Tuesday, 27 May 2025

Bills

Appropriation (2025–2026) Bill 2025

Appropriation (Parliament 2025–2026) Bill 2025

Second reading

Debate resumed.

Nick STAIKOS (Bentleigh – Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Local Government) (14:57): Prior to being interrupted by the lunch break, I was talking about the government’s fair fuel plan, which I announced with the Premier early this year. Under that plan, we will make it compulsory for the more than 1500 fuel retailers in Victoria to provide their fuel-pricing data in real time, and this data will then be fed into a special feature on the Service Victoria app which will allow Victorians to compare fuel prices in their local area so that they can find the best possible deal. The fuel finder and mandatory reporting will support phase 2 of the fair fuel plan, which will not only cap the number of fuel price rises to just one per day but also lock in those prices the day before and freeze them for 24 hours. That means that if on a Sunday night you are sitting at home looking up the Service Victoria app for the best possible fuel deal, you will be confident that the next day when you go to fill up you will get that deal. And while fuel retailers will not be able to increase their fuel prices, they will indeed be able to decrease their fuel prices throughout the day. This is just another tool in the pockets of Victorians to assist with the cost of living.

In the short time remaining to me, I do want to talk about a couple of things in the budget that will benefit my electorate greatly – firstly, McKinnon Primary School. In 1999, the Kennett government made the decision to close McKinnon Primary School at the end of that year. But something happened in September, the election of the Bracks government, which saved that school. Over the years since, Labor governments have invested in that school, and in this budget we have $12.6 million for a major upgrade, new classrooms and an upgrade of the main building. Secondly, Bentleigh Junior Football Club – we have $200,000 in the budget for brand new lights at King George VI Memorial Reserve. I think of it as a bit of a birthday present for Bentleigh junior footy club, because that proud club this year celebrates its 40th anniversary. So happy 40th birthday to Bentleigh junior footy club. I am not far behind you – I turn 40 next year.

I commend this budget to the house. It is a budget focused on what matters most, it is a budget that is delivering real help with the cost of living and it is a budget that invests in Victoria’s future.

Sam GROTH (Nepean) (14:59): I rise to give a contribution on this year’s Appropriation (2025–2026) Bill 2025 and Appropriation (Parliament 2025–2026) Bill 2025. I support the member for Brighton, the Shadow Treasurer, in his plan outlined, the plan set forth by the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Liberal Party, the member for Berwick; the leader of the Nationals, the member for Gippsland South, and all of our team, which shows a positive outlook for Victoria should there be a change of government in November 2026.

Now, it is not all optimism. I will start with what has been a budget delivered that I am sure none of those on the other side of the chamber will want to talk about when it comes to this state’s level of debt, this state’s level of interest payments and incompetence from this government in delivering a budget that does anything other than take more money from the pockets of everyday Victorians, who continue to foot the bill for this government’s incompetence when it comes to managing money.

We know based on the budget papers, the forward estimates, $194 billion of debt is coming to Victoria by 2028–29. What does that actually mean for those people in Victoria? It means over the next four years this government is going to take close to $180 billion of tax out of Victorians’ pockets. I mean, let us think about the level of tax that this government are actually ripping from this state – $180 billion because this government cannot manage major projects, they cannot manage small business, they cannot manage red tape, they cannot manage the finances and instead it is Victorians who continue to pay the price.

Today the Shadow Treasurer outlined our plan and the fifth tax that we will scrap when we come to government in 2026. This will give first home buyers in this state a real chance to get into the property market, a chance to own their own piece of this state and a chance to build a family in a house that they own. It will give them an opportunity to purchase a property when the median house price in Victoria is over $900,000 – a realistic chance to get into the property market. And we want to give every Victorian the opportunity to own a home. We want to give every Victorian the opportunity to build a future here in Victoria, and it is only this side of the house that actually gives Victorian first home buyers a real opportunity. I commend the Shadow Treasurer and those on this side of the house for making that commitment today. It is the fifth tax that we have said that we will scrap when we have the opportunity to sit on the other side of the chamber.

We saw a commitment last week to cutting the emergency services tax of this government, which will not deliver better outcomes, better services or equipment for emergency services here in Victoria. All it does is rip $3 billion over the next four years out of the pockets of Victorians, $3 billion that Victorians, according to the Treasurer, can afford to pay. But I can tell you, based on the conversations that we are having and I am sure those on the other side of the chamber have to be having, based on some of the comments that I read on social media from some of the members – and I am happy to go to that in a moment – Victorians at the moment, with a rise in land tax, with a rise now in their emergency services tax, cannot continue to foot the bill for a government that has no other lever it knows how to pull than greater taxes.

And I can tell you, even though they may have voted for it in this place, members on the other side of the house say something completely different to their communities when they go back into their areas. I am disappointed that the member for Hastings is not in the chamber, because he is one of those members that voted for this big new tax on Victorians, that voted for members of the Victorian community in the seat of Hastings to pay a tax that they cannot afford. I refer to – and I am happy to make this available to the house – a comment from Paul Mercurio MP on Facebook a few days ago in relation to the emergency services tax. There was a member of the public that raised that the member for Hastings would have known about this tax for months and there was no word from him. And his contribution says:

I knew nothing about the bill until … a week or so before it came to parliament. The labor party votes as a block – to vote against a bill that the party put forward pretty much gets you kicked out of the party and you would end up as an independent. That would be a completely useless and ineffective place to be.

