Wednesday, 15 May 2024

Motions

Budget 2024–25

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (16:16): I rise to speak to my motion. I know that we were having a very interesting debate on a very important issue. I know that members in the chamber wanted to continue with that debate; however, my motion is extremely important in the context of the state budget that was handed down last week. I move:

That this house:

(1) acknowledges the government’s thriftless disregard for the needs and taxes paid by Victorian individuals, families and businesses in the 2024–25 state budget, including:

(a) blowing out net debt to $188 billion, with interest payments to soar to $26 million per day by 2028;

(b) hiking up the fire services levy and introducing higher taxes on homes during a housing affordability crisis –

as we have just been hearing about in terms of the rental market –

(c) cutting $286 million from tourism at a time when Victoria lags behind Queensland and New South Wales in visitor numbers;

(d) increasing the public sector wages bill by $2.5 billion, while cutting vital frontline services across health, education, tourism and crime prevention;

(e) funding cuts to family violence and women’s policy programs and to vital medical research;

(f) funding cuts and backflipping on commitments made following the royal commission into the mental health system;

(g) reneging on critical infrastructure commitments such as airport rail and Geelong fast rail while proceeding with the $216 billion Suburban Rail Loop –

which is a complete and utter dud –

(h) charging Victorian families nearly triple to put bins out through an increase to the municipal waste levy;

(i) increasing the industrial waste levy paid by Victorian businesses;

(2) calls on the Allan Labor government to:

(a) reverse the funding cuts to critical jobs;

(b) reverse the tax increases introduced in the 2024–25 state budget;

(c) immediately provide a clear plan to clear Victoria’s debt; and

(d) commit to root-and-branch tax reform to reduce the burden on Victorian households and businesses.

I read that in because I think it is important to get the context of what we are dealing with here. Many of the issues that I have highlighted are affecting frontline services where the needs of Victorians in this latest state budget are not being met.

I talk about the needs of and taxes paid by Victorian individuals, families and businesses. We know those needs. They are maintaining the frontline services, those people that are in the jobs that are providing the basic services, whether that is health, education, transport, policing – all those areas where we know there are massive issues and we know that some of the cuts will go on to affect the ability of those frontline workers to do the work that they need to do on behalf of the community. Keeping the community safe is another area of core government business, and we know we have got a crisis with the crime waves that are occurring in many parts of the state. We know there are issues, and we know that the government wants to weaken bail laws and do a number of things and that they are not addressing that very serious problem that is front of mind for many people who have been affected by crime.

Stop the waste and mismanagement of taxpayers money, this ongoing waste and mismanagement where there is no care or oversight in relation to the huge blowouts that have occurred on infrastructure projects – $40 billion worth of blowouts. This is an extraordinary amount of money that just seems to roll off our tongues, but it should not. It should actually stop people in their tracks. What on earth is going on when we have got $40 million of project overruns? And you cannot blame COVID for this, because if you look at what was occurring with the government, the revenue was fairly stagnant. The expenditure was going up, and if you look at that debt, it was increasing. They are the facts. That is there, and I will come back to that.

We often hear about the issues in regional Victoria – fixing the roads, the basic maintenance. They have swapped around words in the budget. It is now ‘patchwork’ or something. It is not even maintenance. They have literally changed the wording in the budget when looking at this very significant issue. Obviously access to health care and having good education and maintaining standards of literacy and outcomes for children – I mean, our literacy, science and maths outcomes are falling, and that is not good for children as they enter the workforce and their adult lives. We must do better than that.

To return to the taxes paid by Victorians, we have got 55 new or increased taxes under this government – an extraordinary amount. That is where the revenue is coming into government from, apart from obviously the federal GST contributions. But the taxes that are being applied by the government are absolutely crippling businesses and individuals and investment in this state. You just cannot tax your way out of the massive debt that the government is saddling Victorians of this generation and future generations with, and that debt is soaring to $188 billion in just a couple of years time. Daily interest payments are going up to $26 million a day. That is $170 million a week. I mean, it is extraordinary.

That is putting our credit rating at risk. We have already had warnings from S&P and Moody’s, the agencies that oversee this, saying this is a real risk. Victoria’s credit rating is at real risk, and it is the lowest of anywhere around the country. That is a terrible indictment on this government. It is shocking that we are heading towards banana republic status. We are on AA and it will not take much for that to slide, and that should be very concerning for every single Victorian. You cannot deny that this debt – $188 billion and $26 million a day – is where this government is taking the Victorian taxpayer in terms of what it has got to do to maintain that level of debt and interest repayments. It is just appalling.

