Thursday, 26 May 2022

Bills

Appropriation (2022–2023) Bill 2022

Appropriation (Parliament 2022–2023) Bill 2022

Second reading

Debate resumed on motions of Mr PALLAS and Ms ALLAN:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Mr WAKELING (Ferntree Gully) (10:23): I am pleased to be back speaking on the Appropriation (2022–2023) Bill 2022, because what this bill has done is fail to deliver for not only my community, residents across the City of Knox, but people across Melbourne, people across regional Victoria and people across rural Victoria. This is a government that after eight years has stopped listening to Victorians. This is a government that is more focused on its own political future. This is a government that is only worried about, unfortunately, one person, that being the Premier. So many people sitting on the back bench, probably on the middle bench and probably even on the front bench are ignored by the Premier. This is a person that is unfortunately more focused on his leadership, more focused on his personal aspirations, than focusing on the people who elected him to this place—that is, families, mums and dads and individuals across Victoria.

That is what is at the heart of the failure of this budget. This budget does not deliver for Victorians. This budget does not deliver for industry. This budget does not deliver for small businesses which are struggling after two years of lockdowns. This does not deliver for families who are struggling with cost-of-living pressures. This budget does not deliver for young people, who have struggled after two years of lockdown with their education, and it does not deliver for their mental health challenges as they grapple with the impact of lockdowns. Unfortunately this government has forgotten why they are here and what their purpose is, which is to stand up for all Victorians, to help all Victorians. We have seen that with the Premier of this state not acting as a leader but standing up in this place lecturing, hectoring and bullying. Victorians are not looking for that.

As we saw in the federal election, governments that are unpopular will be swept out of power. Governments that are unpopular get swept out of power, and I think there is a lesson in that for those opposite. What we saw the next day from the government was hubris, for heaven’s sake—leaders in the government standing up with hubris about the federal election. Let me tell you, when people were walking to the ballot box on Saturday when I was speaking to Victorians, the feedback about the current Andrews government was that it is not popular, not by any stretch. The government needs to heed the warnings. They need to look at the significant swings against this government, against the Labor Party in its own heartland. I mean, this is a government that is more interested in themselves. This is a Premier that is more interested in his own vanity. He is not interested in Victorians. He has stopped acting on behalf of Victorians. This is the failure of this budget. Victorians are looking for hope, they are looking for leadership, they are looking for guidance and they are looking for support. They are not getting that at the moment from this government. This side of the house has committed that we will stand up for Victorians. We will listen, we will engage, we will talk, we will support and we will offer hope. This budget failed to do that, and the next election will provide us with an opportunity to deliver that.

Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) (10:28): We have the chance to turn adversity into opportunity. This government is delivering hope. The need is vital and urgent to deliver the vision, plan and constancy of purpose to overcome an insane period in history. Our focus is confronting the catastrophes of our times and creating future opportunities for every Victorian. Context is critical in understanding what we have overcome, where we are and where we are headed as a state. Catastrophic events converged in a new period of counterenlightenment when facts, instead of being stubborn and cherished, were declared alternate. Culture wars over global warming dismissed science as an inconvenient truth and coincided with the worst pandemic in more than a century, which triggered the worst global recession since the Great Depression.

The world still confronts the pandemic with potential new variants. War in Europe threatens a new recession. But thanks to one of humanity’s cleverest creations, vaccines, a gift of science, our future now has greater possibilities. This budget necessarily puts patients first, with a $12 billion investment in Victoria’s health system. But I want to focus on how we build our competitive advantages and partnerships post pandemic to create opportunities for all and ensure that everyday people and their families benefit and can see where they fit in the big picture. This builds on the eight budgets of the Andrews government to redefine our future through the Big Build, the Big Housing Build, the Suburban Rail Loop and numerous other groundbreaking projects and programs. This is the big picture. This is the vision, the plan and the strategy you need to deliver hope—not just to talk about it, to actually deliver it. This has been the role that I have tried to play to drive the contest of ideas, and this has been my focus—to think big and to help define our future—because it is clear the world will not wait.

For nine years the federal coalition government refused to give Victorians our fair share. The post-pandemic proposal is to drive Victoria to become one of the smartest little countries in the world—and we can do this. We have got the best opportunity now with Labor in power nationally. This is critical for economic and cultural development. The bitter irony for the Sydney-centric coalition government is it lost government, all its seats overlooking the harbour city and its traditional heartland in Melbourne. Voters, businesses and world leaders have moved beyond the triumph of politics over rational decision-making and are demanding greater action against climate change. Technology-empowered leadership is critical to create competitive advantage. This is what we have done here.

When you look at becoming one of the smart little countries of the world, the Israeli ambassador was in the Parliament this week and I discussed this with him, because I looked at this and studied this notion in 2013, when we went to Israel and we went to the Technion and we went to the Weizmann Institute and we saw how Israel was able to translate its scientific breakthroughs and commercialise them. Well, the Victorian government has advanced dramatically with our key partners in doing that. The other country I was looking at was Ireland, and how it was able to help get so many of the big ICT companies to have their headquarters there. We had the President come out here, Michael D Higgins, with an investment and innovation tour that he led to Victoria. So that is another interesting proposition on how to achieve that. Then if you have a look at Singapore, which is economically regarded as a powerhouse, it roughly has the same population and GDP as Victoria, but we have actually more land and greater resources.

Labor in power nationally opens up enormous possibilities, and our new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, took to the world stage at the Quad meeting alongside other leaders from the US, India and the host, Japan. Adding AUKUS provides major opportunities that we can attract for new industries and jobs. As the Parliamentary Secretary for Medical Research, I really want to emphasise that if you look globally the three leading cities are Boston, with Harvard and MIT; London, with the Imperial College and Oxbridge; and Melbourne, anchored with the elegant Parkville precinct around the University of Melbourne and the great southern hub, where we have Monash University, which has been doing an outstanding job with its breakthroughs, next door to CSIRO, connected by Innovation Walk. This is our future billion-dollar boulevard, and they are already delivering.

You see how the change of government so dramatically can change attitudes and recognition. You had Anthony Albanese with Joe Biden, and I emphasise again the opportunity we have through our Cancer Moonshot relationship that brought Joe Biden to Melbourne in 2016 for the opening of the billion-dollar jewel in our medical research crown, the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. This is of huge significance to him—it is as personal as family; he lost his son Beau to brain cancer—and he has been committed to extending this. What he wants to do as President of the United States is take the value out of a defence agency that was able to come up with the internet and GPS and transfer that to a health dividend. This is how significant this is. He is looking at cancers, he is looking at Alzheimer’s disease and he is looking at diabetes.

How we maximise our position in that relationship is vital for the leadership from Victoria. This has for a long time been driven by the Premier—against the arguments that have been put by the other side—the Treasurer and all the ministers who have been involved, and I have been happy and privileged to play some role in trying to push forward the ideas on how we do this. What the President is trying to do is adapt artificial intelligence and other technologies to supercharge breakthroughs predicted to outstrip half a century’s advances in the next decade, so that is a wonderful quest and something that we can be a part of. This would target breakthroughs to prevent, detect and treat diseases. Australia is close to the top of the survival list for most cancers, so this is how we are valued.