Now, is the member for Hastings saying that he is ineffective if he votes in the best interests of his community? Or is he saying that he is an ineffective member of Parliament because he cannot vote the way he wants? Or is he saying that if he were to vote the way he wants –

Sonya Kilkenny: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, I appreciate this is a wideranging debate, but I would ask you to ask the member to come back to the bills before the house.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Kim O’Keeffe): Look, I do think the member was being relevant to the bills, and they are far-reaching. I do not think he was straying far away in his conversation.

Sam GROTH: I would say it is completely relevant to the bill when the emergency services tax forms a line in the bill and in the budget papers. The fact that the member for Hastings wants to say that he knew nothing about the bill until a week or so before it came into Parliament shows he does not pay much attention in this place, because this tax was announced back in December of last year. For the member to say he did not know the bill was coming, either he was not paying attention to the work of his own government –

Sonya Kilkenny: On a point of order – and I refer also to my previous point of order, Acting Speaker – the member has now strayed significantly from the bill, and I ask you to ask the member to come back to the bill before the house.

Sam GROTH: On the point of order, Acting Speaker, you have already ruled on this point of order once. It is directly related to the budget papers, where there is a line item for the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Kim O’Keeffe): I will ask the member to come back a little bit closer to the bill, please.

Sam GROTH: The member for Hastings, I encourage you to represent the best interests of your community when it comes to tax in this place and how you vote. Now, I will speak about –

Mathew Hilakari: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, representations in this house are not an opportunity to attack members.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Kim O’Keeffe): I will ask the member to continue.

Sam GROTH: I am sure the member for Point Cook has strongly advocated for his community when it comes to the emergency services tax, just like other members who sit in peri-urban semi-regional seats have done.

Mathew Hilakari: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, certainly I have advocated for it, because there is a brand new SES station.

Members interjecting.

Mathew Hilakari: Relevance.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Kim O’Keeffe): There is no point of order.

Sam GROTH: As the member for Brighton raised, we will be scrapping five taxes. The emergency services tax will be number two behind raising the stamp duty exemption for first home buyers under this government to under $1 million. We also have committed to scrapping the schools tax on payroll for private and religious schools. We have also committed to scrapping the health tax that this government wanted to impose so that patients can have better access and equitable access to health care. Something that is very, very close to my community – we have a lot of holiday homes, but people need to use those to visit – is the holiday and tourism tax. When we committed to scrapping that last year that was actually the 55th tax at the time proposed by this government, and now, as we stand here today, there are well over 60 taxes, new or increased, that this government has committed to. It is absolutely disgraceful, the way this government continues to tax Victorians.

The emergency services tax that we committed to scrapping last week will hit every single resident in Nepean, hit every single business owner, hit every single commercial property and hit every single farmer in my electorate. A recent report by the Mornington Peninsula shire said owners of a commercial property will see an increase of nearly $1000. An owner of a primary production property in my electorate will have an increase of nearly $2500. A residential owner will be paying $350. It is not just a tax on farmers, who we have seen protesting out here on the steps of Parliament – and I did not see any members of the government out there speaking and advocating to people in public, like they continue to say that they do on social media behind a wall. They sit in this place, they vote and they say they that they cannot vote against a tax, but they tell their community one thing and they do another when they come in here. This is not just a tax on farmers, it is a tax on every single Victorian.

This government delivered a budget that I do not think Victorians should have any trust in whatsoever. They delivered a budget that says they are going to have a $600 million surplus. This government have delivered 10 budgets prior to this one, and not one of them has been accurate when it comes to their forecasts. On average – and we heard the Shadow Treasurer say this today – the forecast and the actuals from this government’s budgets have been out by $14 billion per year. Only last year in the budget update they said they were going to have a surplus of over $1.5 billion. All of a sudden, when they deliver their actual budget, it is $600 million. You cannot trust a word that comes out of this government’s mouth when it comes to how they are going to deliver a budget.

Victorians also need to realise that their pet project, the Suburban Rail Loop, which is going to cost upwards of $200 billion, still remains a TBC line item in this government’s budget. They do not have the funding needed from the federal government to match what they say they need, and it continues to be a drain on every Victorian.

The only reason this government have moved the emergency services out of consolidated revenue and put on a big new tax on Victorians is because they want to be able to throw all of that extra money down a hole that goes from Cheltenham to Box Hill. We have seen huge blowouts when it comes to public sector wages and we have seen huge blowouts when it comes to major projects, and it is Victorians that will continue to pay the price.

Disappointingly, when I talk about local projects in this year’s budget – this government claim they are focused on doing what matters most. Well, for people in Nepean, it would seem that they do not matter, because this government went and spruiked regional health care; back in 2022 the then health minister said that Rosebud Hospital was a priority. This is a hospital that needs serious investment, and once again it is missing from the budget papers. If you ask anybody on the Mornington Peninsula what the one project is that they need covered, it is Rosebud Hospital. The member for Mornington, I am sure I can say, agrees. The member for Hastings – maybe not in this place, because he does one thing in this place and one thing outside, but it is important to his electorate as well. It is the health care that covers the peninsula. Yes, there is investment going in Frankston, I will admit. The member for Frankston sits over there. A great investment is going into Frankston that is much needed for that growing community. But it is too far for people on the peninsula to have to go to Frankston for the health care they need. I have one of the oldest demographics in the state living in my electorate. For people in Rye, in Sorrento, in Flinders, in Red Hill in non-peak time to get to the hospital in Frankston it is a minimum of 45 minutes, and for some people that is life and death – they cannot afford it, for their health, to have to travel – and I am sure many people in this house have been down to my electorate during the busy months when you cannot get four blocks in 45 minutes, let alone to Frankston. There is no way that Rosebud Hospital should continue to miss out. It needs serious investment.

