Thursday, 16 October 2025

 Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (17:33): (1358) My adjournment is to the Treasurer, and the action I seek is for her to urgently review payroll tax, which is hurting small businesses in my electorate of Warrandyte and across our state. Victoria has now recorded the highest unemployment rate in the nation for 18 months, with 188,000 Victorians out of work and underemployment at 6.5 per cent, well above the national average. Behind these numbers are young people ignored after dozens of job applications, parents stuck in gig work for lack of full-time jobs and small business owners watching their livelihoods crushed by taxes and red tape. It includes more than 2000 taxpayer-funded nursing and midwifery graduates, who were promised jobs but now have nowhere to go. They have been told by a broke government that there are no positions they can afford to pay for. At the same time, 4242 ‍Victorian businesses collapsed in a single year, a 48 per cent increase on last year. That is 4242 ‍shopfronts shut, apprentices stood down and communities left with less jobs than before. And is it any wonder? Labor has introduced 63 new or increased taxes, making Victoria the highest taxed state in Australia. From payroll taxes punishing job creation to land tax hikes and the emergency services levy, small businesses are being squeezed to the brink.

Experts now warn of an economic ‘day of reckoning’ for Victoria, and small businesses in Warrandyte and beyond are already living it. Labor’s model is simple: tax more, spend more and rue the consequences. The Liberals and Nationals will lead Victoria differently. We will scrap Labor’s unfair taxes and guarantee no new ones. We will end waste and stop hidden budget blowouts by enforcing budget honesty and real-time transparency. We will grow jobs and investment through a new Victorian Productivity Commission and disciplined project delivery. Victoria does not need more Labor taxes – it needs less tax, more jobs and real opportunity. That is the choice ahead.