The other key thing is to understand that big dreams demand big data being distilled into understanding, knowledge and then remedies. President Biden, when he came to Melbourne, praised the significance of the agreement between Victoria and the US to share patient histories, with full privacy protection, during his tour of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, noting, ‘You are making cancer research a team sport’. That is the critical point of where we are. That is one of our greatest assets, our medical research being of international significance, and of course this was then built on so that Victoria won the national competition, fiercely contested, to manufacture mRNA vaccines, the next generation to provide the next breakthroughs. That is of great significance.

The other point I want to go to on creating opportunity is that the new Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles, is looking at how we address industries, and I want to say from Melbourne’s north here is the wonderful opportunity now to have a partner. Let us not forget what happened. Under the coalition government the attitude was one of managed decline. That was Margaret Thatcher’s approach to England’s north, which led to social catastrophe, the burning of Liverpool. That is the way Melbourne’s north was looked at. There were no seats to be won, so we were abandoned like an orphan. That is the truth of the matter. Let us not forget the ‘lifters and leaners’ budget and where that impacted most. These all have context and are of major significance, so I am going to invite the Deputy Prime Minister to come to Broadmeadows and see the plan that the Australian government is articulating. They want to try and coordinate the three tiers of government, and I have been able to do that as chair of the Broadmeadows Revitalisation Board, because you need to have a prototype and you need to have a proof of concept for business. So this delivers. We were able to attract a billion dollars in shovel-ready and pipeline projects to the derelict Ford site. That is emblematic, because that marked the demise of our once-proud automotive industry, the loss of manufacturing scale and the loss of the independent supply chains and national sovereignty that the Australian government craves and we have to have.

So what was the response? The Prime Minister then came to Broadmeadows, to CSL, where we are manufacturing more than 50 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, and there is another $1.8 billion investment nearby with Seqirus, a CSL subsidiary, for vaccines against influenza. I would have thought this is great for diplomacy in the Pacific region. Why don’t we help save lives through our vaccines? Very few countries make them. Here is a lucrative new export industry that we should use. Let us introduce vaccine diplomacy in that way and ramp it up, because saving lives is the best thing you can do for any community. I say that because there have been delegations from overseas whose members had tears in their eyes when they saw the value of our health system, the value of what we can do here and what it would mean to their people. So I think that is a wonderful proposition.

I do want to go to why it is important for business that we are talking to business and we are emphasising the opportunity, because I was at a function recently and a lot of people do not understand that the Breakthrough Victoria Fund will invest in innovation for impact. The fund is up to $2 billion. This is a huge investment. It has a 10-year horizon. It is not what is going to happen on a short political run to the election deadline. It has got a 10-year-and-beyond horizon and it emphasises how Victoria is home to some of the best scientific, digital and knowledge institutes and businesses in the world, all sharing a mission to discover the next breakthrough. Whether it is the next generation for medical tech, designing sustainable food sources or uncovering new ways to take action on climate change, Victorian innovators are already developing the research, technology and ideas that will transform our lives. The investments and key innovations are in employment precincts. Significant opportunities from elsewhere in Victoria will also be considered, so obviously I am asking for Melbourne’s north to be considered in this, with Broadmeadows as the hub but the key centres are Parkville, Arden-Macaulay, Fishermans Bend, Bundoora, Clayton and Waurn Ponds. These are key strategic investments over time. This is how you can build the opportunity, how you can create it and how you can then connect up. I made a point of talking to business leaders to say to them, ‘This is here and now. This is it. See the opportunity and seize it’. And this is what I think we can do now with greater emphasis on climate change—take a look at the advantages that we have for that—and medical research. Take care of deindustrialisation—go back into the postcodes that were left disadvantaged and say, ‘Here’s how we reinvest’. Get the private sector on board. Coordinate three tiers of government, business and civil society. Here is how you can deliver the economic and social dividend.

So these are the strategies that have been laid out, as I say, over eight years. This is the vision, this is the plan. We have now the best opportunity, and this is the point that I am making to businesspeople: understand how much money is pumped into the system by the federal government and the Victorian government—but with Victoria really leading on this. The strategic investments are outstanding. The opportunities have never been better. You can talk down the state, or you can say, ‘We want to lead. Here’s the opportunity to do it, here’s the strategy that’s being put in place and here’s the chance for Victoria to be one of the great, smart little countries in the world’. Let us aim high. That is how we got the Cancer Moonshot. That is how you build global learning villages. This is how we can do it, and here is the opportunity right here, right now.

Ms STALEY (Ripon) (10:43): I rise to speak on the Appropriation (2022–2023) Bill 2022 and the concurrent debate with the Appropriation (Parliament 2022–2023) Bill 2022. What we have here is a Labor budget, the outlook of which is built on a lie. Is there any Victorian outside the Labor caucus who actually believes that this government will deliver a surplus four years from now? I would put it to you that there is not. When we look at what they build that mirage of a surplus on, the fantasy becomes even more apparent, because they are planning to rip money out of the Transport Accident Commission—money that is meant for people who have been hurt in accidents and also for road safety programs. They are planning to rip $3 billion out of the Transport Accident Commission to deliver their mirage of a surplus. We all know they are not getting there. We all know that Labor cannot manage money, and in fact that is what this budget is really about, because at every point we see that they are running big deficits that they then pad out with these fake ways of getting to a so-called surplus.

The debt is blowing out and is planned to be $167.5 billion by 2025–26. When that debt gets there, if this government remains in power—and I am sure it will get there earlier than the 2025–26 year that they are estimating—Victoria’s debt will be the equivalent of New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia combined. Our population is smaller than that of New South Wales, and it is certainly smaller than the combination of those three states. Yet this government seems to think it is a good idea to run a debt strategy that will see their debt equivalent to those three states combined. They cannot say that it is COVID. Those states went through COVID as well. And they certainly cannot say that they inherited it, because when they came to government in 2014 debt levels were around $20 billion. So there is no excuse for why this government should be running debt of that level. It is simply that this government does not know how to manage money.

Of course when the Premier is asked about anything to do with money, anything to do with cost blowouts or anything to do with the reason that this budget is such a bad budget for Victoria, what he says is, ‘Oh, things cost what they cost’. Well, no Victorian thinks that. No Victorian looking at their own household budget goes, ‘Oh, things cost what they cost. We’ll have the kitchen renovation come in at three times the original estimate’. No. Victorians quite rightly, if that was put to them, would say either ‘We’re not going to have the kitchen renovation’ or ‘We’ll find somebody who can manage the project properly’. Whereas this government just throws its hands up and says, ‘Well, we can’t manage it. Things cost what they cost’, entirely without any managerial competence. And I particularly call out on this one the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, who has overseen cost blowouts in her portfolio alone of $27 billion. We have every single one of her major projects—the West Gate Tunnel, the metro rail, the North East Link. I mean, the North East Link was promised for $5 billion. In this budget it is saying around $15.4 billion. It really does take a special sort of incompetence to blow out one single project that badly, yet that is where we are with this government.