I am glad that there was funding to progress Eastbourne Primary School, but I note again that Tootgarook Primary School in my electorate remains the only school without an undercover play area. Leigh McQuillen, the principal there, is doing an incredible job. He has grown the number in his school by 50 this year. He is building it up from a low base. He has got over 200 enrolments there, and he continues to strongly advocate. He has changed the school logo, he has changed the uniform and he has given everything a fresh lick of paint. But they desperately need a new basketball court cover – it is old asphalt, it is cracked and it is not meeting the needs of that school – so I continue to ask the government to try to provide that investment.

I do note that the Leader of the Nationals brought up road maintenance, which in my electorate continues to be heavily neglected. Some of the numbers that the member for Gippsland South raised in terms of a line here in the road asset management part of the budget that says ‘road area major patched’ – roads in outer metropolitan Melbourne.

Danny O’Brien interjected.

Sam GROTH: We can have an argument, member for Gippsland South, about where the people of Nepean lie, but I will class myself as outer metropolitan for the moment. It was due in 2024–25 to have 131,000 square metres of major patching works done, and the government delivered 25,000 square metres, so less than a fifth of the outcome was delivered. But you would think if they did not deliver it this year, they would deliver it next year. Well, they delivered 25,000 last year, and this year they have budgeted for 14,000 square metres. For the people of Nepean who continue to dodge potholes on Boneo Road, on Point Nepean Road, on Frankston-Flinders Road: I am sorry, but this government do not think you matter and they are not focused on you. You will be dodging potholes for a long time to come, because this Labor government under Jacinta Allan has no idea when it comes to the needs of the people in Nepean. It has no idea when it comes to the needs of –

Michaela Settle: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, please use correct titles in the house.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Kim O’Keeffe): Can the member for Nepean please use correct titles.

Sam GROTH: This government has no idea when it comes to what matters to the people of Nepean. They will continue to tax you. They will continue to rip money from your pockets. They will continue to charge the volunteers, the farmers, the residents, the business owners of my electorate. They will continue to send you to Frankston to get your health care. They will continue to neglect your education. They will continue to neglect the needs of every single constituent in my electorate.

Sonya KILKENNY (Carrum – Attorney-General, Minister for Planning) (15:15): I am very honoured to rise to contribute to the debate on the appropriation bills that are before the house today. I am honoured to do so because I think nothing distinguishes the Allan Labor government more from those opposite than what is in this budget. It is about choices. It is about what we invest in, where we invest and who we support.

We heard today about the opposition’s plans for tax cuts, and whilst those might sound appealing – certainly appealing in headlines – I think it really fails the test of leadership. These are short-term sugar hits, if you like. There is nothing visionary in what the opposition has put forward. It certainly will not set up Victoria for future prosperity. At a time when leadership and vision are what is needed – it is what community is demanding – those opposite are choosing headlines over honesty. When vision is needed, they choose populism over progress. It is everything that we have seen before. I really say Victorians deserve an awful lot better than that, and certainly a lot better than resurrecting old slogans and old policies from a bygone era.

Cutting taxes without a clear, credible plan to invest in housing, infrastructure, health, education and jobs is not reform, it is absolute retreat. Visionary governments invest in the future. They build homes so young people can afford to stay in their communities, so young people can afford their first home. They fund hospitals and schools so every Victorian has access to care and opportunity. They back public transport, including with opening the Metro Tunnel later this year and offering free public transport for every single child every single day of the year and free public transport for seniors on weekends. We back clean energy to drive productivity and tackle climate change, including bringing back the SEC. As we heard earlier today, the SEC from 1 July will be powering all of our government buildings with 100 per cent renewable energy. These are the kinds of investments that set Victoria up for long-term success, not the tax cuts that have been put forward by those opposite, which do not benefit Victorians and in fact probably benefit the few and not the many. We know that prosperity comes from building, not from cutting, and Victoria certainly deserves a lot more than short-sighted politics when what we need is real lasting progress.

This budget is really a defining budget for Victoria and Victoria’s future. It is a budget that is focused on what matters most for Victorians. I want to start with housing because I really feel that the difference could not be starker, and I do so because housing really is one of the most fundamental human needs. It provides safety. It provides stability. It provides belonging, identity and, importantly, a foundation for opportunity. That is why housing is not just a personal issue, it is indeed a public one as well. It affects every corner of our economy and every layer of our society. Ensuring everyone has access to a decent home is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do, because we know when people are securely housed everyone across our state benefits.

I see also today the opposition has made an announcement about stamp duty relief for first home buyers. We are already doing this. We are already providing stamp duty relief to first home buyers. Our stamp duty relief goes even further than that and extends to stamp duty relief for all buyers of off-the-plan developments. I think it is becoming a bit of a pattern from those opposite – I have been seeing this a bit now – that those opposite are copying Labor’s policies, repackaging them and selling them as their own. But I want to thank those opposite for endorsing our policy, particularly around stamp duty.

Let me be clear: if we want more housing, we need bold, decisive action. What we do not need – what Victorians cannot afford – is an opposition that continues to block homes. You do not get more homes by blocking them, trying to block them in the other place –

Michaela Settle: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, the member for Nepean is making interjections not from his seat.

