Tuesday, 30 May 2023

Appropriation (2023–2024) Bill 2023

Appropriation (Parliament 2023–2024) Bill 2023

Second reading

Debate resumed on motions of Tim Pallas and Mary-Anne Thomas:

That this bill be now read a second time.

James NEWBURY (Brighton) (12:46): I move:

That debate be adjourned.

Never in 160 years in this place has the opposition been denied an opportunity for a budget-in-reply. In 160 years the opposition has never been denied the opportunity for a budget-in-reply. The government has confirmed to me that the opposition would not be provided a 30-minute budget-in-reply without interruption. In 160 years we have never seen a government deny an opposition the right to an uninterrupted 30-minute reply to the budget. What have we seen today? We have seen a government that is trying to ram through new taxes through this place without providing them to Victorians to consider – taxes on rental properties, taxes on schools and taxes on kids. Now we have a government that is proposing to deny the opposition a budget-in-reply. We have a Parliament going into a lunch break in just over 10 minutes, and the government advised the opposition that the opposition could have 10 minutes for a budget-in-reply. What a disgrace. What an absolute disgrace – a 10-minute reply to the budget. Every single member on that side of the place should be ashamed of themselves, absolutely ashamed. No member in 160 years has seen a parliamentary tactic of this nature. 160 years – that should tell every member of this place something. I would say to every Victorian and every media outlet, who I know are watching, the government is denying the opposition the opportunity for a budget-in-reply.

I move that the debate be adjourned because the opposition should not be denied the right to an uninterrupted reply to the budget. It is essential that the opposition be given a right to represent their communities, to represent them on the issues that are contained in this budget and to talk about the historic levels of debt in this budget and the punitive taxes that are going to hurt segments of the community in ways that we have never seen before. The opposition should be entitled to that right. They should be entitled to give a full reply to the budget. I have never seen this before. I know I am only a second-term member, but I have never seen this before. I know that the father of the place has never seen this before. No-one has ever seen an opposition denied the right to a reply to the budget. Never, ever has anybody seen in it 160 years – denied the right to a budget-in-reply.

The government advised me that the Shadow Treasurer would be given 10 minutes before lunch – take it, take it: 10 minutes before lunch. That is what you get, 10 minutes before lunch – outrageous, absolutely outrageous. Ten minutes before lunch – I mean, what is this? This Parliament has been turned into a chaotic joke. This is a joke. How dare the government not allow Victorians time to consider bills, consider taxes that are being imposed upon them or give the opportunity for the opposition to reply to the budget. Is that where we are in this Parliament, that the government is refusing to give the opposition time to reply to a budget – something that nobody has done in 160 years? No wonder the media are reporting that the government is in chaos. No wonder the media is reporting it – no wonder. Victorians know it; Victorians have seen it. Victorians now know it. The least this government can do is allow the opportunity for the opposition to reply to the budget.

We sat here and listened to the Treasurer – a Treasurer who did not talk about his school taxes in his budget, did he? He kept that hidden, didn’t he? We sat here and gave him the courtesy, as we should, of hearing his 30-minute speech on the budget, and the least the government could do is offer the same opportunity to the opposition.

Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Medical Research) (12:51): Can I just begin by saying I am under no illusions whatsoever, unlike the member for Brighton, that anyone is watching this right now. What we have seen from those opposite has been a complete waste of time that could have been given over to the Shadow Treasurer. The Shadow Treasurer was here, ready; he was pumped, he was primed. The media were all here. So what is going on? What are the opposition doing? What has the Manager of Opposition Business been instructed to do? Has he been told to silence Brad? That is how it looks – that is exactly how it looks.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, this is a tight debate as to whether the opposition should be entitled to a budget-in-reply uninterrupted. The Leader of the House is embarrassed at gagging the opposition from that right, but it is not an opportunity to be talking about these other matters.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Manager of Opposition Business knows that points of order are not an opportunity for debate. The Leader of the House to continue on the procedural motion.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: Thank you very much, Deputy Speaker. I need to correct a few of the many mistruths that the member for Brighton has said. At no stage have we said that we are gagging the opposition from speaking to the budget or indeed the Shadow Treasurer. That is obviously what always happens, and the full half-hour would have been used. However, what those on the opposite side have deliberately chosen to do today is frustrate debate at every possible turn. They have done that, and one can only conclude that it is now a deliberate strategy of those who are worried about the tenuous leadership of the member for Hawthorn, because the member for Sandringham is being denied the opportunity –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, the Leader of the House is defying your ruling. The government is clearly gagging the opposition from a right to a budget-in-reply, and I would ask you to bring the leader back to that question.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I have also ruled that points of order are not an opportunity to debate the question. The minister to continue on the procedural motion.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: It is completely nonsensical to argue that we are trying to gag the opposition. They have done this to themselves –

