Wednesday, 14 August 2024

Department of Treasury and Finance

Budget papers 2024–25

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (17:27): It is interesting that we are talking about pigs. I thought I would add a contribution on particularly the state budget, but if we look outside Parliament today we might actually see pigs flying, because the state Treasurer has now admitted that we might have reached our limit on new taxes. We may have reached our limit on taxes after introducing 55 new or increased taxes since the 2014 election, when this government said there would be no new or increased taxes. The state Treasurer is now admitting he might have got it wrong in a report in the Australian Financial Review titled ‘Labor’s most indebted state admits it’s reached limit on raising taxes’ and has pushed businesses to the limit with new taxes.

We only have to look at the statistics to see businesses fleeing our state, businesses closing down, new businesses opening in Queensland, new businesses opening in New South Wales, new businesses opening in South Australia, businesses closing in our state and 5000 fewer new business startups than the previous year. But now we have reached our limit on state taxes. Now is the time for the Treasurer to rule out a new holiday and tourism tax, which I know is going to financially ruin many regional towns. Maybe he can announce that to the regional cities forum. Finally, we get some admission from this state Treasurer that taxes are bad for business. Increased taxes lead to fewer jobs and hurt businesses. We need to get into a situation where we are rolling out the red carpet for business. That side of the chamber just wants to roll out the red tape for business.

We see over and over again examples in other states. In South Australia they have both their Premier and departments calling up Victorian businesses and asking them to come over, talking about their gas policies in particular and how much more friendly their gas policies are towards business compared to our policies where we want to shut gas down in Victoria. We want to rip the stovetops out of people’s houses. We want to stop connections to new homes, discriminating against people in growth areas by saying they cannot have gas and discriminating against our multicultural communities by saying they cannot have gas if they are going to get a new house and land package. This is the way Labor governments treat our multicultural communities that want to buy a house and land package in a growth area – by trying to select their energy choices and diminish their chance to have choice and to have a gas connection.

We see other states trying to score businesses from Victoria, and we see businesses closing down. We know the Treasurer has finally admitted that Labor’s taxes are having an impact on the economy. But Labor, we know, cannot manage money, and it is Victorians that pay the price with fewer businesses. It is Victorians that pay the price with higher power prices. It is Victorians that pay the price with not having access to gas. Victorians pay the price because of Labor’s higher taxes, because of Labor’s $188 billion of debt and because of what we will be paying – $25 million a day just to pay the interest bill. We saw $1.3 billion wasted on the east–west link; we saw $600 million wasted on the Commonwealth Games. When Labor wastes, somebody has to pay for that. Those of us that have worked in other jobs outside of a cushy union office understand that. When Labor wastes, somebody has to pay for it, and it is small businesses that are paying the price. It is our manufacturers, like the mighty manufacturers in the northern suburbs, that are paying the price for Labor’s war on gas and who are paying through the nose, paying new waste charges every which way and new fire services levy charges in this state budget. The Treasurer, thankfully, has finally admitted it. He should now come clean and say there will be no new or increased taxes from now on. It is all good to go out to the media and say, ‘We might’ve reached our limit.’ Rule it out, Treasurer.