Sam Groth: I am allowed to sit in any seat.

Michaela Settle: You are not allowed to make an interjection not from your own seat. Perhaps if you understood the rules of Parliament, we would all be somewhat better off. But you cannot make interjections from a different seat – no interjections.

Sam Groth interjected.

Michaela Settle: But you are not allowed to make interjections from any seat. Learn the rules of Parliament, mate.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Kim O’Keeffe): Can we please have some quiet in the chamber. I ask the member for Nepean not to interject while not in his seat.

Sonya KILKENNY: As I said, you do not get more homes by blocking them. We have seen time and time again those opposite, whether it is here or in the other place, blocking codes and blocking reforms that we have been putting through to incentivise and support more housing and blocking homes, whether in their own electorate or in other electorates as well.

The facts are simple: Victoria’s population is projected to grow, with Melbourne to grow to the size of London. Yet despite this urgency, all we have seen from those opposite is them playing politics with planning and housing instead of supporting well-designed medium-density developments, reforms to our planning rules, everything to support more housing in established areas and everything to support more housing, particularly for young Victorians. Instead of embracing more housing near trains, near tram stops and in employment hubs, they resist it, and instead of contributing to real solutions, what we see time and time again is the fearmongering, the mischief, the deception, the misinformation and that fear of progress. That is not leadership, that is obstruction. It is also deeply unfair. When we block new housing in inner and middle-ring suburbs – these are areas rich with infrastructure and good access to schools and jobs and services – we are not preserving the so-called character of these neighbourhoods, we are entrenching inequality and locking out of these areas young Victorians in particular, who are not getting the same opportunities that their parents had. What those opposite are saying to young Victorians is ‘These neighbourhoods are off limits to you.’ What those opposite are saying to key workers, teachers, paramedics, hospital workers and police is ‘You can work in our hospitals, you can work in our schools and you can work in our cafes and restaurants; you just cannot live here.’ What those opposite want to do is push more and more people into our outer suburbs. These are communities that have already carried a disproportionate burden of new housing for years and years. It is not fair. So for the opposition to claim that they are all about affordability, what their actions are doing are actually driving up costs, driving up prices and locking out more and more Victorians from getting that home.

At the end of the day, those opposite just do not get it. We have heard already today that it is a question, a basic question, of supply and demand. When you block housing in good locations, what happens? Prices rise. And when there are not enough homes, what happens? You have got more and more people competing for too few homes. When we fail to build more homes in established areas, we are putting, as I said, an unfair burden on our outer-suburban communities, communities who have for too long been carrying that burden. When we see politics get in the way of planning, it is everyday Victorians who carry that and pay the price. Those opposite are reckless when it comes to housing. They are reckless when it comes to planning, and now they have made their position crystal clear. Those opposite are not on the side of young Victorians; those opposite are not on the side of Victorians at all.

What we have put forward – what the Allan Labor government has put forward – is a bold housing plan that matches the scale of the challenge before us. This means unlocking more land in the right places for more housing. It means making it easier, not harder, to build townhouses, to build multiunit developments and to build duplexes near public transport, near jobs, near services and near schools. It means supporting social and affordable housing projects and embracing innovative models like build-to-rent, modern methods of construction, co-housing and land consolidation. It means cutting red tape, speeding up approvals and confronting what are outdated zoning rules across our local government areas that are really keeping our city locked in the past. But more than that, it does require political courage, because we know that the alternative is clear: if we do not build the homes Victoria needs, housing will become more out of reach. More families will be forced into long commutes, insecure rentals or unaffordable mortgages, and more people will give up on the dream of owning a home.

I say to those opposite that it is really a moment for vision, not vetoing the changes that we want to make – changes that are going to have a positive impact on so many Victorians. The time is now for bold plans, not blocking housing in your own electorates and not saying to young Victorians, ‘You’re not entitled to live here. You can go and live further out on the fringes, not close to your family and friends.’ We need more homes, not more politics, so we want to get on and build them. I say to those opposite: support these reforms, stop blocking the homes and get out of the way of young Victorians in particular, who rightly deserve and need a home.

The budget will deliver 50 train and tram zone activity centres across Melbourne’s inner and middle suburbs. This will transform the way that we can plan for and build more homes – 300,000 new homes in these terrific locations, as I have said, that are well-serviced with public transport, jobs, services and schools. This budget also invests in providing that housing choice. It also invests in the houses and the backyards in our growing suburbs by kickstarting planning work for additional precinct structure plans at Clyde South and Derrimut Fields in the west, also contributing to more employment and more jobs.

Victoria is leading the nation in tackling Australia’s housing crisis, and this is despite the attempts of those opposite, who continue to block new homes all across our city and state. The Allan Labor government has taken bold, decisive action to boost housing supply, and I have got to say the results do speak for themselves. We have heard over the past year Victoria has been leading the nation in the number of new home approvals and home builds, and for first home buyers we are also leading the nation. But we have more work to do, and I ask those on the opposite benches to join with us and to support us in delivering all of these new homes, particularly for young Victorians who need them.

Victoria’s housing strategy focuses on delivering more homes in those really well located areas, and this means everyone sharing the spaces that they love. This means ensuring that opportunities are there for young Victorians to choose where they live, whether that is near where they grew up, where their families are or where their friends might be. So while others talk, we will get on and build the homes. It is with this vision, investment and determination that we can get on and deliver the homes that Victorians need, and this budget goes to that with funding, as I said, for the train and tram zones – 50 of them – that are going to deliver 300,000 homes.

