Wednesday, 28 August 2024

Payroll tax

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:38): My question is to the Premier. Four Labor members – the education minister and Deputy Premier, the employment minister, the member for Mordialloc and the member for Box Hill – all secretly lobbied against Labor’s decision to impose an unfair schools tax. Why has the Premier imposed a tax which her own Deputy Premier does not support?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Mornington can leave the chamber for an hour.

Member for Mornington withdrew from chamber.

The SPEAKER: Anyone else who is holding a pamphlet will be leaving the chamber as well. Members know that that is unparliamentary behaviour, and I am very disappointed that you would choose to defy the rulings of the house. The opposition leader was asking a question, and I think the Premier deserves the right to have an answer.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Narre Warren North can leave the chamber for half an hour.

Member for Narre Warren North withdrew from chamber.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:39): I would like to thank my colleagues the hardworking member for Box Hill, the hardworking member for Mordialloc, the hardworking member for Eltham and Minister for Employment – who else did you mention? – and the hardworking member for Niddrie and Deputy Premier. Speaker, I would like to thank you as well, as the member for Bendigo West. These members are all hardworking members of Parliament.

Cindy McLeish: On a point of order, Speaker, I ask you to ask the Premier to be relevant to the question. She is clearly fluffing around because she does not want to answer it.

The SPEAKER: The Premier was addressing the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I will leave the fluffing alone, I think. I was acknowledging those hardworking members of Parliament for doing their job as a local member of Parliament, and I am proud that they are part of our hardworking team, supporting schools right across the state.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, I ask that you bring the Premier back to the question that was asked.

The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I was asked about hardworking members of Parliament doing their job, and I am telling the Leader of the Opposition about hardworking members of Parliament doing their job. From time to time ministers will get letters from members of Parliament on particular issues in their electorate. Clearly in this instance there were letters that were sent to the minister on this particular matter. It reminds me of a time when I was busy removing level crossings as the Minister for Transport Infrastructure – very busy –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is required to be factual. The letters were not sent to the minister; the minister wrote one of the letters.

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

Jacinta ALLAN: In the context of members of Parliament representing their communities, whilst we were removing level crossings, which was routinely opposed by the Liberal Party, I remember the member for Croydon asked me to remove a level crossing in his electorate.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, this question was specifically around the imposition of a tax, and the Premier has not even referred to her tax yet.

The SPEAKER: It did refer to letters to ministers. I ask the Premier to come back to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I would hope Victorians see that this is members of Parliament representing their communities, advocating on their behalf, just as others have done by on one hand opposing level crossings but secretly asking to remove the one in their own backyard. I thank my colleagues for doing their job.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister for Transport Infrastructure, it is becoming very tiring for me to hear your voice today.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, I stand to be corrected, but the member for Bulleen was warned once and then removed from the chamber. The Minister for Transport Infrastructure has repeatedly been interjecting. You have warned him three times, yet he remains in the chamber. Can I seek some clarification?

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:44): In his letter to the Treasurer the member for Box Hill said:

Many Kingswood College parents are hardworking two-income families who make significant financial and personal sacrifices to send their children to that school and who do not have the means to weather fee increases.

Why are such hardworking two-income families in Box Hill being punished with higher fees because of this government’s schools tax?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Mordialloc can leave the chamber for half an hour.

Member for Mordialloc withdrew from chamber.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:45): I was asked about the arrangements with non-government schools, and I note for the record that 92 per cent of non-government schools have retained their payroll tax exemption, and we continue to support non-government schools in a range of different ways. I also note that the Leader of the Opposition referred to correspondence to the Treasurer. I too have correspondence to the Treasurer, asked by a member of Parliament, asking the Treasurer to consider directing the State Revenue Office to coordinate with local councils to identify likely vacant properties in their area for compliance. This was a local member of Parliament advocating for the extension of the vacant residential land tax in their electorate, from someone who opposed this proposal. Members of Parliament write to ministers all the time about a whole range of different issues.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier has concluded her answer.