Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Grievance debate

Cost of living

David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (16:01): I grieve on behalf of all Victorians that are doing it really tough at the moment. We have seen a triple threat when it comes to a government that simply cannot manage money, where all Victorians are paying the price; and a triple threat when it comes to Victoria being the debt capital – more debt than any other state, more debt than New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania combined. We have also seen a state that has become the tax capital – more tax than any other state in Australia, more taxes that are sending businesses bankrupt and sending businesses offshore. We are also seeing a cost-of-living crisis, a situation where people are struggling to put food on the table. You hear it each and every day where people are making decisions about what they are doing just to be able to get on with their lives. It has now unfortunately become Struggle Street for many people in Victoria.

When you look at things and where things have gone, a state that embodied the very best of having a go and getting a go, as we heard from our previous Prime Minister, is a state that now is all about having a go and getting taxed and shown the door. That is what has happened for many Victorian small businesses. We have not only seen the triple threat of debt, tax and cost of living, we have more businesses than any other state leaving the country, leaving the state – leaving and going elsewhere and also closing their doors.

Who would have thought that Victoria would be such a basket case – a place that we all cherish, that we love and that embodies the spirit of so many that have come here and made Victoria their home. It is a place where we have celebrated many multicultural communities that have come and really worked hard to ensure they do what they can to provide for their families and for others. I think it would be fair to say that we have a government that not only do not care about those that want to work hard and do not reward them for effort but do the absolute opposite. They turn their backs on them and actually target them for having a go and working hard. I would never have thought that in this state those people would be punished and ridiculed for actually running a small business. Rather than the celebration of those small businesses, we have seen absolutely the opposite.

Under Labor, Victoria is the worst place to run a business in this country, and people are paying for it in droves. A recent article, ‘Victoria in need of “significant corrective action” as thousands of businesses flee the state,’ in the Herald Sun just last week stated:

More than 3000 businesses have packed up and left Victoria since the end of Covid lockdowns in 2021 …

Those businesses have not come back. Those businesses have the ‘closed’ sign on their front door. What that does in terms of the repercussions for employment is just far beyond belief, because we know, and so many people in this house and those that have come before us have said, that small business is the engine room of the economy. Labor has sold the engine room of the economy for spare parts. That is what they have done to Victoria, and that is what they have done to Victorian small businesses. I hear from so many businesses time and time again that tell me that it is just too hard to do business. In construction we have had so many businesses that have absolutely said, ‘We’ve had enough.’ Not only have we seen businesses that are struggling because of taxation, but we are hearing it from both sides. This is an issue at the supply end, and it is an issue in terms of customers and the cost-of-living end. There is something that can be done about it, and that is absolutely holding this government to account and ultimately in 2026 changing the government. You cannot have more debt than any other state and you cannot have a situation where Victorians are paying $25 million a day, each and every day, just to pay the interest bill on the debt – and that is not reducing the debt, that is just paying for the debt that continues to skyrocket.

As we saw today, we have the Treasurer, with his own credit card, who keeps on racking up more debt because Labor do not care about money, and Victorians end up paying for their recklessness. We have seen that with Suburban Rail Loop, which is a project that does not stack up, that nobody has asked for, that has not been properly planned, that has been reckless and that even the federal government have turned their back on, and this government is so persistent on spending $216 billion of taxpayers money. When the government are reckless on major projects like the Suburban Rail Loop, like we have seen in the Metro Tunnel, in the West Gate Tunnel and in the North East Link, there are $40 billion of blowouts. Forty billion dollars could be spent on a whole range of things. It could get Victoria restarted. It could help with things like tourism, which the government has cut money from in the recent budget. It could build an airport rail, which the government has turned its back on. This government absolutely does not care about business. It does not care about managing money. It does not care about Victorians, and we are all copping it.

Businesses struggle as customers are spending less, and this is a cost-of-living crisis largely influenced by a government that keeps on taxing them out of existence. Whether it be income tax, payroll tax, housing tax, registration for your car, your groceries, the logistics, all of those things cost money. Two-thirds of customers have changed their spending habits already, according to a recent report. What we are seeing is 28 per cent of people are buying less. That means when people go down to their local coffee shop and they meet with their friends on the weekend, instead of having a couple of coffees each and maybe some eggs with a couple of sides, one of the coffees is sacrificed and sometimes there is not even food at all being ordered. I see that in some of my restaurants in Elsternwick. We have got businesses, and I was speaking to one of them only just on the weekend. He was telling me that on Saturday night it was an absolute record. The place was pumping. He could not wait to actually check the cash register to see how much money they were able to make. The local cafe or local restaurant was Goathouse, a fantastic business in Elsternwick. When he counted up the dollars, he was down about 15 per cent. People were there, people were coming, but people were not spending. They are cutting their buying habits because confidence is down, cost of living is up and people just do not have the disposable income to spend. They are buying less, they are buying cheaper goods, they are making decisions in terms of what they buy, and some of them are just putting off purchasing altogether – they are not buying at all. And that is having a huge impact on businesses, a huge impact on the engine room that employs 42 per cent of people; 42 per cent of people are employed by small business.