This is a budget for Victorians. It is about being on the side of Victorians and understanding what is important for Victorians. That is not blocking homes; that is working with Victorians, supporting home ownership and supporting them to find a home in the place they want to live.

Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (15:30): The budget handed down by this tired Labor government puts beyond doubt what Victorians already knew: Labor cannot be trusted with Victorians’ money. Budget after budget after budget this Labor government shows that they cannot manage money wisely or well, and Victorians are paying the price. For more than 10 years we have seen this tired Labor government wreak economic ruin on Victoria’s finances. Under Labor, Victoria has the highest debt in the country and Victorians are the highest taxed in the country. They have delivered deficit after deficit after deficit and cost blowout after cost blowout on government infrastructure projects. Labor has not only run out of money, but it has run out of ideas. And now because it has run out of money, it is coming again after the money of hardworking Victorian families. The government has simply lied that this budget is responsible and has no new taxes. Just look at the line item in the budget in black and white – the emergency services tax that will cost Victorians an extra $3 billion in tax. It is included as a new tax in the budget papers. No wonder Labor did a dirty backroom deal with the Greens and with the independents in this Parliament just two weeks ago at 3 am to push through this massive new tax. Victorians are expected to have to fork out nearly $42 billion in taxes this financial year – that equates to around $5,937 per person in tax. That has some impact on the cost of living.

It is clear Labor has not only become financially bankrupt, but it has become morally bankrupt as well. When we hear the speeches from the Labor MPs on the other side – as we have already and we will going forward – we will hear from them about how proud they are of this budget. But let me assure you, there is absolutely nothing to be proud of in this budget. This is a budget that sees debt soar to record levels of $190 billion, more new taxes, cuts to services and cuts to jobs. It is a budget that will do absolutely nothing to stop Victoria’s economic decline and will only make the cost of living harder for everyday Victorians. What we want to see more of is incentivising Victoria and growing Victoria, but all we see under this Labor government is more debt and more taxes, and Victorians are paying the price.

When the Treasurer gave her budget speech here in the Assembly she remarked that Victorians had been hit hard by the cost of living. But what the Treasurer sneakily omitted from her speech is that it is her Labor government that is the primary cause of the cost-of-living crisis that is impacting Victorians and that Victorians are suffering from now. It is those massive new taxes that are impacting their cost of living. It is Labor’s policies and their financial mismanagement that are not only making the cost of living harder for Victorians, they are penalising Victorians for the litany of mistakes and financial incompetence under this Labor government.

The Treasurer here in the Assembly delivering her budget speech – and in fact in the lead-up to the budget as well – had the temerity to tell Victorians that there was nothing in the budget that changed the tax settings. That statement could not be further from the truth; it is totally misleading Victorians. The Treasurer’s own budget indicates new taxes – a new emergency services tax and increases in the congestion levy. There are new taxes in this budget. Not only does it include new taxes, it increases a number of other taxes. How can the Victorian public have any trust in a Treasurer or any trust in this Labor government when they say one thing and then deliver something completely different in the black and white of their own budget papers?

For years this government has delivered nothing but deficits, and now they absolutely have a trust deficit. There is no amount of political stunts that can recover that trust. The thousands of farmers, volunteer firefighters, career firefighters and small business owners that protested on the steps of Parliament on budget day – they were protesting Labor’s budget, protesting the deceitful new emergency services tax, which is not quarantined for SES and CFA volunteers or for frontline emergency services workers but instead will fund back-office public sector agencies in the inner city due to prior budget cuts to Triple Zero.

It is plugging those holes in the budget. With the thousands of people who came to the steps of Parliament last week, the Labor government know that they have lost the trust of Victorians. The Victorian Liberals and Nationals have listened.

The Victorian Liberals and Nationals in government will scrap the emergency services tax, and we will give that $3 billion back to Victorians. We value and respect the volunteer emergency services of the SES and the CFA – and I give a shout-out to the Lilydale SES and all of the CFA brigades right through the Evelyn electorate, who do tremendous work going to the danger, protecting our communities 365 days of the year – and we will work hard to ensure that they are properly funded for their capital and for their operations and that they are not tricked by this Labor government and mixed up in a new tax that funds back-office public sector agencies and drives farmers and small businesses out of business.

Only six months ago, in December 2024, the budget update was projecting an operating surplus of $1.6 billion in the 2025–26 financial year. Now the Treasurer tells us that it will only be $600 million, so in the space of six months this government has managed to lose a billion dollars. Is it any wonder that no-one trusts this Labor government anymore, because if Labor can lose a billion dollars in six months, how on earth can this government ever deliver a surplus? There is absolutely no trust in that figure or any trust that they will be able to pay down the debt.

Last year Labor forecast it would deliver a $2.2 billion deficit for the 2024–25 financial year, yet now in these budget papers it is revealed the operating deficit will be $3.4 billion. That is a blowout of $1.2 billion – no wonder the Big Build is totally financially out of control and billions and billions and billions over budget, let alone years behind schedule. After delivering a budget deficit $1.2 billion worse than they forecast, Labor now want Victorians to believe that they can deliver a surplus. Who are they kidding? Certainly not the Victorians who are really turning off this Labor government. Just look at the massive swings in the Bendigo electorate recently, the Premier’s own electorate. They have not delivered a surplus for six years.

