Thursday, 15 August 2024

Eastern Victoria Region

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (12:46): (1032) My question is to the Treasurer in the other place. Under the Allan Labor government, business investment in Victoria was almost 6 percentage points higher than the rest of Australia last year, and we are not slowing down. We are replacing stamp duty on commercial and industrial properties with a more efficient tax, lifting the payroll tax free threshold by $300,000 and abolishing insurance duty. Combined these three reforms will save Victorian businesses around $900 million over the next four years, and the stamp duty reform alone is expected to generate up to $50 billion in economic benefits over the next 40 years and create around 12,000 jobs. We have also continued to back in Victorian businesses in our budget, with $555 million to build our state’s future workforce, $40 million for LaunchVic to support innovators and entrepreneurs and $9.4 million to attract more international businesses. Treasurer, how is the government cutting red tape to businesses like Red Gum BBQ on the peninsula and Gurneys Cider in Gippsland to lower the cost of living and make it easier for small businesses to operate in Eastern Victoria?