Wednesday, 25 May 2022

Bills

Appropriation (2022–2023) Bill 2022

Appropriation (Parliament 2022–2023) Bill 2022

Second reading

Debate resumed.

Mr ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (18:01): In the 2 minutes and 21 seconds that I have remaining I would like to return to a number of things that I was referring to earlier. Firstly, the importance that this side of politics, this side of the house, places on matters of integrity. As I was saying before the grievance debate, as deputy chair of the Parliament’s Integrity and Oversight Committee, a role which I have occupied since 2018, I have consistently been a voice for greater funding not only for the Victorian Ombudsman but also for the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission. Budget after budget after budget has delivered less funding for those integrity agencies, and I have been a strong advocate internally at the committee table and in this Parliament for greater funding for those integrity agencies. It is only right and proper that the Victorian people expect those who they elect to high office to act with integrity, and those integrity agencies are there for a reason. I implore the Victorian government to adopt the proposal put forward by the Liberal Party to increase the funding to integrity agencies, including the Victorian Ombudsman and IBAC.

In conclusion, I, as I have done since I have been elected, every year, every budget, write to the Treasurer on behalf of my community presenting to him the Sandringham district budget submission. On 17 May this year I received a response from the Treasurer. It highlighted that, as you will appreciate, every budget contains a number of announcements, some of which are statewide and benefit all Victorians, but what is in it for Sandringham? On page 2 there are references to the 2015–16 budget, the 2021 budget and the 2020 budget but rarely a reference to this budget. The Labor government says it governs for all Victorians, but in this budget it has failed my community.

Mr PAKULA (Keysborough—Minister for Industry Support and Recovery, Minister for Trade, Minister for Business Precincts, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Minister for Racing) (18:04): It gives me great pleasure to rise to speak on the appropriation bills and to reflect on another great Labor budget, the Treasurer’s eighth budget. There have been many contributions already made, including many magic pudding contributions from those opposite where they decry the lack of spending here, there and everywhere and in the next breath tell us how the government are a bunch of spendaholics with no ability to rein that spending in and how they would be so much better at financial management than this government have proven to be. These things are never quite as simple as those opposite would like us to believe, and they also tend to believe that there is no reckoning when you simultaneously advocate for both more and less spending.

I want to focus on a number of areas of the budget. Of course the cornerstone of the budget is the enormous health investments that are being made both in terms of pandemic recovery and in our hospital system more generally, but I want to focus on some of the contributions to my own electorate and also to my portfolio areas. It is undeniable that we are in a budgetary era where there are constraints, given the extraordinary amount of money that we have had to spend, for instance, in business support over the last two years, but also in shoring up the health system and otherwise. But I was very pleased to join the Minister for Water in Dingley just the other day to announce the $24.8 million contribution for the Dingley recycled water scheme. There was a lot of excitement from the local golf clubs, both public and private, but beyond them it is a pipeline that will deliver thousands of megalitres of recycled water to 46 sites, including a range of local sporting fields and local businesses such as nurseries, market gardens and otherwise. And that was certainly very welcomed by those businesses, but also by the community more generally, who will benefit from that extra recycled water that will be available to the parks and the sporting fields in the region. It has been already a pretty dry start to 2022, and we need to be prepared for drier periods ahead.

There has also been support for Athol Road Primary School—and a shout-out to that great school in my electorate—with new accessible toilets adjoining the school’s inclusive education learning area, which is currently being installed; more money for bike parking facilities at stations, including Springvale and Noble Park; and upgrades to the change rooms and amenities at the Serbian Sports Centre in Keysborough. So for those businesses, cultural institutions, schools and public transport offerings in my electorate this budget has been very, very welcome.

Beyond that I want to talk about how this budget has once again contributed to this government’s record in terms of job creation and economic recovery as we emerge from the worst elements of the pandemic. We have seen over the last 12 months or so wonderful investment decisions being made by corporate Australia, whether it has been Qantas’s decision to move large parts of their heavy maintenance line to Victoria, or to ensure the maintenance of the Jetstar head office in Melbourne, with support from the Victorian government, or the decision of Hanwha to set up in the Geelong region and benefit there from the decision of the commonwealth to award the Land 8116 contract for howitzers to that company in that location. I will digress at this moment and say that, with the election of a new commonwealth government, we are very hopeful that Land 400, phase 3, which is currently in contest between the Hanwha bid in Victoria and the Rheinmetall bid in Queensland, will now be hopefully more likely to be awarded to what I would say is the best bid, that being the Hanwha bid, and we will certainly be engaging with the new defence minister, whoever that might be, on that matter in the days to come.