You do not have to take my word on how morally bankrupt and fiscally irresponsible this Labor government have become and how worthless their budget papers really are, because the Auditor-General, in his recent report on major projects performance reporting, made specific findings about how unreliable the budget papers have become in assessing government expenditure and performance. Referring to budget paper 4, the state capital program, the Auditor-General said:

BP4 footnotes do not always accurately and transparently report underlying factors that impact a major project’s performance.

And he said that this budget paper:

… is not useful or reliable for assessing major project performance.

This is a damning indictment on the quality and reliability of this Labor government’s budget papers. The fact that the Auditor-General himself, a most trusted person in our state to monitor government expenditure, has found that he cannot even rely on the Labor government’s budget papers is an absolute disgrace, and it is an indictment on their economic credibility.

In recent days we have also heard the Premier talking about this budget, but when asked about debt levels the Premier’s retort, as usual, was that the Labor government has a fiscal strategy on paper and that is how the government is dealing with it. But members may recall that this so-called fiscal strategy was something that the former Treasurer Tim Pallas dreamt up about two years ago because he was forced to do so – forced to publicise a fiscal strategy – after the credit ratings agencies told him that Victoria’s credit rating would be cut. It is now the lowest in the country. What good is a fiscal strategy when you cannot even follow it?

The first step in Labor’s fiscal strategy was to reduce unemployment. But in the budget papers unemployment is forecast to increase to 4.75 per cent, an increase of 0.5 per cent. And it is above the national average and has been above the national average for 14 months straight now. That means more Victorians are going to be out of work next year under this Labor government.

The second step was to return the budget to an operating cash surplus. Now, whilst back in March the Department of Treasury and Finance were predicting a $1.8 billion cash deficit, that figure has miraculously turned around to be a $620 million cash surplus. Such a massive turnaround deserves closer interrogation. It is not because this Labor government has suddenly adopted some sort of fiscally responsible measures and put in place structural reforms. We can see that in black and white in the budget papers. The turnaround is a result of deception. Not only did the Labor government receive a GST windfall, many property owners received their land tax bills earlier this year; they received their land tax bills twice in the one year. So instead of being required to pay their land tax in August like every other year, they were forced to pay it the week before the budget. When you think it could not get any worse in terms of transparency and integrity, this government has stooped to a new low. The clearest example of how Labor penalises and cheats Victorians is the doctoring of numbers in their budget in this way. The budget papers at least do not seek to hide this con job, stating in the budget papers that the change in position reflects ‘the timing of various receipts such as land tax’.

This government is absolutely outrageous. Making Victorians pay their land tax twice in one financial year just to make the bottom line creep up that little bit back into the black is an absolute disgrace. How can this Labor government say it is helping Victorians with the cost of living when all it is doing is asking them to pay their tax more and sooner, when it is forcing Victorian families to pay land tax twice in 12 months? It just goes to show that this is not a government that cares about Victorians in a cost-of-living crisis. It instead would rather hurt Victorians in order to prop up this dismal budget.

Now, the third step in Labor’s plan was to return to operating surpluses. This is another spectacular fail from this tired Labor government. The government has not recorded an operating surplus since 2019. Again we talk about trust. They have repeatedly demonstrated that they are incapable of making financially responsible decisions, making the hard decisions and introducing structural reforms to this budget to curb spending and to tackle waste.

The fourth step of Labor’s fiscal strategy – so-called – was to stabilise debt. Now, the government said it was going to do this by introducing a COVID debt levy. The former Treasurer said that this was necessary because, according to him, some did better out of the pandemic than others. I have never met anyone who has done better out of the pandemic, and they still have to pay this COVID debt levy until 2033. It is just a disgrace.

But guess what, the title of this budget is ‘Focused on what matters most’. Given there is next to zero funding in the Evelyn electorate, that does send a loud message that our community in the Evelyn electorate does not matter to this Labor government. There is only a small amount of money for new toilets at Mooroolbark East Primary and Montrose Primary schools – something that they absolutely need and deserve and are just the basics. But there is absolutely no funding to upgrade dangerous and congested roads throughout the Evelyn electorate – nothing for Warburton Highway in Seville East, nothing for the bottleneck at Hull Road and Mooroolbark Road in Mooroolbark and again no commitment to delivering the Maroondah Highway at Killara Road, Coldstream, upgrade despite having Commonwealth funding for six years now – no commitment to that project in this budget again. And mystery still surrounds the Maroondah Hospital or Queen Elizabeth II hospital upgrade because that has been promised by the Labor government since 2018 and it has remained stuck in the planning process now for four years. I will continue to fight for funding for vital road safety upgrades, for upgrades to our local schools and for better access to health care. I mean, this government’s debt is soaring to $194 billion and $29 million a day in interest just to pay down that debt. Just think what we could achieve with $29 million a day. In the Evelyn electorate we would fix those roads, we would get more police and more nurses and the Lilydale youth mental health hub would be funded. But unfortunately $29 million a day is going to pay down interest on this whopping debt under the Labor government. This is a shameful budget, and Victorians are paying the price.

Paul EDBROOKE (Frankston) (15:45): Last week this government handed down a budget for all Victorians. It delivers for Victorians. It delivers funding for health, for education, for housing, for infrastructure. It is a budget that makes responsible decisions. It protects jobs and it invests in our future, because we are on the side of Victorians. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, I just want to extend a huge thankyou to the Treasurer and the Treasury team.

