Tuesday, 12 May 2026

 Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (18:02): I rise to give the Greens budget reply speech to the 2026–‍27 Victorian budget handed down by the Allan Labor government. This is my 12th year in this Parliament. I entered the Parliament because I deeply cared about the environment, about climate action and about my community, and I could see that Labor and Liberal governments – successive governments, time and time again – made decisions that did not have our community, the environment or the future in mind. Instead, in my previous life working in government myself and in non-government organisations, I saw clear examples of where governments, including Labor governments, prioritised their corporate donors over the community and made decisions that favoured the big corporations, the coal and gas companies, the gambling industry and the big multinational toll road companies, against what was good for the community, the environment and the future. I saw a Labor Party that became so captured by corporate interests that ex-Labor ministers went to work as lobbyists for the coal and gas companies as soon as they left office. I saw a Labor Party so captured by corporate interests that Labor took fossil fuel and gambling and toll road company donations like it was totally normal – it is not normal. And then I saw a Labor Party that was so captured by these corporate interests that they made decisions that then favoured those same corporations to protect those corporations’ profits, even when it came at the expense of the community, the environment or future generations.

Over the last 12 years I thought that things had changed a bit here in Victoria, but with this budget I am dismayed to say that the Labor Party has reverted to type and delivered a budget that continues to give corporations essentially whatever they want, and does very little to actually fix the big systemic issues that everyday Victorians are facing, which is just such a shame. After the many good things that have been done here in Victoria over the last 12 years, Labor has decided to take a step to the political right and deliver a budget that has such little vision, that essentially is designed to just keep things the way they are now, even though we know that the status quo is fundamentally not working for everyday people and is only working for the top end of town.

With the housing crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, climate change and structural tax and inequality issues really affecting people’s lives right now and their vision for what they think they can do in the future, what a shame that Labor has taken the opportunity to do pretty much nothing to fundamentally fix or change any of it.

Where are the days of the big reformist Labor governments who had bold ideas and wanted to make big change? In Victoria those days seem long gone. But let me give you some examples: even though in Victoria we are in a difficult budget position, in this budget Labor has chosen to give $4.4 billion in tax breaks to property developers, land bankers, wealthy investors and owners of multiple homes when we are in the middle of a housing crisis and most young people are crying out for big reform when it comes to housing. This is a Labor budget that chose to cut a dodgy eleventh-hour backroom deal with Labor’s donors at the Lottery Corporation to give them the longest exclusive contract in history and hand over $397 million in tax concessions to pokies operators while Victorians are now losing more than $7 billion a year on gambling. This is a budget that is pouring another $344 million into demolishing Melbourne’s public housing towers, and that is on top of the $2.5 billion that has already been spent demolishing all the high-rise public homes in Victoria to make way for private development on that inner city public land. Labor’s big housing story that they were selling in this budget was 700 social homes a year over 10 years, not even a drop in the ocean compared to the need and something that even Labor’s strongest allies in the housing sector came out and criticised.

It is a Labor budget that leaves countless schools, community health services and community organisations without the funding that they desperately need to provide the things that our community needs, leaving Victorians with the lowest funded schools and the worst paid teachers in the country. Whatever happened to the Education State? All Labor seems to do now is throw a small amount of money to pork-barrel a few schools in Labor marginal seats while doing nothing to bring Victorian schools up to the standard that other states have, with no money to fund a proper pay rise for teachers and school staff. It is actually kind of a joke: we have Labor MPs having to resort to doing covert social media videos out the front, secretly, of primary schools because staff will not even let them onto primary school campuses at the moment to make their funding announcements, because of the dire lack of funding for teachers and schools.

Let us look at some examples of schools that need funding that are not getting it. Kensington Primary School in my electorate received money five years ago for some much-needed school upgrades, but due to cost overruns from the school building authority only half the project was ever finished. Five years later the school is still waiting for that project to be completed, yet they received nothing in this Labor budget. These are basic repairs we are talking about: rotting window frames, wheelchair access so kids with disabilities can access their classrooms, desperately needed insulation, soundproofing and fixing leaks. I guess they have to keep waiting for a government that cares. At Collingwood College, students and teachers have had concrete literally falling through ceilings because of years of water damage and neglect. Students have had their classrooms shut down indefinitely. They got nothing in the budget despite parents and staff begging the government to act before someone is seriously injured. Maybe the fact that these kids come from some of the most vulnerable communities in our city means they are not somehow worthy of good educational facilities. Labor cannot find money to fix these schools for our kids, but they can somehow afford to give $400 million to fund luxury corporate box upgrades at the grand prix, because heaven forbid that Labor upset the ultrawealthy and their corporate mates at the grand prix. I do wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that ex–Labor minister Martin Pakula is now the chair of the grand prix corporation.

