Thursday, 3 April 2025

Economy

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:27): (891) My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, Victoria’s general government sector debt has increased from $21.7 billion, 6 per cent of GSP, in the 2014–15 budget update to $155.2 billion, more than 24 per cent of GSP, in the 2024–25 budget update, and the Auditor-General has stated:

… the state has not articulated a clear plan for long-term fiscal management. Current strategies are short term, reactive and do not address both the existing financial challenges and emerging financial risks …

I ask therefore: when will the government establish a real fiscal repair plan with quantitative measures to provide a certain budget repair path, as the Auditor-General has requested?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:28): I thank Mr Davis for his question. Obviously these are issues that occupied my mind the minute I was asked to be the Treasurer, and you would appreciate that the fiscal strategy that we have set out is something that I am committed to sticking to. I remind the house of the Allan Labor government’s fiscal strategy, involving five steps. Step 1 is creating jobs, reducing unemployment and restoring economic growth. Step 2 is about returning to the operating cash surplus. Step 3 is returning to an operating surplus. Step 4 is stabilising net debt as a proportion of GSP, which is exactly what Mr Davis was referring to in his question. And step 5 –

Members interjecting.

Katherine Copsey: On a point of order, President, I am interested in the Treasurer’s answer to this question and I cannot hear it.

The PRESIDENT: I will call the house to order, and I will call on the people who asked the question of the Treasurer to not interject while the Treasurer is answering the question.

Jaclyn SYMES: It is an important topic, and it is something that I am really keen to discuss with anyone in the chamber in relation to its importance. I think I was up to step 4, which is stabilising net debt as a proportion of GSP. Step 5 is reducing net debt as a proportion of GSP. For the benefit of the house, in the 2024–25 budget update we achieved steps 1 and 2, and we are on track to deliver steps 3 and 5 by the end of the forward estimates. We have achieved an operating cash surplus for the past two years, including $2.6 billion in 2023–24, and we are forecasting surpluses. Obviously, Mr Davis, this is certainly my focus in the new role.

In relation to further work that I have initiated in relation to ensuring that the state’s finances are in the best possible position, to mimic where the economy is going – the economy is going really, really firmly. But I have not shied away from the fact that there are fundamental issues that as the Treasurer I want to confront. That is why I have engaged Helen Silver to conduct a comprehensive review. I recognise and acknowledge that there are structural issues in the operating state of the budget, and I want to get that under control. It is why I am having conversations about restructuring parts of government to ensure that we are focusing on exactly what Victorians want us to: the priorities and the important services, the vital services that –

Members interjecting.

Tom McIntosh: On a point of order, President, I know that many years on that side have made some people very negative. It has been a long week, and I am struggling to hear the Treasurer’s answer.

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: That is good. Everyone has just had about a minute of getting it all out of their system. I uphold Mr McIntosh’s point of order, as I upheld Ms Copsey’s point of order. The Treasurer should be able to answer a question from the side of the chamber she gets asked the question from without interjection.

Jaclyn SYMES: I do get the impression that the question was asked not for the answer but for the opportunity to create interjections, so I do –

Members interjecting.

Jaclyn SYMES: I welcomed Mr Davis’s question, but I have answered it.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:32): I thank the Treasurer for her answer, although I think the current fiscal strategy, if I can call it that, has not been supported in effect by the auditor; he has actually pointed to the failings of it. You reiterated the old strategy, and he has already made it clear that it is not up to scratch. I therefore ask: as part of a fiscal repair path, as the AG has called for, will the state government restore a debt ceiling like the Bracks, Brumby and Andrews governments had as part of its long-term fiscal strategy?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:33): Mr Davis, I understand that it is potentially Liberal Party policy to impose a debt cap, but if you are going to bring in a debt cap I would ask what you mean by cuts, closures and sell-offs.

Members interjecting.

Jaclyn SYMES: If you bring in a debt cap, you are ensuring that frontline services are at risk. To meet a debt cap you will always end up cutting frontline services, and you will end up with an American-style health system, for example.

Tom McIntosh: On a point of order, President, everyone in this chamber knows Mr Davis likes the sound of his own voice and he does not give any of his colleagues a go.

The PRESIDENT: What is your point of order?

Tom McIntosh: But we have just about had enough of hearing from him this week, so I would ask that he would listen to the Treasurer’s answer, please.

The PRESIDENT: I uphold the last point of that point of order, but there is nothing in the standing orders about having heard enough of anyone in here.