As I said, there were 55 new or increased taxes under Labor, and there were two more hikes in this latest budget. They have hiked up the fire services levy and introduced higher taxes on homes during a housing affordability crisis. We have had questions on the fire services levy and where that money is going to. It is not going into assisting our firefighters – $106,000 is all the CFA got. This is just another tax grab that the government will go after. It is incredibly concerning that they are just going after money wherever they can get it.

I have spoken about the health tax – the GP tax. I mean, what a ludicrous tax that is – to be taxing GPs at a time when we need everybody to be supporting Victorians in their primary health care needs. You are taxing GPs and dentists and other medical professionals that lease rooms in medical clinics. The government is applying this ridiculous tax to these people. They are not employees. They are tenanted. They are contractors. They are not admin staff or a nurse who is paid and has holiday pay and long service leave and all sorts of other leave entitlements because they are employees of a medical practice. That payroll tax quite rightly is applied, but this government is going after GPs, when the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the AMA and others have said that is going to have a massive impact on their ability to conduct business. It will end bulk-billing, because the payment has to flow on somewhere. That cost has to flow on to someone, and that payment will flow on to the patient, so bulk-billing will go. Even the federal minister himself has said to states, ‘Don’t do this.’ New South Wales and Queensland are looking at this. They have paused it – but not here, not Tim Pallas. He is going after everything that he can get his hands on, because they have saddled Victorians up to this extraordinary debt of $188 billion.

The next issue is cutting funding from tourism – $286 million from tourism – at a time when Victoria lags behind Queensland and New South Wales in visitor numbers. That is a huge cut to the tourism and the major events funding program. I mean, we pride ourselves on our major events. We pride ourselves on being the sporting capital of the country. Well, we are fast losing that very glorious title because the government is not providing the support for those two vital sectors to be able to promote events.

We saw what they did with the Commonwealth Games. They promised the world, conned Victorians and then left us embarrassed on the world stage. That reputational damage is huge, and that has ricocheted around the world. Of course major events are going to look at Victoria and say, ‘There is real doubt about these people; look at what they do.’ They have done that – this government has done that. The current Premier was the minister who oversaw the Commonwealth Games. She has also overseen the huge blowouts in the infrastructure costs. The Premier has a lot to answer for, because she sat around that cabinet table and made these decisions.

There has been a $17 million cut to the destination Victoria program and a total of $393.9 million cut from visitor economy initiatives, including for industry support, regional tourism, events and infrastructure. I have spoken about the Commonwealth Games. The government say, ‘We’ll put in $2 billion. We’ve reallocated that.’ The fact is the reputational damage – the huge disappointment to so many that were involved, small business and the like – and the patch-up work with the con job that they have done on that just show the level of disregard and hopeless management of the budget and decision-making process.

The government has increased the public sector wages bill by $2.5 billion while cutting those frontline services, as I said, across health, education, tourism and crime prevention – those services where we have need – and we know that is happening. We know there were cuts in last year’s budget to community health. When the amalgamations occur for hospitals around rural and regional Victoria, services will go and jobs will be lost. The AMA has said that when that happens, frontline jobs will be affected, and that is on top of the cuts already in the budget. This is a very bad budget. It is a very bad signal for many, many people. I know the Treasurer said it was a horror budget – well, it really is. It is a shocker.

There are funding cuts to family violence and women’s policy programs and to vital medical research. We heard about the cruel cuts to the VCCC Alliance – 75 per cent of their funding has been cut. Professor Grant McArthur has spoken out multiple times on this and explained that they need this funding to be able to do this magnificent and significant work. Again it goes to the core of what research does in this state, and it is an area that should be championed and supported because of the truly magnificent work that so many research institutes and researchers do. But their jobs are at risk, the programs are at risk and so is the support to people with cancer – a huge and a very cruel blow. People that have experienced cancer, their family members and their friends all know what it is like. It is a terrible, terrible journey, and anything we can do to prevent that from occurring should be supported.

This government’s priorities are all wrong. Putting them into the suburban rail link over cancer research – that says everything about this government. That is where their priorities lie. They do not even have support from the federal government. They are not supporting the dud suburban rail link. No money there – they will not do it. No, the whole damn thing is a damn dud. Honestly, it is just a disgrace, and the Premier should eat humble pie and scrap it, because the priorities are all wrong.

Evan Mulholland: Bill Shorten doesn’t like it. He’s telling everyone around town he doesn’t like it.

Georgie CROZIER: He is, as are federal Labor ministers. Look at them all. They are all at war with one another.

Michael Galea: All at war? You’d know about that.

Georgie CROZIER: Well, you are at war with the paramedics and nurses as we speak. I was coming to that bit.

