Wednesday, 30 August 2023

Motions

Commonwealth Games

Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:05): I move:

That this house:

(1) notes:

(a) the government’s cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games;

(b) the $4.4 billion blowout in cost projections for the games;

(c) the government’s belief that ‘broader inflationary pressures across the economy’, including interest rate rises and the war in Ukraine, were responsible for the unprecedented cost increase;

(2) further notes the major project blowouts across the government’s infrastructure pipeline, particularly:

(a) the North East Link;

(b) the Metro Tunnel;

(c) the West Gate Tunnel;

(d) the Suburban Rail Loop;

(3) expresses its concern that the inflationary factors identified by the government are not specific to the Commonwealth Games and could impact major projects across Victoria;

(4) further expresses its concern at the cost implications these factors could have for the government’s key election promises in areas such as schools, hospitals, roads and housing;

and calls on the Andrews government to urgently release a state budget update, outlining the status and current costs of these projects.

If the government’s rationale for the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games is correct, then Victoria is about to experience an extraordinary financial catastrophe. It was just two weeks before the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games was announced that Minister Shing sat in this place defending the initial costings of the games, but because of – wait for it – the war in Ukraine, among other things, we saw the cost of the Commonwealth Games blow out by about 300 per cent. Now, that is the government’s line. If it is true, then those same factors that led to the extraordinary blowout of the Commonwealth Games will impact upon a whole series of other government projects, projects like the North East Link in my electorate, the Metro Tunnel, the West Gate Tunnel, and yes, Mr Luu, the Suburban Rail Loop. This is the Suburban Rail Loop that the minister said before the 2018 election would cost up to $50 billion and yet the Parliamentary Budget Office says will cost over $200 billion ‍– that is, over $200 billion before the war in Ukraine and La Niña and rising interest rates and events in China led, apparently, to a quite amazing blowout in the Commonwealth Games costings in a period of just two weeks.

On this side of the house, we are immensely concerned about that. We are immensely concerned about that, and we would urge the government to act now in order to gain an understanding of the magnitude of the upcoming blowouts, because of these apparently new factors, in these other huge projects, to which the Victorian taxpayer is very much exposed. We know already that, especially, major projects have blown out under this government by more than $30 billion. That figure is not disputed. It has been circulated in detail to the media. Those opposite have it – it is not disputed, over $30 billion in blowouts. We could talk about the specific reasons when it comes to some of these projects. The Suburban Rail Loop was cooked up in secret by a few Labor advisers as, would you believe it, an election bribe before the 2018 election. It is not recommended by Infrastructure Australia, Infrastructure Victoria, the Grattan Institute – in fact, it is not recommended by any expert body.

It has been interesting to me that members in the other place are wasting their time this week, because of the government’s non-existent agenda, debating a sledge motion noting some of my comments on social media about the Suburban Rail Loop before the last election. I think I called it ‘a mangy dog’, and the government is deeply offended by this because those opposite are offended by everything, so they are debating it.

Michael Galea interjected.

Matthew BACH: Mr Galea shouts out that the voters like it. Well, that may be the case. But given that this project, for example, has blown out from costing up to $50 billion when it was announced to $200 billion according to the independent, apolitical Parliamentary Budget Office before the last election, we are now at grave risk.

We know that Victoria already has more debt than New South Wales, Queensland, and Tasmania combined. We know that we are still at risk of further downgrades by credit agencies, meaning that our borrowing will become even more expensive. And yet there are new factors, according to the government, that have led to huge blowouts on major projects.

If the government is telling the truth, what we must see, as we state in our motion, at point (4) for the benefit of the house, is the urgent release of:

A state budget update, outlining the status and current costs of these projects.

These projects being the ones I have already listed that are at point (2) in our motion: the North East Link, the Metro Tunnel, the West Gate Tunnel and also the Suburban Rail Loop. But further projects ‍– what about school projects? School building, surely –

Michael Galea: We are getting on with it.