A member: Deliberately.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: Deliberately. We have heard a lot from a number of members on the other side today, but have we heard from the Leader of the Opposition? No. Have we heard from the Shadow Treasurer? No. What is going on? You cannot manage your own business –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, this is a tight debate. On three occasions now I have tried to raise this point of order with you. Clearly the Leader of the House is straying and trying to hide from the fact that the opposition is not being provided an opportunity to a budget-in-reply.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! This procedural debate is varying on both sides.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: To say that the opposition have been denied the opportunity of a budget-in-reply speech is wrong – it is absolutely wrong. What we have seen today has been an attempt by those on the other side to frustrate the legitimate business of the house at every turn, and they managed to get their timing wrong. They stuffed up their timing, which now means that we have to have yet another procedural motion, another waste-of-time motion, because they will not let Brad speak.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Correct titles, Minister.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: We will be back after question time to continue this nonsensical procedural motion designed to stop us from hearing from the Shadow Treasurer. Why? The Manager of Opposition Business, we have heard a lot from him today – way too much, some might suggest. So what is going on over on the other side? Why are they in so much chaos? Why can’t they even deliver a budget-in-reply contribution at a time when the media were there, pumped and primed to see it, to be able to report on it, to see Brad Rowswell on his feet, the member for Sandringham in all of his glory. They have actively opposed him.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I remind all members to use correct titles.

David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (12:57): It is clear that the government is getting pretty fired up by a chaotic budget, a chaotic Parliament, a Parliament that is in absolute chaos. I read with interest today in the Herald Sun from Shannon Deery that the government is in absolute chaos and they could not manage a chook raffle.

Members interjecting.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member is entitled to speak without noise.

David SOUTHWICK: Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I came in here today trying to give the government the benefit of the doubt and was hoping that we would have a government business program that would allow us, as we have had by precedent for 160 years, to have a proper address from the Shadow Treasurer, a budget reply, and we have seen the chaos. We have seen the last-minute changes. We have heard the fact that the Shadow Treasurer has been given 10 minutes – not 30 minutes, but 10 minutes – to give a budget reply. Clearly the government has something to hide in a shocking, shocking budget, a budget that has taxes like we have never seen before – a schools tax, a rent tax. We have seen so much in terms of taxation, but we have also seen a government that is trying to put things through without giving it the normal time that we have had time and time again. This is a horrible government, a chaotic government, with a dud budget that they are clearly trying to hide.

We heard the manager of government business say that the opposition clearly messed up their times. I would like to remind the manager of government business that it was only her colleague, the member for South Barwon, that clearly said, ‘We are the government, and we control this house. We control the government business program.’ Well, clearly not, if the government are swapping and changing when they bring things on, bringing last-minute bills to the chamber, withdrawing bills at the last minute. The manager of government business introduced a bill today, and then she had to retract the bill and had to reintroduce it. This is a government that is in chaos. This is a Parliament that is a mess. This is a Parliament that is a joke, and the government could not manage a chook raffle. We have a broke budget, a broke state, thanks to this government.

Members interjecting.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Eureka is warned.

David SOUTHWICK: They have clearly got something to hide, because they will not give us the 30 minutes that we deserve to hold this useless government to account.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Mordialloc.

Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (13:00): Thank you.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The time for lunch has arrived. The member will have the call when we resume.

Sitting suspended 1:00 pm until 2:01 pm.

Business interrupted under resolution of house of 18 May.