The decision of Nissan Casting to make additional investment in its plant in Dandenong and the headquarters of Worldline, a wonderful company which also made the decision to invest in Melbourne—all of that is a part of the recent developments. But in this budget the Victorian Industry Investment Fund, which is supporting companies in key sectors like health, food production, advanced manufacturing and business services, will just continue that trend that we have seen of great Australian and international companies investing here in Victoria.

We have also provided support for the defence sector to invest in all sorts of professional development, internship, funding and research led by the Defence Science Institute. We have seen already the great defence primes and others that are based here in Victoria, whether it is Hanwha down at Avalon, whether it is Thales and their Bushmasters and Hawkeis up at Bendigo, SYPAQ with their new drones and other types of unmanned flight that operate out of Fishermans Bend, Marand Precision Engineering who have been involved in the joint strike fighter project for many, many years down at Moorabbin, or indeed a company like Elbit Systems from Israel, which is setting up its R and D headquarters down here in Melbourne as well. We ought to be the national headquarters of the defence sector. We have the best skills, the best advanced manufacturing. What we have not always had has been the political will from the commonwealth to place defence orders here in Victoria. One could be forgiven for thinking that other considerations have sometimes come into play, and hopefully those days are at an end.

We have also continued our investment in all of the stimulus that has been so welcomed by not just the business community but by the consumers that have benefited from that stimulus—our support for the City of Melbourne through the revitalisation fund; the recovery fund; the Melbourne Money project that we have co-contributed to, giving people rebates to dine in the CBD; the travel vouchers where we have just released another 150 000 of them; another round of the small business digital adaptation program; the business mentoring recovery and resilience program; the support we have given to tenants through the commercial tenancy relief scheme and the consequent support we have provided to landlords as a result of that.

All of that funding continues through this budget, and it adds to the more general support and stimulus being provided to not just the CBD but the surrounding suburbs through the return of our major events—the Formula One Grand Prix, the biggest F1 grand prix ever seen in the world. The fact that when Melbourne reopened Hamilton, Harry Potter, Moulin Rouge! were all here ready to go to bring life back to the night-time economy—the only city in the world outside of London and New York where you can see those three shows at once, an incredible achievement for Melbourne. The fact that we have got a world title fight this weekend, a Bledisloe Cup coming, a Manchester United game, world quality basketball—you name it. Melbourne and Victoria are putting on events that are bringing life back to the city, and that funding, including the funding that we have got recurrently now of $100 million a year for the Major Events Fund, is ensuring that that is all possible—and that is before we talk about the fact that we have secured the President’s Cup in both 2028 and 2040.

In terms of my trade portfolio, we have had a lot of commentary from the opposition about the decision of the government to open a trade office in Paris in the European Union. It is as if those opposite have failed to comprehend that Brexit means that you can no longer really run your European trade and investment operation from London.

Mr Southwick interjected.

Mr PAKULA: Well, the member for Caulfield might be looking for a job in November.

Mr Wakeling: You’re going to Paris.

Mr PAKULA: I take up the interjection from the member for Ferntree Gully. On one level those opposite seem to have accepted the need for an office in the EU, because in March of 2020, when the member for Malvern was the leader, they released a blueprint that said there should be an office in Brussels. By November of 2020 that commitment had disappeared. So they know there should be an office in Europe. They thought it should be in Brussels. Now they are not sure it should be in Brussels, but they are not saying where it ought to be.

Members interjecting.

Mr PAKULA: Well, you know, I could spend my time talking about Mr Greiner, who is in New York, Mr Brandis, who is in London, and Mr Olsen, who was in New York. We are not the ones who send our mates overseas. That is confined to your side of politics. As I said at the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearings, the last political appointment to an overseas office was in fact Michael Capel, and we reappointed him because he has done a bloody good job. But there are no political appointees in any of our overseas offices, as you well know or ought to know.

