Wednesday, 25 May 2022

Bills

Appropriation (2022–2023) Bill 2022

Appropriation (Parliament 2022–2023) Bill 2022

Second reading

Debate resumed.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Footscray is not here for the call, so the call goes to the member for Rowville.

Mr WELLS (Rowville) (14:47): Thank you, Deputy Speaker, and I thank the clerks for the heads-up about what was going to happen. Can I firstly congratulate the Leader of the Opposition on his budget reply, because it was well thought out. He had been through the numbers, obviously, with the Treasury team, and it made a lot of sense in terms of how he was going to reply to it and set the direction in terms of where the opposition stands.

From my point of view it is a typical Andrews Labor government budget—massive debts, massive deficits, massive cost blowouts and, can you believe it, a pathetic promise to have the budget back in black within four years. Now, if it were true, most people would go ‘That’s just fantastic’. We have got this massive amount of debt and these massive deficits coming up over the years. If we could believe that the budget was going to be back in black in four years time, we would say that is almost a miracle. But you just cannot trust Labor. You cannot trust them. I am sure there is not even a person on the backbench that actually believes that we are going to be back in black in four years. There is probably not one Labor MP on the backbench that would possibly believe, under the policy settings that they have, that we would be back in black in four years.

I actually was going to go on and talk about the debts and the deficits, but I am going to switch tack because of what has happened in my electorate over the last few months. It is just devastating that the health system can be in such a diabolical mess. How ironic is it that the Labor government, the defenders of the health system, the defenders of the education system, can get the planning and the funding so very wrong for our health system? It is just so unbelievable. I mean, listening to the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearings—and the PAEC system is a very good system because it allows the opposition and others to be able to go through, line by line, with the minister—on health issues, for example, in the case of the Minister for Health. But confirming that 21 people have died waiting for an ambulance is something that you would never believe would happen in this state or this country. Twenty-one people have died waiting for an ambulance.

You hear about situations overseas, but for this great state to have that situation is just unbelievable. Even today we have a situation where minister after minister and even the Premier are saying it is all about COVID-19. But where is the role of government? I mean, the government’s job is to protect us, to provide good-quality services. In fact I would say it should be providing the best quality services in the world. The government’s job is to plan, to fund and to deliver, and on the response in case of an emergency, what has the Andrews Labor government been doing when obviously there were red flags up all over the health system months and months and months ago? When you question the Premier about the red flags, it goes to the funding for the health and ambulance system.

The fact is that a minister or the Premier can get up here and talk about how much funding and how many extra people they put into the ambulance system. The member for Lowan hears it all the time, and the member for Lowan does the work in the Pandemic Declaration Accountability and Oversight Committee. We get told how many extra people they have put on, how many billions they have put into the system. The point is it has not worked, so it is a fat lot of good saying how much money we have put in or how many extra ambulance officers or nurses. The fact is it has not worked, because people are dying. The planning was not done, and it is now over two years since COVID hit.

Let us look at the health system. I had the great privilege of being a minister for emergency services. I was talking to a former ESTA board member a couple of days ago, and he made the point—and it is a very, very good point—as a former board member for ESTA, that the idea of having a board for ESTA is to give that independent advice and to be able to go to government. If you are going to have time constraints, if you are going to have a time requirement—KPIs for when someone rings in on 000 and it has to be answered by a certain time—which is what should happen, then obviously the executive and the board at ESTA have to work out how many call takers you need. You factor in long service leave, superannuation and sick leave, and in the case of COVID you work out just how many people are going to be away, but you make sure that you have the people in place—the training, the training, the training. As he pointed out to me, the budget preparation goes to the Treasurer and goes to the minister. The Department of Treasury and Finance check and double-check all the numbers. If the government make the decision that they are not going to put in that amount of money, then obviously ESTA cannot make those KPIs.

So someone has failed in this process. Is it the board members at ESTA, or is it that the board members did all the hard work—which is what I suspect—to say, ‘We need this number of call takers in order for us to comply with the government’s requirements for picking up the phone in a number of seconds to ensure 000 is going to work properly’? We really need to know. Was it ESTA who failed, or was it that the ESTA board did the right thing—gave the documentation to the minister and gave the documentation to Treasury, who were able to work through it and say, ‘We agree. This budget must be fulfilled in order for ESTA and 000 to be able to fulfil those KPIs’? Someone failed and someone failed poorly on that.

In regard to the health situation and the breakdown of the health system, it is just awful. The government says, ‘No, we haven’t cut money, we’ve done this’, but you just go through those numbers and you just worry. You ponder over whether the money is getting to the front line of the health system. Is it getting to the health system? I have had that dreadful case in my electorate. A pregnant woman in my electorate could not access the maternity services at the Angliss Hospital in Ferntree Gully because the lifts had broken down. The woman, who was about to give birth, had to travel 27 kilometres to Box Hill because the lifts were not going to be fixed until June. This is Victoria; this is not a Third World country. And this was not before that woman in labour at the Angliss was strapped to a stretcher to be carried down a stairwell. I mean, just how absolutely dreadful and degrading is that?