The private sector does the heavy lifting, but the Allan Labor government want to tax these businesses out of existence. We have seen that happen in so many different instances, and we have seen it also happen with more Victorian businesses going bust because of interest rate rises. ASIC did a report that showed that Victoria recorded 2372 businesses that have become insolvent, up 29 per cent on the previous year. Twenty-nine per cent more businesses have gone broke than in the previous year under this government. And they want to talk about business confidence when you are seeing 29 per cent of businesses going broke in Victoria. As businesses close in Victoria, businesses in New South Wales and Queensland are increasing. As businesses go elsewhere, in Victoria, businesses in New South Wales and Queensland are opening or coming over there. So why is it that other states can see increases in business confidence and increases in businesses wanting to get going whereas we are seeing the opposite?

Greg La Manna from a South Yarra specialty greengrocer in Chapel Street called La Manna & Sons, employing about 100 people – and this is a migrant business that his family set up; his father migrated to Australia from Italy in 1948 – said that back then their family struggled with every single dollar just to open their first grocery store. He is saying at the moment that the cost pressures, rising wages, higher interest rates and the burden of government taxes and regulation have made it very, very difficult just to turn a profit, and that is what we hear from everybody time and time again.

I know there was even a previous Premier that suggested that people should be getting on the beers, and I know some did, particularly after the horrendous lockdowns, which were because of this government, what happened – the longest lockdowns, the most expensive lockdowns. Other states did not have to go anywhere near that, but we did. But what does that mean, ‘getting on the beers’? Well, let me give you an example – the craft beer association, which is about people setting up new breweries, new businesses, a young entrepreneur being able to say ‘Yes, let me try and build my own brewing business right off the bat.’ Well, many of those craft beer breweries are closing down. They are closing down. Why are they closing down? They are closing down because of cost of materials. One of the reasons that the craft brewery association said they are closing down is basic costs like energy, like gas. If gas prices continue to increase, as materials continue to increase, as labour continues to increase, Victorian businesses like craft breweries are closing. That is the state of repair of this state under this government. Businesses are closing and this government does not care.

This government, as we have seen with a horror budget, record debt, no ability to pay down the debt, record tax, cost-of-living crisis, businesses leaving – what does that mean to many of those seats in Labor-held territories? We are seeing that people in Victoria are missing out. This absolutely stubborn Allan government that just wants to focus on a tunnel for the east at the expense of every other person in the state means that Victorians miss out. Take Greenvale, for instance; Greenvale have abandoned the Beveridge intermodal freight terminal, which is the freight terminal that was going to get trucks off the road. That was also going to help with logistics and transport. That is gone, depriving the north of employment opportunities. Mickleham Road stage 2 is not yet guaranteed even though it would make stage 1 pointless, absolutely pointless. There is almost no bus connectivity, leaving commuters stranded in housing estates. Buses and an airport rail could help commuters get to the CBD – Greenvale neglected. Niddrie and airport rail – we have even heard the Deputy Premier wanting an airport rail – they are not delivering it. The Premier is not delivering it until at least 2033 and counting. And of course the much-needed works of the Calder Freeway have been shelved. The people of Niddrie have been neglected. The people of Greenvale have been neglected.

What about Werribee? The Western Rail Plan – scrapped. This is in the Treasurer’s own seat. He has scrapped the Western Rail Plan, and there are no electrified trains at Wyndham Vale. That means people in the city get 5-minute services, waiting for a train, while for people in Wyndham Vale it is 20 minutes if they are lucky. In Werribee the national employment and innovation cluster still needs funding and improvements. The people of Werribee have been neglected, and if that is in the Treasurer’s own seat, then heaven help everybody else across the state. In Melton, the Western Rail Plan has been scrapped, meaning electrified trains to Melton – absolutely zero. Again, you are waiting 20 minutes for a train at Melton, and you are lucky if you get one. It is crowded. Why does Melton miss out? Why do the people of Melton miss out? In Bass, Wonthaggi Hospital is still unfunded. The Phillip Island Community Hospital is behind schedule. For tourism in the region, the Phillip Island Penguin Parade boardwalk redevelopment is behind schedule. Why do the people of Bass miss out? Here are just a handful of seats abandoned – marginal seats that you would think Labor would look after to try to save them in 2026: Greenvale, abandoned; Niddrie, abandoned; Werribee, abandoned; Melton, abandoned; Bass, abandoned. These Victorians have missed out because Labor cannot manage money, and Victorians are paying the price.