I also want to make a comment about the government’s ridiculous—and ‘ridiculous’ is the only word you could use to describe it—establishment of what they call the Victorian Future Fund. We would remember that Peter Costello as Treasurer started the Future Fund, and he did so because at the time Australia had the great fortune to have a mining boom, and it also had the position where commonwealth public servants’ superannuation was not funded. It was funded each year from the budget. So the Treasurer, the then Liberal Treasurer, Peter Costello, wisely said, ‘We’re going to use part of the proceeds of Australia’s mining boom to fix once and for all the problem of having to fund public servants’ superannuation every year’, and that is what they did. That sovereign wealth fund, which is hundreds of billions of dollars, has achieved its purpose. It has done so and delivered something for Australia that is very worthwhile. Whereas this government is saying they are going to over time maybe put $10 billion into a fund—for what purpose? They are running debt at $170 billion nearly. Wouldn’t you just have less debt? We have got an increasing interest rate environment. Surely common sense would say in an increasing interest rate environment the number one priority is to reduce the level of your debt. But not this government. They are taking voodoo economics to a new level.

Despite having this huge amount of debt, it is not as if Victorians can think fondly that they are not being taxed to the eyeballs as well, because tax collections have increased by 80 per cent, from $16.9 billion in 2013 to a forecast $30.5 billion. Let us remember that in 2014 the Premier was asked a really direct question about tax. He was asked whether he could guarantee that there would be no tax increases, and he said, ‘I make a solemn promise that there will be no tax increases’. He has broken that promise 42 times.

Mr Newbury: He probably doesn’t recall saying it.

Ms STALEY: Yes, member for Brighton, that is probably right. If we asked him today, he would say ‘I don’t recall ever saying that’. It is a shame for him the video exists. Similarly, the Treasurer recently at the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee was asked about the promise he made prior to the 2018 election not to increase taxes, and he tried to say that he had not said that. Yet again the evidence—the video evidence—shows that he had. What is it with these senior Labor figures—Premier, Treasurer—thinking that they can gaslight committees, gaslight Victorians and say that they did not say something for which there is clear evidence they did. I remind the house of the Premier’s response when asked about the 4000 ICU beds which are not delivered in this budget—they are not delivered anywhere. He tried to tell us that he had not made that promise. Well, of course he had stood up and committed to 4000 ICU beds, and then he did not deliver them.

And that brings me to something else that he has not delivered, something where the government is continuing to mislead Victorians. Government members are standing up one after another claiming that this budget increases health funding. I refer to budget paper 3, page 220—this is ‘Service Delivery’—‘Output summary by departmental objectives’. It is what has actually been spent in 2021–22 and then what is forecast for 2022–23. Page 220 is the health department. In 2021–22 the revised health budget was $27.0559 billion. In 2022–23 the budget for the health department is $25.0189 billion. It is a reduction. There is not $12 billion additional going in there. It has gone down—in their own budget papers.

And when we look at the components of what has gone down, these are the things they are cutting: admitted services, non-admitted services, emergency services. We have an ambulance crisis and we have an elective surgery waitlist crisis, and yet this government is cutting admitted services, non-admitted services and emergency services. When you are in an emergency or you are going for elective surgery, this government is cutting the health budget. It is cutting drug treatment and rehab. It is cutting home and community care programs for younger people. And of particular interest to me as a country MP, it is cutting small rural services’ acute health. These budget papers are cutting health in my community and across Victoria, and this government—member after member—is repeating an absolute lie that this budget includes $12 billion more for health. It does not. The comparison between 2021–22 and 2022–23 is a cut in health.

I want to move to the Appropriation (Parliament 2022–2023) Bill 2022. The part of this that I want to discuss is the funding for the integrity agencies. In these bills they have schedules of how much is appropriated. No matter what the government says about what it is doing, the figures that it is actually giving in this bill say that for IBAC it has a 3 per cent increase, which works out at about a $1.6 million increase. IBAC says it needs a multiple of that, and we, the Liberal-Nationals, have committed to delivering a $10 million increase to IBAC.

Similarly, the Ombudsman has a very, very minor increase. We believe—and the Ombudsman believes, we are only acting on her request—that we need to add an additional $2 million for the Ombudsman. Now, why would it be that this government is underfunding the integrity agencies in Victoria? Why would it be? Could it possibly be that IBAC is very busy, shall we say, with inquiries related to Labor MPs? Why would we not draw the conclusion that the reason the government is not funding the integrity agencies properly and is not funding the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission is that there are so many Labor MPs, including the Premier, being interviewed by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission?

IBAC has three inquiries before it at which we know Labor MPs have appeared, including the member for Cranbourne, who is in the chamber, and including the Premier at two of the three and possibly three of the three. I mean, this government is spending its time putting its members out to IBAC, and then they underfund IBAC. I do not think it takes Einstein to realise why that might be the case. We have got Operation Richmond, and that is Labor’s dealings with the fire union. We have got Operation Sandon, which is the planning issue out in the south-east with John Woodman, and again we have got MPs being interviewed by Operation Sandon. Then we have Operation Watts. Operation Watts is entirely about corruption and branch stacking within the Labor Party. This is the one that has had the draft leaked from IBAC, and it says:

… Labor’s “organisational and leadership culture” must undergo further change …

Protection racket— (Time expired)

Mr HAMER (Box Hill) (10:58): It is terrific to rise today and make a contribution to the Appropriation (2022–2023) Bill 2022 and the Appropriation (Parliament 2022–2023) Bill 2022. I would like to start my contribution by reflecting on the fantastic result on the weekend that brought in a federal Labor government. It is particularly important in the context of this state budget because the previous federal coalition government was very vitriolic in its treatment of Victoria, and it resulted in an underfunding of many state programs. I do hope that with the election of the Albanese Labor government we will see a change to this discourse. We can already see it, I think, in the infrastructure commitment that the new Prime Minister made in my own electorate a couple of weeks ago in relation to the Suburban Rail Loop.

Just in relation to the commonwealth funding, the federal budget that was released back in March revealed that Victoria’s share of new infrastructure funding would be less than 6 per cent of new funding, despite having a quarter of the nation’s population. In the $7 billion regional development plan, Victoria was not even allocated a single dollar—not a dollar out of that regional development plan. Under the commonwealth government’s GST carve-up, if the no-worse-off guarantee is not extended beyond 2027, Victoria will continue to lose out. So I do hope that the election of an Albanese Labor government will change the direction of the discussion between the state of Victoria and the federal government and we will see some greater cooperation and, as I said, less vitriol directed towards our great state.