Matthew BACH: We getting on with it, says Mr Galea. Well, we heard that in relation to the Commonwealth Games, time and time again. When it comes to school building, you are getting on with it with 96 per cent of funding in the last budget in Labor electorates, which is odd. Nonetheless, according to the government’s own public statements about the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games, all of these other projects – schools, hospitals, road projects, housing projects – are also at risk. Doesn’t the war in Ukraine impact these projects just as much as it would impact the Commonwealth Games?

If there is an argument as to why the war in Ukraine would have a specific impact on the Commonwealth Games but on no other government project, I would love to hear it. If that is the case, I would love to hear it, so we are giving the government the opportunity in this debate to make those arguments about the specificity of the external factors that only impact upon the Commonwealth Games and that led to a 300 per cent increase in two weeks in the costings of the Commonwealth Games. If there is an argument to that effect, I would love to hear it. I have not heard it yet. Because if that is true, despite the fact that Victoria is already mired in debt, despite the fact that Victorians are already paying more taxes than anyone else across the country – more than 50 new taxes since Mr Andrews promised no new or increased taxes – then we are on the precipice of a great financial catastrophe.

Not everybody believes the government’s rationale for the Commonwealth Games. I read an article in the Age newspaper a couple of days ago, the headline of which was ‘The con games’. The proposition that was put forward in this article in the Age newspaper was that the government had fashioned a Commonwealth Games across the regions with infrastructure in marginal seats in order to win votes at election time but that the government never had an intention of moving forward with what the Age called ‘The con games’. I know many people across Victoria believe that to be true. It is suspicious that two weeks before the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games was announced Ms Shing sat in this place and defended the initial costings. That is suspicious. I would never accuse the minister of misleading this house, but if there is an argument as to how the war in Ukraine affected the Commonwealth Games costings so significantly in two weeks, again, I would love to hear it. We need to hear that argument. We need to hear the argument from the government about the specificity of these challenges: rising interest rates, events in China, supply-side issues, La Niña, Ukraine.

I do not necessarily think it is reasonable to accept the government’s line about how these are the factors that led to a huge blowout in the Commonwealth Games in just two weeks, but nonetheless if that is true – if that is true – then every other government project is at risk of further blowouts. Major projects have already blown out by more than $30 billion on the watch of this government. If these external factors are in fact having such an impact on projects, we need to have an understanding of exactly what that looks like for our budget and to work together in this place to come up with a plan to mitigate those risks, like the war in Ukraine.

I understand why there is scepticism in the community about the government’s rationale for the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games. It was recently reported that Mr Andrews had been offered but did not accept any Commonwealth funding for the Commonwealth Games. That was odd, because I actually remember in the election campaign Mr Andrews repeatedly attacking Mr Morrison for a lack of federal government funding for Victoria’s major projects. Don’t you remember ‘miserable Morrison’? Mr Andrews fronted the press and said every time he wants money for Victorian projects it is like he has to get on bended knee with his begging bowl. It is like getting foreign aid out of the federal government, he said. But now his mates are in power in Canberra –

Nicholas McGowan interjected.

Matthew BACH: and they were offering money – no, you are quite right, Mr McGowan. In actual fact this was before the federal election: ‘miserable Morrison’ was offering money for the Commonwealth Games, it is reported, that Mr Andrews did not take, which is odd. I am old enough to remember Paul Keating saying, ‘Never get between a state premier and a bucket of money.’ Mr Andrews was being offered a bucket of money, it is reported, for the Commonwealth Games, and yet he did not accept it. So in putting forward this motion, I am not accepting the government’s logic, the government’s rationale, but nonetheless the government has made the case that there was a huge blowout in the Commonwealth Games costings in just two weeks as a result of a range of strange factors, including the war in Ukraine. I would love to understand that argument more, but the point we are making today is a very serious point, actually, about Victoria’s ongoing financial stability.

