Thursday, 2 May 2024

Government performance

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:32): My question is to the Premier. After 10 years of Labor we pay the highest taxes in the country, we have the biggest debt, we wait the longest for a hospital bed and an ambulance, we have record-low educational outcomes, energy bills have skyrocketed and we have a housing crisis with the lowest rate of new homes. After 10 years of Labor, why are Victorians worse off?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:33): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, clearly provided to him by the member for Sandringham. This is a question that demonstrates just how out of touch the Leader of the Opposition is with what is actually going on in people’s lives in Victoria right now. We have heard from the Treasurer already how Deloitte Access Economics forecasts Victoria to have the strongest economic growth of any state in the next five years. We have more Victorians in work than ever before. We had to put Victorians back to work, because in the four years that the Leader of the Opposition was doing all sorts of activities when he was working as legal counsel in the then Premier’s office –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, this was an important question – not for the Premier to be nasty again.

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

Jacinta ALLAN: As if I needed any more evidence as to how out of touch the opposition is, that point of order demonstrates it. All week – for months now – women have been demanding a better conversation, a better culture, about respect for women, and that starts with all of us. When you only call women in this place nasty, when you only call women in this place tawdry, you are not demonstrating the sort of leadership we all need to be showing about what respect for women looks like and what happens when you do not. When you sit in that chair and hiss across the table –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Lowan will leave the chamber for half an hour. The minister will leave the chamber for half an hour.

Member for Lowan and Minister for Prevention of Family Violence withdrew from chamber.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating the question, and we will not be lectured by a Premier whose colleagues the member for Ringwood and the member for South Barwon were allowed to get away with their behaviour for years.

The SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, that is not a point of order. I do ask the Premier to come back to the question.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition! The member for Eureka will leave the chamber for an hour. I will not tolerate this kind of interjection.

Member for Eureka withdrew from chamber.

Jacinta ALLAN: I was asked about 10 years of what has been achieved in this state for Victorians: a Royal Commission into Family Violence, where we have implemented each and every one of the 227 recommendations that are focused on making our community safer for women who experience violence at the hands of a current or former partner, and we are now redoubling our efforts with a focus on women’s safety across the community; a royal commission into mental health; a rebuilding of the education system; a rebuilding of the health system; and a reopening of train lines. Why do we have to do these things? Because when those opposite have the privilege of being in government they cut funding to hospitals, they cut funding to schools and they cut funding to the education maintenance allowance and to Fresh Fruit Friday, they close train lines and they cut train services. Labor governments, when we come to government, have two tasks before us: we have to repair the damage from those opposite –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Caulfield and the Leader of the House will cease yelling at each other across the table.

Jacinta ALLAN: Labor governments have two tasks when they follow a Liberal government into government: we have to repair and rebuild from the damage that they inflict, and then we push forward and create jobs and build better services for people right across the state.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:38): Will the Premier rule out making life even harder for Victorians in next week’s budget?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Tarneit can leave the chamber for half an hour.

Member for Tarneit withdrew from chamber.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:39): As the Treasurer has said previously, he will stand here next Tuesday, he will hand down a budget and it will be another Labor budget that is focused on the things that matter for the Victorian community. It will focus on jobs. It will focus on supporting families. It will focus on doing what families here in Victoria expect us to do. While the Leader of the Opposition is more worried about what the member for Sandringham is up to, we will remain focused on what is important to the Victorian community.