I do want to look at the overall state budget, and I do pay tribute to the Treasurer for delivering a great Labor budget that is really reflective of the views of the Labor Party and particularly invests in what matters most to Victorians. This is no better exemplified than in the investment in our health sector. We all know what a challenging couple of years it has been with the pandemic and the absolutely enormous work that all of our healthcare workers have contributed over the last two years. They have worked tirelessly, whether they are in hospitals, whether they are ambulance workers or nurses in at-home care—all were put under enormous pressure. That is why the investment of $12 billion through this budget in the healthcare system is just so important. It is investment that obviously is much needed. It will mean more call takers to the 000 hotline, 5000 more nurses, more paramedics and 1500 more mental health workers delivered under the pandemic repair plan.

The budget, through this health investment, will also be investing in additional surgical capacity. I know obviously the Eastern Health facility, Box Hill Hospital, in my own electorate has been under enormous pressure through the pandemic. I have had a number of discussions with them over the last two years about how they have had to deal with the influx of COVID patients in particular, how that has moved the dial on other patients, the impact that has had right throughout their facility and also the impact that the general health outcomes have had on their staff and being able to maintain their staffing levels. The investment to boost the state’s surgical capacity to deliver 40 000 extra surgeries in the next 12 months and up to 240 000 surgeries each year by 2024 is certainly welcomed in my community and by all the health facilities across the state.

We are continuing to invest in mental health. The Box Hill Hospital particularly does have a very important mental health facility. Last year we invested in additional bed capacity within the mental health unit at Box Hill Hospital in particular, and this budget continues that investment in terms of increasing the number of mental health hospital beds, because we do know through the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System how important having those facilities and services available to sufferers of mental ill health is. This is an issue that was prevalent well before the pandemic, but there have obviously been further challenges that have been brought about by the pandemic. The delivery of additional mental health beds across the state is in line with the royal commission’s recommendations and is again certainly very much welcomed in my community.

I also wanted to just touch a little bit on another key element of the budget, which is the cost-of-living power saving bonus. I think it is terrific that that is being offered across the board. We have all seen what has happened with power prices in recent months and general cost-of-living pressures and inflation. The bonus is not just for people who may be living in what are traditionally the less affluent areas. There are a lot of people in my community who are pensioners or retirees. They might be asset rich; they might have a home that has quite a large value, but what they are able to spend in discretionary spending day to day is limited and yet that does not change what the bills are, in terms of what is coming in. That is going to make an enormous difference to a lot of people in my community, so I am really pleased that the program has been extended and broadened to help all Victorians through these times.

I do want to touch in particular on what the budget is doing locally, because there are some fantastic initiatives that were announced in this budget for the Box Hill electorate. They are not particularly large sums of money, but they are a very targeted investment that will really help the community, whether it is through education, whether it is in community sport or whether it is just access and getting around the electorate. I do want to highlight a few of them. The biggest investment locally in this year’s budget was an $8.8 million investment to upgrade Laburnum Primary School, a fantastic school in Blackburn. Its zone picks up a lot of the new housing—the new high-rise unit development—in Box Hill. It is a growing school. More than 700 students attend that primary school. I have been there many times since I first got elected, but when I have gone out there this year I have seen the demographic change that is occurring at Laburnum Primary. It is a real reflection of how our community is changing, even in the space of a few years. The upgrades that are going to be possible with this investment are going to be so critical to delivering the education facilities that the students in my electorate need.

That brings the total amount of investment in education infrastructure throughout the Box Hill electorate since I was elected in 2018 to more than $40 million. I think that is just a wonderful indication and reflection of this Andrews government putting its money where its mouth is in terms of investing in quality education. We do have some of the best schools in the state in terms of their educational outcomes, but some of the infrastructure had been left behind, so bit by bit, school by school, we are working through all of the schools to try to get them the upgrades that they need. It was terrific to see that Laburnum will have an upgrade this year.

There was another school which received upgrading in this budget and that was the Aurora special developmental school in Blackburn South. This is a specialist school for deaf and deaf-blind children. It is an amazing, wonderful learning environment for the children. It specialises in the early learning and foundation years and really tries to transition the children so that they can integrate into the regular government sector or non-government sector, as the case may be. But it allows the students to integrate within the mainstream education system, which is absolutely fantastic and gives an opportunity for all of those students to excel.

In terms of some of the other fantastic local investments coming out of this year’s budget, community sport is obviously really important in all of our communities. I know how much we missed it during COVID. There were a couple of fantastic announcements that we were able to make. One was $400 000 to upgrade Hagenauer Reserve. Hagenauer Reserve is the home of the Box Hill Athletic Club, and it was rated by Inside Athletics, which is a magazine for those who enjoy athletics. They ran a poll, and they rated the Box Hill athletics track as the favourite track in Australia, beating out the track in South Melbourne and beating out all of the better-known what you might call ‘nice’ tracks around Australia. One of the reasons that they had been rating it as a favourite is that it is known as the home of the PBs. The orientation of the track does make it suitable for the running of PBs, particularly in middle distance running, and there have been some very fast 800-metre and 1500-metre times which were set there. But unfortunately the condition of the terraces and the lighting have not been up to scratch, and it is fantastic to say that the $400 000 that has been acquitted in this budget will go to improving those conditions.

Another really important commitment for my local area is the investment in the Canterbury Sports Ground in Surrey Hills. And I must pay tribute to my good friend the member for Hawthorn. We have both been lobbying hard to get some additional funding for this. Boroondara council had acquitted some money in their previous budget, about $2 million, to put some female-friendly facilities at this pavilion, but it did need more. The level of the pavilion was low compared to the ground, which impacted visibility, but it also meant that whenever there was a local flash flooding event the pavilion would routinely get flooded. Indeed it got flooded in November and again in January this year. The additional funding will be able to resolve a lot of those issues, and we managed to get council to defer starting their construction work until we could get this funding through. So I do thank the council for that, and that will be a fantastic facility when it is done. Overall it is a terrific Labor budget, and I commend the bill to the house.

Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (11:14): I rise to speak on the Appropriation (2022–2023) Bill 2022. This is an opportunity for me to speak to my community of Brighton, Brighton East, Elwood and Hampton and on behalf of that community. Disappointingly the state budget papers did not commit a single new dollar to Brighton, Brighton East, Elwood or Hampton—not a single dollar, not one dollar. A budget should be about economic responsibility and a fair allocation of resources, a fair allocation of money. And yet my part of Victoria, part of Melbourne, did not receive one single dollar—not a single dollar.

In terms of the budget more generally, the budget figures show a $7.9 billion deficit and an eye-watering $167.5 billion state net debt figure by 2025–26. And why does that matter? Because the annual interest repayments on debt are growing from $3.1 billion to $6.4 billion in only four years. All of that money, all of that expense on interest, could be saved and spent on something else. Victorians will now carry twice the debt burden of those in New South Wales and will have a greater debt level than the combination of New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. And in terms of tax, this budget includes a $603 million land tax hit, up 14.2 per cent; $1.5 billion in stamp duty on land transfers, up 22.6 per cent; $1.1 billion in payroll tax, up 17 per cent; and, staggeringly, a $27 billion infrastructure blowout.

