Thursday, 4 December 2025

 Jess WILSON (Kew – Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): My question is to the Premier. Net debt increased by $7.2 billion in the five months that the Premier sat on the Silver review. Will the Premier admit debt has increased in this time by more than the government’s response to the Silver review will ever achieve?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:13): As I was saying earlier, we are making the responsible decisions now as part of our strong budget settings – the fiscal plan that is in place and is working – and the recommendations that the government has accepted in response to the Silver review are part of that fiscal strategy, making those responsible decisions so that the public service remains laser focused on delivering those frontline services. We know the Leader of the Opposition is carrying an $11.1 billion black hole over her costings.

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

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

Jacinta ALLAN: As part of this responsible economic and fiscal plan we have in place, we are supporting a growing economy, we are reducing debt as a proportion of the economy and we are also working within an operating surplus. But also we understand that to continue to deliver frontline services, to build for the future and to help families right now with real cost-of-living support, you need to continue to have that laser focus on what matters most to working people and Victorians. We will not cut into those frontline services – the additional teachers, nurses and police that are employed today – because we have made the responsible decisions to manage the budget, a fiscal strategy that is working, evidence of which is that we are the only jurisdiction, the only government on the eastern seaboard, federal or state, to have an operating surplus in place. I appreciate this is an inconvenient truth for the Leader of the Opposition. I know the member for Berwick would have understood this: that when you have an operating surplus, you can provide real cost-of-living support –

Brad Battin interjected.

Jacinta ALLAN: Maybe he does not. I was giving you some additional credit because you did not ask these questions, member for Berwick. You can provide support, like we did in this year’s budget. Having an operating surplus means you can invest for the future in productive infrastructure, like we have done with the Metro Tunnel, which opened this week and is delivering those services that people rely on. You can provide real cost-of-living help right now. We can do this because we have made the responsible decisions that have delivered a fiscal strategy that is delivering an operating surplus, and we are going to keep going because it is only Labor that is on the side of working people and families. It is only Labor that stands with frontline services. The Leader of the Opposition has said it is a drop in the ocean, which says she only wants to go deep and hard on Liberal cuts.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is just repeatedly defying your rulings today, and I would ask you to ask –

The SPEAKER: Order! What is your point of order?

James Newbury: Debating the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier has concluded her answer.

 Jess WILSON (Kew – Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): The Silver review states:

The payment of interest on debt … will continue to impact output capacity over the medium term.

How many more Victorians will the Premier need to sack because of her failure to manage money?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:17): I can appreciate why you may be a little confused at this line of questioning from the Leader of the Opposition. Is it a drop in the ocean? Are we supporting frontline services? The Leader of the Opposition seems to be a little confused. In order to deliver those frontline services, in order to make sure we are building for the future, in order to give families real cost-of-living support right now, we have to have our budget and fiscal and economic settings in place to support a growing economy, to support an operating surplus, to create more jobs so we can provide the cost-of-living support that people need now and the productive infrastructure that the community needs for the future. I would have thought that that was pretty simple economics for the Leader of the Opposition, but clearly it is not. We will continue to be laser focused on delivering the frontline services people rely on. The Liberal Party continue to be all about cuts.