And there was the situation that I raised yesterday with the Premier about my constituent—that is the cancer patient that we had from Rowville being rushed to the Monash Medical Centre by ambulance with a severe headache and vomiting. He spent 24 hours in the emergency department and was transferred to the day care ward—which was brightly lit, can you believe it—for a further 24 hours. His wife pleaded with staff that her husband needed an MRI. Her husband needed an MRI, and the situation was so dire that after a while he was sent home again with no follow-up care—and I do not blame Monash Medical Centre one little bit. The hardworking staff there do a phenomenal job, but they are overwhelmed and that is not fair on them. In this case he was sent home. He was sick again, and the GP called for an MRI and it was found that he had had a stroke eight days earlier—a stroke, can you believe it, eight days earlier? Even when he went back to the Monash Medical Centre he was still stuck on a trolley out in the ambulance waiting area. It is these situations that are just absolutely devastating. We still need to know what the government is going to do to fix the health system rather than just telling us over and over and over again ‘We’ve got more staff; we have more money’ because it is not working. It is not working, and we cannot afford for more people to die waiting for an ambulance. The situation that the member for Euroa spoke about today just must be devastating as a parent. Again we thank every single nurse, doctor, support worker, ambulance driver and paramedic. They do an incredible job, but the situation at the moment is so dire they need support, and they need it big-time.

Can I just go to my local electorate of Rowville, and what a phenomenal electorate it is. But when the Premier said the Andrews Labor government are going to govern for all Victorians, it does not matter which way you voted, I think what he meant to say was ‘We’re going to govern for all Victorians except for people in Rowville’ because it seems to be that nothing happens in Rowville. For eight years nothing has happened in Rowville. Our schools are just left behind. We have the Scoresby and Rowville secondary colleges receiving nothing from the $1.6 billion the government is spending on school upgrades. There is no funding at all for those great primary schools—Carrington, Heany Park, Karoo, Knox Gardens, Wantirna South, Knox Park, Lysterfield, Park Ridge, Rowville and Scoresby primary schools. These are great schools, but for goodness sake, you have got to give the principals, the support staff and the hardworking teachers a chop out. And then the state has some responsibility in the Catholic school system, with St Joe’s, St Jude’s and St Simon’s. There is no doubt that the students in Knox deserve a better go, and I hope that the anger in my electorate towards the Andrews government about what they have done—or have not done, more importantly—to the people in Rowville is going to be remembered.

The Scoresby CFA—how much longer do we have to wait for a new fire station? We have been waiting and waiting and waiting. Our roads get congested over and over again. I guess one of the really big issues for us is the east–west link. The incoming Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has promised $4 billion in the budget to make sure that it is their contribution to continue with the east–west link—that is, that people from my electorate can go up EastLink into the tunnel to get to the other side of town. I have made this point over and over again. You should be able to have a ring-road in a city as sophisticated as Melbourne. We do not. But the east–west link would fix that—having a ring-road.

My last point before my time expires is that there will be no funding whatsoever towards Rowville rail. The federal government promised $475 million and Labor has said that they are going to do a tram plan from Caulfield to Rowville, but we still waiting. Of course nothing is going to happen. It is just one of those throwaway lines. A journo says, ‘What’s going to happen about the situation of people in Rowville?’. They are going to have a tram plan or a trackless bus—a trackless bus. It was good today to hear that the Labor government have now realised that buses can travel where trams cannot and where trains cannot, which I thought was a great revelation. But the fact is we need funding for decent public transport out to Rowville and we need movement on the Rowville rail plan. We need it to happen. We need spades in the ground for this to happen. We have a massive, growing population, and they deserve the Rowville rail to start and to start soon.

Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (15:02): I am really pleased to stand here as the member for Mill Park and of course minister for those portfolios. I am really pleased also to make my contribution to this year’s budget. It delivers real change and investment right across our state, and I am really pleased that communities such as mine again are not forgotten. In fact they are very much at the centre of the investments that we are making on top of previous ones in previous years.

Through this budget we are investing $12 billion to put patients first, with a pandemic repair plan so that we can have more staff, better hospitals and first-class care. This includes funding to train and hire up to 7000 new healthcare workers, including 5000 nurses. Really importantly, the Northern Hospital play such a vital role in terms of the services they provide for that broader northern suburban community out where my community is, and I know that a share of this will be very much valued and appreciated by them. It is important that we keep investing in our health system. We know, of course, that the pandemic has meant that we have had to invest further, and we continue to do that.

We are also investing $333 million to add almost 400 new staff to increase the 000 call-taking and dispatch capacity and delivering a further 90 paramedics to help our frontline workers deal with unprecedented call-out volumes. We are investing in education to make sure every student gets access to the opportunities they deserve and to be their very best. Locally, in my community, I am absolutely delighted that Merriang Special Developmental School will receive $5.3 million for a much-needed upgrade but also to complete the master plan at one of their campuses, delivering the final stage of the schools master plan at the Lalor campus and modernising the junior campus in my electorate in South Morang. This is one of the 36 special schools we are upgrading in this budget, because students with special needs deserve the same opportunities as every other student in our state. This funding will mean that every single special school in Victoria will have received funding for a major upgrade since we came to government. Every child, every student, deserves every opportunity to achieve their best in life. This is a really special part of the budget for me, and I am really pleased that it is being delivered.

As the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, I am really proud to say we are ensuring that every family gets the chance to get out and enjoy our natural environment, by continuing to invest in suburban parks across Melbourne. My community is also seeing investment of about $400 000 towards the Farm Vigano master plan. The Farm Vigano precinct is within the Plenty Gorge, which is such a special place within the outer suburbs of northern Melbourne. It will provide improvements to walking paths, viewing platforms, seating and signage to communicate the cultural significance of the property and to conserve the heritage stone walls.

Victoria is certainly leading the country in the transition to a renewable energy economy. Since we were elected in 2014, 55 projects providing almost 4000 megawatts of new capacity have come online and are providing clean energy to the grid. Of course it is not stopping there. We have got five new renewable energy projects, large ones, that are under construction, and this will provide even more power. When you do this, you actually reduce power costs, and that is why Victoria today is leading the country in terms of putting that downward pressure on power costs. Thanks to the leadership, we are creating more jobs in renewables than any other state, and last year we delivered the largest annual increase in renewable generation of any government ever.

