Tuesday, 14 May 2024

Economic policy

Brad ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (14:34): My question is to the Treasurer. The annual interest bill on Labor’s record debt is $6.5 billion, yet funding for the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing is $4.97 billion. Why is the government spending more on interest than on services for vulnerable children, families and housing?

Tim PALLAS (Werribee – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Economic Growth) (14:35): I thank the member for Sandringham for his question, and I welcome him back from Siberia. It is good to see that he has been relegated to last drop. I rather hope that those opposite realise there was a budget last week. The only time he got the Treasurer on his feet is the last question.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mildura will leave the chamber for half an hour.

Member for Mildura withdrew from chamber.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, I would ask you to bring the Treasurer to the question.

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer will come back to the question.

Tim PALLAS: One thing this government will not do is make our budget issues first and centre of how we protect Victorian families going forward. We did it all the way through the pandemic. We made sure that we used our balance sheet to protect Victorians. Those opposite were basically saying let it rip, return balanced budgets through the height of the economic event of COVID –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Treasurer is clearly debating the question.

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer will come back to the question.

Tim PALLAS: This government has made it very clear to Victorians that there are a variety of options that you can adopt in terms of budget management, and the first and most important one you should adopt is to put the interests of the economy, and therefore its performance and growth, front and centre of our economic and budgetary strategies. That is exactly what this government is doing. Those opposite can get up in this chamber and call for debt caps to be put in place. Can you imagine anything more ludicrous as a piece of public policy than a debt cap? Let me give you an illustration of what a debt cap would do to the Victorian economy during COVID.

Members interjecting.

Tim PALLAS: Oh, you do not want to hear?

Brad Rowswell: On a point of order, Speaker, the Treasurer has been on his feet for a minute and a half. My point of order is on relevance. The Treasurer is currently nowhere near the simple question that I asked relating to debt versus the government’s spending on the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, there is no point of order. The Treasurer was being directly responsive to the question, and I ask that you enable him to get up and complete his answer.

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer had strayed from the answer. I ask him to come back to the question.

Tim PALLAS: As I was asked by the member a question about the level of interest and debt, can I be very clear that the average amount of interest paid for the state is 7.8 per cent over the next four years. That is well below the 1990s level. And might I say, in circumstances where those opposite say we should have a legislative cap on debt, that would effectively shut down government. We have seen it played out in the United States. We have seen services to the needy effectively played out. That is their formula for Victoria. Make no mistake: they want to consign Victorians as secondary beneficiaries or the losers out of an economy that is being run for accountants and for a balance sheet. Those are their values lived large.

We as a government will continue to grow the economy. We are the only government that have demonstrated a now five-step fiscal strategy, the only government that have held ourselves to account to its performance and attainment and the only government who have now set a fifth step that will ensure that debt as a percentage of the size of the Victorian economy will fall. That is what achievement means when you put Victorians first.

Brad ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (14:39): The government is on track to spend more on interest repayments than on medical research funding. The Victorian chair of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes Professor Ricky Johnstone said the government’s $50.8 million cut to medical research funding will really ‘affect our ability to conduct medical research at the highest international level’. This cut equates to three days worth of interest payments on Labor’s record debt. Has Labor’s interest bill forced the Treasurer to cut critical medical research funding?

The SPEAKER: I will allow the question.

Tim PALLAS (Werribee – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Economic Growth) (14:40): I thank the member for their question. To make the obvious point, as a government we are one of the world leaders when it comes to medical research and support. In fact we are rated the third metropolitan location in the world, behind Boston and London, for medical research. And it did not happen by accident. There is only one city on the planet that has two mRNA manufacturers preparing to open up – in this state, in this city – that is Melbourne. BioNTech of course was announced recently, but before them it was Moderna, who we are expecting will start producing population-scale vaccines early next year. On top of that we will have therapeutic cancer treatments being produced by BioNTech – therapeutic cancer treatments from the laboratory table to the client’s bedside. That is critically important for the future of the state.