There are funding cuts and backflipping on commitments made following the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. Mental health is, again, absolutely snubbed in this bleak budget. As my colleague Ms Kealy has said, it has been cruelly ignored. They have literally ignored the recommendations from their own royal commission. There is just so much wrong in relation to the government’s priorities and the debt they are saddling Victorians with, when they are cutting funding from these very important areas like mental health and cancer research. They really must do better than what they have done in terms of talking about it but delivering very little – and that is the issue. We know of the increased numbers of mental health presentations in the acute system and the failures that are ongoing.

Reneging on critical infrastructure commitments such as airport rail and Geelong fast rail while proceeding with the $216 billion Suburban Rail Loop – again, the government say one thing, they promise the world, and yet they renege on those commitments. They have done it time and time again, whether it is with the 10 community hospitals or the airport rail link or the Arden Street health precinct – all promised, all not going ahead. This government has got a very bad reputation for promising the world and conning Victorians and delivering little when it comes to some of these major infrastructure issues that I have referenced – the airport rail and the Geelong fast rail.

Charging Victorian families nearly triple to put bins out through an increase to the municipal waste levy. There is a cost-of-living crisis, and the government is going after another cost grab by doing that. That is, again, where the priorities of the government lie – get money from wherever you can. That is literally what this Treasurer has done to try to plug a black hole of a huge and increasing – soaring – debt, where our interest rate payments of $15 million, $16 million today are skyrocketing to that enormous $26 million a day that I spoke of. This should be a concern for every single Victorian, and I am glad to say there are more and more Victorians that are speaking out about it. They are concerned. They are very worried about the debt. They know it is bigger than that of Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania combined. They know there is no plan by this government to bring the debt down.

That leads me to the last little bit in the final few minutes that I have. My motion calls on the Allan Labor government to reverse the funding cuts to those critical jobs which I have outlined and reverse the tax increases introduced in the 2024–25 state budget. There are 55 that they have imposed on hardworking Victorians, and remember what Daniel Andrews said in 2014 – the biggest con man we have ever seen in this state. He looked down the camera and he said, ‘I give you my word, Peter, no new taxes or increases in taxes.’ Well, we have had 55 – 55 – and these increased taxes in this latest budget are going to hurt more Victorians.

The motion states: ‘Immediately provide a clear plan to clear Victoria’s debt’ – there is no plan. There is only a plan to tax Victorians further and spend further so that they just increase this almighty debt on current Victorians and future generations of Victorians. There is no plan to wind this back, and that, absolutely, is horrifying. Finally, the government needs to commit to root-and-branch tax reform to reduce the burden on Victorian households and businesses, as I have said. They are carrying this burden. They will be carrying it for many years to come. This government does not care. They do not care about taxpayers money; it is like Monopoly money for them. It is horrifying how they treat Victorian taxpayers with contempt in relation to how they oversee the management of money. Forty billion dollars in project overruns through waste and mismanagement, $26 million a day in interest repayments, $188 billion in debt – this is all going to be happening in Victoria in a couple of years time. This is not a game of Monopoly, this is serious, and the government just continue to brush it off, having no regard for this huge debt that they are saddling current and future Victorians with and the enormous interest payments that will add costs and further put our reputation at risk. I urge all members to support this motion.

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (16:36): I rise to speak on motion 411 put up by Ms Crozier today in light of the recent state budget. I will take this opportunity to acknowledge what is indeed the first budget under Premier Jacinta Allan that was handed down just last week and acknowledge that this is a budget that at its core does a number of things. It delivers for Victorians, including on so many of the projects big and small that we told Victorians we would deliver on. It delivers on them. It helps families. We have spoken about this in this chamber repeatedly, and I am sure it will be the subject of much further discussion when the budget bills come before us, but the $400 support payment for every government primary school student in the state is a significant win for families, especially as we are going through, as has been repeatedly discussed today as well, significant cost-of-living challenges.

This is a government that first and foremost recognises that we are here to govern for Victorians, not for ourselves, and that is why we do focus on delivering the services and infrastructure that we need, but we also recognise that when families need help, there are cases such as that that we see now, and that is why that $400 school bonus is such a well-needed shot in the arm for so many working Victorian families, including so many of the ones in the south-east that I have the privilege of representing. It is also a budget that makes difficult decisions and does so in a way that achieves that without compromising on our core task of being there to govern and serve Victorians.

There are quite a few points raised by Ms Crozier in her motion. I will address just a few of them in the time that I have. In subsections 1(b) and 1(h) she references the fire services levy and the waste levy. I would note that firstly in the case of the fire services levy, despite some of the commentary that you hear, sometimes by those opposite as well, every dollar raised by the fire services levy goes towards our fire services – towards the FRV and CFA – to support them in doing their work. Every dollar –

Evan Mulholland interjected.

Michael GALEA: Mr Mulholland, you very know well what I am saying. You know that the money that is raised is more than spent through expenditure and that the money that is raised is more than offset by whatever specific account it goes into. You know –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! It is hard to hear Mr Galea with all the interjection.