Though I would like to be able to talk about any investment in my community, I cannot. What I can talk about is what the government could have invested in my community and did not. I will take the opportunity to talk about some of the school needs, some of the infrastructure needs, some of the health needs and some of the childcare needs. When you look at the budget overview and look to schools, it openly boasts about investing in Labor electorates and ignoring non-Labor electorates. The overview states that of the 13 new metro school constructions, 85 per cent are in Labor electorates, 82 per cent of the 22 school upgrades are in Labor electorates and 82 per cent of the metro special school upgrades are in Labor electorates. This type of pork-barrelling is not new. In the budget last year 85 per cent of the 35 metro school upgrades went to Labor electorates and 85 per cent of the 78 metro school upgrades announced in November 2020 went to Labor electorates. On five out of six occasions budget money went into Labor metro electorates. In my community over recent budgets Brighton Beach Primary School received zero dollars, Brighton Primary School received zero dollars, Brighton Secondary College received zero dollars, Elwood Primary School received zero dollars, Elwood College received zero dollars, Gardenvale Primary School received zero dollars and Hampton Primary received zero dollars, and yet the Minister for Education denies school fund bias—zero dollars into Brighton, Brighton East, Elwood and Hampton schools.

When you look at a special school like Brighton Primary School, it is an incredible school, a school that has been in my community since 1875. It has 620 students, and it has developed a master plan to develop projected long-term enrolment growth and address issues with the facilities at the school. It is visionary. What most people do not know is that two-thirds of the school’s students are in a dozen demountables that were installed in the 1970s. Two-thirds of our kids were put into those demountables 50 years ago, and nothing has changed. Another fact that most people are not aware of is that the school is home to 20 children with special hearing needs, and those demountables are next to the train line. So we have 20 students with special hearing needs who are in 50-year-old demountables next to a train line. If there was ever a greater need for investment in a school, I cannot imagine what it would be.

I move to Brighton Secondary College, a fantastic school established in 1955. It is home to 1200 students. It is a big, big school for my community—not just my community but also over the road; a lot of students come from Bentleigh. One of the issues in my area is that there is no modern performing arts space, so the college there has developed a plan for a 1400-seat tiered theatre with a stage, curtains, lighting, theatre-style acoustics, audiovisual facilities, music tutorial rooms, equipment and storage facilities to support it, accompanying infrastructure, a foyer area and kitchen facilities—a wonderful, wonderful facility not just for the children of my local area but also for community groups. There is not a dollar for Brighton Secondary College and their wonderful vision.

Hampton Primary School is the hub of Hampton, and it has been teaching children since 1913—another school in my community that is over 100 years old. No-one in the Hampton Primary School community or Hampton more generally can recall the government investing any money in the school, ever. The community of Hampton and the Hampton school cannot recall the government ever investing in that school. That is extraordinary. And it is not a small primary school. The school has developed a vision for a multipurpose netball facility that can serve as a sporting hub, a school meeting place and a community facility, because there is no place for the school to meet. It is a big school with no opportunity and no place for the school to meet.

How disappointing to hear Labor members laughing at the school needs of my community. How disappointing. If I then move to Elwood College, also a longstanding—

Ms Green: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, I take offence at what the member for Brighton just said. Labor members were not laughing. There was laughter from staff outside the chamber, so I would just like the member for Brighton not to falsely accuse us of laughing, because we were not.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Ms Kilkenny): There is no point of order.

Mr NEWBURY: Of course not. Elwood College is an important school in my community, a 60-year-old college with 850 students and 50 international students. There is not a dollar for Elwood College either. That school has close to $1 million worth of maintenance needs, including the gymnasium roof. The school are in a very difficult position because they have been fighting for their vision of a redevelopment of their gymnasium into what they call the Phoenix Theatre, a new theatre which would be utilised by both the school community and the local community. Elwood College is a hub for the local community. It has a wonderful performing arts tradition. They have got a facility in their current gymnasium and theatre that requires significant works, in fact urgent works. They have not received a single dollar, so they are in a very difficult position as to whether or not to try and invest in patchwork maintenance or hold out hope that one day the Labor government will remember that Brighton, Brighton East, Elwood and Hampton exist.

I move to a number of infrastructure projects in my community, especially pedestrian crossings. Members of this house may recall the government’s refusal to invest in the Grenville Street crossing in Hampton over the Sandringham train line until an elderly local resident died at the crossing and the government was shamed into investing in the crossing upgrade. There were no safety facilities at the site—none—and one of our beloved local grandmothers passed away crossing that site. But there are a number of other similar sites. The Dendy Street crossing is a crossing utilised by two local primary schools, St Joan of Arc and Brighton Beach Primary School. One of the principals, St Joan of Arc principal Tony McMahon, has said publicly:

The fact that there hasn’t been a terrible accident is purely through luck …

There has been no investment in that crossing upgrade in an estimated 100 years, and the government has done work on that site. They know the safety issues of that site. It is known to the government, and yet we have not had a dollar invested in that site. At the Dendy Village pedestrian crossing at Dendy Village, council has actually installed the associated infrastructure at the site, and VicRoads support the installation. It is a bustling local shopping strip. Again there a local was killed, tragically, crossing at the village. The Parliamentary Budget Office has estimated a cost of $900 000 to fix it—again, not a single dollar to that site.

The Glen Huntly Road crossing in Elwood is a crossing point for several schools and a childcare centre. Recent VicRoads data showed 17 incidents at that site; eight resulted in injury to locals—again a $900 000 cost. At the last election, when this was an issue, Labor installed a sign down the road—not even at the site but down the road. VicRoads has confirmed there exists at that site demand for the crossing as a high priority—not a dollar, again. For an Esplanade crossing near Were Street, which is a crossing point for the community to Green Point, where there are numerous local events, there is not a dollar there either.

For health, there is not a dollar. Sandringham Hospital services 70 000 people in the local area—not a dollar for them. That is a much-needed facility, Sandringham Hospital, and the government has not put a dollar in there.

And finally, in terms of child care, despite the government announcing a $47 million investment into Wyndham City Council for childcare infrastructure, the Port Phillip council is being forced to close three childcare centres, including Elwood Children’s Centre, because the infrastructure at the sites is so out of date that they cannot afford to fix them and the government has not invested a single dollar there. 3200 local people in the community have signed a petition over that site.

There are so many things in terms of school infrastructure, health and child care that are needed in my community, and these state budget papers did not commit a single new dollar to Brighton, Brighton East, Elwood or Hampton.

Mr TAYLOR (Bayswater) (11:29): It is a great, great pleasure to rise in this place and talk on the budget, the Appropriation (2022–2023) Bill 2022 and the Appropriation (Parliament 2022–2023) Bill 2022. This is the fourth of these bills that I am very proud to have spoken on as the state Labor member for Bayswater and, very proudly as well, my fourth budget. I want to just begin by thanking the Treasurer for all of his hard work. Of course it has been a very difficult period, these last two years. Being a Treasurer in any period of time in government, I have no doubt, is a very tricky job, and in fact over the many conversations I am just always blown away by the work, the care and the dedication that goes into each and every single budget. But of course not just the Treasurer but his staff, the departments and people right across government have prepared what is truly a great Labor budget in very difficult circumstances.