Budgets are about choices, and it seems pretty clear what choice Labor has made here: keep things the same, do not make any changes, keep the corporations happy and hope the community will just throw up their hands and not ask for more, because the Liberal government alternative will be even worse.

That is what Labor is banking on. This is the reality under Labor. Here in Victoria everyday people are struggling with the cost of living: their rent, their mortgages, their groceries, their bills and their healthcare costs are going up, while there are corporations operating here in Victoria that are making obscene record profits. The big four banks made almost $30 billion in profit last financial year alone, and earlier this month they once again recorded billions in profits just for the last six months. Fossil fuel corporations are making billions exporting Australia’s gas while ordinary people struggle to pay their power bills and are left with the clean-up costs of climate change, which the gas companies burning their product actually causes. Woodside alone recorded billions in profit last year while energy prices continue to rise and communities are left to deal with skyrocketing insurance premiums and the worsening climate crisis – fires, floods, extreme weather. We will see tonight in Labor’s federal budget that Labor will decide not to tax these gas exports because the gas lobby has its hooks so far into the Labor government. When wealth and profits are flowing upwards to the big banks, the gambling corporations and the fossil fuel companies while everyday people are struggling to afford the basics, something is very, very wrong. The system is rigged, and Labor seems completely disinterested in fundamentally fixing it.

While Labor are putting the big corporations first, they are putting people and the planet last. This is a Labor budget that cuts funding for our renewable energy agency, Solar Victoria, by 20 per cent or $30 million a year. There are cuts to Parks Victoria and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and the environment. There is no new funding to deliver the central-west national parks. I guess the environment just misses out again every single time. Days later, days after making these cuts, the Labor government under Premier Jacinta Allan makes a $500 million –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Paul Mercurio): Can you please use the correct titles.

Ellen SANDELL: It seems like the members opposite are not actually interested in listening to the content. Maybe it is a bit too uncomfortable for them. Days after making cuts to environmental agencies, Labor under Premier Jacinta Allan have approved a $500 million gas project, the biggest gas project in a decade.

Danny Pearson: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, the member for Melbourne has been here for 12 years. The member should know well enough that you refer to members of this place by their correct titles – that is, the Premier or the Leader of the Opposition or the Minister for Small and Family Business. You do not refer to their first name; you do not refer to their last name. And if you are referring to a member of the other place, you refer to them as Mr or Ms from the other place. It is not that hard. Seriously, you have been here for 12 years. How hard is it?

The ACTING SPEAKER (Paul Mercurio): I would ask the member for Melbourne to please use correct titles.

Ellen SANDELL: As well as all of these cuts to the climate and the environment, the budget abolishes vital climate and environmental bodies altogether – bodies like Sustainability Victoria, the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, the Victorian Marine and Coastal Council, Recycling Victoria and the Mine Land Rehabilitation Authority, and the list goes on. That is even before you get to all the critical environmental work that the government should be doing but simply chooses not to. According to the latest state of the environment report, all of Victoria’s biodiversity indicators right now are poor or declining, and that is damning. Yet there is no new money to fund the Biodiversity 2037 strategy.

I guess we will just get to 2037 and the government will wonder why none of the targets in this strategy were met, why the environment has not improved and why biodiversity indicators continue to go backwards – because this strategy never got any money even when it was first released.

This is a budget that places short-term politics over long-term community safety. The Labor budget finds a record $2 billion annually for prisons to pander to scare campaigns from the right-wing media and the opposition, but at the same time it makes cuts to crime prevention and specialist youth programs as well as mental health and drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs – programs that the actual evidence says are the most effective way to break offending cycles and prevent crime from happening in the first place to keep our communities safe. So is it any surprise then that the budget papers also show that recidivism, reoffending rates, have increased in the past year and that all this new spending on prisons has essentially counted for nothing because it has not made us any safer. Well, I guess if Labor had listened to the experts who told them that, they would have known that was exactly what would happen.

This is a budget that starves our integrity agencies and our anti-corruption agencies of the funding that they need to investigate corruption and hold the government to account. The Ombudsman here in Victoria receives less than half the funding of her New South Wales counterpart, and yet the Labor government has refused to give them and IBAC the funding that they need or to make the funding set independently of cabinet. And I wonder why. It is certainly not because there is less corruption here in Victoria than in other states, that is for sure.

You may hear the line that the Victorian budget is not in a good place right now and that that is why we cannot have funding for our schools or community health or the environment or our multicultural communities or the community services that we all need. The Liberals will tell us we cannot afford any more spending because of Labor’s mismanagement, but then the Labor Treasurer in her speech tried to lower our expectations and say that governments cannot fix everything. Actually, the true story lies in neither of these statements. While the government have made some big investments in things that are important – the Metro Tunnel and the COVID response, for example – they have also given billions to toll road companies for mega toll roads that were not necessary and billions to property developers to demolish public housing while refusing to raise revenue from the corporations that can afford to pay and that are making megaprofits – the big banks and the gambling and fossil fuel industries.