Members interjecting.

Michael GALEA: I expect better from you. You should know all too well, Mrs McArthur, that every dollar and cent raised goes into supporting fire services. Whether that is done directly or not, you know that it all goes to that purpose, and indeed it is returning now to the level that was set by the former coalition government. Again, with the reforms of the last decade in fire services – we have seen changes in that space, and we have been able to reduce the fire services levy – we are now returning it to a point the Liberals had set when they were last in office.

With the waste levy, we are harmonising with our neighbouring two states, with New South Wales and South Australia. Representing Western Victoria, Mrs McArthur, I am sure you would be all too mindful of people from other states feeling free to dump their rubbish in Victoria with the cheaper rates that we provide, and this is a measure to stop that by harmonising with New South Wales and South Australia. Victoria is not a dumping ground for other states’ rubbish, and this will achieve that.

Just as we have been a net contributor to the national economy for many years – in fact for well over 50 years and certainly in every year that the GST has been in effect – to use the old terminology of one of the litany of former federal Treasurers from those opposite, we are the lifters in terms of our national economy, and we continue to be. Even though we are now finally getting closer – and I say ‘closer’ advisedly – to a fair amount of GST, we are still not receiving every dollar that we spend in GST in this state back. We are doing better, which is good to see, and in light of commentary in the papers this morning I hope that our federal friends will continue to see that states that do contribute more than their fair share to the national economy like Victoria deserve to have at the very least their GST but also a fair share of infrastructure contributions, which we certainly have not seen, in contrast to New South Wales or Queensland. But it is nevertheless good to see our federal colleagues providing some further funding for infrastructure projects, making some small progress towards making up for the significant deficit in federal support over the last 10 years in particular.

In terms of infrastructure projects, Ms Crozier raised a wonderful project, the Suburban Rail Loop, again highlighting to voters in eastern and south-eastern Melbourne exactly why they should not vote for the Liberals at the next election – because you are saying to them, ‘We are going to take away this project which is going to make it easier to get around Melbourne and we are going to take away tens of thousands of jobs.’ Those are jobs in construction, those are jobs for electricians – you will take away those jobs if you cancel that project. This is a city-, state- and nation-shaping project that you do not support. You have failed to see that the people of Victoria –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! It is getting hard to hear Mr Galea. Could we keep the yelling maybe a tad lower.

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Mr Galea is entitled to be heard in silence.

Michael GALEA: It is more fun if they are not silent. But it is an important project because it is delivering transformational change to the way that we will be getting around our city. I know that I say this a lot, but it is the Liberals that keep bringing these motions into the chamber to talk about the Suburban Rail Loop. It is about people who are living in Cranbourne and going to uni at Monash or at Deakin, people in Pakenham who are commuting to jobs in Cheltenham or Glen Waverley or Box Hill, the future travel options that people will have and the induced demand that we can create through this project and indeed beyond that as well for people of Gippsland, who will have those same benefits too, which I am sure would interest you, Ms Bath. I know it certainly interests colleagues on our side, including Minister Shing, whose constituents in Eastern Victoria will also significantly benefit from that project. We see in the motion here from Ms Crozier the significantly exaggerated and aggrandised figure of $216 billion, which is conflating a long-term capital spend with operating expenditure, all in an effort to paint the project to be something that it is not. She knows full well that stage 1 of the SRL is not a $216 billion project, not on operating costs nor on infrastructure.

I think it is quite interesting – with the limited time I have left – we heard a lot from Ms Crozier in her contribution, but more interesting for me is what was not included, and that was any reference to the state of Victoria’s economy. That is obviously because the Victorian economy is actually doing extremely well. We are actually in many ways leading the nation. Unemployment is at 50-year historic lows, currently at 4.1 per cent. Regional unemployment is at 3.7 per cent, again a 50-year historic low. Employment as well is expected to increase by 225,000 jobs over the four years to the 2027–28 financial year. But we have already – this is not some fantastic figure that has been plucked –since September 2020 seen job growth of 560,000 new jobs in this state. That translates to one in every three jobs in this country that has been created since September 2020 having been created in Victoria – one in every three. For a state with a population that is roughly a quarter of the nation, for one in three jobs to be created in this state since the COVID pandemic just shows that businesses are investing in Victoria and businesses want to invest in Victoria.