But the fact is the opportunities in the EU are enormous, and not just because the former commonwealth government managed to make an enemy of France—not just because of that—but because we have companies invested in Victoria, like Saint-Gobain, like Engie, like BDO, like BNP Paribas, like Air Liquide, like Alstom. With the fact that Emmanuel Macron has shown throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict that it is now France that is taking the lead in the EU, the trade opportunities are enormous and the investment opportunities are enormous. The point I would make is that they are not opportunities for the government, they are not opportunities for politicians, they are opportunities for Victorian businesses to trade, to export and to benefit from investment. So that is a very important contribution, particularly in light of the work that the New South Wales government is doing, trying to cut Victoria’s lunch in these overseas markets. We have benefited for a long time from a lack of competition in these overseas markets, and those days are over. They are over. They are very aggressive, our interstate competitors, and we need to be equally alive to that and equally aggressive.

In the time I have left it would be remiss of me not to focus on the regional Victorian Commonwealth Games—a $2.6 billion commitment over five years to take the games to Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong, the Latrobe Valley and beyond. Now, I have noted some commentary from the Premier of WA today forming the view that he thinks that is a waste of money. Let me be very clear: we do not think so. We think leaving a legacy investment in regional Victoria is well worth doing. We think improving the sporting and health outcomes for regional kids is well worth doing. We think building sporting infrastructure in regional Victoria is well worth doing. We think building housing infrastructure in regional Victoria is well worth doing. We think taking the most beautiful parts of our state and broadcasting them to the commonwealth—to India, to the UK, to Canada, to the South Pacific—with the visitation dividend of that, is well worth doing. So we are more than confident, we are more than comfortable, that this investment not only is a smart financial investment but is going to leave a legacy and a dividend for regional Victoria for decades to come of which this Parliament will be able to be proud.

Rather than going into anything new with 20 seconds to go, I will simply make the point that this is yet another great Labor budget brought down by the Treasurer, the member for Werribee. It is one that he is rightly proud of, it is one that we collectively are rightly proud of and it is one that sets our state up for recovery, for resilience and for a great future.

Mr MORRIS (Mornington) (18:19): It is great to have the opportunity to join this debate on the Appropriation (2022–2023) Bill 2022 and Appropriation (Parliament 2022–2023) Bill 2022. This is my 16th budget, and it most certainly will be my last. Of course for eight of those budgets I was associated with the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC), along with the minister who spoke just a minute ago for four of those years. Six of those years were either as chair of the committee or as deputy chair of the committee. And frankly I think that is probably enough exposure to the budget and the budget process for anyone. Probably Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers have more exposure, but for ordinary members of the Assembly that is more than enough. It also needs to be said, though, that the landscape has changed enormously since 2006.

2007 was of course John Brumby’s final budget as Treasurer before he was moved up the ladder to become Premier later on that year. It was probably one of the last, if not the last, responsible Labor budgets that we saw. I will come back to the numbers because clearly those numbers have changed enormously, but it is not only the numbers that have changed. Transparency in the budget process has been significantly diminished. When Steve Bracks was Premier he had a very strong commitment to the PAEC process. He put extra money in; he felt that there was not enough money going in under the Kennett government, and he was probably right, frankly. He put extra money in, he made sure the committee was resourced and he was very, very keen to facilitate the process. Unfortunately what we see now is that while the number of hours of hearings may be the same, the schedule is very much curtailed—so early morning starts, late evening finishes. In terms of work, there is nothing wrong with starting early in the morning or finishing late at night, but when you have these sorts of hearings back to back, one after the other, you have got fresh ministers coming in, you have got tired and at the end of the time exhausted committee members, it is not a reasonable match.

You also have a situation where hearings are occurring at hours that are not convenient to the media, and that again minimises the coverage, so we have far less coverage at PAEC now than we have had in the past. I know people will say, ‘Who cares? It’s another committee hearing’. But the reality is the PAEC process is intended to take the place of consideration of the committee of the whole, or consideration in detail, as we now call it. That is what PAEC is about. I know we do not do a lot of consideration in detail, but surely if there is one bill a year that you want to consider forensically and examine in detail, it is the appropriation bill. It is happening, but it is not happening to anywhere near the extent that it used to.

The second change that does concern me in terms of transparency or in terms of opportunity to examine these important documents is the fact that we are now conflating the debate—and I know that is not the technical term—we are now conflating the issues of the appropriation bill and the appropriation parliament bill. Frankly, I have a problem with that for two reasons. The first is we are now forced to consider the appropriation of the Parliament in the same breath as the executive. That is not appropriate. The second point is I doubt if I have heard anyone mention the Parliament in this whole debate. You do not need to be debating the appropriation parliament bill for weeks, but it deserves to be examined separately and it deserves to be considered separately. The practice now diminishes the role of the Parliament and effectively places it in this debate in a subsidiary position to the executive, and that, in my view, is not appropriate.

