Thursday, 3 August 2023

Motions

Budget papers 2023–24

Debate resumed on motion of Jaclyn Symes:

That the Council take note of the budget papers 2023–24.

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (16:38): When you promise and fail to deliver, communities end up worse off. In this budget the regions were promised a Commonwealth Games. These games were to provide a major economic boost in areas around the region, and for a minute I would like to focus on the electorate of Bass. The Bass Coast shire was successfully negotiating an amazing deal that would have seen the entire Scottish and Welsh squads stay in San Remo for two weeks prior to the games. Five hundred high-profile tourists were coming to the region, and the town was abuzz. The athletes would have had an amazing opportunity to be tourists for a fortnight while acclimatising to the Victorian conditions. For local tourism and business owners it would have been an incredible opportunity to showcase all that the Bass Coast has to offer on the global stage. This generated a lot of confidence in the business community to upgrade and invest in their businesses because of the exposure the Commonwealth Games promised to bring. Imagine having entire teams posting on social media advertising their incredible experience. This had an incredible potential to promote the region on the international stage where people were watching on and following their sporting heroes. A few weeks ago I spoke to another business owner in the region who showed me their plans to expand their business into accommodation. Plans had been drawn up. The building was about to begin, because they were under the illusion that they had teams of athletes that were going to be staying in their facility, and this would have created an incredible launch pad for their development.

This government needs to stop misleading the Victorian people. This government needs to stop promising and not delivering. The decisions made by this government over the past few years have damaged confidence in business. During COVID, businesses in the region got absolutely hammered. Many never recovered and had to permanently close their doors. Small businesses who were already struggling to make ends meet lived under constant fear of government directives that could shut their businesses down within a matter of hours, and if they did not comply, they would face massive fines. This caused a huge amount of insecurity within the business community. What we have seen over the past year, particularly with the promise of the Commonwealth Games, is a boost in confidence. Once again people felt encouraged to invest – encouraged to upgrade their accommodation, purchase a new coffee machine or maybe extend their restaurant, because they knew that 500 athletes were coming to stay in their town for two weeks. They prepared, they got ready, and they got left with the bills, and that is what continues to happen under this government. It is undermining confidence.

There are a lot of local and international impacts of this decision. The decision has undermined international trust and confidence from the global community. I read a quote:

“Is Victoria a reliable counter-party internationally when we put our name to a contract and say, you can trust us to deliver on our commitments and to deliver a great event?” …

“It’s not just sport. These sorts of things are really damaging to the reputation of Victoria as a reliable counter-party on the world stage. We all learn in primary school that you should do what you say you’re going to do.

This government has caused such insecurity, not just with its own citizens to invest in business but also with the international community to invest in our state. Under Labor, regional Victorians come last. Our region of Eastern Victoria is growing but our health infrastructure is not. The state Labor government made over $4 billion in election commitments for hospital upgrades. That included $290 million for Wonthaggi Hospital and $675 million for West Gippsland Hospital in Warragul. Only $320 million was actually budgeted. That is 7.95 per cent of what they promised. The people of the Eastern Victoria Region are worried that the only place they will ever see healthcare infrastructure is on a flyer in their mailbox or in an election promise, but never in reality. I have spoken in this place many, many times about the disadvantage that people in regional areas have when it comes to health. The further you are from a metropolitan city, the more likely you are to die within five years of a cancer diagnosis. This is actually an extremely serious issue. People in the country have worse outcomes due to the lack of healthcare services and infrastructure, and our hospitals need upgrading. If you could not afford it, you should not have promised it.

And roads – under Labor, regional roads come last. At a time when our regional roads are deteriorating and becoming extremely dangerous, Labor is pushing ahead to cut 45 per cent of its annual spending on road maintenance. In this budget the regions have once again been neglected. The hardworking and taxpaying people of the Eastern Victoria Region will continue to dodge potholes and probably slow down to 40 kilometres per hour. Regional road funding has been cut. The state Labor government have cut $230 million from the road maintenance budget in the last two years. Every pothole is a picture of this government’s neglect.