We have all spoken of it ad nauseam here, but it is important to acknowledge that in the context of this budget of course we are still dealing in, one could argue, a post-COVID world. We are still dealing with many impacts of COVID through unprecedented strain on our healthcare system and on the workforce, with all of the global pressures that we are facing. The Treasurer has delivered this budget, a truly Labor budget, which backs in our healthcare heroes, creates good, secure, well-paying jobs and continues to deliver the roads and public transport infrastructure that we need. We know many of these are overdue, and I am very proud that this government is delivering them, because the best time to start is today and now. This budget continues to back in the Big Build projects, all of those game-changing, generational Big Build projects that are being delivered in every single corner of this state, whether it is the north, east, south, west, the regions—right across this state. This budget delivers for them.

One of the centrepieces of this budget is, as we know, our pandemic repair plan, which I will go into in a bit more detail in a moment, but that is a cornerstone of this budget. It backs in our healthcare workers and helps to take some of that strain off our healthcare system by providing a $12 billion boost to our healthcare system, and of course we know this budget will create meaningful jobs—the record amount of jobs we have created here. We know that we are well on our way to our jobs plan. From last year’s budget, just off the top of my head, we promised to create 400 000 jobs, and we are well and truly on the way to doing that before the target of 2025.

We know this budget continues to build a world-class education system. We have the best education system here in the country and the best in the world, and that is indeed something that I am extremely proud of. Of course it would not be a Labor budget if it did not continue to deliver record investment, making sure our kids, whether it is in three-year-old kinder, four-year-old kinder, primary, secondary or our TAFE institutions, get the very best start in life and get the skills they need for the jobs they want, right across the age spectrum, and helping families through some of the very difficult times they are facing as well—using our balance sheets power saving bonus to support them through some of the initiatives like three-year-old kinder and the.

So this budget really is a fantastic Labor budget, and as I touched on before, one of the important parts of this budget is our pandemic repair plan. We know our healthcare workers have moved mountains over the last two-and-a-bit years and have done incredible work, and they have turned up each and every single day in unprecedented circumstances. We know that the pandemic, this global pandemic, COVID, has placed unprecedented strain, and I want to place on record again my great gratitude, my thanks, not just to all of the amazing healthcare workers locally but right across this state. Having spoken to many of the healthcare workers in my community, having heard from them firsthand, I know they have just done incredible work, and this budget well and truly—absolutely, and so it should—backs them in. We know this is not just a trend that has started, it is a Labor government that always supports our healthcare workers, our hospitals and our healthcare system and always will.

Before my time in this place, when the first-term Andrews Labor government came to be in 2014, we put an end to the war with our paramedics. I remember being in the police force back then and talking to some of the paramedics, and I can tell you now—I will put it nicely—they were not impressed. I was there when the government changed and, I can tell you what, they were extremely happy with that result and the resulting investment that they were well and truly owed and deserved. We ended that war with paramedics, we properly funded our hospitals and our healthcare system and we made it, from one of the worst performing, into the best performing, and I am extremely proud of that. We did that not by fighting and arguing and going to war with nurses and paramedics and our healthcare system, we did that by working with them, alongside them, supporting them, investing in them, because they look after us when we need them most. That is exactly the kind of respect and investment that they need and deserve.

We know that our pandemic repair plan will mean more staff—7000 healthcare workers, with 5000 of those nurses. We will train them up, we will hire them, we will get it done and make sure that Victorians, no matter where they live, can get the best care they deserve. That includes right in the heart of my community at the Angliss Hospital—an amazing community hospital, with more on that in a tick—and making sure we are providing them first-class care.

It is not just about better hospitals. It is not just about better staff. We are investing a record amount into surgical capacity. We know that elective surgery certainly had a very difficult stretch during the pandemic as priorities shifted and changed, but we are now putting record funding in to catch up with a lot of that work, with an extra 40 000 elective surgeries over the next year boosting that elective surgery capacity to 125 per cent of prepandemic levels, which is unprecedented, needed and will make sure that we can catch up and get people the care that they need—in particular over the next year and into the future as well.

We are supporting our healthcare workers, as I touched on, with extra nurses and healthcare workers more broadly, but we will recruit 90 more paramedics with $124 million. We will invest $333 million to add nearly 400 new staff to increase 000 call taking and dispatch capacity for 000 services. Can I just again, in relation to our 000 and ESTA staff, place on record my great thanks. It is a very difficult job. I have been in that call-taking room myself in my former life, and the dispatch workers and the 000 call takers are amazing people. I remember some of the jobs that would come through in my time and even just being there—I mean, the pressure that is placed on them. It is amazing work they do—cool, calm and collected. This budget makes sure that we can respond to some of the strain placed on that system, respond to some of that work and continue to support them and make sure that Victorians get the care they deserve. That is critically important.

We know that this government is investing record amounts into our hospitals. In this budget alone there is $2.9 billion in health infrastructure. And look, it is not my part of the world but this government is making unprecedented investment right across the state. I will get to my part of the world, but I know many members of this place have talked up the $900 million for the new tertiary hospital in Melbourne’s west. Melton hospital is a big topic of conversation. I know the member for Melton, who I am not sure is able to be here today. Is he?

A member interjected.

Mr TAYLOR: He is doing it a bit tough at the moment, but I know he is a very strong advocate for his community and he is absolutely up and about. That is an amazing investment. I know it will make a huge difference to his community out there from conversations with him. Of course there is the Barwon women’s and children’s hospital, and I have discussed the elective surgery capacity. It is all happening, particularly when it comes to health care.

We know mental health particularly again during COVID is something that has been very topical, and rightly so. It has certainly had an impact on people’s lives, and well and truly before COVID we know that it was something that needed attention. That is why we brought in the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, and I was incredibly proud of not just this budget but last budget when we announced even greater funding than the Australian government’s for the entirety of this country right here. In our budget there was $3.8 billion last year to rebuild the mental health system from the ground up. It was a truly, truly proud moment not just for our side of politics but I think for everyone to really reset and to rebuild that health system. But to be fair it is only a Labor government that committed to that royal commission. It is only a Labor government that committed to all of the recommendations, and it is only a Labor government that committed to—

A member interjected.

Mr TAYLOR: It took you a while. It is only a Labor government that is funding each and every single one of them. We are not questioning the experts. We are not questioning the recommendations that came out. We are funding and acquitting each and every single one, and this budget continues to do that.

And of course we are creating jobs—good, secure jobs. As I said at the start of my contribution, we are creating record amounts of jobs. We know since we came to government in 2014 we have generated 560 000 new jobs alongside our community and alongside businesses, with more than 80 000 jobs in regional Victoria. Just on regional Victoria as well, we have record low unemployment levels there, and that is something to be incredibly proud of.

We have introduced Australia’s first sick pay guarantee. That is an absolutely groundbreaking piece of work, and I have been out talking to hospo workers and talking to all the eligible industries who are able to take part in that scheme. That is going to change the game for them, because if you are sick, you should not miss out. Insecure work is something we need to address, and that is exactly what the sick pay guarantee is doing. So I am incredibly proud the budget does that.