I think all members—it does not matter which party they belong to or to no party at all—need to be aware of the need to protect the position of the Parliament. And okay, if you are a member of the government, you do not need to go out and argue the case in public, but at least have a voice inside your own party and protect the position of the Parliament, because under the current arrangements it is being eroded. Democracy is multifaceted and the parliamentary process is an important part of it, but the reality is that unless we keep pressure on all facets of democracy—and the lesson of Saturday is our system is working, but we need to make sure we keep it working—unless we make sure we safeguard the democratic process, it is very easily diminished.

I want to give a recent example of how transparency can be diminished and democracy potentially threatened, and that is in the United States. A few days ago Jen Psaki, who was President Biden’s first press secretary, doing the briefings, stood down after 16 months. During the course of those 16 months she had given 224 briefings. In contrast, the however many press secretaries Donald Trump had had in total over four years given 205 briefings. So in 16 months Jen Psaki has given 224 briefings compared with 205 for the whole four years. That is about transparency and that is about access. Now, I know they have a different system to us, clearly, but my point is in the United States they have taken action to repair the damage to the democratic process that was done under Trump. I am not suggesting that what is happening here is anywhere near as dramatic, but the point is we need to be vigilant. We need to be on guard to protect the process.

You cannot have a discussion about a budget without talking about debt, without talking about deficits, because debt is an ever-present part of every public budget, and of course deficits are a part of some budgets. But this year, for the current financial year, the government forecast a deficit of $11.6 billion. The deficit at the end of this financial year will be $17.6 billion—just a lazy $6 billion variance. Yet the Treasurer a few weeks ago stood up and said, ‘Oh, we’ll be back in surplus in four years. We’ll deliver a modest surplus in four years’. I think that has got a touch of the Wayne Swans about it, because it simply cannot be done. In saying that, I want to make my position on debt very, very clear. You need to borrow money to build infrastructure, but you do not need to borrow money to fund cost blowouts that should not occur. You need to borrow money to support a budget in an emergency, and the deficits that have been run over the last couple of years I have no problem with when the money has legitimately been used for the emergency. But in many cases it has not been, and I will come back to that as well. So I have no problem with the legitimate COVID expenditure and I have no problem with sensible infrastructure provision, but unfortunately that is not the total story in this budget.

Coming back to the comparison with 2007, in 2007, when I came into the Parliament, the budget surplus was $324 million. We had net debt of $3 billion. The budget deficit for 2022 is expected to be $7.9 billion. Given the performance last year, who knows what it will actually be—who knows? Net debt will be almost $119 billion, by the end of the forwards, $168 billion—21 per cent of gross state product at the end of the next financial year and 26.5 per cent of gross state product at the end of the forwards. Now, to put that growth in perspective, the CPI in December 2006 was 86.7; it had risen to 124.2 at the end of March this year. That is a 43 per cent increase in the CPI over that period. The appropriation bill, when you look at the amounts to be issued from the Consolidated Fund, totals $85.1 billion. The corresponding figure in 2006 was $26.8 billion, in round terms. So in other words, in those 16 years notional spending has trebled.

Now, I know the CPI has gone up by, as I said, 43 per cent. The population has obviously grown significantly over that time as well. It has gone from 5.1 million to 6.6 million, but the government was spending back then $5188 per capita. If you index that by the 43 per cent, that comes to $7400 per capita in round terms. But the actual spend per capita in this budget is $12 800, so over that 16 years real spending has grown by 73 per cent, and that is not sustainable. The government knows it is not sustainable. It cannot be sustainable. Okay, interest rates are at historic lows, and we can probably support the sort of debt that that generates as long as interest rates do not move. But we know they are going to, so I think there are some concerns there.

I want to delve a little further into the detail, and that is to briefly talk about the Treasurer’s advances. Page 15 of the appropriation bill provides a $14 billion allocation as an advance to the Treasurer—$14 billion—and actually it is down a little bit. Last budget it was $16 billion. So what we are proposing in this budget is to allow the Treasurer basically to spend $14 billion on whatever he deems necessary. We are handing over $14 billion. Now, during an emergency that is a reasonable thing to do. It is not desirable, but it is a reasonable thing to do. But we are coming out of that emergency now, and that approach should not be business as usual. We should not be allowing that sort of funding to be allocated and then simply signed off by the Parliament in a couple of years time.