We are also helping Victorian households tackle the cost-of-living pressures. Today, like every day, Victorians are finding it really difficult to manage cost-of-living pressures. We will have a new $250 power saving bonus from 1 July; it is a one-off payment. It will be available to every single household in Victoria from 1 July. That comes on top of the existing $250 power saving bonus that is available until the end of June this financial year. That is available to those most vulnerable in our community with concession cards. So if you are among the most vulnerable in our community and if you have not got your power saving bonus, you can get online now, before the end of June, claim $250, and from 1 July get back on and claim another $250.

This is all established through our Victorian Energy Compare website, which we established in 2015. It is the only truly independent energy price comparison tool on the market. I know that people in my community are absolutely appreciative that they can actually get onto a website that they can trust, that is independent and that does not have any particular bonuses or favour any particular energy companies and offers. We have made the energy retail businesses provide all of their market offers to us so that they can all be on this independent, free website that people can inspect. Typically when they go on the website, seven out of 10 Victorians can be saving money by switching or ringing up their energy retailer and saying, ‘Listen, you’re charging me too much. I want some savings’. So $330, on average, can be saved. This is a really important tool that Victorians have really taken to because it works for them; it is in their favour.

We are also providing targeted support, with $9 million for critical energy affordability support services and one-off assistance for Victorians who need it the most. It is vital that we keep an eye on and keep delivering for those people who have got the hardest task of being able to get on top of their cost of living. That is what Labor governments do, and in the fine tradition of Labor governments this budget delivers plenty in that regard.

We are working to futureproof our electricity network against extreme weather caused by climate change by providing $10 million for microgrids and standalone power systems. We are kickstarting our offshore wind energy industry with $6.8 million to undertake the planning and policy development to deliver our nation-leading offshore wind energy targets, which will see us bring online 2 gigawatts of new power—cheap power, affordable power—by 2032, with first power in 2028; 4 gigawatts by 2035; and 9 gigawatts by 2040.

Victoria is the envy of every other state in the country. We have got the ambition, we have got the drive and we will create the first offshore wind energy projects in the country. Importantly, as we do that, we will be creating almost 6500 jobs by building those projects. It is really critical for us to appreciate the value of that because we are talking about good, highly skilled jobs that are ongoing jobs. That really does tell you that there are significant jobs in the new energy sector that will help to sustain many, many communities right across regional Victoria. That is part, of course, of the creation of 24 000 jobs by 2030 that is currently underway to fulfil the obligations that we have set ourselves to reach 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030. These things do not happen by accident. They happen when you have got a plan, you have got a vision and you invest in the job creation programs and the industries that are of the future. We are doing that. Not tomorrow, we are doing that today and building on that after today too.

Now, later this year we will have an offshore wind energy implementation statement, on which we will consult and which will really be about maximising the jobs creation, driving that record investment and delivering social outcomes from this new industry. We will also be working with traditional owners to develop a new model of engagement with renewable energy projects that can deliver on their aspirations for self-determination and importantly economic independence. We have allocated $4.2 million to bring online more renewable energy through our second Victorian renewable energy target (VRET) auction, and this will play a key role in meeting our goal of powering the entire state government with renewable energy by 2025.

Leadership needs to occur by example, and we are absolutely doing that by leading the way through examples set by government. We will provide $8 million to support mandatory training for electrical workers. This is really critical because we need to keep ensuring that, as the energy system transforms and new technologies come in, Energy Safe Victoria has the opportunity as the regulator to be able to design new programs and new courses in conjunction with the industry and the unions to ensure that we renew foundational skills that keep workers safe when working with electricity and of course think through what those new skills are that need to be developed up for this sector.

Finally, we are investing in renewable hydrogen through the $10 million Hume Hydrogen Highway initiative that will see us deliver Australia’s first hydrogen highway between Melbourne and Sydney. I was very pleased to have joined the state minister for energy in New South Wales to announce this really critical project. This will really help to drive up or create the demand for renewable hydrogen for heavy transport.

The Solar Homes program is going from strength to strength. We continue to invest in this nation-leading program that gives savings to Victorians who have joined the program. We initially thought that they would be saving $890 a year every single year. On average they are now saving more than $1000 every single year off their energy bills by participating in this program. This budget delivers funds for a further 64 000 rebates, and also there are more rebates for battery storage systems. Of course importantly we continue to fund rebates for rental households installing solar PV systems, and we still have the availability of an interest-free loan for part of the installation costs and the up-front costs. So we are working for everyone when we continue to build on these programs.

Solar Homes customers, as I said, are saving significant dollars. 1700 battery rebates will also be made available, bringing the total number of battery rebates to 5200, and there are other significant initiatives that are supported by this budget. A total of $384 million has been paid in rebates since the Solar Homes program started in August 2018, and the Solar Homes program will make up one-eighth of our 2025 VRET target of generating 40 per cent of our energy from renewable energy sources. The Solar Homes program has already abated 1 140 000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

This is real action on climate. We do not talk about it, we do it. We get on and do it, making sure that we do not leave any Victorian behind. Whatever the size of their wallet is, whatever the size of their bank balance is, whatever their housing situation is, we are absolutely there for them so that they can get the benefits of the journey to decarbonising our energy system. In total the program will reduce the state’s carbon emissions by almost 4 million tonnes while we are creating 5500 jobs, so there are benefits all round here.