Instead of ensuring that our resources are equitably distributed, governments – Labor and Liberal – over many years have made active decisions that allow wealth to be concentrated at the top end of town, and corporations have somehow been able to convince governments that this is just the natural order of things. It is not. It does not have to be this way. We live in a wealthy country, in a wealthy state. We have the resources we need for everyone to have what they need to live a decent life if those resources were equitably distributed, if we taxed the wealthiest corporations fairly. If for once politicians in this place were not bowing down to corporate interests and their donor mates, we could flip the switch. Instead of giving taxpayer money or special treatment to big developers, to gas companies, to toll road companies and to gambling companies like Labor is doing, we could say, ‘How about these corporations contribute some of their megaprofits to give back to our community?’ After all, it is the community that gives them the licence to make these megaprofits and that allows them to drill our gas, to use our public land, to make money from huge government contracts or to benefit from laws that give them government protection, like the banks do. It is the community that are the workers that allow these megaprofits to be made in the first place. Perhaps in return we could require these corporations to give some of those megaprofits not just to their CEOs, not just to their shareholders, but to fund the things that our community as a collective needs – good schools and good community health facilities, just as an example. All we are asking is that they pay their fair share, and then we would have enough to think beyond this meagre, reactionary, short-term politics and actually have some long-term vision and offer Victorians something different, something hopeful.

The Greens have shown how this can be done here and around the world. If we taxed the big banks, the gambling corporations and the fossil fuel giants, we could raise billions to fund the things that we all need.

We could properly fund our schools and healthcare system and build the public homes that we need. We could make public transport more frequent and permanently free. We could invest in renewable energy much faster, fund home insulation and energy upgrades and bring down people’s power bills permanently. We could make sure that every Victorian has access to the basics of a decent life. It is possible. The problem is not that the government cannot fix these things. The problem is that Labor has been so captured by corporations and ultra-capitalism that they have started believing the lines from those same corporations, that things will fall apart if governments do not keep giving them tax breaks and special treatment, but that is just not true. The truth is that people are fed up. We are seeing it in the collapse of the vote for the old major parties. People are looking for something different from a system that only works for those at the top. People are looking for something bold but also something hopeful.

Instead of the fear and the billionaire greed that One Nation taps into and thrives on, the Greens are here to provide that hope and a real plan for everyday people and for the future – the hope that governments can once again be bold and that they can make decisions that make society work for people and have an eye to protecting the future, not just give in to whatever the right-wing media says or whatever corporations demand to prop up their profits. This country is supposed to be called the Commonwealth. Common wealth – shared wealth, belonging to all of us. It is about time we took that label back and made it mean something again. It is time that we take back the power from the corporations and the billionaires and shift it to everyday people. That is what the Greens stand for, and that is what we will be taking to the Victorian people at this election in November. I look forward to you joining us.

 Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (18:22): You cannot rely on the Liberals and Nationals to deliver, but I tell you what, you can rely on them to cut. They have history and they have form. For instance, when they were last in, they cut $1 billion from education. They even cut Free Fruit Friday – the audacity of that. I am not meaning to hold that in any kind of jest in any way, because that is exactly what they will do again.

The opposition leader has already forecast $40 billion in cuts. She has not been too shy about it, so rest assured she will deliver on the cuts. We can thank her for at least sort of being somewhat up-front about what she will do. Let us look at what is in the DNA of the Liberal–National parties. If we go back to when they were last in government, what was promised? ‘There will be no cuts to the public service.’ Then they cut $250 million per year from the public service, with 4128 public sector jobs cut or not replaced between 2011 and 2013.

These cuts will be absolutely savage. In Victoria we have been under a Labor government and we have become used to the services that we provide. What will they do? They will cut a billion dollars from our health system. I should say they did – they cut a billion dollars from our health system and went to war with our nurses and ambos. We all remember that; that is still in my brain. I remember the ambos going around and suffering under the previous Liberal government. They cut $1.2 billion from our TAFE, closing – get this – 22 campuses and sacking over 3000 staff. Rest assured they will do that again. We know how important the TAFE system is in terms of giving our young people good pathways and also people returning to the workforce, which is part of the impetus for the investment in free TAFE – to make sure that we give Victorians the opportunities they deserve, but also to build the skills that we need for the jobs that help support our economy.

I am not going to stop there, because we are talking about being honest and up-front. What else did they do? The opposition cut $130 million from Victoria Police and slashed $66 million from our fire services. They wax lyrical about how great they would be when it comes to supporting our wonderful Victoria Police, but history tells another story. Schools – they slashed funding for speech pathologists, psychologists and social workers in schools, slashed funding for the young readers program and cut the $300 School Start bonus.