Again, I go back to the figures from when I first entered this place. The amount provided for the Treasurer’s advance in 2006 was $482 million. In other words, the amount provided in this budget compared with 16 years ago is 29 times higher. As I said, yes, it is reported back; yes, it appears in the annual financial report; yes, we get to sign off on it two years down the track—but there is no oversight from Parliament. There is no veto. We only get to approve it when the money is spent. And just in case there is a claim that it has all been spent on COVID, when you have a look at the figures in the budget papers nearly $8 billion was spent by way of Treasurer’s advance in 2020–21, which are the numbers that are reported, and $3.4 billion of that was COVID but $4.16 billion of that was not COVID, just simply extra spending not of an emergency nature.

Just very briefly in terms of the Mornington electorate, normally I stand up and say, ‘We got nothing, so thanks for nothing’. In this case I am delighted to say, after a 10-year campaign, Mornington Special Developmental School was funded for a rebuild. It has been a 10-year campaign. It is going to be a great development for the kids at the school. It is going to be a great development for the teachers, who do a fantastic job. It is very, very welcome news. Unfortunately there is a long list of infrastructure works that have not been funded, but there is one funded, and for that I am very, very excited.

Ms ADDISON (Wendouree) (18:34): Hello. I am going to bring the energy up a bit in this chamber and talk about what a great budget the Victorian budget is, because there is so much to celebrate in this budget. This is a great state budget for Ballarat, it is a great state budget for regional Victoria and it is a great state budget for all Victorians. I thank the Treasurer, his office and the Department of Treasury and Finance for putting a budget together that will make Ballarat an even better place to live, to study and to work—not forgetting a great place to raise a family and also to retire, Minister for Planning. That is possible. We can make Ballarat an even better place to live.

Across our state, our country and our world COVID-19 has put unprecedented pressure on health systems, including in my electorate of Wendouree. I want to commend and thank everyone at Grampians Health, particularly the Ballarat Base Hospital, our prevention and recovery care centre and our many public aged care facilities across Ballarat as well as our local GP clinics, Women’s Health Grampians, Ballarat Community Health and our child and maternal health services. I am so proud that the Andrews Labor government is supporting the needs of regional patients in Wendouree, making sure everyone can get the health support they need close to home. The Andrews Labor government will always stand by our frontline healthcare workforce—our paramedics, our nurses—and this is the case again in the 2022–23 Victorian budget, with our $12 billion investment in Victoria’s health system and our pandemic repair plan.

I would like to thank our ambos for the work they do every day but particularly over the last two years during the COVID pandemic. Thank you to Danny Hill and the ambulance union for your leadership and advocacy. But it is not just words of thanks we offer to show our appreciation to our ambos; we are investing in our ambulance service, with another 90 paramedics being delivered in this budget. Significantly, this means we have added 790 extra paramedics to the workforce since we came to government.

This budget is delivering funding to train and hire up to 7000 new healthcare workers, including 5000 nurses. This will ease the pressure on our COVID heroes and will support the delivery of quality care in Ballarat and across Victoria. I thank Lisa Fitzpatrick and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation members for their incredible resilience today and throughout the pandemic. The budget also provides for 1125 new registered undergraduate nursing positions and 75 new registered undergraduate students of midwifery roles over the next two years. I am also pleased that we are recruiting up to 2000 expat and international healthcare workers through a global workforce recruitment drive. This will reduce pressure on our healthcare workers, and I welcome that.

Right around the nation demand for emergency services is at an all-time high. Our 000 call takers and dispatchers are dealing with unprecedented call volumes. Unlike the opposition, I thank them for the work they do under the most challenging circumstances. To support these important frontline workers to speak to Victorians who need help faster, we are investing $333 million to add nearly 400 new staff to increase 000 call taking and dispatch capacity for 000 services. When there is a problem it is our job to come up with a solution, not just to throw rocks.

This budget also has a very strong focus on regional health. I strongly believe that regional Victorians deserve the same level of care as do Melbourne patients. At the centre of our plan is $300 million to upgrade regional hospitals and healthcare facilities in every corner of our state—the largest Regional Health Infrastructure Fund boost since it was created by the Andrews Labor government. We are also providing $9 million to regional women’s health services, including Women’s Health Grampians, and a further $11.5 million to deliver group parenting sessions to support families with children struggling with their mental health. I know how important this is going to be for the families who are struggling at the moment.