We have also invested $560 million to protect our precious biodiversity since coming to government in 2014. This is the largest ever investment by a Victorian government, creating 250 000 hectares of biodiversity protection through new national parks—land set aside for that—including 65 106 hectares in central west, 96 000 hectares of immediate protection area and 90 000 hectares of old-growth protection. In this budget we are supporting the Yorta Yorta traditional owners with $5.8 million to support the continuation of the joint management plan for Barmah National Park.

There is so much here that I could talk about. I am running out of time, absolutely, but we have got $16.5 million for our heritage icons on public land, including Werribee Park Mansion, the Point Nepean forts and lighthouses at Cape Otway, Cape Schanck, Point Hicks and Wilsons Prom. These sites are important for our local tourism industry, and works will create nearly 200 jobs.

We are also investing $14 million in a package for forestry contractors, who will be employed to collect seeds vital to reseed forests after major fires. We know that there will be more bushfires in our future due to the devastating effects of climate change. We need to be prepared to regenerate our forests in the aftermath, and this is what this really important investment goes towards. Wildlife will benefit from further funding, as will other parts of public land in terms of our coastal and marine environments. I am running out of time—there will be extra funding for the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority, which is a very important part of our coastal community, and certainly more by way of fire. This is a budget that I commend wholeheartedly.

Ms VALLENCE (Evelyn) (15:17): I rise today to speak on the Appropriation (2022–2023) Bill 2022. Sadly, the Andrews Labor government’s 2022–23 budget is a complete and utter disgrace. It is despicable that they have released a budget with so much spin and deception in its title, ‘Putting patients first’, when on their watch we are in the midst of the worst health crisis Victoria has seen and the ambulance union, the police union, the Australian Medical Association and many medical experts are all saying our health system has been flailing and failing for years—and years before COVID. Do not take that from us, take that from the experts and the health workers.

The Premier and his tired eight-year-old Labor government are putting healthcare patients last. In fact they are putting Victorians last. They are putting Victorians in my local community last. And it is simply astonishing as you read through the budget papers—flick through the budget papers and look at the pages in black and white—that many of the Andrews government’s headline announcements do not actually have a single cent of funding allocated to them.

The Melton hospital is a case in point. It is a stark example, something that Labor announced in the lead-up to the 2018 election and have just reannounced simply because they have not done anything about it. It does not have a single dollar allocated to it. It is in black and white in the budget. There is not a single dollar allocated in this budget to the Melton hospital. The budget papers just state ‘TBC’—as the Premier advised us at the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, to be confirmed. There is not a single dollar. Also the Moderna mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility, in my portfolio of medical research—something that would be of great benefit to our state and the nation—does not have a single dollar allocated to it in the state budget. It is there in black and white. It is just a blank space in the budget papers. It is simply astonishing.

This state budget unfortunately represents a troubling picture for our economy and completely ignores my local community. Under this budget our children and our grandchildren will be saddled with billions and billions of dollars worth of Labor’s debts for decades to come. The Andrews Labor government has no plan for how any of this money will ever be paid back. Victorians will yet again suffer another annual budget deficit, this time of $7.9 billion. The Andrews Labor government will plunge Victoria’s net debt position to a staggering $167.5 billion by 2025–26. That is a record debt for Victoria, and it is a shocking legacy for this Andrews Labor government. That means that the Premier has taken Victoria’s debt level to that of New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia combined. To put that into some perspective—$167 billion is a massive number—Labor’s record debt represents $25 000 for every Victorian, or $100 000 for a household of four. It represents 26 per cent of gross state product. That is a significant number. Every Victorian will have a $25 000 bill to pay to help this Andrews Labor government get out of its shocking debt. It is more than double the debt target of 12 per cent that this Labor government promised Victorians at the last state election would never be exceeded. They gave an election commitment that they would not exceed the 12 per cent debt target, and they have failed. It is just another broken election promise by this arrogant Labor government, who cannot prepare, cannot plan and has no credibility when it comes to business continuity or planning for the case of an emergency.

Now, just like that is the broken election promise of no new taxes. That is another broken election promise, no new taxes. Premier Andrews and his Labor government have introduced not one but 42 new or increased taxes, forcing up the cost of living for Victorians. And do not think that the Premier will stop there. I mean, alarm bells are really ringing for every Victorian because the only way that the Labor government is ever going to have any chance of paying down this debt is by taxing Victorians more, and this Labor budget has shown us in the budget papers, again in black and white, an increased tax revenue by $10.8 billion in this budget alone—more than pre-COVID levels.

The Andrews government, as we know and have heard many, many times, has lost its AAA rating, and that is something that this government cannot blame on COVID. It is because of their terrible mismanagement of the state’s finances. The Andrews government lost its AAA rating, and that was a rating was achieved by the Kennett government back in the mid-1990s and was held until a couple of years ago under this government. Credit agencies only just after this budget was handed down are warning yet again that there will be ongoing downgrades to Victoria’s credit rating due to this disastrous budget management under the Premier. John Manning, vice-president of Moody’s credit rating agency, said about the budget impact:

We expect Victoria’s debt burden will not stabilise before the end of fiscal 2027, further increasing negative pressure on the state’s rating.

The S&P Global Ratings analyst Rebecca Hrvatin also gave a damning assessment of this budget, stating:

The state’s debt levels are likely to soar past 200 per cent of operating revenues by fiscal 2024 due to historically high infrastructure spending, exacerbated by rising inflationary pressures and some project-related cost overruns …

Cost budget blowouts under this Andrews Labor government—some $28 billion is what we know. I think Victorians know that really it will be much higher than that. By some miraculous accounting this Labor government assures Victorians we will reach a budget surplus by 2025–26. I mean, it is an absolute joke, but there is absolutely no detail and no explanation in the budget papers as to how this will be achieved. They just put a line, and after all of the misleading that this government have done they just expect Victorians to believe what they are saying. But they are pulling the wool over Victorians’ eyes again. They say they are going to reach a budget surplus—no detail, no credible steps on how that will actually be achieved.

