Tuesday, 3 March 2020

Budget

Ms STALEY (Ripon) (12:23): My question is to the Treasurer. In February 2020 on 3AW the Treasurer claimed, ‘I was asked before the last election to give a commitment to not increase taxes, and I said anyone who did that would be foolhardy’. Yet on 22 November 2018, just days before the state election, the Treasurer told Victorians that Labor’s financial plan for the next four years:

… contains no new taxes, whatsoever. No tax increases, no extra charges, it’s all there in black and white.

Why did the Treasurer mislead the Victorian people, or is he admitting he is foolhardy?

Mr PALLAS (Werribee—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (12:23): I thank the member for Ripon for this question. This is well and truly an underarm delivery pitched up beautifully over the bails. I have got to tell you, what we were telling the people of Victoria at the time that our costings were released was that we were intending to cost and to demonstrate that no new taxes or charges were required to implement our entire—and publicised—list of costs. I went on to say that the government will not give a commitment, never ever, to raise taxes or charges or indeed to reduce taxes or charges. And might I remind the minister—the member rather, she will never be a minister at this rate—that this government has gone a long way in reducing taxes and charges.

Members interjecting.

Mr PALLAS: Oh, she does not know about them! Well, perhaps we can remind her that we are moving progressively to 25 per cent of the metropolitan rate for payroll tax in regional Victoria. We did not promise it, we just delivered it. Just like the almost 2.5 per cent reduction—2.3 to be exact—in unemployment in regional Victoria.

So instead of trying to find a way to contort the public clarity that we provide and the dishonesty that those opposite provided to the people of Victoria, the member should at least be thankful for the economic resilience that is going on in this state and recognise that this government, more than any other, is leading the nation in terms of regional unemployment. We are doing that via the prudent use of our taxing and tax reduction regime, by making sure that the burden rests best where it can be borne but making sure that we do not erode services into regional Victoria like those opposite made part and parcel of their operating procedure.

Ms STALEY (Ripon) (12:26): Last month Neil Mitchell asked the Treasurer, ‘You will not rule out taxation increases?’, and the Treasurer replied, ‘That’s absolutely right, Neil’. Are there any taxes or charges the Treasurer will rule out increasing in this year’s budget?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Ripon and the member for Mordialloc! Question time is getting a bit loose. If members keep shouting across the chamber, they will be removed from the chamber without warning. We are at that stage of the sitting week.

Mr PALLAS (Werribee—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (12:26): Well, look, I intend on providing for the member for Ripon and every other member of this place clarity about what our intentions are with taxes and charges on budget day.

But can I be very clear that this government is not also ruling out tax cuts in the upcoming budget—let me be very clear about that—because they are always one side of the ledger. Let us also be very clear that those opposite were under no illusion about our position about providing budget stability and the options for a government to manage the economic circumstances responsibly. How many press releases did they put out before the last election? Because we knew that they were absolutely clear in their mind, as were the people in Victoria, we were giving no such guarantee because to do so would be absolutely irresponsible. We are not the base opportunists that those opposite are.