They failed to invest in the new schools our growing state needed. I know that locally in my seat of Albert Park we have had to build a number of schools, and we are proud and glad to deliver on that – South Melbourne Park Primary School, South Melbourne Primary School, Port Melbourne Secondary College and, most recently, Narrarrang Primary School in Fishermans Bend. And, guess what, it is also going to have a kindergarten. We are investing billions of dollars of investment in early childhood education, because we know that it is so important to get those very important skills early in life. It is a great predictor – and I have to say there is a positive and negative there – as to your future and your ability to be able to do the things that you want to do in life and get that job that you rightly deserve. So part of it is also that pragmatic element of making sure that the kinders, where they can, can be built in very close proximity, if not onsite, with our wonderful schools.

I almost had to laugh because the Greens political party was sledging us about our investment in schools, and I was thinking, ‘How many schools have the Greens political party built to date?’

A member interjected.

Nina TAYLOR: None. Zero. And how many will they build? None. Zero. Absolutely none. How many have we built? 121 new schools in Victoria, and they smirk at that as if that is nothing. Have they actually visited these schools and seen how fantastic they are? It is important because it is about investing in our workforce as well – our wonderful teachers – and making sure they have great learning environments to operate in, and it is also for our wonderful Victorian children.

Talking about the Victorian budget 2026–27, because again they were lamenting our position when it comes to investment in schools. Let us look at that. For new schools for growing communities, what is in the Victorian budget? $761.8 million for new and growing schools across Victoria. I will say this includes a new campus for South Melbourne Primary School in my electorate. We have got lots of families moving into high-density housing. I know the Liberal–National opposition do not believe in apartments and high-density housing, because how could anyone live like that? I live like that. Somehow I survive. Guess what, a whole lot of families are coming into the electorate, and they are choosing to live in high-density housing because they like to be near great schools and services. We have the highest percentage of arts organisations, I think, in the world, in my electorate, so there are lots of good reasons for people to invest there.

But anyway, coming back to the principle, we are investing in their education, because fundamentally, when the Liberal–Nationals are talking about their horrible cuts, their $40 billion of cuts, what does that mean? They are cutting from Victorians. We invest in Victorians. We invest in their future. We invest in their now. You cannot separate the two when you just talk about expenditure as if it is some sort of independent little outlier out there. You cannot divorce it from what it is actually linking to and what services it actually delivers.

For upgrades for existing schools, we are investing $294.8 million statewide, so I hope that the Greens political party takes a look. Maybe they did not get a good look at the budget. Maybe they did not check it out. I do not think the Treasurer was shy about sharing it with the world. She came into the chamber; she presented it in an honest and upright manner. I think they need to read a little closer, and they will see that we are truly investing in education. We are continuing to invest in education, I should say. For keeping schools safe and accessible, there is $28.8 million to improve access for students with disabilities and additional needs.

What about kindergartens? The Victorian budget 2026–27 invests almost $500 million to deliver up to 22 kindergartens at school sites, five Early Learning Victoria centres and grants for 27 new and expanded kinders. When we are talking about those sorts of pragmatic elements of managing the household budget, free kinder is an important one. Free kinder is one of Victoria’s most significant cost-of-living initiatives. To date, the program has delivered up to $5200 in savings per child for Victorian families. That is real dollars and cents, and that is money that they can otherwise spend on the family budget. I should say, locally – I am just going to share this – Labor has committed $16.51 million to support six projects in the City of Port Phillip – the seat of Albert Park has the City of Port Phillip and also the City of Melbourne – offering up to 307 kindergarten places to the local government area.

There are six projects all up. Three were already announced; three have just been announced. That is an investment in Victorian children, because there is nothing more important than investing in the future of our children.

I know the Liberal–National opposition are not too keen on these half-price fares and having free public transport for April and May. Certainly the 20 per cent off the rego I do not think is ticking the box either. Let me tell you, on the doors it is a different story. I do not know about others here, because I know many of my colleagues are also doorknocking, but when you talk through the half-price public transport it actually gets a really positive response, and you do not have to work hard on it. You talk about it, and they go, ‘Yes, this is a good, pragmatic measure.’ I think we should not underestimate Victorians’ pragmatism in seeing the value in that. Also it has had a significant uplift in terms of people using public transport as well, which is good. I would have thought the Greens political party would have been in support of that because getting more people onto public transport reduces congestion and reduces the time that you have to spend in traffic. You can get where you need to go quicker.