This Labor government has no plan for how it will repay that $167.5 billion of debt, and nor is there any mention of how much interest Victorians will be slugged for these never-ending debts. It is clear that the debt will be at least that much and will certainly be higher. Perhaps it will reach $200 billion by the end of the 2020s, which will be a sad legacy of the Andrews Labor government, and it will be really demonstrated by their reckless spending and mismanagement of our finances—of Victorian taxpayers dollars.

The only thing that this Labor government really knows how to do and seems, sadly, to excel in is spend and waste. They spend, waste and mismanage everything. Spending by this Labor government will rise to $90.7 billion by 2025–26, with public service wages to rise by $5.3 billion this time to a whopping $35.3 billion. The public sector will continue to bloat under this Labor government, in fact with an increase of over 18.5 per cent in the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s public servants—so more suits in the Premier’s office and less money for Victorians in the healthcare crisis, while Victorians will be taxed more to pay for it. Where is all the money coming from? I am really concerned that our grandchildren will still be paying for the debt legacy of the Premier.

Revenue received from taxes under this Labor government will soar from $23.6 billion this year to $35 billion in four years time. Labor will just keep taxing Victorians more to fund its reckless spending and its budget blowouts on major toxic soil projects like the Metro and West Gate Tunnel projects. Motorists will see their vehicle registration taxes increase, with the Labor government hoping to net $2.3 billion in a registration fee tax hike, and struggling businesses will be forced to pay even more in payroll tax with credits being wound back. Property owners will be hit with $603 million more in land tax, and new homebuyers will get slugged with $1.5 billion in stamp duty and land transfers.

The greatest and most immediate challenge for Victorians is health. The state budget reveals a disturbing $2 billion cut to Victoria’s health system. You can look in the budget papers, it is in black and white: a net $2 billion cut to health at the worst possible time. That is despite ambulances ramping at hospitals every day, over 50 code oranges called in the last 12 months, police enlisted to perform ambulance duties, hundreds of calls to Victoria’s fatally flawed 000 emergency call system being left on hold, unanswered, and tragically 21 Victorians dying whilst on hold with 000. These issues stem back to 2016, well before the COVID period. Nearly 100 000 Victorians are on the surgery waiting list and over 151 000 Victorians are on public dental waiting lists. It is a terrible legacy of the Andrews Labor government.

Our community will recall back in April 2020 being sent into lengthy lockdowns by the Premier, when he told us the lockdowns were in order to prepare the health system. Regrettably Victoria’s health system remains in crisis. Our amazing healthcare workers have done a tremendous and outstanding job, but they are exhausted. We still do not know what happened to the $1.3 billion that was promised for 4000 staffed ICU beds. Unfortunately the Premier’s state budget is putting patients last. The Premier got us into this mess; he is not the person to get us out of this mess. He simply cannot be trusted to get us out of this mess, and the budget is absolute proof of that.

That brings me to my local community, the beautiful electorate that I represent. For the Evelyn electorate this budget was incredibly disappointing. There is not one dollar allocated to upgrade any roads to address safety or congestion, or to duplicate the rail track between Mooroolbark and Lilydale. The removal of the Lilydale rail boom gates has resulted in not one but two additional sets of traffic lights on the main street, causing traffic chaos. The Deputy Premier promised our community that this would slash congestion times. Well, local residents are avoiding the area because the traffic is worse.

Just drive out to Lilydale and have a look for yourself. The traffic pressures are crazy. It is causing traffic pressures elsewhere in Lilydale and causing local traders to lose customers. The half a billion dollars spent on removing the Lilydale and Mooroolbark level crossings has not resulted in any improvements in commuting times or reliability or frequency of train services. You still have to wait 25 to 30 minutes for a train from Lilydale.

Further, it is astonishing the Andrews Labor government has again refused to commit to the duplication of Maroondah Highway in Coldstream and fix the dangerous Killara Road intersection, and that is despite being gifted $20 million in federal funding over three years ago. Now what our community will be closely watching and judging is that the Premier does not try to convince the new federal Labor government to redirect this $20 million promised in the 2019 federal budget away from the Coldstream community to patch up his losses in city-based projects.

Now, the point of difference could not be clear enough: a change of government this November to a Victorian Liberal government will get the Maroondah Highway–Killara Road, Coldstream, project done. We will fix that dangerous road. Additionally, we have pledged $5 million to upgrade the dangerous stretch of Warburton Highway between Douthie and Peters roads in Seville East if elected this November. Only a Liberal government, when we have a change of government in November, will get that done.

Sadly for our community there is nothing in this budget from the Labor government for health in my community, for mental health services or for social housing. Public housing waiting lists are absolutely skyrocketing under this Labor government. In fact it was devastating to see there is a cut to funding, or an end of support, for Lifeline, Kids Helpline and Beyond Blue because the Andrews Labor government has said that these programs are no longer necessary. It is astonishing. Disappointingly there is no set allocation in this budget for ongoing storm recovery funding through the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges to help a community still devastated from the June 2021 cyclonic storms, and there is nothing to support Yarra Ranges Tourism, the regional tourism board, to recover after the pandemic.

There is only one shining light, and that is $2.5 million to upgrade the facilities at Coldstream Primary, which I have raised in Parliament many, many times. It is a terrible budget by this Labor government.