The last thing I want to talk about is of course the native timber industry. Coming into government in 2014, Labor declared war on regional jobs. Our region of Eastern Victoria has been absolutely trashed. The closure of the native timber industry is devastating to the Eastern Victoria Region. Once again thousands of jobs will be lost, thousands of families are really hurting due to this decision, and Labor does not have a plan for the thousands of lives that it is destroying. The decision to close the native timber industry will not just destroy local communities in the Eastern Victoria Region, it will affect people everywhere. It does not matter where you live, you need timber. You need timber to build homes, and I still do not understand why this decision was made.

I am sure that Victorians are getting sick of decisions being made based on narratives and not facts. Our native timber industry is renewable. All areas harvested are replanted, the timber products store carbon and the trees that replace them are removing more carbon from the atmosphere. Victorians still need timber, and the alternative to harvesting a small area of our native forests in Victoria is to import the same product from overseas, from countries that may not replace or replant or have environmentally and ecologically sustainable practices. The environment will be much worse off because of this decision. The government’s plan contradicts the fourth assessment report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has recognised that sustainable forest management, including the harvesting and regeneration of forests, will generate the largest sustainable climate change mitigation benefit, and that is from the Victorian Forest Products Association. So not only will this decision destroy communities and jobs, it is also against international best practice.

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (16:47): I rise to speak on this year’s budget bills and to focus on transport. You will note that I have a tone of urgency throughout this speech, which may surprise you, because speeches about transport tend to be worthy and somewhat technical, but not urgent. But it is urgent and important because of three stark facts that frame why we need to take action on transport in Victoria.

Fact number 1 is that as we meet here in Melbourne in early August, scientists are confirming that July was the hottest month in the world on record. We have all seen distressing images from the Northern Hemisphere of catastrophic fires across much of Greece, record heatwaves across continents and people ill and dying simply because it is too hot. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said the era of global warming has ended and the era of global boiling has arrived. When I hear that phrase, yes, Mrs McArthur, I am afraid, because after years of hearing about climate activism, even I am caught short by that terrible phrase: global boiling. Guterres says that climate change is here, and it is terrifying – and it is just the beginning. It is possible, though, to limit global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and avoid the very worst of climate change, but only with dramatic, immediate climate action.

Stark fact number 2 is that the transport sector in Victoria is Victoria’s second-largest, and fastest growing, source of carbon emissions. Transport emissions are increasing and not decreasing, and when the stated goal of the Andrews Labor government is to reduce overall emissions, we must take action in this sector if we are to achieve that target. So the stark fact is that Victoria has not yet begun to properly conceptualise the scale of the task, nor the urgency necessary for decarbonising our transport sector.

Stark fact number 3 is that as our city and state continue to grow, we do need confidence that that growth has been adequately factored into transport planning and strategic thinking about having a transport system that is climate friendly. With more people looking to get from A to B, we must have a plan for mode shift to make climate-friendly transport options more accessible and available to all, rather than see induced demand and congestion grow through more new megapolluting roads. Forget demographic projections for 2050; in the next 10 years, Melbourne itself will increase by more than a million people, and as anyone who has recently travelled by road may ask: how will our roads and public transport networks cope with this 20 per cent increase, let alone move to a network that is decarbonised, unless we prioritise that shift to climate-friendly transport now?

Against those three stark facts, we do know that sustainable, zero-emission transport solutions are available today, and they are the necessary future. As my colleague Dr Ratnam said in her budget response last sitting week, budgets tell us about priorities, and what this budget tells us is that while there are a few encouraging crumbs scattered throughout towards climate-friendly transport, our second-largest source of emissions has pretty much been ignored by this budget as a sector that needs to meet the challenge of climate.

Roads and public transport systems in Victoria are under increasing strain, and many suburbs and communities currently lack suitable public transport alternatives. We know that communities and commuters are experiencing negative effects such as high transport costs, increased travel times, congestion, overcrowding, noise, air pollution and reduced physical activities plaguing our suburbs. Some communities in the newly developed estates on the city fringes are not even able to become commuters, because there are not adequate public transport services available to them. And as the cost-of-living pressure continues to bite, too many households spend an extraordinary proportion of their income on petrol costs – a growing proportion. Some members of those same households – of note, often women – are essentially stranded in their homes, not able to get to the shops, the library or the GP because there is not even a one-hourly bus available.

