Tuesday, 26 November 2024

Adjournment

Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (18:40): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Government performance

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (18:40): (1299) My adjournment matter is for the Treasurer. Victoria is now the uninvestable state, according to the business community. Chairman of CSL Brian McNamee has slammed the state of the Victorian economy, and according to an Australian Financial Review article:

… leading fund managers have told him Victoria is currently uninvestable and warned the damage wrought by years of financial mismanagement by successive Labor governments will take at least a decade to fix.

Esteemed economist Mr Eslake in his recent report on the Victorian economy noted that Victoria has been the richest and most powerful state in Australia for the last century on nearly every economic indicator. The fall is blamed primarily on:

… bloated spending beyond the government’s means and cellar-dwelling productivity performance.

He went on to say:

It ought to be embarrassing for Victorians that it now has lower per capita income than Tasmania.

This follows the Victorian Auditor-General’s warning on Friday that the state’s finances have become unsustainable, with gross debt projected to be $228 billion by 2028 – that is $30 billion more than what we thought only months ago. There is even talk of a federal bailout. Get this: a nameless spokesman for the Victorian government said:

… the Victorian economy was “booming because of the Labor government’s investment in infrastructure and services”.

How out of touch can you actually be? We had the Premier come out and say that Victoria has ‘a stronger economy, a bigger economy’ and more people in work. But there is a problem with this spin as well. There might be more people in work, but we have a lower standard of living and have suffered a 10 per cent decrease in disposable income compared to the national average. Victorians are working more, but they have less to spend. What a proud Labor legacy that is. Annual operating expenses have risen by 6.8 per cent on average over the last decade, fuelled by a bloated government bureaucracy. In the last three years state taxation has increased by 56 per cent, fuelled by an addiction to land tax, windfall gains tax and now even a death tax. Maybe this will help pay the interest, which is meant to be around $1.3 million every hour of every day of every week in 2028. Victoria’s economy is in its worst position in years, only rivalled by the failed Cain–Kirner years. Victoria cannot endure more reckless spending, incompetence and financial mismanagement. Victorians are suffering through the biggest cost-of-living crisis, a housing crisis, a crime crisis and a budget crisis. After 10 years of Labor, Victorians are paying the price. Treasurer, the action I seek is that you give Victorians the Christmas present we all deserve: resign your commission as Treasurer and minister.