Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Grievance debate

Government performance

David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (16:01): I grieve for all Victorians. I grieve certainly for those constituents in the greater part of my electorate, throughout my electorate in Caulfield, for the waste, the mismanagement and the fact that our great state is now broke thanks to Labor. We have a government that cannot manage money. It is something that we have known for many, many years – that Labor cannot manage money. But as a result, life is getting harder. Life is absolutely getting harder for all Victorians, and it is Victorians ultimately that are paying the price.

I know that the government like to stand in this place and pat themselves on the back about all the wonderful things that they are doing and absolutely disregard what everyday Victorians are facing in a cost-of-living crisis. They will blame everybody else. They will say, ‘Well, it was Jeff Kennett’s fault. It was 20 years ago. It was the federal government’s fault’ – before the current government got into power – ‘It is everybody’s fault.’ But the sheer fact is we have had a Labor government in Victoria for now 20 of 24 years or thereabouts. In those 20 years you would think that they would take some responsibility for the absolute mess that we are in. It is absolutely typical of this government, because we know that Labor cannot manage money and they cannot manage major projects. We saw that in the time leading up to Christmas.

We have a situation where Victoria has more debt than every other state in the nation – more debt than New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania combined, more debt than we have ever seen, escalating up to $200 billion worth of debt, which we are all paying for. It is not the Labor government’s money, it is taxpayers money. It is ordinary Victorians, everyday Victorians, that are struggling – it is their money that the government is using. We saw the absolute contempt with which the government is taking other people’s money and using it for political points. We saw that when the government signed up to half a roller-coaster of the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) and literally two days later recognised that there would be an $8 billion blowout to the North East Link. On one hand we have unprecedented blowouts of major projects of this Big Build, which are now up to $38 billion and counting, largely under the Premier’s watch, when the Premier had major projects in her portfolio. So the Premier cannot blame Daniel Andrews for this mess. The Premier is absolutely responsible for the Big Build blowouts because the Premier was actually responsible as the minister for these projects, and SRL is one of those.

The government has signed Victorians up to decades worth of debt, decades worth of projects that will build nothing more than half a roller-coaster, and absolutely ignored the growth corridors of the north and the growth corridors of the west, where people are living and they cannot get basic transport, they cannot get a hospital, they cannot get a school, they cannot get their roads and they cannot get to work, because the government has said, ‘We’re going to take $200 billion worth of infrastructure and we’re going to put it into one line, if we can build it, and forget about everybody else.’ A project that the government and Jacinta Allan the Premier said would be $50 billion is now up to $125 billion, without all the on-costs – $200 billion for a project where even the government say they will not see the whole project in their lifetime.

The Treasurer himself has stated that he will not see the full SRL being built in his lifetime. So this is a pie-in-the-sky project, but it is symbolic of the waste and mismanagement that this government is responsible for. And we are all paying the price. We are all paying for this mismanagement, and I think it is time for the government to take the politics out of what they are trying to do and look at what Victorians need, look at what Victorians deserve. Particularly when it comes to infrastructure the government themselves acknowledged this when Daniel Andrews went to the election in 2014 and said, ‘We’re going to take the politics out of infrastructure, and we’re going to set up an infrastructure committee that will look at how they actually fund infrastructure.’ So Infrastructure Victoria was established to independently cost these projects and to give a tick of approval that we need to do them. Did the SRL go through Infrastructure Victoria? Not likely. Did half of these projects go through? Not likely. There was no business case for the SRL, and the SRL did not go through Infrastructure Australia either. So bad was this project that a month before the last election we know it was rebadged SRL Airport to make it more attractive for those people out in the west, so at least the people in the west would get some kind of infrastructure, and then straight after the election – broken promise – they have taken off the airport component.

Now, my father was a hardworking Victorian who taught me a lot about the value of money and had a business out in the west employing people, and I spent a lot of time out in the west. He would turn in his grave now to think about how this government is wasting money. When we used to ask Dad about how things were going, he would refer and say, ‘Life’s tough. It’s a bit of a struggle.’ He would come to the dinner table in his work clothes. You would not have dinner at home until 8 or 9 o’clock at night, because you would be waiting for Dad to come home. You would see each and every day how he worked to put food on the table and teach the values and the things about everyday life and what it is like to work. He treated every one of his workers like they were part of his own family. And do you know what? That is just like every small business now. Times have not changed. Many of those small businesses now, I would say, do the same, where they go without to ensure that their family and their workers are supported, to ensure the business survives.

But this government does not care, as we have seen in so many cases – in terms of energy costs. We are the highest in cost of living. We are the highest in energy costs. The Minister for Energy and Resources has the audacity to say prices are going down, down, down in electricity. Has she had a look in the mirror? Energy prices are up 25 per cent in Victoria alone – absolutely not going down. And on top of that the government wants to cut gas off in people’s homes and people’s businesses. We had the Australian Hotels Association come in last night, in front of the Premier – one of the largest groups, which supports many of the pubs and clubs in many electorates right across the state – saying that cutting off gas is going to cost more to small business, that it limits choice and is ultimately going to put more businesses to the wall. The same was said by the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; the largest employer representative said that businesses are leaving the state because this government wants to increase the cost of living and energy costs.