Given the parlous state of our public finances and given the fact that I have heard no argument about the specificity of these factors only to the Commonwealth Games, we are now at great risk. We would urge the government to do the work and to put forward further information in the public domain – I know that is very unusual in Victoria, but nonetheless – so that we can work together to seek to ensure that we do not fall off a financial cliff, which undoubtedly we will if the government’s reasoning is correct. So I am interested to hear further explanation from the government, and I commend this motion to the house, given the very serious nature of our current financial position and given the massive future risks that we have if in fact the government is telling us the truth about the reasons for the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games. I commend the motion to the house.

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:16): I also rise to speak on this motion. It certainly seems to be the case that we did not get much time to actually prepare for this motion. It only came up yesterday. After midday we were notified of this, so it has been quite a rushed motion from His Majesty’s opposition. It is quite a sloppy motion. To quote your hyperbolic language from yesterday, Dr Bach, one could almost say it is sneaky. So here we are debating this once again.

I had prepared some notes in relation to the Commonwealth Games specifically, but I note that Dr Bach decided to expand this into a broader discussion that apparently the world is falling down around us, which could not be further from the truth. Basically Dr Bach has put this through at the last minute, and he has mentioned the Ukraine situation as well. I would like to briefly pause to mention that, whilst this does get thrown around in this chamber a lot, I did have the distinct honour on Saturday, along with Mr Tarlamis and Mrs Hermans, of going to a celebration of Ukrainian Independence Day in Noble Park in our electorate. It was very bittersweet event. I look forward to updating the house in further detail at a later time. But I do want to reflect on and acknowledge the situation that the country of Ukraine is going through right now. As you saw fit to mention this repeatedly in your contribution, Dr Bach, I will leave that note there.

As the good Dr Bach knows, though, there is a select committee that has been formed into the Commonwealth Games cancellation and into the regional infrastructure build, because of course we were here two sitting weeks ago when that motion was debated and was put through. Along with other colleagues in this place, I am serving on that committee, with Mr Limbrick as chair. That committee is well underway. That is of course on top of the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) process looking into it. Here we are again with yet another motion from the opposition. I say it is sloppy, and it is sloppy. It is quite indicative of the nature in which His Majesty’s opposition has taken to this issue.

Members interjecting.

Michael GALEA: Do you know what? If you are not even going to say what you fought so hard yesterday to keep, I will say it. I seem to be the only one in this chamber who will call you ‘His Majesty’s opposition’. I will say it until the Governor puts through the law that was passed yesterday. You are not even going to reference the thing that you fought so valiantly to keep because it was such an attack on Victoria’s constitution, which I think you were saying at one point yesterday. It was such an attack, and you are not even saying it. So I will call you by your proper title, at least for the time being, of His Majesty’s opposition.

But this does go to the sloppiness of the opposition in their approach to this. We saw a few weeks ago the Leader of the Opposition, our good friend Mr Pesutto, go on to the radio and crow and say how wonderful it was that the crossbench voted, united for the first time, to defeat a government motion to refer this to VAGO, and that is complete nonsense. As members here know, it was a 20–20 vote. I am not sure where Mr Pesutto is getting his facts from, but he seems to be quite mistaken. Again, it just goes to the very sloppy nature in which the opposition – sorry, His Majesty’s opposition – have approached this debate. It is throwing bombs at the last minute – ‘Oh, what are we going to do?’

I do not know why it took so long to get the motion out yesterday. Maybe they could not even agree on their own side. We know that it would not be the first time within their party room that that has been the case. But anyway, we have got it here now. Who knows? We will have another member of the party room now – another gallant victory for the perfidious Mr Pesutto, claiming victory in a one-horse race. If the Commonwealth Games only had one competitor for each race, they might not be quite so interesting in the first place. But we know with the Liberal Party, if they are the only horse in the race, they will win, and that is their secret recipe for success. We wish them all the best with that strategy when running in the 2026 election – hoping no-one else remembers to nominate.