On that note, I should mention the Metro Tunnel. We got a little bit of a tick there. I think Victorians deserve a big tick for having faith in the Victorian government to deliver, and we did. We delivered on the Metro Tunnel, because yet again I think when you are talking about expenditure, always attaching it to what services are being provided is really, really important. For instance, for people visiting Parkville, such as hospital staff, getting to and from their workplace in the most expedient and safe way possible – Metro Tunnel is certainly a big part of that story. When you are thinking about vision and investing in the future of Victorians, major infrastructure investments actually make a huge difference in terms of the quality of life of Victorians, and that is why they are so important. That is why you cannot just sit on your hands.

I know there was some commentary about, ‘You can’t talk about the war in the Middle East. You’re not allowed to talk about that in terms of how you manage the budget and what you give back to the community,’ but unlike the Liberal–National opposition, we are not just going to sit on our hands and say, ‘Sorry, you’re on your own. Too bad. There’s a global crisis here, but the government’s not here for you.’ The Labor government is here for Victorians. We are here for them, and that is why we have implemented some very pragmatic measures, among many, in order to make things just a little bit easier. I think there was a little bit of a distortion, again, from the Greens political party, saying that government does not fix everything. What we are saying is that we are doing what we can in the most pragmatic way, and also there is a two-way conversation here. As I said, when you are on doors et cetera you get direct feedback about what people are thinking and feeling. Certainly, as I was saying from the outset, the half-price fares and the 20 per cent reduction on the rego is going down very well, because it is something people can see and it is tangible. But it is not the red carpet. We are not rolling out something flashy or ostentatious. It is a really good, pragmatic cost-saving measure.

When we are talking about investing in Victorians – that is exactly what this budget does – what does that actually mean? It means more free vision tests and glasses for kids who need them. As someone who as a young kid from I think grade 3 had to wear glasses, let me tell you, you are not going to get too far in life if you cannot actually read properly. It also ties in well with our mandated literacy reforms in this state, and we are certainly leading the nation with NAPLAN as well. You can see how it all ties in together, because we do not want Victorian kids falling through the gaps. If they cannot see properly because maybe their parents do not have quite enough money to invest in glasses that they might need, then we are providing them with some good, pragmatic help.

Up to 55,000 Get Active kids vouchers have been issued for eligible families. I know in my area we have so many wonderful sporting clubs, and they can be like a lifeline for families and for children. Yes, there is a sporting element, but also there is that social connection. It is really setting them up for life. I know that this is a really good and pragmatic measure for households. There are more affordable school uniforms. Some really practical changes have been implemented. Every dollar counts, doesn’t it? We know that. This can make a real difference for families.

There is free kinder, which I talked about already, and there are free regular dental check-ups for kids with Smile Squad. Let me tell you, when you are going for a job – and I do not think anyone is going to argue here – you want to have a reasonable set of teeth. They do not have to be perfect of course, but we know that it can be a real drawback when you are seeking to front up for that job if you do not have a reasonable set of teeth. Unfortunately, it is fundamental, and if nothing else, you have got to be able to eat. There are some really significant health impacts from dental decay and from not having your teeth well cared for. But rest assured, Labor is here to support families and make sure that they get those dental services they need.

There are free Ls and free Ps for new drivers. Again, that is something really pragmatic, something measurable. It is not ostentatious, not over the top, and it is something that people can see the practical value in. There is free admission to Zoos Victoria for under-16s. We want to make sure that families have affordable ways to get out and about and to make sure that their kids learn about the world that they live in and about nature as well, so this is really important.

I think the Greens political party was sledging us out on investment in renewables and the transition. Well, let me tell you, when the Liberal–National opposition were last in Parliament, they absolutely strangled the wind industry. The alternatives are: do you want a Labor government that is absolutely pushing ahead – hence the investment in the SEC – when it comes to the transition to clean energy, or do you want a Liberal–National and, dare I say, One Nation government? One Nation were very loud and proud about not believing in net zero and wanting to hear no more about this transition to clean energy. So who do you rely on for that transition? It is Labor. It is Labor governments that invest. History shows us. Who else is going to do it? No-one else is going to do it, let me tell you that.

The Allan Labor government – we are talking about solar rebates, and I am going to round out there – has slashed over a billion off the up-front cost of installing solar, heat pumps and batteries. Who said we do not care about the environment? Why would we put out these investments if we did not care about the environment and Victorians saving money? We are helping more Victorians cut the cost of living by slashing their energy bills. Families can get a $1400 rebate plus a $1400 interest-free loan off the cost of installing solar.

