong, seemed occasionally happy to tell people he was from Victoria, he never actually stood for Victorians. He never fought for the vaccines, he never sent any of that funding to this state, so it is absolutely ludicrous that today we have heard more about the federal government from those opposite than they ever mentioned in the decade that we almost had under the former coalition federal government.

Time and time again on this side of the house, and certainly during the two years of the COVID pandemic, we have spoken rationally about the importance of using our balance sheet to protect the wellbeing of Victorians, of all Victorians. It was no surprise to anyone on this side of the house what those opposite did. Time and time again they questioned the science while listening to the health experts and, very sadly, continued to cavort with conspiracy theorists to undermine the state’s health response. Undermining our state’s health response was some of the most shameful behaviour that I think I have ever seen on display by any political party and indeed here in this place. And now to sit here and listen to those opposite try and talk about debt and spending as though that money did not contribute to us surviving the COVID pandemic or getting on with what is factually the biggest build of infrastructure in the history of Victoria – I mean, come on, let us get real.

When you talk about this state, we know that Victoria is a state where if you are looking for work, chances are this government will have created an entire industry or have a project underway that is looking for workers. This is a state where we can proudly stand up and say we are not only seeking workers but we will even help you get the skills that you need to get a job. In some cases, many cases, tens of thousands of cases, we will even pay for you to get the training and qualifications to do that job.

We talked about job creation, and I think it was the member for Frankston caught in Hansard when he asked those opposite how many jobs they created last time they were in government in this state. I want to reiterate that. That was 39,000 jobs compared to ours, which is hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands – very close to half a million – jobs, many of them well-paying jobs and, most importantly, secure jobs. Those are two words, ‘secure jobs’, that those sitting on that side of the house never seem to mention. I am sure that one could be a Hansard fact check: how many times they have mentioned secure jobs or permanent jobs.

A member: This will be great next week after the budget comes out.

Sarah CONNOLLY: I am very much looking forward to the budget next week in fact. I think it will be a responsible budget, just as the federal one that was handed down was. I cannot wait to hear the contributions from this side of the house and then listen to the vitriol and the negativity from that side of the house when it comes to talking about the budget that the Treasurer will hand down in this place next week.

There is one thing for sure, I would say to the member for Sandringham, that sits in the DNA of the Andrews Labor government, and indeed Labor members right across this state and across this country, and that is that we are a government that is passionate about getting on and delivering the infrastructure and the services that every Victorian needs now and into the future.

Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (17:52): I will be very interested to read the budget and have a look at the cuts in it when it is handed down next week and to reply to that. We have also been told that we are negative on this side. I am going to fill you in on some facts, particularly with regard to regional and rural Victoria. We are paying more and we are getting less. We know that. We have heard valuable contributions from the member for Sandringham and the member for Kew and an excellent contribution from my colleague the member for Gippsland South. We are not getting value for money from the Andrews Labor government, and in regional Victoria we are getting completely ripped off.

A quarter of all Victorians live in regional and rural Victoria, so you would think that 25 per cent of infrastructure spending – 25 per cent of any spending – should come to the regions. Seeing as a quarter of all Victorians live there, that would be practical. But it does not happen. We have heard a lot of talk about the economy and the state of it and a lot of bamboozling us with bollocks. That has been mentioned a few times in here today. $10 million a day in interest could completely fix the Hattah–Robinvale Road, which apparently got $10 million in funding a couple of years ago; we are yet to see it. A couple of potholes have been filled in, and then they get torn up as soon as the temperature hits 35 degrees, or 25 degrees in some cases. That is just on Monday. Then on Tuesday we could fix the Boort-Wycheproof Road and then on Wednesday we could completely fix the Donald-Murtoa Road. We could keep fixing roads and before the end of the financial year we could have an autobahn right around regional Victoria, perfect concrete roads.

I am going to use this contribution – the next 7, nearly 8 minutes – to tell you some stories about how this mismanaged economy affects people on the ground in regional Victoria, and these are facts. These come directly from my constituents. Once upon a time, living in the regions would cost you significantly less than it would to live in the city, and that just added to the sun-drenched lustre of living in the great north-west, the allure. Now it is simply not true. For one, our council rates are the highest in Victoria. Sometimes we are paying triple the council rates of an equivalent property in South Yarra, for example, but that is another story for another day.