But here we are talking about the Commonwealth Games. There is a select committee that has been set up for the specific purpose of looking at this. We are doing that work, and again I note my colleague Mr Limbrick, who is chairing the committee. We are already well underway, and we are getting on with that process. There is a VAGO report. The motion today seems to be a bit of ‘Let’s throw whatever we can at the wall.’ I think the Metro Tunnel is in there and the North East Link, whatever they could find. It is great for you to remind us of all the wonderful things that are being done in this state and all the hard work that this government is doing to deliver the infrastructure for Victoria that our growing state so desperately needs.

Along with my colleagues on this side – I believe Mr Berger may have been there as well – I had the opportunity of visiting the Metro Tunnel just a couple of months ago at Town Hall station. It was wonderful to see that station underway. Members would have seen the trains running. The opposition got very excited when the test train on the very first day ran into some apparent difficulties; I do not even know if they were difficulties. But imagine a test train not running perfectly on day one. That is what test trains are for, I would have thought. The Metro Tunnel will be opening a year ahead of schedule. I note Dr Bach left that out of his rather sloppily put together motion. A year ahead of schedule the Metro Tunnel will be opening, directly benefiting my constituents in the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region and the Western Metropolitan Region, with knock-on effects that will benefit the rest of the metropolitan network.

We have in your electorate, Dr Bach, the North East Link, which is underway. Mr Puglielli is in the chamber as well, I see. Although I am a proper southie, I did have the chance to drive past the construction site last week. I note in our enjoyable debate last week Mr Puglielli raised the construction site. It is quite a big construction site. A lot of work is going on there, much more than I had anticipated, and I am sure the Minister for Environment will continue to work with you on the rehabilitation of that site. But the North East Link Program is well underway, which is great to see, as indeed are many other projects.

The Suburban Rail Loop – I cannot believe that the Liberals still think that this is a good thing for them to campaign on. They are losing seat after seat in the outer south-east and the outer east – Glen Waverley at the last election. For two elections now they have gone to the Victorian people to say, ‘This is a terrible project,’ and two elections in a row the Victorian people have said, ‘This is actually a good project. This is what we want.’ For decades and decades and decades in this state people have talked about the need for an orbital railway line around Melbourne. People have complained that to get from Dandenong to Frankston it is often quicker to go through Caulfield than it is to go the direct route. This is a government that is investing in the future. We are a growing state. These projects are just some of the many, many parts of that, and it is good to see the opposition – sorry, His Majesty’s opposition – reference them in their motion today.

On the Commonwealth Games – again, I thought I would be speaking little bit more about the Commonwealth Games during a debate on a motion that is ostensibly about the Commonwealth Games, but as we heard from Dr Bach, he is seeking to connect it with just about anything but. As members will know, Victoria agreed to take on the 2026 games following Durban in South Africa’s withdrawal from the games, and we did so with the full and enthusiastic support of the opposition. I do not think it was the perfidious Mr Pesutto back then; it was the good Mr Guy, and they fully supported it the whole way through. They said, ‘Let’s expand it. Let’s do more regional cities.’ Now of course they are saying, ‘No, no, no, you shouldn’t have done that. You shouldn’t have done that.’ We were prepared to support it and we were prepared to step in and help when it was needed because there was a justifiable business case for it that showed a benefit to Victoria. When that changed, though, we were not prepared to then go and say, ‘We’re prepared to risk this much taxpayers money on an event,’ once those costs had increased.

Members interjecting.

Michael GALEA: It is frankly adapting to the situation and adapting to do what is right in the situation. Again you will throw out all sorts of barbs and insults and whatever else you like to do, Dr Bach, but ultimately we did make the decision.

Ann-Marie Hermans: You actually cancelled the Commonwealth Games.

