Tuesday, 12 November 2024

Victoria Police

Brad BATTIN (Berwick) (14:10): My question is to the Premier. Police association secretary Wayne Gatt has called out Labor’s unfair treatment of police, asking if the government wants a train line or a front line. At this rate it will not have a front line. Why has the Premier recklessly committed $216 billion to the Suburban Rail Loop instead of offering our police a decent wage deal?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:11): Let me tell the member for Berwick just how wrong he is. The Suburban Rail Loop is absolutely the project that Victorians need, Victorians want and Victorians have voted for. Those figures that the member for Berwick has put to the house are wrong because they are based on the lies and mistruths that were in the question that was asked by the Leader of the Opposition to the Parliamentary Budget Office.

Brad Battin: On a point of order, Speaker, in relation to relevance, thousands of police officers would love to know why the Victorian government are wasting money rather than giving them a decent wage that they thoroughly deserve.

The SPEAKER: Resume your seat, member for Berwick. I will not allow members to raise points of order if they are going to use them to make statements to the house.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, I did just want to point to the fact that the member for Berwick was defying the very clear ruling that you just made. It is well known in this house that a point of order is not an opportunity to rephrase the question.

The SPEAKER: I ask members to be succinct in their points of order. The Premier is being relevant to the question that was asked.

Jacinta ALLAN: I say this: it was the Liberal Party that asked the Parliamentary Budget Office a crooked question to get a crooked answer. That is so true to form. This Catherine wheel of an opposition leader over here –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on standing order 118, I am concerned that the Premier should not be attacking the Parliamentary Budget Office in that way. It is clearly a breach of standing order 118.

The SPEAKER: I ask the Premier to come back to answering the question and not attack the Parliamentary Budget Office.

Jacinta ALLAN: Amongst the hysteria from those opposite, they would do well to know I was calling their question to the Parliamentary Budget Office crooked, and that is so true to form from the untrustworthy opposition. The Parliamentary Budget Office has confirmed the government’s costings of Suburban Rail Loop East as being between $30 billion and $34.5 billion. The Parliamentary Budget Office indeed in answering the crooked question from the crooked opposition confirmed that figure from the government.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my right will come to order. Leader of the Opposition, member for Malvern, no more warnings.

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

Jacinta ALLAN: On the point of order, Speaker, I was asked a question that contained a reference to the Suburban Rail Loop and figures that are wrong, and in answering the question I am perfectly entitled to explain to the member for Berwick just how wrong he is.

The SPEAKER: I do not uphold the point of order.

Jacinta ALLAN: As I was saying, the Parliamentary Budget Office’s report makes it very clear that the cost to build the Suburban Rail Loop East is consistent with the government’s estimation. And, you know what, we are getting on and building that project because it is a project that Victorians need, Victorians want and Victorians voted for. It is an opportunity to build 70,000 more homes around each of the six station precincts – 70,000 more homes in exactly the right location, close to jobs, close to services, close to that great public transport that Victorians need. I hope that has clarified for the member for Berwick that he is wrong and that the Parliamentary Budget Office thinks he is wrong as well in his characterisation of that figure.

When it comes to supporting Victoria Police – the question included a reference to supporting Victoria Police – there is $4.5 billion of additional investment in Victoria Police, 3500 additional Victorian police, and more tools, more resources, including today, continuing to give Victoria Police the powers that they need to keep our community safe. I thank them for that work. We will continue to support them, unlike the Liberal Party when they were in government, who cut funding to Victoria Police.

Brad BATTIN (Berwick) (14:16): Wayne Gatt has also stated that saying thank you is one thing and paying Victoria Police is another, with a fair wage. Victoria Police are fighting for an $840 million pay rise over the next four years. The cost of the Suburban Rail Loop East could fund that wage increase 41 times. Why has Labor prioritised the Suburban Rail Loop over decent wages for Victoria Police?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:17): The member for Berwick again is wrong.

Brad Battin interjected.

The SPEAKER: Member for Berwick, I ask you to leave the chamber for half an hour.

Jacinta ALLAN: The member for Berwick is wrong both on his numbers –

Brad Battin interjected.

The SPEAKER: Member for Berwick, make that an hour and a half. The member for Berwick will leave the chamber for an hour and a half.

Member for Berwick withdrew from chamber.

Jacinta ALLAN: and in how he reads the budget papers. I reckon the member for Rowville should go and give the member for Berwick a bit of a lesson on how to read the budget papers. There is the capital bit of the budget and there is the output bit of the budget, and I know the member for Rowville knows this.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, we did look at the budget for the costing of the Suburban Rail Loop: ‘TBC’. You did not even put any funding in there.That is why we had to go to the Parliamentary Budget Office, you circus.

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

Jacinta ALLAN: Maybe if the member for Rowville cannot get the message through to the member for Berwick, perhaps the member for Malvern can have a crack. As former Treasurers they would know that there is the capital part of the budget that delivers infrastructure projects and there is the output part of the budget. I know the members for Rowville and Malvern know this, because they cut funding to Victoria Police when they were in government.

The SPEAKER: I again remind members that points of order are not an opportunity to make a statement to the house.