I did hear one story today, actually, from a renter who told me that because we only have one natural gas supplier in Mildura – no competition in our part of the world – it is causing issues for those who can least afford it: those who need gas to heat their home, heat their water and cook. This particular person did not even use natural gas for cooking and did not even use natural gas for heating, but his bill, which comes every two months, is at least $160 and getting more expensive. Now, $160 to a lot of people in this place may not sound like a lot of money. Those who can least afford it, who are spending three-quarters of their wage on rent, cannot afford it. There is no competition, so therefore there is a monopoly in the market and they are taking advantage of customers and those who can least afford it.

The geographic isolation in towns in the Mallee and Sunraysia means that there is so much more added expense just to get around. This also impacts that ever-increasing cost of living, and it is really starting to hit hard. It takes you an hour or more to get to a medical appointment, sometimes a hair appointment. It depends where you live. It will take you an hour or more to get to services, sometimes to get to shopping, sometimes to get to grocery shopping, and that costs fuel. All of those other issues are if you are lucky enough to own a car, because there is no public transport. Forget about catching a bus. It is just not going to happen – let alone a train. Do not get me started on the train. That is just not going to happen. You need a car, and then, if you can get there without hitting a foot-deep pothole and having to fix your car afterwards, you have got no money left to put into your grocery bill anyway.

So we are the highest taxed state in the nation, with the highest amount of debt of any other state, and as the member for Gippsland South and the member for Kew have pointed out, is it any wonder we have a housing crisis? I wrote a column about this in our local paper last week. Land tax represents 16.6 per cent of the state’s total tax revenue. I have regular calls to my office, legitimate calls, asking about this stamp duty figure that they have been quoted on the purchase of a new property. Sometimes it might be the generational hand-down of a farm they are taking over. The stamp duty they have to pay, land tax et cetera – we get genuine calls to my office asking if this is legitimate, wondering if it is a joke.

We have people that are irate about the windfall tax, as they should be. Some are actually begging for assistance. Those generational farmers that are taking over farms now are begging for assistance to help pay the outrageous stamp duty so that families can own their own home, and they have to. That is the dream. It is the only way they are going to be able to put a roof over their kids’ heads, because rentals do not exist. It has become far too hard to be a landlord. This land tax has really hit many mum-and-dad investors, and the massive 25 per cent increase in land tax revenue this year will mean that rents will have to increase yet again for Victorians who already use three-quarters of their weekly wage on rent. In fact I have heard from some people asking, once they have paid that: how are they then supposed to send their kids to a public school? How are they supposed to eat?

Danny O’Brien: Most expensive in the country as well.

Jade BENHAM: Exactly, it is the most expensive in the country.

Here is another story. Yesterday we had a call from a mum, and she was desperate. This mum Megan’s beautiful two-year-old girl Octavia desperately needs an operation – desperately. It cannot be done in Mildura for reasons we will get into later. The list on the next closest option, which is Swan Hill for an ENT, is far too long. That public list is far too long for Octavia to wait on – far too long. Octavia, at two years old, is now extremely underweight at just 11 kilograms and is struggling to breathe and eat every day. Can you imagine watching your little girl suffer like that when the solution is actually pretty simple – she just needs surgery. She cannot get it. She cannot get it because her surgeon has said they cannot do it locally, the list is too long at the next option and Megan does not have five grand lying around to pay for a private operation. Who does have five grand lying around these days, when three-quarters of your wage is going to rent?

Danny O’Brien: The human face of the waiting list.

Jade BENHAM: The human face of the waiting list. No-one can afford that. She has actually been advised to access her super to get this operation for her two-year-old who cannot breathe and who cannot eat. She cannot get emergency surgery. It has been looked into. The only option at this point is to go private, and she cannot afford it. These are the issues that cross the sectors and the departments. They run deep, and the human cost is too high; it is very real.

Over the next three years Labor’s tax take will increase by 14 per cent. All of these contributors mean the ends – those ends that we just try and meet every day – are getting further and further away, much less ever being met for everyday Victorians. Unlike the government members on the other side, my colleagues and I are very in touch with our communities. We are talking to them every day, very in touch, which is why we have got stories like this, and we get them every single day. I am here to speak up for them. Those beyond the freeways in actual regional and rural – beautiful rural – Victoria have endorsed the Nationals, with our new members that are here today, as those that are most in touch, and we are saying enough is enough. Victorians do not get value for money from the Andrews Labor government, and in regional Victoria we are getting completely ripped off.