Of course in the last few minutes I probably should get onto the electorate of Bayswater. It is a very great budget, a budget to be very proud of, but I tell you what: one of the proudest moments was out with the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education. We were out at Wantirna College, and we were announcing $11.2 million. We were out there with Kevin Murphy and about 1500 kids and staff, and the roof nearly lifted off when we announced the funding. I am not even kidding; I was a little concerned—we almost had to get the engineers to come out and do a structural report at the end of it because the place was on fire. It was amazing. I along with the Deputy Premier and education minister announced that funding, which will deliver a state-of-the-art performing arts, sports and learning space, and the teachers are happy too because they are getting new admin facilities. It is only a Labor government that makes those types of investments, that backs in schools like Wantirna College, and it will make a huge difference there. The building that we will be absolutely rebuilding is a thing of the past. It has probably gone past its use-by date now, and this is going to deliver the facilities that that school deserves to dream big and be whatever they want to be. I tell you: principal Kevin Murphy down there was bloody stoked. He was very excited, as was I.

Another great thing is that we are fully funding in this year’s budget in black and white—thanks to the assistance of the Minister for Public Transport and Minister for Roads and Road Safety, who is here—the McMahons Road intersection upgrade. This has been long talked about, and as I have said in this place it was always the promise that just kept on promising but never gave. Always a promise—others had opportunities when they were in government but did nothing, but it is this government that has delivered funding to upgrade the intersection of McMahons Road and Burwood Highway in Ferntree Gully. I tell you what, with over 600 signatures on my petition when I was out there talking to locals, this one was a massive issue, well and truly. I heard from the community, ‘Jacko, get it done’, loud and clear. That is exactly what this government will be doing. So I am very, very proud of that. That is going to help increase capacity, improve travel times and get locals home safer and sooner. Planning work has started and of course some of those more advanced planning works start later this year. It is a truly exciting project and one that is going to make our roads safer.

Every special school under this government since we came in has now been upgraded or will be upgraded. For Eastern Ranges School there is $5.7 million. It is so exciting for that school and for the principal, Trevor Hodsdon, out there. It is a great school. Every child, regardless of ability, should get the exact same opportunities, and I am so proud that our government is backing in special schools and backing in Eastern Ranges School.

Of course we know the budget as well continues to deliver the North East Link, the state’s biggest road project in history. It will cut travel times on the Eastern Freeway and get you across sooner. Work continues on that. We are removing more level crossings. We got rid of the two level crossings in Bayswater, at Scoresby Road and Mountain Highway, and rebuilt the Bayswater station.

This budget continues to deliver for Boronia. We are continuing to build a better Boronia, revitalising it and planning to build a better Boronia station. We have upgraded Heathmont station. We are upgrading roads right across Boronia. We continue to deliver upgrades for the Alchester Village roundabout, where we will be delivering lights and making that safer.

This budget delivers for the upgrades at Bayswater Secondary College. We are continuing to fund that. Whether it is the upgrades at Templeton Primary School, whether it is free TAFE, whether it is three-year-old kinder—the list goes on. I could be here all day, and I will tell you that another one that I got out and announced the other day was for Knox athletics—$250 to back in athletics locally—with a Chariots of Fire video to make it all happen as well.

I love my community. I love delivering for them with this government, and they deserve every single cent of it. As long as I am here they will always have a strong supporter in me for my community of Bayswater, because they are legends and they deserve it all.

Mr CARROLL (Niddrie—Minister for Public Transport, Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (11:44): It is my honour to speak on the Appropriation (2020–2023) Bill 2022, and can I begin by acknowledging my transport portfolios of public transport and roads and road safety. I have just come from the launch of Victoria’s new rolling stock strategy, and what I said upstairs was: how good is it to have Anthony Albanese, someone who is a former transport minister, in the Lodge? Equally you can think of the President of the United States as well, being Amtrak Joe. But in all fairness to those on the other side that are jeering a bit too early, I acknowledge Boris Johnson because Boris Johnson actually does have an interest in buses: he makes them, and he is on their forward plan. I do not expect a lot of research from that side of the chamber, so you probably did not know that. I will just give you that little tidbit. Go back and do your buses—just like the member for Yan Yean, who loves her buses too.

What is really important, though, is we have seen the Elizabeth line just get opened up in the United Kingdom—the fanfare, the 10 extra stations. Fast-forward to 2025 here in Victoria, when it will be a Labor government that opens up the Metro Tunnel and all those new stations and the changes that it has made for this community. Think about where we would be now—it would probably be open—if those opposite had actually done something for that four-year public holiday that they had. It is why it is so important when you think about what we are doing in transport. It is actually very exciting to be thinking that we are actually now at that stage where we are switching on the Big Build. We are doing the infrastructure and then switching it on. I had the very great pleasure to be with the Premier and the Minister for Transport Infrastructure only last week underneath our great state with our construction workers that are doing the Metro Tunnel to announce all the jobs that will come with it. Whether it is the train drivers, whether it is the signalling or whether it is the customer service, it is such an exciting project that is happening literally underneath us.

I am very proud too because I get to see what this means for more services. You have got the transport infrastructure that then unlocks all those services. A classic example is the $500 million Ballarat line, and you think about what that means for a regional town like Ballarat with the Commonwealth Games coming. Under our government we have delivered a train service every 20 minutes—something we never thought could be possible. But again, a Labor government makes the investment, gets on, builds things and then unlocks and squeezes the lemon to give all the Victorians the potential that they need. Also too you think about Bairnsdale. It is a Labor government building the Bairnsdale stabling yard on the Gippsland line. It will be an excellent project, because if those opposite did their homework they would know that that line is currently serviced by the classic fleet, but under our government we will be retiring that and allowing the replacement of that classic fleet with new VLocity trains, because that is what we do—we get on and we build things.

I talk about those opposite when they were last in government, and when we talk about rolling stock, to think that the ACT government led them on tram orders, when we are the biggest tram city in the world and have more trams and more kilometres than anywhere else, is just incredible. But that is what we faced when we came to office—literally the peaks and troughs—a rolling stock industry that was not working, that was not having the investment that was needed. Now when we talk about rolling stock, in addition to the jobs we talk about accessibility, and it was great to have the accessibility advocate upstairs with me, Tricia Malowney.

But also we talk about sustainability and transport’s role in tackling transport emissions, whether it is zero-emission buses, whether it is making our tram fleet powered by the sun or switching our train fleet to also be powered by renewables. It is about, as the Premier often says, ‘Built by Victorians, for Victorians’. When you look over the border and you see some of those issues that New South Wales are having, whether it is with their trains, trams or even their vessels, that is the price you pay when you outsource. Local procurement is something this government is very proud about doing. Getting to that 65 per cent in most cases is very, very difficult to achieve and to get to, but that is something we do. And we work very hard with our union partners, whether it is the AWU, the AMWU, the Transport Workers Union, the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, all of our union partners—the Electrical Trades Union—that very much have a great role in the transport portfolio.

