Thursday, 20 February 2020

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Budget

Ms STALEY (Ripon) (11:01): My question is to the Premier. Yesterday in question time when quizzed on the Treasurer’s announcement of spending cuts of $4 billion the Premier said, ‘Of course the Treasurer made no such announcement’. Premier, the direct quote from the Treasurer on Neil Mitchell’s program on 12 February is:

I’m looking at every line item of expenditure and I’m looking to take something like $4 billion out of government expenditure going forward.

Do you stand by the Treasurer’s statement?

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (11:02): I am sure I am grateful to the member for Ripon for her question. I stand by the Treasurer’s statements and the Treasurer’s absolute focus on making sure that every dollar in the budget aligns with the priorities of this government, because they are the priorities—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition! The Premier has the call.

Mr ANDREWS: They are the priorities that were resoundingly endorsed by the Victorian community, not something those opposite would know much about—being resoundingly endorsed by the Victorian community. We will make sure that the budget delivers in infrastructure, in jobs, in health, in education, in protecting the vulnerable, in supporting—

Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating the question. At the election he famously said, ‘I say what I do and I do what I say’. He never said he was going to cut $4 billion, did he?

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition knows that is not a point of order.

Mr ANDREWS: He just wants to be famous, I think. That is the key there.

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Well, we ought not be distracted by those who are completely irrelevant numerically, philosophically, politically—on every level—completely irrelevant.

Ms Staley: On a point of order, Speaker, question time is not an opportunity to attack the opposition. I ask you to tell the Premier to desist.

The SPEAKER: I agree. I ask the Premier to come back to answering the question.

Mr ANDREWS: If only they had counted those votes a bit quicker, she would be sitting up at the table; I am certain of that.

I have answered this question. Every budget of this government will align with the priorities that we were elected to deliver—every day, every budget, in every way.

Ms STALEY (Ripon) (11:04): I repeat: on 12 February on the Neil Mitchell program the Treasurer said:

I’m looking at every line item of expenditure and I’m looking to take something like $4 billion out of government expenditure going forward.

Is there any area of government spending that the Premier will rule out from these $4 billion of cuts?

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (11:04): I thank the almost deputy leader for her question—clever question as it is. She has probably already got the press release written: ‘Premier refuses to deliver the budget two months before the budget’. The budget will be delivered by the Treasurer on budget day, and what it will show is a surplus, what it will show is investment in hospitals and what it will show is investment in schools. It will show significant investment in Ripon, I would think.

Ms Staley: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, my question, surprisingly, invited a yes or no answer, and I would ask you to ask the Premier to give it one.

The SPEAKER: Order! I cannot direct—Premier.

Mr ANDREWS: On the point of order, Speaker, the questioner, who seems unaware of the question she just asked, actually invited me not to answer yes or no but invited me to provide a list of things that the budget would or would not include. I am providing a list, comprehensive I would have thought, of the things the budget will include—the themes, the essential elements of the budget. Therefore my answer is absolutely in order with the standing orders, and indeed it aligns with the question asked, although the person who asked the question seems unaware of that.

Mr M O’Brien: On the point of order, Speaker, the question was:

Is there any area of government spending that the Premier will rule out from these $4 billion of cuts?

We have not heard of one area being quarantined in the Premier’s answer. I ask you to bring him back to answering the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier is being relevant to the question that has been asked.

Mr ANDREWS: Despite the confusion of those opposite, I will just clear it up for them. The budget will be all about investing in hospitals, schools, roads, rail—

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Shout all you like. Those who found their voice not when they were actually writing budgets but now they are sitting over there—they have got all manner of priorities now. It will be a budget that delivers on our commitments to every single Victorian, including the good people of Ripon.