Why wouldn’t they when we have reduced the regional payroll tax to a quarter of the level of what was set by those opposite? Regional businesses are paying 1.2 per cent, not 4.85 per cent, which you guys would have had them pay. We are also the first state to abolish the business insurance duty, which is expected to save Victorian businesses $516 million over the next four years. Victoria is an attractive place to do business, and you do not have to listen to government MPs telling you that, you can look at the statistics. You can see the investment in Victoria; you can see the growth. For every new job that is created that is another person engaged in the workforce and contributing to the state’s economy as well. Through this budget we will also see net debt as a proportion of the gross state product stabilise and then decline. We have also seen – this is a good thing to finish on – Deloitte Access Economics forecasting the Victorian economy to grow at a faster rate than any other state over the next five years. Despite all that Ms Crozier wants to talk about, Victorians know that the state economy is going strongly. This is a government that has invested in people as well as the economy and will continue to deliver the support, the services and the cost-of-living relief that all Victorians need.

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (16:46): I rise to support Ms Crozier’s motion and in particular its reference to the thriftless disregard this government shows for Victorians and the spiralling damage done to the productivity of our economy by the ever-increasing taxation levels. We seem to be immune to the numbers now. It is shocking that we are not more shocked about Victoria’s debt, but after a decade of budgets from Labor it has become just part of the scenery. The headline figures are bad enough. Total debt will rise consistently, from $156 billion next year to $188 billion by 2028. As a reminder, the debt level in 2014 when Labor came to power in Victoria was $21.4 billion. From $21.4 billion to $188 billion – that is what a decade of Labor budgets have done for us. And that is the debt. The wild increase has come despite the huge increase in taxes, which Ms Crozier has told us about – 55 new or increased taxes since Daniel Andrews’s pre-election ‘no new taxes’ promise. That was just a blatant lie, we have now learned.

Georgie Crozier interjected.

Bev McARTHUR: He is an absolute con man, Ms Crozier. If the tax take had remained constant and the debt risen, that would be a poor outcome but at least understandable. But to manage to simultaneously increase taxes and blow out the debt is almost incredible. The extent of economic mismanagement that feat requires is epic. We know why it has happened. It is not bad luck or unfortunate circumstances or even COVID, your much-flaunted excuse for everything. It is the inevitable result of any prolonged Labor government in Victoria or anywhere else. Labor governments do not believe in individuals. You do not believe in entrepreneurs, in small businesses. You mistrust them. That is why you tax them, you regulate them. You have a jaundiced view of anyone employing others, and the consequence is penalty after penalty and risk after risk being loaded on the backs of the productive part of our economy. It is not just a mistrust born of complete unfamiliarity with business and individual enterprise, it is also a vested interest of Labor’s union paymasters, who want ever greater membership and power and need to show results to get numbers through the door.

A member interjected.

Bev McARTHUR: They are very good when we need to get the duck shooting happening, though, I must say – they have done a wonderful job – and for making sure you do not lock up the parks. They are doing a great job on that too. That is where we need them – out there fighting your ridiculous policies in that area. What Labor do fundamentally believe in is government, and when you like something, you like more of it and you want more of it. The result is writ large in this budget as Ms Crozier’s motion references, with the ‘thriftless disregard’ in her introduction, the debt timebomb in (1)(a) and the public sector wage bill in (1)(d). As the old saying goes, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And so it is with Labor. Any problem, real or political, must be solved by government, be it through new consultation, committees, commissioners, quangos, regulation or legislation. Last year’s budget saw state revenue reaching $99.9 billion by 2026–27, but the Treasurer has confirmed Victoria will now break the hundred-billion-dollar barrier by 2025 and hit $107 billion by 2027.

Labor politicians love to boast about spending, and we have just heard Mr Galea wax lyrical about spending. But this big growth of big government is nothing to be proud of, Mr Galea. It is built on the backs of hardworking, enterprising Victorians, and one day those backs will break. Day after day government ministers and MPs in this place crow about spending as if it is good in itself, as if spending more money automatically means getting a better result. You do not have to look very far to see that in Victoria, under this government, that is a long way from true. We are soon to be a $100 billion state, the biggest of the big spenders, and yet do we think that our roads, our health services, our education, our court system, our police and our housing situation have improved in the last decade? Has the outcome we have got today in all those areas been worth the heavier taxes and the $180 billion of debt amassed?

Worse still is what has happened to the economy structurally in this time. Our outlook now seems bad enough on the headline figures, but the underlying economic truth is even more problematic.

A member interjected.

Bev McARTHUR: The library here – listen to what the library has done – has recently produced an excellent paper on manufacturing in Victoria. You need to read these things. It contains important analysis, particularly on the trends in the geographical location of manufacturing jobs and the changing subsectors of manufacturing employment. I would certainly recommend it. But I suspect that the clearest conclusion – the declining share of manufacturing as a share of the state’s economic activity – does not need an in-depth research paper. It has been clear to us all for decades. Manufacturing is not the only sector to decline. Victoria now is a hollowed-out economy kept afloat by population growth, house construction, publicly financed infrastructure and booming property taxes. The economy has been pumped full by the steroids of population growth and massive public spending, and like any steroid injection, it is not sustainable. We have had force-fed growth. Like a foie gras goose, the economy has grown, but like the goose, it is not destined for a happy and long life. The poor old goose. It is a fact: Victoria’s budget is now 50 per cent more reliant on the revenue from stamp duty than it was 20 years ago.