For the Ballarat Base Hospital our government has already announced $541 million for a transformative redevelopment, and in this budget we are continuing to support Ballarat’s hospital services. That is why we have announced new equipment in this budget, including a surgical robot and a replacement radiotherapy linear accelerator. This is great news for patients from across the Ballarat and Grampians regions. The investments in state-of-the-art surgical and cancer treatment equipment for the Ballarat Base Hospital will mean regional patients will save countless hours travelling to Melbourne for treatment. As a mother who has travelled to Melbourne in the past for appointments and treatment with a sick child, I know firsthand what a difference it will make for patients and their families to have the provisions of quality health care close to home.

Surgeons from across Ballarat have been calling for a surgical robot that will enable them to offer a robotics program performing many different types of complex surgical procedures. The console of a surgical robot provides the surgeon a high-definition magnified 3D view of the surgical site. I know if I am under the knife, I want them to have a good look and see what is going on. The benefit of robot-assisted surgery is that it is less invasive surgery, with fewer complications, quicker recovery and shorter hospital stays. Currently there are surgical robots across metropolitan hospitals, including the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and St Vincent’s Private Hospital, as well as three surgical robots in Geelong, but this was a first for Ballarat, and I am so proud to have helped achieve this for my community.

I would like to single out colorectal surgeon and general surgeon Carolyn Vasey for her pivotal role in advocating for the surgical robot. She explained to me the benefits, not only to patients but to Ballarat’s ability to attract surgeons into the future. The technology is mind-blowing, and it was incredible to have the opportunity to have a go on a surgical robot, fortunately without any patients in sight or anywhere nearby. Our $6.5 million investment for robot-assisted surgery to be delivered at Ballarat Base Hospital will improve surgery outcomes and reduce recovery time for patients in Ballarat and across the region, a huge win for Wendouree.

I am also pleased that we are replacing our old radiotherapy equipment to deliver better cancer care for our local community at the Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre, and I thank the Premier for coming to Ballarat the day after the budget to promote this announcement and meet the staff, not only at Grampians Health but also our very specialised staff at the BRICC, the Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre. He was so warmly welcomed.

I am pleased also that we are addressing the significant issues of mental health in Ballarat. Australia’s first-ever royal commission into mental health told us that, when it comes to accessing mental health care, Victorians do not know where to turn or who to turn to, which is why having a nearby mental health service in your local community can make all the difference. That is why we are getting on with delivering mental health and alcohol and other drug hubs, including planning for a new one at the emergency department at Ballarat Base Hospital so that community members and their loved ones struggling with mental health can get the care they need in Ballarat.

We also know that far too often Victorians do not get the mental health support they need when they need it. That is why we are planning for an additional 33 acute mental health beds for the Ballarat Base Hospital. This means we will be doubling the number of acute mental health beds in Ballarat. For those who need the support, they will get it sooner and closer to home.

In the midst of unprecedented global events and the pervasive impact of social media, young Victorians have suffered a surge in new eating disorders and relapses, a statistic that is sadly replicated worldwide. This budget also provides support for regional Victorians with an eating disorder by developing and expanding high-quality and therapeutic bed-based services. The funding will support an expansion of the eating disorder enhanced integrated specialist model into four regional health services to support clinical mental health services to provide multidisciplinary support for the increased presentation of patients with eating disorders in regional Victoria, with services to be established at Grampians Health, Barwon Health, Bendigo Health and Latrobe Regional Hospital.

I would like to thank the families of the children with eating disorders who shared with me their lived experience. Minister Pulford and I met with some incredible dads, who passionately advocated for the provision of services to be available locally for adolescents with eating disorders. I would like to acknowledge Ballarat paediatrician Dr David Tickell for his insights and support for the enhanced integrated specialist model to treat eating disorders.

So much in this budget for Ballarat, but I will continue. I will plough on, because I have not even spoken about schools yet, and I am so proud that this budget continues to build on our record investment in the students and teachers at Mount Rowan Secondary College. I know you cannot get a first-rate education in a second-rate classroom. That is why we are building first-class facilities for Wendouree students. It was an absolute pleasure to visit Mount Rowan Secondary College with the Treasurer and share this wonderful news with the year 9 students, their teachers and the principal, Seona Murnane. The announcement will provide $6.1 million to upgrade Mount Rowan Secondary College to build a new year 9 learning centre, because under an Andrews Labor government we are giving every child the opportunity to achieve their full potential. As a former teacher and a mum of school-age students, I know how important it is to invest in our kids’ future, and this is what we are doing in schools across Ballarat.