 Matthew GUY (Bulleen) (18:37): I rise to make some comments on the Appropriation (2026–2027) Bill 2026. I have been in this chamber now for 12 years. I think that is almost the same as the member for Gippsland South – he came in just after me – and the member for Lowan too. It was 2014. I had been in Parliament for a few years before that. What I hear tonight and today sounds like what I heard going into 2010. There is a lot of almost ‘farewell’ in some of the government MPs’ speeches; they have kind of got the self-justification of a farewell speech. They can all hoo and boo and say whatever, but I have heard it all before. I have heard a lot of it all before. We have heard all the spin. We have heard all the lies. I think Victorians have too. It is a special kind of delusion that Labor members have. There is one journo I had a long conversation with, and there was just this view that to be a Labor MP, I think it was, and to make it into caucus, you have to not be able to make a decision, not offend people, not stick your head above the parapet and have no independent opinions. That sums up most of the Labor party’s caucus, doesn’t it – it really sums them up.

Members interjecting.

Matthew GUY: Off they go. They like to come up. I knew the fish would jump on the hook; I knew they would at 6:40 at night. What is fascinating is to hear these speeches and to hear the kinds of lines that the government are coming out with. I have heard the Leader of the Opposition’s name mentioned, I reckon, three times or four times more from the Labor MPs than their own Premier’s. When was the last time a Labor MP today, giving an appropriations reply, said the name Jacinta Allan or the Allan government or Premier Allan, whatever it may be? I have not heard it. I have been listening intently to the last few, downstairs and up here sitting up for my time doing chamber duty, and I have not heard them talk about their own Premier, which is fascinating.

I mean, when you rate minus 50, I guess you would not want to talk about it. You would not want to talk about your Premier when she is rating minus 50. I think there are only a couple of them rating even lower than that.

Danny O’Brien interjected.

Matthew GUY: That is one of the better numbers – just fascinating. With half a dozen of the growth area MPs, according to your own members, running around the place, coming third – according to their own internals – on primary votes, you would not be talking about your own Premier. That aside, I just think it is fascinating because the lies and the delusion are just epic. It is just quite bizarre to think that Victorians are somehow jumping out of bed and saying to each other, ‘You know what? I’m so glad we’ve got this government after a decade plus more. The state’s pumping along – powering along. I don’t want to go to Queensland.’ Remember when Andrews said no-one wants to go to South Australia? He was right.

Danny O’Brien interjected.

Matthew GUY: ‘Who’d want to go there?’ Remember? He was right – no way.

It is just that every business group, every major investor and every major indicator – everything and everyone – are saying this state is, sadly, in trouble, and the common factor about it is government policy or previous policy decisions, I might say. The member for Ringwood quite eloquently articulated what happens when you overcommit and then cannot service where you are at, or you pay too much or, as in this government’s case, you allow money to be stolen – billions of dollars of it. That is where we have got to after a decade and a bit of this government.

I think Labor MPs run around thinking that Victorians do not notice the quality of their roads, do not notice the extent of their utility bills and do not notice the promises such as Geelong fast rail, Wyndham Vale electrification, Melton electrification, the extension to Cranbourne East and all these rail upgrades that were promised. The Maroondah Queen Elizabeth II hospital was promised and not delivered, the Melton Hospital is late and the West Gippsland Hospital was never delivered. They think that Victorians are mugs and will not notice these things. Victorians do notice. They are smarter and they are not to be treated as mugs by anyone in this chamber – not my side, not the government and not other parties – because the punters know when they have been sold a pup and they know when the government is lying to them, and the government is lying to them.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Paul Mercurio): I warn the member for Bulleen about using unparliamentary language. I think the Deputy Speaker made it very clear about the use of that word, so I ask you to cease using it.

Matthew GUY: That is fair. I am happy to cease using it. I am happy to cease using a parliamentary term has been used for 170 years. If that is the ruling, I will do it. Having said that –

Members interjecting.

Matthew GUY: She has gone back to Sydney. I say again: I find it fascinating that members of Parliament from the Labor Party walk into here and spout these government speaking notes. I have seen this all before. I have seen them come and I have seen them go –

Natalie Suleyman interjected.

Matthew GUY: Well, Minister, I hope you are doorknocking your seat, by the way, too. Give it your best shot.

Natalie Suleyman interjected.

Matthew GUY: I bet you could not name five streets out of it either; you are a very insular type. I just say again about the state of the state of Victoria, after a decade of this government, that they have run our finances into the ground. They have left us with more than 10 times the debt that they found when they got into office, and still they are coming into this chamber, most of these members, and their entire speeches are about the opposition leader. There is no pride in their own budget and very little pride in their own Premier. If they did have it, you would think they would launch off about their pride in their budget – their 12th one. No, they have come in here to try and run down –

A member interjected.

Matthew GUY: I heard a number of them. I wrote it all down. I can go through it if you like. They ran down the opposition leader, talking about – I will not use the terms. There was a whole bunch of them. It just shows you, Acting Speaker, where we are at with this government – tired, delusional and full of people who are espousing mistruths. I hope that is parliamentary to you, Sir. If it is, I will use it. But the point is that these members run onto social media and try and come up with ideas and lies about ‘The Liberal Party has promised this’ – sorry, mistruths. I apologise. I will say what you would like me to. They talked about the Liberals and the Nationals and what we are going to do: ‘They’ll do this’ and ‘They’ll do that’.