Michael GALEA: As you say, Mrs Hermans, we did make the decision to cancel the games, and that was on the basis of the best information at the time. As the Premier said, that was not one of the hardest decisions he has had to make in his job, because putting Victorians first is what this government has always been about. Instead we are investing $2 billion in a regional infrastructure build that will benefit Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and the Latrobe Valley, but it will also benefit beyond those areas and beyond those five centres.

It will actually go beyond, into further parts of the regions – regions that would not have directly benefited as a result of the Commonwealth Games. This regional infrastructure build is going to deliver the housing, the community sport infrastructure and the other vital services and infrastructure that these communities need, and this is going to be a much better investment of the state’s money given the situation that has arisen. So whilst I very much appreciate the good Dr Bach’s raising of this motion for us to speak on today, I will finish where I started, which is to say: it is a sloppy motion. It is all over the place. I do not really know what you want. We have already got a select committee into this process as well as a VAGO audit underway, but by all means let us continue debating if this is what you want to do with your time today. Thank you. I do not commend the motion to the house.

David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:26): I also rise to speak on this motion. Effectively what this motion is talking about is government waste, and I am very concerned about government waste as well. They talk about the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games, the budget blowouts and all these projects that are blowing out, and I am very sympathetic to those ideas that the government are wasting too much money – although I will note that the government have embraced a little bit of financial prudence recently. They spoke about making some cutbacks to the public service, which I am very happy about, and I would urge them to go further. At one point there was even a media report that the government was implementing a Libertarian Party policy of a 10 per cent cut. I am not sure whether that will actually happen or not, but it would be good.

I have got a big concern with this motion because it is talking about waste, waste, waste, and then it calls on the government to urgently release a state budget update. I think that that is just wasting more money. Many people talk about members of Parliament not having much experience in the real world; well, I do have experience working in a finance department, and budget processes are huge processes. It takes months and months in advance to go through and collect the data from all over the place – it is a massive job – and if this motion were to pass and if the Treasurer were to instruct the Department of Treasury and Finance to come up with a state budget update, here is what I think would happen: they would not have the resources at their disposal to be able to do it. They would get in a whole bunch of consultants, and this would cost millions of dollars. It would have to be a crash project, and I do not think that in any case they would get it out before the midyear budget update, which is meant to be released I think in November. I think it would be very unlikely that they would get it out before then anyway. I will not be supporting this motion on those grounds. I think that, despite my concern about waste, this is calling for more waste, so I do not support it.

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (10:28): I certainly stand in support of this motion, and I want to thank Georgie Crozier for putting it forward. The Commonwealth Games was intended to be a games like no other –

A member interjected.

Gaelle BROAD: Yes, certainly no other – not happening. It was intended to be focused on regional Victoria and on delivering legacy projects with long-term benefits. It was intended – and we were fully supportive of this – to be something that could create great sporting venues that do serve the community every single day. We wanted projects built that would leave a lasting legacy, certainly in terms of accommodation as well as those sporting venues, and infrastructure that would also benefit the state far beyond just the couple of weeks of the games.

Regional Victoria has done it hard. There has been drought, there have been bushfires and we have had COVID, significant lockdowns and floods. We certainly needed something to look forward to. The Commonwealth Games was providing that. And 15 months ago the state government were chasing the games. They were going after the games, wanting to be the only state bidding for the games. But in November last year – well, before the state election last year – they actually expanded the number of regional cities to host the games and included the marginal seats of Morwell and Shepparton in that.

But how quickly things turn. In April this year I had Senator Bridget McKenzie visiting Bendigo, and concerns were raised then about the time frame and funding for the Commonwealth Games. We wanted to make sure that this state government did not push all the costs of the games onto the local councils. The Bendigo Times on 28 April this year said:

Deputy Premier and Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery, Jacinta Allan, said there was no truth of budget concerns or timeframe issues.

‘We are making great progress with regional communities on the delivery of the 2026 Commonwealth Games,’ she said.