Members interjecting.

Bev McARTHUR: Did you get that? I will have to repeat it because you made so much noise. Victoria’s budget is now 50 per cent more reliant on the revenue from stamp duty than it was 20 years ago – 50 per cent more reliant on an inefficient and damaging tax which constrains our economy, discouraging people from moving, seeking new jobs or downsizing to appropriately sized houses. And we just heard about the housing crisis. The problem for housing in this state is state taxes, charges and regulations. That is why we have got a housing crisis. It is all your fault – 50 per cent more reliant on a tax, which makes Victoria incredibly vulnerable to a housing downturn. Like any Ponzi scheme, an economy built on population growth and housing construction no longer works when people stop buying in.

We know the government is addicted to this sugar rush economy. The statistics tell us so. In 2008 just 6 per cent of Melbourne property buyers paid the highest rate of stamp duty. Now it is fully one-third – 33 per cent of Melbourne property buyers pay the highest rate of stamp duty. That is why I commend the final part of Ms Crozier’s motion, which calls on the government to commit to root-and-branch tax reform. We know you will not, but it truly would be the best for our state in the long term. Absolutely we need root-and-branch reform, and if you really want to do something good for this state, work with your federal colleagues and work on root-and-branch tax reform. This state desperately needs it. The original idea of the GST, for example, was to cut state taxes and duties – cut them. You were meant to get rid of them. You have just landed us another 55. That might be a good place to start. But we know that offered the same amount of money via a federal GST payment and locally raised stamp duty, a Victorian Labor government would always choose the latter. You would always choose your own taxes rather than what you could get. It is about control. That is what you are on about – control. It is about staying in the box seat, reserving the right to tax further and harder, not about economic efficiency and merely providing service to Victorians. And sadly, we know where this path ends. As taxes increase, businesses leave and the debt interest burden inexorably rises. (Time expired)

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (16:56): I rise to contribute on the motion from those opposite, and doing so gives me a great opportunity to talk about what we are committed to doing in this budget. The motion by Ms Crozier reads, and I will not read it all, but here are the main parts: that this house (1) talks about the needs and taxes paid by the Victorian community in the budget, and I think no matter what budget we pass, they are saying all the same talking points. But back to the motion: (a) it talks about the debt, and something that we on this side of the house and most Victorians know is that if we did not do what we did in Victoria to keep us afloat during COVID, we would have been in some real strife; and (b) it talks about the fire services levy and taxes. I am proud to support our firies, and I will always support our firies and what they do. In fact recently, you may not know this, but I completed the fire rescue Fire Ops 101 training program and had a great opportunity to experience a day in the life of a firefighter. There were simulations, training drills – the works – and the team were absolutely remarkable. I particularly want to single out Ed Starinskas and Kat Dunell for the opportunity to learn what it is like. I will not forget it anytime soon. This program has led me to a new-found appreciation of what our firefighters face, and that is why I am particularly proud to be a member of a government that is committed to providing fire services that protect Victorians and their properties to make sure that these services are appropriately funded.

The fire services property levy was put in place to fund our life-saving fire services following a recommendation from the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. We all remember Black Saturday, and I also am old enough to remember Ash Wednesday. The fire services levy was also designed to grow in line with expenditure on fire services to keep up with demand, and when the FSPL commenced on 1 July 2013 under the former coalition government, the levy was collected to cost recovery of 87.5 per cent of the funding required for Fire Rescue Victoria and 77.5 per cent of the funding required for the CFA. This year’s budget returns the FSPL to its initial levy of cost recovery aligning largely with inflation.

I am quite shocked that this motion – back to the motion – at (c) talks about tourism. And the negativity – it compares us to New South Wales and Queensland. It is a bit odd for those opposite to be cheering on the other states, but I am proud of Victoria. That is why I do not want to go anywhere else except for Victoria, as we have it all. Mrs McArthur, over your way my wife and I visited Steiglitz at the base of the Brisbane Ranges. It is a great place to come across, and I was amazed to find a little courthouse that was there in a small town that used to be back in the 1800s a great little mining town. So we have got all sorts of great places in Victoria that we can visit, and those opposite tend to talk it down quite a bit. Then it talks about health and education and goes back to tourism and crime prevention, and soon I will try and address all of these by outlining our important work in these areas. The motion, at (e), draws light to women’s programs, family violence and medical research – well, where do I begin?

