Government performance
John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): My question is to the Premier. Victoria’s non-financial public sector debt is out of control and projected to rise to $205 billion by 2027 because of the massive cost blowouts that the Premier oversaw as minister for transport and infrastructure, the Suburban Rail Loop and the Commonwealth Games that never happened. Will the Premier urgently come clean with Victorians about the true extent of the state’s catastrophic financial position?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:10): The Leader of the Opposition must have missed the budget that was handed down a few months ago, which laid out very clearly the finances of the state. It also laid out very clearly the strong financial management plan that the Treasurer has put in place to ensure the investments that needed to be made during that one-in-100-year pandemic – the investments that needed to be made to support our healthcare system, which was under huge pressure during that period of time, unprecedented pressure, to make sure that businesses were supported, to make sure Victorians could stay in work. That was investment that the Victorian government chose to make, because we understood that we had to make these investments. Through the work that the Treasurer undertook at budget time there is the COVID debt repayment plan to make sure that whilst our kids may have memories of COVID, they are not paying for it. That is the work that was outlined through the budget.
The Leader of the Opposition, though, also made reference to a range of transport infrastructure projects. He has never met a transport infrastructure project he has supported – never delivered one and never supported one. And here is the thing –
James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, it is not relevant to make nasty personal attacks in question time – it is not relevant.
Members interjecting.
The SPEAKER: Order! The Assistant Treasurer will come to order.
Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, I ask that you rule the point of order out of order. There clearly is no point of order. The Premier on her feet is explaining the facts of the situation, which are that those on the other side have no experience of delivering a single major project and therefore have no idea how to finance or deliver one.
The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier was being relevant to the question that was asked. I do ask the Premier not to attack the opposition and to come back to answering the question.
Jacinta ALLAN: The Leader of the Opposition’s question went to the delivery of transport infrastructure projects, and I can tell the Leader of the Opposition this – that the level crossing removal program is ahead of time and under budget. Seventy-two level crossings are gone. That is investment that is supporting jobs, making suburbs safer and also giving us the opportunity to run more trains. The Metro Tunnel, the project that will transform Victoria’s rail network, giving us the opportunity to run more trains –
Peter Walsh: When’s it going to be ready?
Jacinta ALLAN: A year ahead of schedule, Leader of the National Party. The Leader of the National Party just asked me when it will be ready: a full year ahead of schedule. We will continue to deliver the big, complex transport infrastructure projects a growing city and state need, because to follow what others did during their time in government, which would be not to build anything, which was to walk away from projects, to scrap the Metro Tunnel, to walk away from critical projects our state needed, would be saying to our state that we are not going to support the productive investment in infrastructure that our city and state deserve.
John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:13): Will the Premier come clean with Victorians and admit to them the real cost of major cost blowouts that she oversaw as minister for transport and infrastructure, the Suburban Rail Loop and the bungled Commonwealth Games?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:13): Again the supplementary question went to matters that I addressed directly in the substantive question, but I am happy to go over it again. I would be delighted for the benefit of the Leader of the Opposition to go over it again, because it is a long list of projects that we are investing in. The Leader of the Opposition has in the running mentioned the Suburban Rail Loop, a project that we absolutely intend to continue to deliver because it is a critically important project. I tell you what, if the approach that the opposition take to the Suburban Rail Loop was taken when the city loop was being built, it would not have been built. These people would have opposed the city loop in the same way that they are opposing the Suburban Rail Loop. We will continue to invest in the productive infrastructure that supports tens of thousands of jobs across our state.