Thursday, 17 October 2024

Government performance

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:38): My question is to the Premier. Yesterday the Premier said that the community can trust Labor to deliver the projects that Victorians voted for. Well, Victorians voted for the Commonwealth Games – cancelled. Victorians voted for Geelong fast rail – cancelled. Victorians voted for the Arden hospital – abandoned. Victorians voted for the Western Rail Plan – abandoned. Victorians voted for 10 community hospitals – three abandoned. Victorians voted for the implementation of all recommendations from the mental health royal commission – abandoned. Why can’t the Premier manage major projects or Victorians’ money?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I ask the Leader of the Opposition not to incite his backbench.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:39): It is pretty clear that the plan for this week stopped at Tuesday lunchtime, isn’t it, for the Leader of the Opposition? He had a plan up until midday Tuesday, and it has all been what it has been for the rest of the week from the Leader of the Opposition. But there is something that has been consistent, and this question exposes it once again.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker: relevance.

The SPEAKER: The Premier will come back to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: On the point of order, Speaker, the anticipation from the Leader of the Opposition of what he thought may have been an attack on the opposition is deeply unfounded. I want to move a motion of thanks to the opposition for keeping him right where he is.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Nationals will come to order. I ask the Premier to come back to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: As I was about to say, that question from the current Leader of the Opposition just demonstrates that you cannot trust those opposite to tell the truth in here, to the Victorian community, and you most certainly cannot trust –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Member for Yan Yean, off you go. Make it an hour and a half.

Member for Yan Yean withdrew from chamber.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, again on relevance, Victorians are paying higher taxes and cuts to services. This is a serious question. Can the Premier please be brought back to the question.

The SPEAKER: There is no need to expand on the point of order. The Premier to come back to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I am absolutely delighted, because it was only those of us on this side of the house who committed to all of the recommendations out of the mental health royal commission. Those opposite did not.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: I do not stand up as much as I should in this place, but I am really disappointed. This is the last question, and I ask you to show respect to the member on their feet. The Premier had a point of order.

Jacinta ALLAN: Indeed, Speaker, the point of order was the one that you have just made from the chair. I was particularly waiting for a point of order from the member for Lowan to ask those opposite to not scream at the member on their feet.

Emma Kealy: On a point of order, Speaker, I have the ability to speak for myself. My point of order is that the Premier was not being factual, and I ask her to come back to the question and be factual in her response.

The SPEAKER: It is not for me to determine whether a minister or the Premier is being factual. The Premier to come back to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: We are proud of the work we are doing, particularly when it comes to supporting both our mental health sector and supporting and strengthening the mental health of all Victorians. I would have thought that was a matter that did not need to be interjected upon. We held a royal commission into mental health –

Richard Riordan interjected.

The SPEAKER: Member for Polwarth! The Premier, without assistance.

Jacinta ALLAN: We had a royal commission into this, and it was this government, it was our government, it was a Labor government, who called this royal commission in recognition that it was a system that was broken, that needed reform. As part of those recommendations there was of course the mental health levy. That was one of those recommendations that those opposite did not support. They did not want to see that additional investment come into our mental health system. We know that this is an enormous task, but what I think Victorians also know is that they cannot trust those opposite to deal with this critical issue and so many others, because the Liberal Party do not trust each other, and neither should Victorians.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:45): How can Victorians ever trust the Premier when she has broken so many promises?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: 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): In terms of supporting the Victorian community and delivering what the Victorian community expects we should be focused on, let me remind the Leader of the Opposition what we have been busy doing over the past five weeks. While those opposite have been slugging it out in the courtroom, we have been out on the Victorian streets working with the Victorian community on, as we heard, record investment – significant investment – in repairing our roads, delivering the second tranche of women’s health clinics, delivering the first round of the Regional Worker Accommodation Fund, making every single campsite free in Victoria, also supporting our farmers in the south-west of the state through those drought conditions that they are experiencing and opening the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere. This is what we are focused on, and look at that sad, sorry show opposite.