Wednesday, 19 February 2020

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Report on the 2019–20 Budget Estimates

Mr RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (10:29): You might have picked that I am a little more up and about than the member for Evelyn. I will take a different view on the budget estimates, and with a bit of joy and a bit of hope and a bit of aspiration going forward, I will confine my remarks well and truly to the report that was tabled in this Parliament and which Public Accounts and Estimates Committee members all contributed to.

I wanted to reflect an area that I am greatly passionate about in the Report on the 2019–20 Budget Estimates, and that is education—the transformational power of education in our state and the agenda that we have set in building the Education State, transforming the outcomes and lives of our youngest Victorians and giving them the best opportunity and hope into the future.

When I go to page 94 of the report, I see the growth projections across all sectors. We see impressive growth numbers in our government schools and also in our non-government sector, the Catholic education sector and the independent sector. Amazingly, with this round of preppies coming through, our foundation students for 2020, we went to over 1 million Victorian school students, which was a remarkable thing. In seeing that growth and in providing a record boost to infrastructure investment in our schools and our kinders, we know on this side of the house and in government that we are setting up our schools and our communities for the future.

The Minister for Education eloquently summed up some of those new school openings recently in question time. Some $640 million over the forward estimates has been provided to build those new schools. Contrast that to yesteryear when we came to government on this side; we saw no new school openings during the time when we came to government. Contrast that to that record investment underpinning new schools in new communities and also the fact that 70 per cent of growth in our state will be confined to infill council areas. There are a lot of building works on the go. Upgrades in the forward estimates are at $347 million—more than 100 projects on the go. Down in my neck of the woods, down the Nepean Highway, Parkdale Secondary College and Mordialloc College received that vital planning funding that underpins significant staged upgrades as well.

The biggest transformation that is happening in our state in education sits in early childhood. The Minister for Education and his fantastic Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education, the member for Carrum, are leading this reform agenda. When we go around communities and we see early childhood educators inspired about their role in shaping the youngest minds in the brain development that happens in those first few years, it is unconscionable that we would not invest in three-year-old kinder and provide these transformational powers.

The forward estimates show at page 101 that hundreds of millions over the forward estimates is being invested. As the minister submitted in evidence, nearly 1000 kinder upgrades will be required over that journey. We also, through some of the hearings, heard some 6000 new early childhood educators will be required over the coming years to meet that increase. That is amazing. A big shout-out for the budget estimates.

I know we do not get a massive viewership on the Parliament of Victoria live stream, but if anyone is listening and anyone wants to join the early childhood sector, now is the time to put in a CV. We want you; if you are passionate about children’s education and early childhood, there are 6000 jobs on the go, including the jobs that will be coming as part of attrition over the coming years. It is an inspired space, and to be part of that in a government that is looking at these vital investments is an incredible moment. Each and every one of the members of Parliament around here will benefit. Their communities will benefit from the universal rollout of three-year-old kinder.

It would be remiss of me in the minute and a bit that I have got left to not mention transport infrastructure. If you go to page 120, I tell you what—level crossing removals. Get around that. Isn’t that up and about. Goodness me! I think it is 34 at the last count. I tell you what, they tried to oppose it on that side. They tried to. The member for Sandringham and others tried to push back the Mentone level crossing removals and Cheltenham level crossing removals with their ‘get back in control’ budget, whatever that was. I mean, if you googled that wrongly, it was ‘incontinence’, and that probably summed up everything about their policy agenda.

At page 120 we see level crossing removals. I tell you what, it is a big year down our way. In 18 months we are going to see level crossing removals in Mentone and Cheltenham underpinned in this budget and of course the biggest, the absolute grand final: the fast-tracking of the Chelsea level crossing removals. There are three going, and we will see a massive transformation of the patch, all underpinned in this transformational budget. This is really building communities, not just for the generation but over the next 100 years. This is what this budget sets out: jobs, investment, hope and aspiration—not cuts, not being addicted to the Institute of Public Affairs rhetoric of cuts and exposures of austerity. No, we are about investing in our communities and jobs for the future.