One passion I do have is buses, because I know, as I said yesterday, we are the first government since 2006 to actually bring in a bus plan to really unlock all of that potential, particularly coming out of COVID, when we know buses are the most resilient form of public transport because people are moving around locally, they are working locally and they are wanting to see their communities. The future of buses is very bright. We are very fortunate that we have buses literally being made in Dandenong at that great company Volgren, a coming together of Volvo and the Grenda family. One of the last times I was down at Volgren I actually saw the blue buses being made for New South Wales—literally buses being made in Victoria for New South Wales—because we have become the leader in the nation when it comes to rolling stock.

I am obviously very proud as someone who grew up with the steel wheels, not the train wheels but the steel wheels of the tram fleet, of the 59 out to Airport West that under our government we will be retiring a hundred high-floor trams and bringing in a hundred low-floor trams, with a great facility to be built at Maidstone. I know that members all around the west, particularly the member for Footscray, are very passionate about the west because it has great linkages there. It has great linkages with Victoria University. The north-west is an area where we do have to bring in new trams, and these trams will be so good that they will be able to go anywhere on the network, with their regenerative braking and with their accessibility features. They are smaller in size. They are going to be a really fantastic modern fleet for our tram network. It was the Andrews government that placed the first tram order in decades, and it will stand the test of time.

Something we should be very proud of is that our forebears actually kept the tram network in Victoria. Most other jurisdictions around the world, with the advent of the vehicle, ripped up their tram networks. We have got the Commonwealth Games coming, and I am already buzzing with ideas about what that will mean for transport and accessibility. But one of the reasons we kept our tram network was the 1956 Olympics. It was very much seen back then, when the 1956 Olympics were being held in Melbourne, that trams and the tramcar could certainly help people get around. That is why, when you also envisage the $4 billion regional rail link that we are doing with the commonwealth, the new rolling stock, the unlocking of the potential to our regions and what that will mean for the Commonwealth Games, with the transport investments we are making now and the dividends that will pay in 2026, it is a very, very exciting future.

I do want to touch just briefly, if I can, on the road safety portfolio. This is an area that has had bipartisan support for literally 50 years in this state, yet those opposite still do not have a shadow minister for road safety. Victoria is a world leader in seatbelts, Victoria is the world leader in mobile detection, alcohol interlocks and fatigue, and with the home base of the Monash University Accident Research Centre literally being here in Victoria I am very surprised that those opposite have still not filled that portfolio. We just last week met with families—Victorians, Australians—for National Road Safety Week. It was this Labor government that stood with the victims of road trauma, and we have got to be vigilant. We need to get to zero deaths. Every death on the roads is preventable. I will say this: with the new transport minister coming into Canberra in place of Barnaby Joyce, we will get somewhere on road safety at a commonwealth, state and local government level. All credit to Michael McCormack, because he actually had a strong interest in this and he was actually prepared to work with the states on road safety. He is a very nice man, but he was replaced by Barnaby Joyce, and I have got to say he did not have that same interest in road safety. He was not prepared to put what we wanted into road safety, whereas Michael McCormack was prepared. He was also prepared to put his money where his mouth was and really make sure that when we talk about roads, we talk about road safety equally. I do wish the National Party all the very best when they sort out their issues in the very near future.

I want to also say how proud I was of what this budget has delivered for the Niddrie community. I have always been a very proud lifelong local and have supported my local schools to make the Education State literally so, so relevant in the Niddrie community. We went from having literally no money going to the Niddrie estate to tens of millions of dollars going into our local schools. Whether it was Joan Kirner’s old primary school, Aberfeldie Primary, whether it was Essendon Keilor College, whether it was Niddrie Primary, Avondale Primary or Kilmore Primary School, we have literally built the Education State in Niddrie. There could be no more important policy area than education, because our young kids are our future, and giving them every opportunity to equality and every opportunity to embed lifelong learning is so vitally important. Equally important is the rollout of three-year-old kinder. We know how important the first 1000 days are in a child’s life. So I am very proud as the local member for Niddrie to say that the Education State matters in the Niddrie electorate. This budget, like every other budget we have delivered under the exceptional leadership of the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, is another budget that supports Niddrie schools.

I must also highlight that I am very excited that I will be opening up the brand new Niddrie Autistic School. It is a wonderful project; it is a wonderful design right there on Garnet Street, Niddrie. A little bit of history of the Niddrie Autistic School: it was the Western Autistic School, and before that it was Doutta Galla Primary. And who wants to have a guess what happened to Doutta Galla Primary during the Kennett years?

Members interjecting.

Mr CARROLL: Jeff Kennett sold the oval. It is hard to fathom. It is now the autistic school, and we have put investments into it. He sold the oval. So it is this little, little school—

A member: You weren’t even old enough to vote then, member for Niddrie.

Mr CARROLL: I was old enough to vote then. Trust me, he was not getting my vote. I was in VCE. And then what we have been able to do to transform that is astronomical. This is the history we must always remind people out in the north-west about. If it was not selling off the school land, he wanted to put a toxic waste dump right in the heart of Niddrie at the old Valley Lake estate. The member for St Albans knows that very well. So that is what we are faced with, and this is what we will continue to do and continue to support.

I want to also say I welcome Gowanbrae into the Niddrie electorate. I am going to make a pledge here that I am going to ride my bike around the new parts of the Niddrie electorate. It is an idea. I look forward to riding my bike around Gowanbrae, and I look forward to riding my bike around Keilor and other parts. But what will also be good is I will have to take my dog to Gowanbrae, because we are giving a dog park to that wonderful suburb of Gowanbrae—$250 000 was committed in the budget. So I am very excited about that too.

I want to also acknowledge the nearly half a million dollars in the budget for Rosehill Secondary. They are doing a fantastic job out there with their upgrades. I was there recently. It is like walking onto a scene of MasterChef when you see their home economics rooms. They are just literally first class.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the Airport West Tennis Club. It has been around for 50 years, and my dad actually did the wiring there. The wiring and the lights are beginning to fade and need an upgrade, but that is what this government will do—$650 000 for the Airport West Tennis Club. We can get the bulldozers out now. We can literally give them the pavilion they deserve. Often tennis is one of those areas of sport in the local community that does not get the credit it deserves. The Airport West Tennis Club has been founded by women and supported by women. Ninety-nine per cent of the board and the life members are all women. It is a wonderful local club in the local community, and it means we are going to deliver a wonderful precinct there in Airport West, right next door to the footy club and the cricket club that I am the number one ticketholder of and played at many years ago.

In conclusion, can I congratulate the Victorian Treasurer on this budget. To think of the positivity that this budget delivers—to think of putting people front and centre, whether it is through health care, whether it is through transport, whether it is through education or whether it is through mental health, and then to think what we can achieve now with the Labor government in Canberra—is so very exciting for the future.

Mr FREGON (Mount Waverley) (11:59): I move:

That debate be adjourned.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned.

Ordered that debate be adjourned until later this day.