A budget saving, we must remember, is often simply a cost that is transferred onto ordinary people’s lives, and more often – most often – people who are already on the margin. We should be planning for and investing in infrastructure that allows more people to walk, cycle and use public transport and powering our cars, buses and rail with renewable energy. We also need to increase the uptake of electric vehicles and shift heavy traffic such as freight to rail and zero-emission alternatives.

Let us turn to what the budget did offer. Budget paper 4 outlined new projects. However, the vast majority of this funding is directed towards the Level Crossing Removal Project, which, whilst a worthy project and listed in the budget as an investment in public transport, is not in fact a primarily or pure substantive investment in public transport. It does increase safety considerations for rail users, but what it really improves for rail users is when there is an upgrade to a station included. What we have seen in this budget is that there are only three station upgrades – Ballarat, Boronia and Albion – across our entire state, despite us knowing that there are many other facilities that could use an upgrade. Mr Puglielli also spoke about Ivanhoe station in this place just this sitting week. The Level Crossing Removal Project by itself will not increase the number of train services nor materially improve the rail service for our commuters. With the goal of decarbonising overall transport, the Level Crossing Removal Project will not shift people towards using public transport.

Apart from that project, if we consider the overall transport investment, 70 per cent of remaining investment in transport is directed to roads and only 1.3 per cent towards public and active transport, which is an example of what the Climate Council calls a low ratio of capital spending on public transport compared to roads. Sadly, Australia, including Victoria, historically ranks low on global scales for this investment type, and this year’s budget has done nothing to shift that trend of expenditure away from roads and towards public transport. However, there is an encouraging, modest $655 million investment in rail, which provides for those three station upgrades, which we all hope will be accessible.

Another positive investment is the rail initiative to reform and cap regional rail travel at $10 a day, bringing welcome equity to Victorians that live and travel outside of Melbourne. This initiative, though, does not have as much of a budget implication as one might first think as losses from the cheaper individual tickets are partially offset from an increase in overall usage – so it is a really good example of ‘Build it and they will come’ or rather ‘Invest in better services and the public will use them’. We encourage and applaud this investment and encourage more like it.

The Greens have a climate ticket policy, which would see tickets free for those under 21, $1 a day for concession card holders and a flat $3 fare a day for adults. Climate tickets have been introduced in a number of areas across Europe and have resulted in decreased car dependence, fewer traffic jams and reduced emissions and have helped address the cost of living – and we have seen here in Victoria that with those incentives people will shift their mode of travel.

The cheaper fares for V/Line, though, need to be matched by serious investment in more services to meet the demand for people living in the regions for clean, green transport options that set them free from car dependency. We need to increase the frequency of existing services all across our state and increase services to those communities that currently have either inadequate or no services at all. Indeed some of the most disappointing parts of this budget are what is not in it for the regions. With key major transport projects such as the western rail project neglected and, disturbingly, as reported in this week’s Age, to be axed, our regions are struggling with underfunded and insufficient public transport. These communities do deserve better.

Turning to consider the bus fleet, which is used a lot across regions and outer suburban areas of Melbourne, we know there is a target by 2025 that all new public transport buses will be zero-emission vehicles as the state retires some 4000 diesel buses from the fleet. We know that already 35 global cities will only buy zero-emission buses from 2025. But it is difficult to glean from the budget papers whether Victoria’s target will actually be met, so I will be seeking clarification from the minister on that matter.

The main game when it comes to both reducing emissions and living in a pleasant, functional city that is not forever gridlocked is investing in infrastructure and services that encourage people using cars to either take up active transport, like walking and cycling, or public transport, and a tangible measure of this is the service kilometres via transport mode, as outlined in budget paper 3. But this is sobering reading and shocking if you look at it through a climate lens. What we find is a stagnating vision. Tram and train services are not increasing at all, and bus services are expected to barely increase this year, from 128 million to 129 million kilometres. Against existing population growth this literally means that, as a proportion of all transport kilometres, public transport is actually declining – the opposite direction we need to be going. Considering the climate crisis and Victoria and Melbourne’s intention to be a global city, that is an absolute shame.

