Wednesday, 18 March 2020

COVID-19

Ms STALEY (Ripon) (11:15): My question is to the Treasurer. During the fire crisis, when New South Wales announced a $1 billion relief and recovery package, the New South Wales Premier said:

I’ve often said that we don’t run budget surpluses here in NSW for the sake of it, but we run surpluses so we can invest in times like this.

However, Victoria could not announce a similar package because, as we now know from the half-year results, this state is $1.1 billion in the red, and that is before fires and before COVID-19. Now New South Wales has announced a $2.3 billion package in response to COVID-19 and once again Victoria has failed to follow suit. Will the Treasurer apologise to Victorians who are suffering in our worst crisis in living memory because the government blew the budget and now there is nothing left to give when people need it most?

Mr PALLAS (Werribee—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (11:16): Well, on the bushfires, can I just make the point that this state is making a larger per capita contribution to the bushfire resourcing and recovery effort and resourcing of course the fire fight than New South Wales is. I have already publicly indicated that the outlay that the state has made is something like $600 million. I expect that the Minister for Police and Emergency Services will, before the end of this financial year, have other claims that she will seek to have adequately resolved through our budget process, as is appropriate. That is what we do. We effectively resource the efforts and the needs of Victorians and we are doing a bigger effort per capita than any other jurisdiction.

But might I also say on the broader question, if you accept the basic proposition that you are running a deficit in your midyear budget, then those opposite delivered one each and every year that they were in government—each and every year that they were in government. Might I also say that if you are basically capable of doing rudimentary mathematics, you would look on a per capita basis or time basis and recognise that only 47 per cent of the receipts of the state’s $71 billion worth of resources had actually come in, but of course it is still legally required. The federal government has to make their contribution; those are national agreements that are yet to apply and they have been a bit slow making their contributions. The taxation burden, such as land tax, comes in in the back half of the year. But if you did the math on that, if you did the basic math on it and you said if 50 per cent came in on a time limited basis, then of course the state would be in surplus—but that is just a sign. When you look at those opposite, remember the only deficit delivered in the last 30 years in the state of Victoria was by those opposite.

This government has delivered the highest average surpluses in the history of Victoria, and that is why our economy is the strongest, stand-out economy in the nation. That is why we have been able to resource our response to coronavirus and that is why we will be able to continue to do the investment and the effort that will grow this state and deal with the challenges that we confront—and we will do it to the extent that those opposite are capable of pulling themselves out of their sectional and self-interested perspective. We will do it in the interests of all Victorians.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I am going to warn members on both sides of the chamber to stop shouting across the chamber. I issue a general warning that members will be removed from the chamber without warning if they continue to do so.

Ms STALEY (Ripon) (11:19): My supplementary is to the Treasurer. The states are solely responsible for many taxes and charges on people and businesses, including payroll tax, car registrations, tolls and licensing fees. The Treasurer said yesterday that:

… it would be foolhardy for anybody to suggest that what we should be doing is bowling out a package of initiatives without appropriately monitoring what is actually happening at a federal level.

Every other state has acted to protect jobs, so why won’t the Treasurer act?

Mr PALLAS (Werribee—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (11:20): As we made very clear, we are acting and we will continue to act, and we will act in a substantial and focused way. As you would understand, the principal obligation of this government is to make sure that we resource the health effort; that is a critically important part. But I will remind those opposite that we are acting entirely consistently with the COAG statement—and indeed the invocations of the governor of the Reserve Bank and the secretary of the Australian Treasury—that we need to recognise that current fiscal settings in jurisdictions should be adjusted to mitigate the economic impact on Australians and best position the nation for recovery.

Now, those opposite seem to have a large raft of taxes that they would like to see absolutely removed, and you wonder what sort of capacity they would be leaving for the state to mount a response to the biggest health and safety consequence that it is facing.