But at the end of the day, I think Victorians are just sick to death of it. And why wouldn’t they be? We are paying more, and we are getting less.

There is this whole debate about the public service. Literally in every speech I have heard Labor members saying Liberals will cut the public service. But what is fascinating is on Channel 7 – I had fun putting this on my social media; I think nearly 700,000 people have seen it, too – the Premier was asked if she had cut the public service, and the Premier said quite clearly that yes, she had. He said, ‘How many? Was it hundreds?’ In response the Premier said no, it was thousands. Thousands! Very proudly the Premier said no, thousands, and of course the Channel 7 journalist Paul Dowsley said, ‘So it’s okay sometimes to cut the public service?’ The Premier looked very bemused. Why wouldn’t she? But the Premier of the state herself said of this Labor government, ‘Go and ask the Treasurer’, because this current Labor government have cut thousands of people out of the public service. Yet in every delusional speech I have heard from the government today they have got up and talked about and warned Victorians about the consequences of cutting thousands of people from the public service. Apparently, hens will cease to lay eggs and chickens will live with cows and whatever – the world is going to end.

Yet they have admitted to doing it themselves. The Premier said thousands have been cut by this government, and the Premier did not say it two years ago or two months ago. The Premier said it last week, on Sunday or Saturday, I think it was, said they had cut thousands, so I am just trying to work out what the difference might be in this kind of delusion. Somehow the speaking notes – going back to what I had said from what we were told, you know: ‘You can’t have an independent opinion. You can’t stick your head up above the parapet. You have got to follow the speaking notes.’ Well, clearly that is true, because if it was sticking to fact – the Premier herself comes in here and says to the media that they have cut thousands of public servants to get the budget back in check and then runs in here with all the speaking notes for every Labor MP to run around and say, ‘Oh, listen, if you vote for them, you might get cuts. And don’t you know what these cuts mean?’ Well, maybe you should ask yourself those questions, because the Premier herself has admitted to it.

I just find it stunning that we are getting the same old rubbish. Yet this budget mentioned nothing about – if I go back just to this time four years ago, when I was in this chamber and listened to Labor members talk about it – how important it was going to be to get Geelong fast rail. Remember that one, Geelong fast rail? We were going to have 250-kilometre-an-hour trains to Geelong, and Labor was trumping that up this time four years ago. They were talking up the West Gippsland Hospital this time four years ago. The member for Narracan will tell you all about that. So they can say all they want – they were talking about the Murray Basin rail being completed. They were talking about Gippsland rail being completed. They were talking about Wyndham electrification being completed – not started, abandoned, never going to happen.

Apparently, we are now going to get Melton nine-car trains, because why? Why talk that up? Because the government has not actually put in its promise from 2018, which was electrifying the network, electrifying those two lines, not just to Melton but to Wyndham Vale as well. That is what the commitment was. It was not a commitment to say, ‘Hey, look, we’ve got this nine-car train promise and we’re going to extend the platforms and buy more VLocities’ – which are country trains – ‘and run them out to the fastest-growing areas in Australia.’ That was not their commitment. It was to provide electric trains. Where has that gone? The same way as the Eltham hospital, the same way as the member for Narracan’s hospital, the same way as Geelong fast rail and the Geelong convention centre. How many thousands of hospital beds were promised in COVID? I am trying to remember. Was it 5000, 3000, 4000? It was a lottery, but it never happened.

The point of all of this is, I think, Victorians are just coming to a conclusion with all this rubbish. They are just coming to this conclusion. Maybe the member for Geelong – I am very glad she is here – can give a budget reply on the Geelong fast rail, the 250-kilometre-an-hour trains – I am still waiting for them. Apparently Deutsche Bundesbahn was engaged to give advice to the government.

Natalie Suleyman interjected.

Matthew GUY: Well, Minister, your own documents say so – unless you want to dispute your own cabinet.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Paul Mercurio): Through the Chair.

Matthew GUY: Through you, Acting Speaker. But the point is I think the public has just had enough. They have been lied to for a decade or more.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Paul Mercurio): Member for Bulleen.

Matthew GUY: Sorry, I apologise. They have been misled for a decade or more. I think the public really just has had enough of the spin and the misleading comments from the government. They are sick to death of a government that has come in and promised the world and has given them a huge debt that is going to be bequeathed to our grandchildren, and at the end of the day they have said, ‘We’re so good we’re going to give ourselves a pat on the back, and you should too.’ Victorians have said, ‘Actually, I think that’s about enough from you people’ – and it will be in November, I hope. Thank goodness.