A growing number of Victorians are also getting on their bikes to get around, and more would like to do so if they had access to safe, separated bicycle infrastructure. This is another form of climate-friendly transport that has been unacceptably neglected in this budget. The Greens have a vision for a connected network of safe walking and bike infrastructure with a centrepiece of bike superhighways, the first of which would be a 21-kilometre safe, separated bike lane from Elsternwick to Coburg. I have been out on numerous trips with riders from the west to the south, all protesting the unacceptable deficits in separated cycling infrastructure in our state. It is inexcusable that safe bike infrastructure continues to receive such insufficient attention from the Andrews Labor government, as the comfort and the safety and indeed, sadly, the lives of Victorians who ride are put at risk daily by this failure. We all deserve to be safe getting from A to B. An investment in separated cycling infrastructure will also help us tackle transport emissions and congestion.

When considering vehicles, our growing population will continue to see more and more cars on the road, while increased demand for freight is also driving up truck emissions – unless we make changes. Victoria needs to accelerate the rollout of electric cars, trucks and buses. In doing so we can cut climate pollution by millions of tonnes a year plus reduce transport costs, congestion and harmful air and noise pollution. It is even an opportunity for building future jobs, as the history around Holden shows us that many Victorians would be chuffed to purchase an electric vehicle made in Victoria.

Sixteen countries and major economies, like California, have now announced plans to end the sale of fossil fuel vehicles. Car companies are phasing out fossil fuel cars. Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Bentley and many have made commitments to only make electric vehicles by 2030, and it can only be a matter of time until all companies around the world announce similar plans. I believe that consumers currently considering a new car should be protected from investing in a polluting car that will consume increasingly expensive petrol and that will inevitably become redundant before too long and in time be difficult to onsell. We are being left behind as the world rapidly shifts to an electrified roadway, and the costs will fall to everyday people to pay.

Just this week the Electric Vehicle Council has described Victoria as having the world’s worst electric vehicle policy, ranking us last amongst the Australian states and territories, with a score of three out of 10 while scoring New South Wales nine and Queensland eight. The council points out that Victoria is the only state or territory with a financial disincentive to purchase an EV, a short-sighted and regressive budget decision recently made by the government. Of that decision, the EVC says:

Disappointingly, the Victorian Government has prematurely withdrawn its EV incentive, with minimal notice to consumers, no phase-out period, and no modelling to understand the impact of this decision.

Disappointing indeed, and in this era of global boiling, irresponsible. Without action, transport emissions will continue to rise. Comparing Victoria to other states is a very low bar, because compared with other countries Australia consistently ranks at the back of the pack when it comes to tackling its transport emissions. Australia’s cars are more polluting because our emission standards are low or non-existent. Our per capita use of public and active transport is lower because our investment in them is relatively low. Indeed the international sentiment is clear that we lack credible targets, policies or plans to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from transport.

The Greens vision outlines what this budget so very clearly does not deliver. Petrol cars, trucks and trains are polluting. They are bad for our health and our community’s health, and they are getting more expensive to run, contributing to the cost of living. We do need to make it easier for people to switch to cheaper and climate-friendly transport, like public transport, electric vehicles, cycling and walking. We need to cut transport emissions, make electric vehicles more affordable, massively boost public transport services for the equity of all our communities and build more separated bike lanes, safer footpaths and pedestrian crossings. By doing so we will contribute our necessary part in slowing down this era of global boiling and avoid the very worst of climate change. It will make our city and our state easier and more affordable to get around, giving us cleaner air to breathe and an altogether better place to live.

Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (17:01): This year’s budget allocates the resources to follow through on our election commitments and begin the post-COVID budget repair process. In doing so we are building better hospitals and investing in the health of Victorians, continuing to build new schools and expand TAFE and continuing to create jobs and improve transport. The Andrews Labor government is also strengthening its investment in the health of women and continuing to back in our journey towards treaty with our First Nations people. This budget also invests in training the workforce of the future to ensure that our reforms of the energy sector and the early childhood sector, for example, are supported by the skills that we need. This budget reforms our tax system to stimulate economic activity, improve the equity of our tax regime and pay down once-in-a-generation COVID debt. We are also helping Victorians beat the rising cost of living. I congratulate the Treasurer Tim Pallas on taking tough decisions and all the while demonstrating that his government upholds Labor values of fairness, equity and justice. This government has committed to providing cost-of-living support to Victorians struggling to get by in the 2023–24 budget.

I would like to emphasise the Andrews Labor government’s continued budget commitments to the health and wellbeing of Victorians. In south-west Victoria the Warrnambool Base Hospital has been able to establish a dedicated women’s health clinic, a one-stop shop for women needing treatment or advice on issues from contraception to pelvic pain. I am very pleased that this service will be complemented by funds for more critically needed endometriosis surgeries. Currently, women have to wait on a waiting list for endometriosis surgery, and some women are becoming infertile during that period of waiting. So it was a very positive and welcome announcement that extra funding would be provided for those surgeries.

The hospital will also receive a new PET scanner, improving clinical capacity to assess cancers, neurological diseases and cardiovascular diseases. Again, this is a health service in a regional community. There were many people in the community that gave me feedback about just how helpful it will be to be able to get their cancer or cardiovascular or neurological condition – all serious conditions – assessed in Warrnambool rather than having to travel to Melbourne, and sometimes even travelling to Melbourne twice, for supplementary tests. So there has been lots of very positive feedback on that investment in a new PET scanner. This has been incredibly well received by the community. It was really satisfying to see how the medical fraternity were truly excited about this new level of medical service for our region.

Warrnambool & District Community Hospice provides a wonderful service, giving people with life-limiting conditions the opportunity to remain in the comfort of their family home. Their free Hospice in the Home service provides trained volunteers and is breaking new ground in palliative care and filling gaps in existing services. So it was very gratifying that this budget provided a grant of $50,000 for the Warrnambool & District Community Hospice to support volunteers to run the Hospice in the Home program.

The Grampians Health Edenhope rural outreach service received $250,000 in budget funding. The program will continue providing mental health and wellbeing support, engagement, support with service navigation and referrals for vulnerable people living in rural and remote areas, including the Yarriambiack, West Wimmera, Horsham rural city and Hindmarsh LGAs of the Wimmera and South Wimmera regions. The program has been funded since 2018 and was a finalist in the 2022 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards. In the past 12 months the program provided 1220 hours of direct engagement to 994 patients. This is part of an overall budget package of $3.36 million.

This budget continues to deliver an ambitious overhaul of early childhood education and care. To help parents get back to work, we are giving more preschoolers access to early childhood education, along with free three-year-old and four-year-old kinder right across the state. In my electorate free kinder for three- and four-year-olds is receiving consistently positive feedback. Saving up to $2500 per child per year, this is helping families and setting up all kids for the best education outcomes. As the Treasurer noted in his budget speech:

… education changes lives. It opens doors. It grants a passport to the future.

…

… Victorian families deserve great schools for their kids.

In Warrnambool the $5 million budgeted for Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School will help the school expand their new integrated classrooms. Stawell West Primary School, Edenhope College and St Brigid’s College, Horsham, have all received planning money or upgrade funds. Further, the Andrews Labor government is helping with school costs and fees. Free school breakfasts and free pads and tampons in government schools help many families and young women.

Initiatives such as the Get Active Kids vouchers provide up to $200 to help all kids get involved in sport and recreation. The cost of a sporting registration or a pair of new sports shoes can make such a difference to a child getting involved in sporting activities. Discounted student travel and conveyance allowances for rural students are also allocated in this budget.

The Treasurer also noted in his speech:

… we have skill shortages in almost every industry.

That’s why we’ve expanded eligibility for training subsidies, including for our popular free TAFE program.

That means more Victorians can study for in-demand jobs like health care, mental health, construction, early childhood and hospitality.