The motion keeps going on, but let us address what we have so far. This budget has a focus on families. As the Premier has said, the Allan Labor government is committed to helping families with the cost of living, and that is what this budget is about. Think of the $400 school saving bonus. This is a new commitment to the education of our kids, unlike what the motion suggests – a bonus for every student enrolled at a government school and for eligible families at non-government schools. It will give families with children at government schools and eligible families at non-government schools a $400 boost to help with uniforms, camps, excursions and sporting events. In the history of our state’s development education is the most important way to build our future. That is why we are building 100 new schools by the end of 2026, a pledge blown away with 75 new schools already in communities where they are most needed, and we are dedicating $1 billion to the construction of the remaining 16, ensuring that every child, regardless of postcode, has access to quality education.

This budget is also delivering on the educational needs of my community in Southern Metro. In my community of Camberwell, which I know dearly miss their former hardworking Labor member of Parliament John Kennedy, we have delivered $9.7 million in funding to Camberwell Primary School. It is happening. This school community deserves it. They are a pillar of our community and our state. In fact they are one of the only properly bilingual schools in our state – all students are taught in French and English, so the connection is real. But bricks and mortar do not make a school; it is the nurturing environment and environment of hard work, discipline, passion, care and compassion, the first-rate classrooms and the dedication of teachers that give our kids the best chance in life. That is why we have committed $753 million to maintaining and enhancing our education institutions, from crucial maintenance projects ensuring safe environment learning spaces to the expansion of facilities in our fastest growing schools. We recognise the tireless service of our educators, the architects of our children’s future. With $139 million allocated, we have bolstered their ranks with professional development opportunities, mental health support and flexible working arrangements.

This year I have spent many days visiting kindergartens in my community of Southern Metro. We know that an early start equals the best start, and that is why, with $129 million, we are continuing the rollout of three-year-old kinder and ensuring every child receives the start in life they deserve, setting them up for success, and we are investing $19 million to renovate and modernise kinder facilities, fostering environments for growth and learning. And our commitment extends beyond the classroom walls. We recognise that there are diverse pathways to success, and therefore we are investing $71 million to support young people to complete their secondary education at TAFE. Additionally, $23 million is dedicated to improving access to our vocational education and training schools, empowering our youth with the skills to thrive in a workforce that is constantly modernising.

We are also funding $6.8 million for the Glasses for Kids program, tripling the size of that program. This program will reach a further 74,000 prep to grade 3 students at 473 government schools across the state. The program will provide free screening and glasses for students who need them. It will also help families by no longer needing them to juggle appointment times or to incur additional out-of-pocket costs.

As we know, this budget is focused on families, and a big part of families is sport. For me it was football, and for many of my kids it was netball – and it all adds up, especially if you have six of them. That is why the Allan Labor government is investing in a further $6 million to extend this program, providing vouchers worth up to $200 for eligible families for the cost of sports. The Get Active Kids voucher program has always been a popular one in my community, so I encourage as many parents as possible to use it as much as they can.

I also encourage parents in my community of Southern Metro to get their kids involved in swimming. It is a vital skill to have, and for a nation that is known across the world for its beaches, beach culture, surfing and more, not enough Australians have it. That is why I am proud that we are investing $116 million for the active schools program, including $73 million to support schools to run swimming and water safety programs for their students.

We are also investing $11 billion for our healthcare system, helping our hospitals care for their patients and continue to recover from the impacts of the pandemic. We know our healthcare workers are heroes. They stood up for us in the pandemic, and we must always stand up for them where we can. We know that planning in this space is important, so we are investing $8.8 billion to fund our hospitals in the long run, $755 million to get new hospital facilities up and running and $1.2 billion to address the Commonwealth reducing the funding to our hospitals and more. We are committing $146 million to ensure that Ambulance Victoria has what it needs to meet the needs of our growing state and $126 million to supply the blood and many related services that Victorians need when they need them.

We have got $118 million to upgrade infrastructure at the Alfred, and that means a lot. It is only walking distance, a few hundred metres away, from my office, and it delivers world-class support. I have had the privilege to visit many times as a local member. It was only a few weeks ago when I had the pleasure to visit with the Deputy Premier, who in his capacity as Minister for Medical Research toured the world-class research facilities. That is why I know that $40 million to continue upgrading and replacing the central engineering infrastructure is vital. They deal with our state’s most critical infrastructure. I had to change outfits to ensure nothing was contaminated – the level of care that they take each day is incredible. We know the healthcare system is complex and ever adapting.

We know we need to support the national disability insurance scheme patients as best we can in a state government capacity, so I am happy that we are investing $233 million to prepare for its next opening and changes to our state, particularly for my community of Southern Metro and for generations to come.