For my community in Bulleen there is nothing in this budget. We did not expect anything from these people. They promised everything and they have delivered nothing. There is nothing for Birralee Primary School. There is nothing for Templestowe College. There are no upgrades to sporting facilities. There are no upgrades for any community facilities in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, because at the end of the day the government could not care less: (1) they are out of money, (2) they only give money to where they think it might possibly be at this point in time electorally beneficial six months from an election and (3) if they have made the commitments they are just going to break them, just like we have seen with a whole bunch of major commitments they made four years ago in this chamber. The punters have had enough of this Labor government. They are sick to death of being misled. They are sick to death of Labor’s complete and totally disingenuous behaviour towards the punter. It is time Labor went.

 Chris COUZENS (Geelong) (18:52): I am delighted to talk about the Appropriation (2026–2027) Bill 2026 and the Appropriation (Parliament 2026–2027) Bill 2026. I just want to comment on the member for Bulleen’s rant there. The Geelong convention centre actually opens next month, so to say that it does not exist is a bit of misinformation. I suggest he drive past and have a look, because he certainly will not be welcome inside. I believe very strongly, having spoken to my community throughout Geelong, this is a really fair and just budget. It is about addressing the pressures of cost of living that Victorians are facing at the moment, including in my community. For those opposite to talk about cutting $40 billion from the budget and say that it is not going to impact on public service and direct service to people – all of the areas that the budget covers – is just ridiculous, because it will, and my community knows that.

I have not had one person ask me why we are not delivering on what we promised to deliver, because we have. We have delivered on all our commitments in Geelong over the last 12 years. Those opposite spouting off about cutting $40 billion out of the budget is actually resonating with my community, because my community is saying, ‘We think this is a good budget.’ They genuinely are saying it is a good budget, and they are saying it is a good budget because there are not massive cuts like those opposite are talking about. That really is resonating in my community. They are concerned about the cost of living, and they appreciate all the cost-of-living measures that we have put in place – and there is an enormous list of those things. I do want to talk about what my community has gained from the budget, and it is really important that we continue to fund those projects that meet the demands of our community but also look at the cost-of-living pressures.

One of the key budget items that was delivered for Geelong was the $15 million investment in Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative for their Dreaming Project.

This is something that Wathaurong have been working towards for many years now. They had a commitment from the federal government and were waiting on the commitment from the state government, which they now have, which is really exciting for the Aboriginal community in Geelong. It will be not only their health clinic but their gathering place. They will be able to support their community from one location. At the moment they are forced into about five different locations where they are delivering services to Aboriginal people in our community, so this is a really important budget commitment. It is really significant for the Aboriginal community to make sure that they are delivering for their people but also keeping to that self-determination that we all talk about, which is really important, so that they can deliver that. I am very excited for them to deliver the wellbeing and disability care that Aboriginal people deserve and need in our community.

We have also invested $20.31 million in University Hospital for the Geelong paediatric emergency centre. The construction of that was completed last year, and to now have that fully operational is really exciting for my community. It has been something that has been asked for by my community for a very long time, because as you can imagine, in general accident emergency, it is not always a pleasant place for children. To have a very separate accident emergency centre based at Barwon Health, or University Hospital, will make an enormous difference for families who are taking their children there for the incredible health care that Barwon Health provides to our community.

We have also invested $13.27 million in strengthening palliative care in Geelong, and that is a really important priority for Geelong. We know that there has been lots of advancement in how palliative care is delivered to people in our community, and I know that my community is very grateful for that. We have amazing health professionals that work in that space. And to have a facility that will provide that much-needed care is really important for our community, and they do appreciate that.

We also funded the school lawyer program delivered by Barwon Community Legal Service, which is another really important one. It is about early intervention and supporting young people, supporting them to stay at school and to be engaged and connected to the support services that many of them need. That program has been a really significant program for young people in our community.

The other big one for me was Skilling the Bay, which is a great program that has been running for many years now, operated through the Gordon TAFE. This strengthens pathways into education, training and employment for young people, something that we know we need. It has been such a successful program that we now have every secondary school engaged in Skilling the Bay, which helps prepare the local workforce for the future economy, all those areas that are so important for young people and for our business community – to know that there is that preparation, that early intervention, which makes a difference to those young people.

And free TAFE is an incredible and significant thing for my community. I know how much of an impact it has, particularly on low-income families, families with generations of family members who have never really had an education. When I go to graduations, when I visit Gordon TAFE and talk to people who are doing certificate courses or doing a diploma, it is incredible – their stories – that they never thought they would have that opportunity, but now they will. And the new infrastructure that is currently underway from the previous budget, the Centre of Excellence in Disability Inclusion, will make such a huge difference for Geelong, particularly because we have got the NDIS, WorkCover and TAC.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.