This undoubtedly is making a tangible difference to people’s career options and positively impacting our south-west economy. In the first year of free TAFE, at South West TAFE over 800 students began to achieve their goals. It is obvious that price was a barrier to education. With this budget, even more students are taking up the option to take multiple courses in priority training pathways.

It is very exciting that a new tech school in Warrnambool will encourage students across the region to participate in hands-on learning in science and technology to support the jobs of the future. These tech schools are not the old version of what we think is a tech school, like trade schools. They are technology schools – perhaps that might be a slightly more accurate name for them – because they train up students in scientific and STEM program subjects and technical areas. They really are the future. This is part of a $116 million package to open six new cutting-edge tech schools across Victoria.

It was so fantastic to announce that South West TAFE is also receiving $5 million to deliver a new building innovation and design centre. This will house a large multidisciplinary trades workshop area equipped with specialist equipment for initiatives like green plumbing and solar and battery electrical training. This will be a training ground for our new apprentices working in Victoria’s new SEC, increasing our renewable energy and driving down power bills.

This budget provides another $7.3 billion to bring Victorians a world-class transport network, and importantly, V/Line upgrades continue on the Warrnambool to Melbourne line. It is impossible to take the train from Warrnambool to Melbourne without hearing comments from people on how the capped V/Line fares have opened up access and opportunities for our outer regional and rural communities.

The journey to treaty continues, and the Budj Bim World Heritage cultural landscape traditional owner rangers will experience continued funding under this budget. The unique management of this world-renowned ancient agriculture system will be supported to renew and restore it to its former glory. It was wonderful to visit Budj Bim again, one of many times I have visited, and meet up with the three rangers who will be the beneficiaries of this program. Their names were Aaron, Tyson and Sammy, and each of them had an area of expertise that reflected knowledge of the scientific and geological history and landscape of the local Aboriginal community. For instance, one of them had expertise in feral animal management, another one was expert in landscape management and the other one was expert in eel management. Two of them were already partnered with universities to work with scientific evidence to develop and rebuild the story from the past, because as we know, we need to acknowledge that our colonisation disrupted that knowledge. I was also very pleased to meet with Erin Rose, Aunty Eileen Alberts and Denis Rose as well that day at Budj Bim.

The Andrews Labor government recognises the importance of sport and recreation and the powerful role clubs play, particularly when they are a central meeting place for communities. In this year’s budget I was thrilled to deliver $100,000 to the Panmure Football Netball Club, and it was great to see their excitement and hear their plans for upgrades of their facilities. Also, $1.25 million was granted to the Portland Gymnastics Club. At the moment at their facility the children cannot spin around on the high bar because the ceiling is too low and their feet hit the roof, so the $1.25 million truly will help that facility. They have to use their gymnastic capabilities to prevent them hitting the roof. The Murtoa skate park has also received $200,000 towards the delivery of upgrades to the skate park, including the installation of pump tracks to accommodate scooters, BMX and small skateboarders. It was fantastic that the iconic Stawell Gift received $1.72 million from the budget to support its delivery of the gift from 2024 to 2027.

There are a myriad of other cost-of-living budget items that will make a real difference to people’s lives. These include the $250 power saving bonus, and I was thrilled to be in Portland with my team a few weeks ago assisting people to achieve that. The government is also making available electricity discounts and winter gas discounts for eligible concession card holders, and extending the solar homes and batteries program this year as well.

There are travel and accommodation subsidies for rural Victorians travelling long distances to see health specialists. It can be life changing. Other budget-friendly initiatives include free L-plate and P-plate licensing and online testing, discounted driver licence renewal for safe drivers, short-term vehicle registration and car registration discounts for eligible concession card holders.

There is only one conclusion to draw from this impressive list of values-based commitments: this government cares. It cares about equality, it cares about having a fair go and it cares about doing its best to look after current and future generations. I am proud of this Andrews government’s track record and of the continuing commitment to addressing the cost of living while continuing to set up the state for a dynamic future.

Lee TARLAMIS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:16): I move:

That debate on this motion be adjourned until the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned until next day of meeting.