I am committed to finding a better way to protect first-time homebuyers and those building their family home from being taken advantage of, and I am proud that we are doing our part. Importantly, we are investing because it is setting our next generation up for life. From millions for skills and TAFE, cutting property taxes by millions – (Time expired)

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:07): I am pleased to rise to support Ms Crozier’s motion 411 standing in her name. It is an absolute indictment of the government when you look at these facts that are on this motion: debt blown out to $188 billion, with interest payments soaring to $26 million per day by 2028. There are so many community-based infrastructure projects that are crying out for funding. There are schools that were not implemented. They were promised as a commitment by the Labor Party at the 2022 election; here they are, I listed them on the notice paper today – more than a dozen. These could be funded within a matter of a month if we were not paying $26 million per day in interest rates. It is an abomination and it is unsustainable, and it is the reality of an Allan government.

We know that the government cannot manage money. We know that the government cannot manage projects. We have seen budget blowouts in many of the central Melbourne projects. We have seen in this government budget this week that they are lacking in transparency again in relation to major projects – there are no costs listed for the Suburban Rail Loop, the Box Hill to Cheltenham rail line to nowhere. The fact that no major infrastructure organisation called for it, the fact that it is blowing out before it has started and the fact that it will cost my grandchildren’s grandchildren into perpetuity are indictments of this government.

Recently I had a conversation with some very good people in the mental health space, and they were lamenting this government’s abandonment of many of the royal commission recommendations. There have been funding cuts; it has backflipped on its commitment, as outlined in point (f) of this motion; and there is much sadness in relation to the loss of services that are so vitally needed right across Victoria but particularly in the Eastern Victoria Region as well. The government has cut the advancement of these 50 mental health and wellbeing locals, which are supposed to be that multidisciplinary triage centre for people in need, for people whose emotional and mental wellbeing is at stake. There are 15 out there, but there are supposed to be 50 all up, and this government has just pulled the handbrake on and delayed the rollout of a further 35. The funding has stopped and the rollout has stopped. They have kicked this particular development down the road. What are you going to tell somebody who is sitting on the edge of Flynn ward in the Latrobe Valley with compromised mental health? They are coming from outer regions in Gippsland. What are you going to tell them? ‘By the way, funding might be around in 2026, 2027, 2028 or never.’ These things are very important.

Also, in relation to regional mental health boards, there are interim regional boards that are supposed to be that triage – again, that service that links local community health provisions of mental health and the hospitals, the sort of acute centres. This was a recommendation from the royal commission in relation to, again, linking triage support services. When somebody exits the Wonthaggi Hospital – when they are rolling in and through and out of that hospital – they need proper support to put them back in at home, not to just come back to the hospital but to be able to have those services that are needed. It should not be up to nurses on the way out to provide that. These interim regional boards are vitally important. They are part of the recommendations of the royal commission, and yet they are going to be delayed. Then the services are delayed and the value to the population of Victorians is delayed.

In this motion before us, we see that there have been cuts to health, and part of those cuts to health is around the cuts to the cancer centre. This is a world-class centre, the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, with world-leading advancement in cancer care. There is a 75 per cent cut. What do we see from this government over 10 years? Six hundred thousand Victorians are languishing on the urgent elective surgery waitlist. There has been a 40 per cent increase in category 1 surgery waitlists. We have seen that with planned surgery lists and the government’s own benchmarks – they are dropping those. Rather than creating the services, providing that care, getting people the operation they need and getting them back out into society to lead full and reasonable lives and contribute to society, they have cut their own targets. Again, this is unacceptable, and again the government is showing that it cannot manage money, it cannot manage the health system and it certainly cannot manage people’s expectations.

In terms of the fast rail loop in Geelong, it is going to be kicked down the road, as is the airport rail. I know a number of people from Gippsland who are totally frustrated with the fact that they go through the gridlock of the Monash. They had the thought of having an airport rail, which has been in the system for 20 years. This government was happy to spruik it over successive elections. Well, now it has been kicked down the table again. We also know that this government is thwarting the regional rail link rollout. It has been on the table for some eight years. In fact my dear colleague the federal member for Gippsland put the majority – 80 per cent – of the funding up for that, and indeed the government is kicking it down the road.

We heard before from Mr Galea. He talked about uplift – Labor is uplifting. What they are uplifting is debt and misery –

A member interjected.

Melina BATH: and taxes. Thank you very much.

A member interjected.

Melina BATH: They are the debt lifters. Not only that, they are the tax lifters as well – 53 new or increased taxes over the duration –

A member interjected.

Melina BATH: It is 55, apologies. That is right – now it has gone up. It is hard to keep up with the debt-ridden Labor government, and these sorts of people are affecting my region. (Time expired)

Business interrupted pursuant to sessional orders.