Ms THOMAS (Macedon—Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Regional Development) (15:32): I am very proud to rise today to speak on these appropriation bills and this fantastic budget for rural and regional Victorians. Our government knows that strong regional economies are vital to the overall economic health of our state. It is something that we have lived and breathed since we were first elected in 2014, and that is why this year’s budget brings our total investment in regional Victoria to $36 billion—that is $36 billion, more than five times what was invested by the coalition when they were last in government. And it is why, despite the significant impacts of the global pandemic on regional economies, right now the regional Victorian economy is rebounding strongly. Thanks to our government’s record investment since 2015 and COVID support of $13 billion our regional unemployment rate is the lowest in the country at 3.2 per cent, and that means that there are 81 900 more regional Victorians in jobs than there were seven years ago. So this is great news and certainly something to celebrate. Total employment across regional Victoria now exceeds pre-pandemic levels.

We continue to see Victorians move to our regions. Importantly those that have moved over the last couple of years are staying, and they are staying because of the opportunities that have been created by this Andrews Labor government. It is our investments in schools, our investments in hospitals, in kinders and public transport, all of these investments are making rural and regional Victoria an even better place to live and work. This year’s budget builds on our record investments in the regions with a further $5.7 billion, including $2.6 billion to turbocharge regional Victoria’s preparation for the Commonwealth Games. This point is important because I have read specious claims from the opposition that this year’s budget somehow represents a cut in funding for ag and regional development. The fact is that the $5.7 billion we are investing in regional Victoria in this year’s budget is three times more than the average regional budget of the previous coalition government. As usual, the opposition is misrepresenting the facts. This year’s budget follows the record $8 billion that was delivered to regional Victoria in the 2020–21 budget. That was a stimulus budget, you will recall, as a direct response to the impacts of the COVID pandemic.

In agriculture the Andrews Labor government has made investments of $3 billion since 2015–16, which have grown the value of our food and fibre industry to $17.8 billion compared to $13.4 billion when the member for Murray Plains was in government. That is a 32 per cent increase in the value of our agricultural industries. What did the member for Murray Plains do when he was the minister for agriculture? Well, let me tell you. We had four long years of inaction, chaos and cuts to frontline services. When the Liberal-National Party were in government, they chose to slash funding by half and to cut vital frontline biosecurity staff by 42 per cent. They chose to close regional agricultural offices in Ararat, St Arnaud, Birchip, Ouyen, Camperdown, Cobram and Kyneton. They chose to axe more than 500 jobs from Agriculture Victoria. They chose to give up on the eradication of the Queensland fruit fly.

In contrast, this government is delivering the funding that is needed to support the continued growth of our agriculture sector. One of the initiatives that I am most proud of that has been funded in this year’s budget is $12 million to the Grains Innovation Park in Horsham—

Ms Kealy: A glasshouse.

Ms THOMAS: to build a new glasshouse complex and business innovation hub. What we are doing in Horsham is absolutely state of the art. We have a fantastic facility there, and it is a pity that the local member wants to talk it down. She says it is just a glasshouse. She must never have been there, because it is the epicentre of grains and pulses research in the nation. And can I tell you that last week I was at an alternative proteins conference where they were very, very interested in collaborating with the Victorian government because of our research into grains and pulses. The work that I saw is about working with protein-rich field peas, lentils, fava beans and so on so that we can deliver these protein-enhanced beans to the rest of the world, because the world will be crying out for protein.

Let me tell you this, Acting Speaker, if you do not mind—

Ms Kealy interjected.

Ms Green: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, I am finding it really hard to hear the minister on her feet. I would ask you to ask the member at the table to pipe down.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Blackwood): It may have something to do with the minister actually facing away from you, but I do ask the member at the table to also tone it down a bit.

Ms THOMAS: Thank you very much, Acting Speaker. The point is that Horsham is a very vital facility and will be at the leading edge of agricultural research in Australia, and that is helped along by the investment of this Andrews Labor government.

In regional development we are investing a further $30 billion in our Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund (RJIF). This flagship fund was established under the Bracks government. John Brumby, a fantastic minister for regional development, established this fund.

Ms Kealy interjected.

Ms THOMAS: Excuse me, Acting Speaker. Could you please ask the member on the other side to pipe down, because I am trying to talk to the budget, and she has not stopped—

Ms Kealy interjected.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Blackwood): Order! Could I ask the minister at the table to ignore the interjections, but could I also ask the shadow minister at the table to tone it down a bit, please.

Ms THOMAS: Thank you very much, Acting Speaker. RJIF of course is celebrating 20 years of fantastic projects right across rural and regional Victoria, and indeed I was very pleased that it was the Liberal coalition government that maintained a commitment to RJIF. This has continued now for 24 years and has helped invest funding into thousands of projects right across rural and regional Victoria. I am proud that since 2015 $700 million has been invested through the Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund. The current round, as we speak, has seen 110 grants awarded, totalling $116 million across the three streams of RJIF. The Regional Infrastructure Fund, which is one stream of RJIF, enables local communities to tell us the projects that are most needed in their communities and enables community-led responses to social and economic challenges. We can see these investments over successive rounds really build on success.

I wanted to give you an example in Timboon and Port Campbell, where I recently had the pleasure of visiting. We know that the town of Timboon is a beautiful town and has lots of tourist appeal, and in fact over successive rounds of funding our government has supported the community of Timboon to really put themselves on the map as a visitor destination. But one of the things that this has done of course is create greater demand for housing in that region. So what have we done in response? We have provided support to local government to enable them to unlock more land for housing development in Timboon and indeed close by in Simpson, the point being that under our watch and the strategic investments that we make under RJIF we are really bolstering some of the smallest towns across rural and regional Victoria and we are seeing the rural and regional economies continue to grow. Of course Timboon Fine Ice Cream were able to tap into this tourism market. When I was in Timboon I might say I did have an ice cream, and if you have not had Timboon ice cream, as they say, do yourself a favour—absolutely fabulous. So we have been very pleased to be able to support Timboon Fine Ice Cream, Berry World and so on. These are just examples of the way in which over time the cumulative impact of the Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund through its three streams has really boosted regional economies.