I could not help but notice that the member for Evelyn was by herself in this chamber talking then. You have got my respect. I would sit down and listen to you anytime, member for Evelyn. You do a great job. I was a bit sad to see that there was no-one here to hear you speak, but I hope there is for me. I hope they come in and they are entertained.

What did we see from the opposition this morning? Well, it was a budget reply that ran out of puff before the second paragraph. Even the slogan ‘Go for growth’ – not ‘Go for Groth’ – was ripped off from John Howard’s 2007 campaign slogan, I believe. I am not sure it went that well, that campaign. I think that the budget reply was less a plan and more a cry for help in dot point form, actually. I do know that the Shadow Treasurer showed us that if outrage were a revenue stream the Liberals would definitely be running a surplus right now.

Let us have a quick analysis of the Shadow Treasurer’s comments, and then we might go to something that makes a little more sense. Let us start with the stamp duty announcement. First of all, that is a Labor policy. But with that announcement my questions are these: how many homes will this create? Zero. How many more homes are they planning to build over there? Zero. So how does this help people get homes, to live in homes, when homes are not being built? Because we know the issue is supply and demand; it is a supply-and-demand issue.

The other question I have got is: why are they talking Victoria down? I do take umbrage with some of the Shadow Treasurer’s stats. There is no doubt that Victoria’s economy is growing, and the labour market remains healthy at this stage. Unemployment is at 4.4 per cent, below the long-term prepandemic average. I believe when we came into office in 2014 we inherited the highest unemployment in mainland Australia under that mob. The real gross state product is 14 per cent larger than pre pandemic, or 4.7 per cent larger in per capita terms.

We heard the Shadow Treasurer talking about business investment. Well, look, I am aspirational – I think we could always do better – but just for him I will say that Victoria has outpaced national business investment over the last four years. Victoria’s growth was 3.7 per cent versus a national decline of 1.3 per cent. That is a stark difference. Victoria’s national business investment is much larger than the nation’s as an average. Since the peak impacts of COVID in September 2020, Victorian business investment has actually risen 46 per cent, and we can compare that to 28 per cent nationally. As I said, I am aspirational, though; I know we can work harder and we can increase that number. But the one thing I do know, as well as that, is you do not do that by talking Victoria down. You do not do that by talking this place down.

I was talking to one of my colleagues before, and we did have a chuckle. We think that the cow was the most productive member of the opposition last week. It did not say a word and it did not leak to the papers, but it still made a bigger impact. It made a bigger impact than what people are talking about today. Judging by that contribution from the Shadow Treasurer and the exploration of faeces from members opposite, the shadow cabinet do not need a budget reply, they actually need a group therapist and a calculator, because that should not happen in a workplace – it just should not happen in a workplace.

Seriously, though, I take issue with some of the comments from the Shadow Treasurer, and I am not sure how members opposite can actually stand in this chamber with a straight face and lecture people on this side of the chamber about leadership, about economic credibility, about integrity and about caring for Victorians. I am about to talk about something that I find deplorable and actually quite upsetting, because it involves a very, very decent member of Parliament, somebody from the opposite side, who I rarely ever agree with.

I will rarely ever agree with the member for Hawthorn, but I reckon he might be the hardest working opposition member there. I do not think members on that side of the chamber can talk about their economic credibility and leadership when their own party is forcing one of its own members into bankruptcy.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, I think what the member on his feet is speaking about is totally irrelevant to the appropriation bill. It has got nothing to do with the budget, and I would ask you to ask him to come back to the budget.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Kim O’Keeffe): Please come back to the bill, member for Frankston.

Paul EDBROOKE: No worries. I take it as spoken that the member for Evelyn is supportive of what is happening over there. I take umbrage with that. Forcing a member of Parliament to crowdfund while you are here talking about economic –

The ACTING SPEAKER (Kim O’Keeffe): Member for Frankston, you need to listen to my ruling. Could you please come back to the bill.

Paul EDBROOKE: I am absolutely saddened by what is going on over there, and it is a joke to hear people on that side talking about fiscal responsibility. The bill is about fiscal responsibility. The bill is about integrity.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, the member for Frankston has defied your ruling not once but twice now. I think that is totally disrespectful and a poor reflection on the Chair, and I would ask you to ask the member to come back to the appropriation bill.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Kim O’Keeffe): Please come back to the bill, member for Frankston.

Paul EDBROOKE: Thank you. I think that is a lack of leadership. How can Victorians trust anyone that will not stick up for the person sitting beside them in this chamber? In contrast, this budget puts Victorians first and the numbers show it. Let me educate you on some of the numbers: $2.3 billion invested in cost-of-living help – the biggest investment of its kind in Victoria’s history; 15 new schools being built and hundreds more upgraded, because every Victorian child deserves a great education close to home, not a lesson in austerity economics; and billions in major projects, because we are building a state for the next generation while the opposition can not even really build a coherent sentence on transport policy.

Every Victorian also deserves to know that they or someone else they love can rely on quality health care. That is why $9.3 billion has been invested in hospital care, including the opening and operationalising of nine new or expanded hospitals, including the hospital in Footscray, the redeveloped Frankston Hospital and Maryborough and district hospital, and it is why this budget includes an extra $11.1 billion for health. This year alone we are providing over $31 billion to our health system – the biggest investment in frontline care ever. This investment will cover the globally increased costs of providing care while making sure Victoria’s hospitals have everything that they need to look after patients and their families. A further $230 million will make our hospital emergency departments even better equipped and reduce ambulance waiting times, helping Victorians get the care they need when they need it. We are continuing our investments in our incredible healthcare workforce with $203 million to make sure staff have the right skills and also $497 million to support Victoria’s mental heath and wellbeing system.