‘The Andrews Labor Government has grabbed with both hands the opportunity to have regional Victoria be the home of the Games …

And then we got to the state budget – no details, radio silence. Less than 1000 days until the games, local councils and sporting groups had no information about what was happening.

And then in July it was like a house of cards that came crashing down. The Premier; Jacinta Allan, Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery; and Harriett Shing, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, announced that the Commonwealth Games had been cancelled because of cost blowouts – $2.6 billion up to $6 billion or $7 billion – but there was no explanation, no details. And what do we have to show for it now? We have got $380 million wasted just to cancel the contract. Now, that is our money – that is your money – being absolutely wasted. Just think of how that could have been spent and what it would have done for regional Victoria with investment in things like ambulances, schools and roads. It could be a lot better than just throwing money away. Certainly the government does not seem to worry about continuing to waste money. It is interesting that even in Ballarat the Committee for Ballarat CEO Michael Poulton told the Commonwealth Games inquiry the games office is still operating in Ballarat. It seems people are still being paid not to deliver the games. So the $380 million is just the tip of the iceberg. We know that there were a lot of people employed and office renovations that were very fancy, and all of that has just been wasted – wasted money.

We in Victoria have the highest state debt of any other state in Australia and soon we are going to be paying $22 million a day in interest. That is despite the fact that we actually pay higher taxes than any other state, and under this government we have had 50 new or increased taxes since they came into government in 2014.

Victoria’s reputation as a sporting and events capital has also been damaged on an international scale with this announcement. But now the state government are trying to keep these negotiations secret. In the hearing that was held in Bendigo, the City of Ballarat deputy mayor Amy Johnson said she was very critical of the decision to make their CEO sign an agreement:

‘To expect our CEO to sign a nondisclosure agreement that prohibits him from sharing all relevant information with a councillors group is a disgrace,’ she said.

‘I do not think it usual. If it is, I think it is wrong.’

She also criticised the state government for failing to consult with council about funding priorities or if it was even feasible to construct accommodation and sporting infrastructure in little more than two years and ensure that transport plans were in place.

But that secret style of government, keeping negotiations secret, is something that we are seeing across the board with this government. We have seen it with the timber industry – people signing the support plans need to do that non-disclosure and they are not permitted to speak about those negotiations. We have also had under this government FOI requests skyrocket. But what this government seem to forget is that it is our money and they are here to serve people and manage our money. Why do they need to hide all this information?

In the hearings in Bendigo, there were considerable concerns raised. To quote from the Age, it says:

Regional groups have told a Senate inquiry they were ignored by the Victorian government when they sounded the alarm on decisions about facilities and housing for the Commonwealth Games.

They also heard at the hearing from the Table Tennis Association. They said they had been:

… blindsided when games competitions for the sport were announced for their city without consultation.

Rodney Carter, who is with the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, said they were fully supportive of the games and they were wanting to see them going ahead. They were very dogged in their support of holding the games in Australia in 2026, even after the government announced that they were no longer happening.

But as reported in the Age yesterday, Premier Daniel Andrews has declined an invitation to speak before the Senate committee which is probing the cancellation of the games, and he told the inquiry that no government ministers or employees would attend. So where is the transparency in this government? It is very good that we do have an upper house inquiry that was supported by the whole crossbench, which is now open for submissions, and I would like to invite people to come forward and share their stories, because there are still many questions that need to be answered.

The Commonwealth Games is more than just a sport. As we saw with the success of the Matildas in the recent World Cup, it just brings an absolute sense of excitement and anticipation that brings people together, and you cannot put a price on that. And we need that in Victoria. The CEO of Vicsport said athletes were shattered when Daniel Andrews said cancelling the Commonwealth Games was ‘not a difficult decision’. But the ripple effect of the damage of this decision is felt right across the board. It is not just athletes that are impacted; there are accommodation providers. I visited the Huntly Hotel recently with David Southwick and Wendy Lovell, and they were planning expansions because of the Commonwealth Games. I have spoken to local businesses that were setting up in Bendigo and that are now moving their manufacturing overseas because of this decision. I am aware of transport operators ‍– bus operators – that have been purchasing vehicles from other states just to be able to cope with the transport that they were anticipating with the games. And there is the damage to tourism because an international spotlight was going to be shining on regional Victoria, and again, it is very hard to put a price on that.