I might also say, again just building on the example of what is happening up there on the south-west coast—and if only the member for that region were here to hear all about the great investments that the Labor government is making in her electorate, I am sure she would be thrilled—$6 million for the revitalisation of Port Campbell town centre is yet another example. $4.5 million from the Regional Infrastructure Fund will go towards the Twelve Apostles trail, which will link visitors and locals to Port Campbell with a 20-kilometre bike and walking path. So, again, it is this cumulative impact of strategic investments in infrastructure, partnering with the private sector. This is what is delivering jobs and real outcomes in rural and regional Victoria.

I did want to touch on the various elements of my portfolios in my response today, so it would be remiss of me not to talk about animal care and protection. A couple of really great initiatives announced in this year’s budget include $600 000 for Victoria’s first ever, maybe Australia’s first ever, pet census. Now, you might ask why you would need a pet census. Well, let me tell you this: it is not just dogs and cats that people have as pets, and we need to better understand the pets that people have, the drivers for them in choosing those pets and the social impact of having a pet. We know under COVID many, many more people chose to have a pet for companionship, to take out walking and so on. So pets play a really vital and important role in our lives. We know from council data that we have got around 600 000 dogs registered and we know that we have got around 215 000 cats registered, but we suspect that there are many, many more pets out there. We need to do the census in order to understand what pets we have got and how government can better develop policy to support pet ownership here in Victoria.

Of course the cat management strategy is another very important investment. This is $1.3 million over two years to develop a 10-year strategy. This was an advocacy priority of the RSPCA, and it stems from the RSPCA’s desire to see a couple of outcomes. One is we want better animal health outcomes for cats and kittens. We all know that cat that is partially owned. That is the cat that people might feed out in the street, but we know it is not registered, it does not receive veterinary care, it fights and gets injured and it can cause a real nuisance in neighbourhoods. Not only that, but it does hunt and kill wildlife. So through the cat management strategy we want to see a greater focus on registration of cats, people taking responsibility for cats, getting cats desexed, containing cats and so on, so that both cat lovers and wildlife lovers can live harmoniously together.

In addition to that we have also invested in the Ballarat Animal Shelter. This is $11.5 million, which I will tell you up-front is a lot of money for an animal shelter, so I really wanted to better understand this. Now, I visited the current Ballarat Animal Shelter. This shelter has more than 2000 pets through a year. And the member for Wendouree is in the house; she was there with me. It has more than 2000 pets and animals a year, and it services many surrounding local government areas: Hepburn, Pyrenees, Golden Plains, Moorabool and so on. It is also the workplace for more than 20 people, and I can tell you: the current shelter is in an old abattoir, and it was dreadful. I have never been to a worse animal shelter. So I am very proud that we are investing in building a new animal shelter to service the Central Highlands region and those surrounding shires and of course creating a safe and appropriate workplace for those employees of the City of Ballarat that deliver these vital animal services to the city and surrounding shires, not to mention the many volunteers who work there every day. This is a fantastic budget for the people of rural and regional Victoria.

Mr ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (15:47): I also rise to address the appropriation bills for this year. There is a lot of material to cover, and I will do my very best to do so in the time that I have allocated to me. In the time that I have had the great honour and privilege of representing the wonderful electors of the Sandringham district, covering Beaumaris, Black Rock, Mentone, Cheltenham, Highett, Hampton and Sandringham, I have every year prior to the budget being delivered by the state Labor government submitted to the Treasurer a Sandringham district budget submission. In that district budget submission I have sought to identify for the Treasurer areas of need in my community. I did that again this year, and I fully intend during the course of this contribution to outline in some detail some of those requests. I am not one to give away the punchline so early in the piece, but it is not good news for the people of my area. It is not good news for the people of my community. There was a lot that I asked for on behalf of my community, and frankly not much was delivered.

I would like to start with a positive, though. Way back in 2021 on 23 April I wrote to the Minister for Education, the member for Monbulk, on behalf of Sandringham East Primary School, and I asked him to consider completing the stage 1 redevelopment works of that primary school. Although I have no record of a response being received from the education minister at the time to that request, I am pleased to advise that in this budget there was some $3.85 million committed to Sandringham East Primary School for the purpose of those works. Interestingly about $100 000 of that $3.85 million was allocated in the immediate budget, with the remaining majority of $3.84 million allocated in forward years. But that is a win for Sandy East, that is a win for my community and I am pleased to have been part of the advocacy on behalf of my community that achieved that result for Sandy East primary school.

The other win for my community was of course the Hampton Pier. Those who are currently in the chamber and those who are viewing this at home or reading it at some point in the future will know that I have been a strong advocate for the rebuilding of Hampton Pier. It has been a community-led, community-driven campaign for the last two years. I was privileged to work alongside some pretty formidable community members in fighting for the rebuilding of Hampton Pier—I am talking about John Barton and Graham White, those great members of the Hampton Sailing Club and the Sandringham Yacht Club as well. Money has been allocated in this budget for the rebuilding of Hampton Pier, and that in my view is a great community win—a great community campaign that was led and a great community win. Disappointingly it took two years to do so, but we finally got there.