Locally in Frankston it was an absolute pleasure to speak to the Kananook Primary School principal – to give him a phone call and let him know that that school has been funded $521,000 to rebuild part of the school. I also spoke to the Mount Erin Secondary College principal and let her know that $5 million has been funded for that school. Finally they got their master plan done, and it is about time to get on with that. Frankston Hospital received funding to make sure that we can open that hospital up. I know the member for Hastings was talking about it just before, but he was very, very, excited – I would even say pumped – about the new route 886, the cross-peninsula bus service from Hastings to Mornington. It is a good one; get on it. We have also got the Get Active Kids vouchers in my electorate, which will be very, very popular, as will the $18 million community pharmacy expansion as well. That will enable pharmacists to treat more Victorians with more conditions, saving families the money and time of a GP visit.

We have also seen some of our members talk about strengthening food security with investment in that and social inclusion action groups down on the peninsula and the Nepean Highway and Overton Road partnership with the federal government. And the big one in Frankston I reckon was the free PT for young people – a $320 million initiative to delivery free public transport for under-18s and free state-wide public transport for seniors on the weekend so they can go see the grandkids. We have also got $50 million to deliver a new $100 power saving bonus for Victorians who need it most. I did hear someone recently talking down the value of $100 in the power saving bonus. To those people I say: you obviously do not know the value of $100 if you are talking that down.

This budget is one that is honest, disciplined and progressive and yet makes tough decisions – it does. But those decisions are driven by our everyday values. I think it is because we, unlike the opposition, do not flinch when it is time to govern. We do not vanish when things get hard. What we have seen in the past couple of months, in the lead-up to this policy that was announced today, is that the shadow cabinet is not actually a team. It is more a support group for failed leaders and people who peaked in student politics. They talk a big game, but they do not offer any plan. They do not have any numbers. They will not tell us what the debt cap is. There are no policies, just reheated press releases. With that debt cap, I would love to know what the number is, because from that we could extrapolate out and figure out how many job losses come with that debt cap, how many people lose their jobs, how many people cannot put food on the table.

Here is the truth: the opposition cannot manage their party room, let alone the state’s economy. You cannot claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility while crowdfunding your former leader’s legal fees. I will say it again: it is an absolute shame for anyone in this house to have to go through that, to have their life potentially destroyed. We have people in the opposition talking about what they will do for housing with stamp duty. What about the member for Hawthorn’s house? You are sitting next to someone who looks like he is about to lose his house. I would be very, very uncomfortable with that, and it shows you are very uncomfortable with it.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, the member for Frankston is yet again defying your ruling, talking about something that is totally unrelated. I would love to know the budget paper reference that he is referring to in his speech, because it is totally unrelated to the appropriation bills, totally unrelated to the budget papers. He is defying your ruling. It is a poor reflection on the Chair. I would ask you to ask him to come back to the appropriation bills.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Kim O’Keeffe): Could you please come back to the bills, member for Frankston.

Paul EDBROOKE: I would be ashamed too. Getting back to the Shadow Treasurer, he has had some pretty poor question time performances when it comes to numbers. I think he wants to see himself as a bit of a fiscal falcon. I would like to think of him more as an economic echidna: he is a little bit spiky, he is a bit slow and he belongs nowhere near budget papers. What it comes down to is, I think: just because you do not educate yourself to be able to read budget papers, just because you do not take that time, does not mean those budget papers are wrong. There is an Auditor-General that looks through those papers and signs them off. Just because you cannot read them does not mean the Auditor-General is wrong. It means you are wrong.

When it comes down to it, to wrap up, Acting Speaker – I know you have enjoyed this one – we are building hospitals; across the way they are building conspiracy theories. We are building schools while they are playing like kids in Parliament with animal dung. They are worried about headlines; we are worried about homes, health and hardworking Victorians. Let them rant and rave. We will continue to roll up our sleeves at every opportunity, because this is a Labor government that governs with purpose, and we are building a better Victoria and we are not backing down. Last week they delivered a box of cow dung. We delivered a budget. I will let Victorians decide who turned up to do the actual work.

Emma KEALY (Lowan) (15:58): In my limited time before the break I would like to reflect upon what has been contributed to this Parliament and what was handed down by the Victorian Treasurer. Let us remember this is a Treasurer who stepped into the role saying she would stand up for regional Victoria because she is a regional Victorian. It is a Premier who stood up and said, ‘I’m going to deliver for regional Victoria because I’m a regional Victorian.’ We have got a budget that is focused on what matters most, and the biggest line item in here is the $3 billion additional tax bill from the Labor government on every single Victorian. The emergency services tax is ripping money out of every community around Victoria. It will double the tax for all householders and renters, it will double the tax for all businesses and it will triple the tax for farmers. The Nationals have committed to scrapping the tax. That is what we are focused on, and that is exactly what the Labor government is not, because we know that Labor cannot manage money, and every single time it is Victorians that pay the price.

I think that we are close to our time with that, dear Speaker. We have got 5 seconds to go. I will say it again: Labor cannot manage money and they cannot manage projects, and it is Victorians that pay the price. The Nationals will scrap the tax.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.