Tuesday, 5 May 2026

 Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (19:10): (1643) My adjournment is for the Treasurer, and the action I seek is that the Treasurer publish a clear and transparent plan to urgently reduce Victoria’s debt. There are some numbers that are so large it is hard for an average person to wrap their mind around. Victoria’s nearly $200 billion of debt is just one of those numbers. Let us put it in perspective. Just how big is the bill that future generations will have to pay back? Victoria’s entire police budget for a year is about $4.7 billion. The money we owe as debt could pay for that for more than 42 years. It could pay for 2.1 million nurses or 1.7 million teachers. $200 billion is enough to pay off every single HECS debt in Australia three times over and then build three brand new 500-bed hospitals on the side. It is enough to give $80,000 in cash to every single household in Victoria or to pay for every single Victorian’s gas and electricity bill for the next 20 years. Except, since it is debt and not cash to hand out, that means in reality that the Allan Labor government will be putting their hands into the pocket of every single Victorian taxpayer in order to make up for it, not just for the debt but also for the interest bill. In fact just this year’s $8.9 billion bill on interest alone would be enough to cover the cost of the state’s police, ambulance and kindergartens and still have $1 billion to spare. But instead of paying for services, infrastructure or cost-of-living relief, that money is going to international banks and investors who loaned Victoria the cash the Allan Labor government wanted for its fake freebies, pet projects and money for criminals and corruption. This is intergenerational debt on a massive scale. Victorians know it is time to throw Labor out and deliver a fresh start.

Then there is also the story of how the Allan Labor government managed to manufacture a fake budget surplus. Their budget was a disaster and they needed something to sell, so they landed on an operating surplus, the kind that conveniently ignores the billions in debt they have blown for major projects. But even on those generous terms, they were still going to fall short. So who comes to the rescue? A long-term Labor donor. With no public tender, the government quietly sells the Lottery Corporation 40-year exclusive rights to run Victoria’s lotteries, despite usually only granting a 10-year licence. The price was less than other states got for the exact same deal, and it was conveniently enough to push Victoria’s budget into an operating surplus. And anyway, they also donated nearly $180,000 to Labor over the past four years.