Another significant announcement for Ballarat in this budget was the $3.2 million safe spaces trial in western Victoria region. This investment will provide for a trial of community-led and evidence-based programs to provide care and respect to LGBTIQ+ individuals most in need as well as a trial of a place-based approach to building resilience amongst the LGBTIQ+ community and the provision of mental and social support. Ballarat is a kind and inclusive community, and this sends a clear message that equality is not negotiable in our city.

We also care about our animals and our pets in Ballarat. We know how important pets are to our health and wellbeing, and that is why this budget is providing $11.5 million to build a new, purpose-built Ballarat Animal Shelter to improve the quality of life delivered to hundreds of strays as well as lost, abandoned or abused animals across the Ballarat, Hepburn, Moorabool, Golden Plains, Pyrenees, Ararat and Central Goldfields local governments. I thank the Minister for Agriculture for joining me and the member for Buninyong at the current Ballarat Animal Shelter in my electorate of Wendouree to share this announcement with my community. The current animal shelter, where we adopted our beloved Mr Licorice, is housed at a former abattoir, which is far from appropriate and was never fit for purpose. I am delighted that we are building the Ballarat Animal Shelter in Mitchell Park, which will be not only a vast improvement for animal care and protection but also a significant improvement for the very hardworking staff at the City of Ballarat’s animal shelter. I thank them for the care they provide many vulnerable dogs, cats and other animals, day in, day out.

It was terrific to hear the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events talk about the Commonwealth Games—because they are coming to Victoria, and they are coming to Ballarat. This budget announces $2.6 billion to bring the games to regional Victoria. These games will be unlike any before in the history of the Commonwealth Games as they will be held in regional centres, including my hometown, Ballarat; Bendigo; Geelong; and the Latrobe Valley. I cannot wait till Ballarat hosts the athletics, the cricket and the boxing. This is a huge opportunity for Ballarat to host the Commonwealth Games and welcome athletes and officials from across the world to our city, but we will also have the triple benefit of creating local jobs and legacy infrastructure and boosting our regional economy.

I only have a short time left, but I must talk about the duplication planning money, the $6.6 million for Ballarat-Carngham Road from Dyson Drive to Wiltshire Lane in the west of my electorate. I am pleased that we are continuing to focus on roads and road safety, and this business case is going to do great things for road safety in our community. I have listened to community members and key stakeholders about the necessity for this upgrade, and I have worked hard to advocate for funding for this important business case for upgrading the road to accommodate growing traffic areas in Alfredton, Lucas and Winter Valley. Well done, Treasurer.

Mr WAKELING (Ferntree Gully) (18:49): Here we are talking about the latest budget to be handed down by this government, and it epitomises where this government is at, because this budget, within 24 hours, fell flat within the Victorian community. You know, this tired government—one that is not standing up for Victorians, one that is forgetting the needs of Victorians and is more focused on itself, more focused on saving the Premier and more focused on ensuring the Premier does not come clean on the issues that he is confronting. It does not focus on what Victorians are expecting. After six lockdowns, two years of lockdowns, the longest lockdowns of any location in the world, this budget fails to provide the support, the vision and the hope that Victorians were looking for.

You only need to look at the concerns around our health crisis. There are nearly 100 000 people waiting on hospital waiting lists. We have got ambulances ramped across the state at local, regional and rural hospitals. We have got Victorians unable to get through to 000. We have got Victorians waiting an extended time for an ambulance to arrive. And worse still, Victorians have, sadly, passed away due to that negligence. But this budget, despite the spin, actually cut the funding for health. When you look at last year’s budget in comparison to this year’s budget the figure is less.

A member interjected.

Mr WAKELING: Of course it is less, because instead of actually recognising that they are in a crisis and fixing the crisis, they have actually cut the funding. I mean, we have got Graham Ashton, who has done an investigation on behalf of the government. The government rolled out the report under the cover of a federal election, and it just points out how parlous our system is after eight years of this government. He has made a range of recommendations, including scrapping the board and changing the name. Well, I tell you what, we need a lot more than scrapping the board and changing the name. The system is in crisis. We expected this budget to fix it, and it clearly has not.

When we look at issues around secrecy, when we look at issues around ensuring there is transparency, we only need to look at the Premier, who is potentially under investigation in three separate matters before IBAC, but we would not know because it is done in secret.

Mr Wynne: What has this got to do with the budget?