Everything we do in terms of energy affects your prices, from groceries to food to transport to logistics ‍– everything you do in a hospital or in a school, when you turn the lights on or when you get goods. Every bit of thing in life is connected to energy, and when your energy bills go up every Victorian ends up paying the price. Do not take my word for granted here. We did a survey in my electorate of Caulfield about cost-of-living pressures. Four hundred members of my community had to say that cost of living was the single biggest issue that they are facing. 87 per cent of respondents said they are finding it harder to financially support their household. 71.9 per cent of respondents said they have had an increase of more than 25 per cent in their energy bills in the last 12 months – 25 per cent! – while this minister says energy prices are going down, down, down. This minister is in la-la land if she thinks energy prices are going down, down, down. We had 38 per cent of people responding saying that they have to cut back on basic food.

We met with Community Information and Support Glen Eira just before Christmas. As I went in, there was a client who had come in to see them to get food parcels. This gentleman, Warren, was really, really struggling. I bought Warren a coffee. He did not want a coffee; he did not want to take it. Later on I found out that he has not been able to buy his own coffee in five years because that money, the $4 or $5 for the coffee, is something he could never afford. Warren has $900 or thereabouts in fortnightly income. His rent is over $1000. He is going backwards. He supports two kids on a single income. He goes into the community information support network to pick up food parcels because he cannot afford to put food on the table.

When I asked Warren about this, do you know what Warren said? It used to be food was your first priority and then housing. People are making the switch to say, ‘We’ve got to get a roof over our heads because we can’t live in a tent. We can’t sleep rough anymore, especially when we’ve got kids to support. And then I worry about food afterwards.’ Where have we got to in this state when people are prioritising a roof over their head versus food because unfortunately the government is not supporting and providing for them? I would not be patting myself on the back if I was the Labor government. I would not be saying we were doing a wonderful job. I would be embarrassed, quite frankly. To blame someone else is not taking any responsibility for getting things done and fixing it. This government has run out of other people to blame. They have had plenty of time to do something about this. I think what they should do is just get on with it and do things.

We have got a perfect storm with a Big Build that is building these major infrastructure projects, that is sucking out housing stock, that is sucking out building materials and that is sucking out workers who could build housing, so then we have a housing crisis because we cannot build housing because you have got people on $200,000 working on a Big Build infrastructure project not being able to build the housing. You can only get enough materials to do certain things at one time. Why? Because we are not planning this. We have no Planning Victoria to ensure we build housing, we build infrastructure where it is needed and we look after everybody in the state and we make sure all Victorians are treated equally in the state. This government does not care about all Victorians, they just care about where they can pick up votes, where they can do a press release and how they can cut a ribbon and look after their mates. Again, it is just not fair, because people are missing out.

What my constituents are saying in terms of cost of living is this. ‘Everything is going up except my salary,’ says Aaron. ‘Basic expenses have become unaffordable. In Victoria our mental health has been pushed too far. Our businesses and economy are destroyed, and now this!’ says Nicola from St Kilda. ‘Needed to borrow money from retired parents to pay a mortgage and school fees. Cut back on food to basics only,’ says Jenny. ‘After reducing bills, I am still having to choose between food and medical necessities,’ says Ron. ‘I am only eating twice a day so I can pay my rent. Help,’ says Harrison. These are people that are crying out for help, saying, ‘Fix it. Do something about it. You’ve been in government long enough. What are you doing, government? Why aren’t you fixing the cost-of-living crisis?’

We see that the cost of a GP visit has gone up 30 per cent, so people instead of paying $40 a visit will be paying $52 a visit. What does that do? You make one of two choices: either you do not go to the doctor because you cannot afford it and you make your priorities, so you do not go and it impacts your health, or secondly, what you do is you go to the hospital and crowd out the already crowded out emergency areas in hospitals.

You look at our schools. We have the highest cost in the country for public education – over $100,000 for the lifetime of a student in a public school. Child care – have a look at the increase in child care, let alone childcare centres that have been closed down. Three in my electorate have been closed down. In every single measure Victorians are paying more – for their electricity it is 25 per cent and their groceries are 28 per cent more than any other state.

We had situations on the wharf over the last few weeks – and the Minister for Ports and Freight is here today at the table – and that was reported in terms of the cost of those strikes, which again is impacted by the government that are in power at the moment. It meant a $4 increase on people’s grocery bills each and every week – $4 on each and every week to people’s cost of living. And what is this government doing about it? Absolutely nothing.

So by every single measure Victorians are worse off. In crime Victorians are worse off – and repeat offenders in terms of crime. People do not feel safe from a community safety perspective. We have got the cost of living through the roof. We have got money that is being spent like there is no tomorrow, debt that is increasing. We have a government that simply cannot manage money, a government that simply cannot manage major projects, a government that simply cannot manage hospitals. They cannot manage schools; they cannot manage the cost of living. At every single measure the Allan Labor government is failing, but ultimately life is getting harder under this government. And who is paying for it? Not the Labor members of Parliament. It is each and every Victorian paying the price for Labor’s incompetence.