Wednesday, 19 February 2020

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Report on the 2019–20 Budget Estimates

Ms VALLENCE (Evelyn) (10:24): As a member of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC), I am pleased to rise and speak on its report into the 2019–20 budget estimates. As the report sets out and as members would be well aware, the principal function of PAEC is to scrutinise matters of public administration and review outcomes of spending public money. Sadly, this Labor government is content to deny PAEC the opportunity to get on and undertake this important work. On something that is now very much in the public domain, I am disappointed the PAEC hearings that were scheduled to take place next week to review previous budget expenditure have been delayed yet again, for the second time. This undermines transparency and accountability. It sets a new low in parliamentary oversight and accountability, and the Labor government should hang its head—

Mr Pearson: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, I seek your guidance. I have been listening to the member’s contribution. The member is referring to deliberations of the committee and she is referring specifically to outcomes hearings. That does not relate to the report that was tabled in October last year, so I would encourage you to bring the member back to speaking on the report that was tabled in October last year, rather than pontificating on matters that the committee may or may not have discussed in more recent times.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order and I do ask the member for Evelyn to speak to the report that was tabled. It is not appropriate to speak on matters that the committee is deliberating on.

Ms VALLENCE: On the point of order, Deputy Speaker, what I would refer to—and to the member for Essendon—is the chair’s foreword in the actual report of the 2019–20 budget estimates, which says, and I quote:

… the Committee’s primary aim is to promote the accountability, transparency and integrity of the Executive and the public sector.

So I say to the member for Essendon: what has the Labor government got to hide?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.

Ms VALLENCE: I think we all know why the Labor government is not prepared to answer for its hopeless budget management and reckless spending commitments. Days after it was announced publicly that next week’s PAEC hearings had been sidelined, the Treasurer announced he needed to cut $4 billion in spending to keep the budget in surplus, and the legacy of—

Mr Pearson: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, I appreciate the fact that the member is probably trying to make the best of a bad lot, but really she needs to refer specifically to the report. She needs to talk to either the hearings and a transcript of the hearings or she needs to refer to an aspect of the report. What she is referring to are questions which were raised in question time yesterday, which came after the report was tabled and do not relate to a specific item that was discussed and was tabled in the report which was handed down in October last year. I ask that you bring the member back to the report.

Ms VALLENCE: On the point of order, Deputy Speaker, I am setting the scene. I am referring to the 2019–20 budget estimates. The members of the Labor government may laugh at this, but I am setting this up. It is the 2019–20 budget estimates that sets out the budget that now is actually in tatters. It is very important that we talk to this because it is in the public interest, and that is precisely what the PAEC report sets out.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Evelyn must not refer to deliberations that the committee are currently undertaking. The member must refer to the report that was tabled in 2019.

Ms VALLENCE: The legacy of the Labor government in the report is higher taxes, and we will see harsh cuts. It has clearly been a bad week for the Treasurer. The Treasury’s budget update has also confirmed the wafer-thin surplus, $1 billion, has been whittled down to $600 million only six months into the budget and net debt is projected to increase by 10.5 per cent over the forward estimates to almost $60 billion, with no plan to pay it back. It is the real cost of Labor.

The Treasurer has said that we are not spending more than we earn, but the Parliamentary Budget Office has revealed the real truth, reporting the budget is headed to fiscal deficit and the government is spending more than it earns, with an 8 per cent deficit-to-revenue ratio.