Mr WAKELING: I will tell you why it is relevant to the budget: because the government has failed to fund those bodies that hold them to account. It was the previous Liberal-Nationals government that established the body. This government sought to gut the body, ensuring it starved it of funding.

Mr Wynne: That’s just not true.

Mr WAKELING: Well, the minister at the table can argue whatever he likes. But do not take it from the opposition, take it from those who actually operate within that system. They themselves have cried out about the starving of funding, about how they are nobbled in the way in which they operate. It cuts to the heart of the way in which this government operates. It cuts to the heart of the way in which this Premier operates. He does not like scrutiny. He does not like transparency. He does not like fronting up to the Victorian people to confirm whether he is under investigation—not once, not twice but three times. Don’t you think Victorians have a right to know whether the Premier of this state is actually under investigation? The Premier ducks and weaves at a time when the state is looking for vision, looking for hope and looking for a budget that is going to take it out of the malaise that it is in. We have got a Premier who is more focused on saving his own bacon than saving our children.

When I talk about our children, one only needs to look at the impact of six lockdowns. In education and mental health our children have suffered significantly. As a parent I see it in my own children. I see it in the children within my community, and there are so many stories across this state. Children have suffered significantly, but of course this government failed to take up the proposal put forward by the opposition, by the Shadow Minister for Mental Health at the table, of immediately ensuring we could provide additional resources and mental health support for young people and for those within the community—psychologists who could provide immediate support to help those children, to help families that desperately need support. But again, the government failed to act.

This is a government that has been in power for eight years. Eight years they have had to ensure that the systems are in place, but of course we look at this government—$119 billion in debt. We are going to head to $170 billion, and we have got cost blowouts—tens of billions of dollars in cost blowouts on major projects. They could have delivered the additional infrastructure across the state that is desperately needed, but again, this government cannot manage money.

When I look at my own community, eight years I have been advocating to get a set of traffic lights built. I have raised it in this house on numerous occasions, and it was constantly rejected by the minister who has sat in the position of Minister for Roads and Road Safety. Well, at the eleventh hour, just before an election, they have finally relented and listened to our commitment. We called on the government to match our commitment to build a set of traffic lights, and they have done it in this year’s budget. But it should not have taken eight years to do that. It is a set of traffic lights, for heaven’s sake. That is where this government is at.

I called for funding for a new basketball court at Wantirna College and was very pleased to have the Leader of the Opposition join me to announce it. Well, three days later the Minister for Education toddled off to the school and matched our commitment—a great outcome for the school. But when you look at education across my community there are so many schools that have missed out. Mountain Gate Primary School want a portable—a portable!—because the government is about to take away their library. To date the Department of Education and Training is refusing it. Knox Gardens Primary School wanted a portable because they lost their library. The parents had to raise funds and buy their own portable. Parents had to buy a portable so the kids had a classroom so that they could have use of their library. That is where this government is at. That is the failure of this government.

This is a government that is focused on itself and that is focused on the Premier. The Premier comes into this place and he lectures and he hectors and he blames and he criticises, but what he does not do is stop and listen. He does not stop and reflect. He does not understand that Victorians are hurting, Victorians are wanting leadership, Victorians want a government that has their back, a government that is going to help industry, a government that is going to help families, a government that is going to help children, a government that is going to help seniors because they have struggled for two years. All the government can talk about is whether or not last week’s election was a referendum on their performance. I mean, for heaven’s sake. Premier, it is not about you. It is about the people.

Mr Wynne: Well, it sure as hell was a referendum on your federal colleagues.

Mr WAKELING: I will take up the interjection from the minister at the table because that is exactly the problem with this government. They think about everything else except what Victorians want, what they are expecting from their government. They want a government that will listen, a government that will help, a government that has their back. Again, we know from what we have seen in this budget, what we hear from the Premier, what we hear from his ministers and what we hear from the backbench that this is a government that is not listening, that has forgotten Victorians, that will not listen to Victorians. It is a government that is not prepared to actually sit back and say, ‘We made mistakes under difficult circumstances. We’ve made mistakes, we’ve failed to put the resources in place over our eight years of government and we’re going to fix it’. The problem is they do not recognise they have made mistakes. Who at the end of the day is affected by that? The people. They are the ones that pay for this. They are the ones that are paying for the crisis in our health system. This government failed Victorians, and that is the problem that we have with this current government as seen through this budget.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I am required under sessional orders to interrupt business now. The member may continue his speech when the matter is next before the house.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.