There are a number of other things I asked for in this Sandringham district budget submission—for example, a major upgrade of our Sandringham Hospital that would give the hospital renewed purpose in serving my community for this generation and the next. It was in 1964 that the hospital was founded and commenced serving my community, and it was in 1985 that I was born there—and not much has changed since. For that reason alone I believe that the Sandringham Hospital needs a renewed vigour, a renewed purpose to serve the next generation. But do not take my word for it; recently it has been pretty well ventilated in that wonderful newspaper the Age—in fact only last week, on 16 May, ‘Surgeons resist government plan for Sandringham Hospital’. I will quote briefly from that article:

“The plan proposed has significant flaws; it is based on the transfer of sick patients who require urgent surgery from one campus to another,” the surgeons said to management in a letter seen by The Age.

“This is, on basic principles, dangerous, allowing delays in treatment, problems with handover and results, puts even more stress on Alfred theatres and is expensive.”

The surgeons are particularly concerned about the risk that cases of “general routine surgery” may be delayed due to the need to do more acute cases.

An internal workplace dispute has also arisen, with the group of surgeons raising concerns about having to reapply for their jobs in the unit.

And it goes on.

Look, this is a time when you do not need to be a Liberal member of Parliament, a Nationals member, an independent, a member of the government or interested in politics whatsoever to recognise that there is a health crisis in this state. When you have got surgeons—good surgeons—at Sandringham Hospital who need to reapply for their jobs because of some sort of workplace realignment to suit government purposes, to suit Alfred Health’s purposes, it is just simply not good for football, it is not good for patients and it is not good for my community. What we need at Sandy hospital is a serious injection of funds there to give that hospital renewed life and renewed purpose to serve this generation and the next—and that is something that I and the Liberal opposition are deeply committed to delivering.

Further in my budget submission I requested $10 million for stage 1 funding and urgent maintenance and development of a master plan at Mentone Girls Secondary College. Linda Brown is the principal there. She is a wonderful principal, a wonderful educational leader, and it is a wonderful school. It is the only girls-only state secondary school in the southern region of Melbourne—the nearest would be Mac.Robertsons Girls High—and it would be so wonderful for that school to receive $10 million. I requested $10 million for stage 2 redevelopment of Sandringham College, and I pay tribute to their wonderful principal, Amy Porter, and the school council president, Andrew Barlow, who are magnificent advocates for their community. I asked for $1.5 million to repair and reconstruct a hall at Beaumaris Primary School, and I pay tribute to Sheryl Skewes, their principal. It is a wonderful school, and they desperately need a school hall. Also I asked for $1.5 million for the construction of a school hall at Beaumaris North Primary School, and I again pay tribute to Sherril Duffy, the principal at Beaumaris North Primary School, who is a wonderful advocate for that school. I am sad to say that those four education requests were not delivered upon in this budget.

I asked for greater protections for the Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary and the preservation of the vast majority of the former Gas and Fuel land in Nepean Highway, Highett. I asked for an upgrade of the pavilion and change room facilities, specifically the development of female change room facilities, at the Trevor Barker oval, and I pay tribute to the Sandy Zebs CEO, Marcus Ashcroft, on his advocacy for that. I asked for $400 000 for the immediate restoration of Beaumaris Bay pier and the installation of access infrastructure for disabled snorkellers very close to Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron, and I pay tribute to their commodore, Les Sabo, for his advocacy there as well.

On road safety, I asked for an upgrade of the pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Childers Street and Warrigal Road. Mentone Primary School acting principal Ken Burgen, the attendant who helps kids cross that road every day and St Pat’s primary school principal Tim Noonan have come to me saying that this is critically important, and that has not been delivered in my community.

The removal of the Highett Road and Wickham Road level crossings in Highett—I mean, those in the chamber now know that I have been an ironclad, rock-solid advocate for the removal of those two level crossings. We have had Cr Steve Staikos, the mayor of the City of Kingston, who has stood next to me together with Cr Jenna Davey-Burns—

Ms Thomas interjected.

Mr ROWSWELL: Well, Minister for Agriculture, we should not have to wait for federal dough for this. This is a state issue, and it should be fixed by the state. If the Labor government cannot recognise that this needs to be fixed by the state Labor government, then my goodness we have lost our purpose. Well, they have lost their purpose and they have lost their direction.

There are many other things that I asked for as well. I have only got 5 minutes to contribute to this debate, Deputy Speaker, and I welcome you to the chair. I do want to just address two final matters in the time I have available to me. At a former time, when I served as the Shadow Minister for Energy and Renewables, I was pleased to spearhead a policy that would unlock an additional 1800 megawatts of renewable energy capacity for Victoria. That would be enough to power some 2.4 million homes and small businesses. That would mean affordable, cleaner power and lower emissions for every Victorian. But it would also mean bringing more renewable energy onto the power grid, and carbon emissions as a result would be further reduced by a minimum of 13 per cent, helping us meet our legislated emissions reduction targets of net zero by 2050. I was thrilled on behalf of the coalition—on behalf of the opposition, the Liberal-Nationals—to spearhead a policy which meant the unlocking of an additional 1800 megawatts of renewable energy that would power 2.4 million homes, that would reduce our emissions by a further 13 per cent and that would help us further reach our legislated emissions reduction targets of net zero by 2050. Do not look at what Labor says on this policy area; look at what they do.

In the final moments that I have to contribute to this particular debate on the appropriation bills, I would like to also draw attention to the need for appropriate funding for integrity agencies. As the deputy chair of the Parliament’s Integrity and Oversight Committee, a position that I have held since I was elected to this place in 2018, I have time seen time and time again, frankly, the Labor government continually underfund integrity agencies in this state. That is deeply concerning to me.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.