Jacinta Allan, who is the member for Bendigo East and the former Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery, certainly did not deliver. The Nationals will continue to advocate for transparency to ensure that regions benefit. There is still very much a lack of detail, and there seems to be a lot of rebranding of information and money to try and get a media headline by this government. But we do need projects that suit the local region and deliver long-term benefits.

They have been called the ‘Con Games’, which I think is very appropriate, because you have to question whether or not there was fraud by this government in continuing to push the line that the Commonwealth Games were going ahead and then so quickly switching and absolutely pulling the plug. By cancelling the Commonwealth Games the Labor government has certainly dropped the baton with regional Victoria.

Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (10:38): Yesterday’s conspiracy theory was about a hidden element in a bill that meant Victoria was going to turn the nation into a republic. Today’s conspiracy theory is that we never intended to run the games. The idea of hosting the Commonwealth Games was a well-meant initiative. It was embarked on with the most positive of intentions, particularly as no other host in the Commonwealth was forthcoming at the time. However, it has been recognised that a 12-day event, with the multitude of logistical challenges it posed and costing $6 billion, was not going to be the best use of resources for this state. It takes leadership to change course even when that is obviously the right decision to make. I support Daniel Andrews’s decision, as does Nikki Gemmell from the Australian, who argues that the Commonwealth Games are an outdated concept from a colonial area, and judging by the positive response from regional leaders, so does regional Victoria. As Nikki Gemmell stated in her article in the Australian on 29 July:

Dan Andrews’ decision to walk away from the multi-city sports carnival feels refreshing, a sign of the times.

She added:

It’s telling that none of our states or territories want to pick up the poisoned baton. The games always felt slightly embarrassing anyway, with the mighty roar of Australia, Canada and the UK dominating so grotesquely those valiant smaller countries of the dominion. The whole thing was starting to feel anachronistic, creaky.

The games, being limited to old empire membership, have for many years now started to feel like a practice event for certain nations rather than a meeting of worldwide sporting prowess. Nikki Gemmill comes to the conclusion that:

Dan Andrews’ decision feels like a masterstroke of modernity, a declaration that will one day be cited by the history books in terms of Australia’s shift towards a republic. Out with the old ways, those dusty vestiges of colonialism, and let’s put our money where it’s really needed.

That is what Daniel Andrews is going to do. This decision is an opportunity to put our money where it is really needed. As emphasised by Harriet Shing, the Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy:

We’ll deliver all the housing, sports infrastructure and tourism legacy benefits for our regions, but without the massive extra cost of hosting the Games.

What is not to like about that? The games may not be proceeding, but every single one of our permanent new and upgraded sporting infrastructure projects will still be delivered as planned by 2026. This means big and small projects right across Victoria that will deliver modern facilities that communities want for both elite and grassroots sports for many years to come. It also means that we can go straight to delivering the final legacy through the infrastructure so that regional communities can benefit from the new and upgraded facilities earlier.

I am particularly pleased that this means that 60 kilometres of world-class mountain bike trails will be built in and around Creswick. I must admit that I personally do not need world-class mountain bike trails, but you can be sure I will be trying them out, even if my jump, berm and drop-off skills are not world class. The outcomes we will now have remain very positive and future oriented for the whole of regional Victoria.

As referenced in the Premier’s press release on 18 July, the Victorian government is getting on with delivering:

… a comprehensive $2 billion package to ensure regional Victoria still receives all the benefits that would have been facilitated by the –

Commonwealth –

Games – and more.

In addition to existing funds, there is now more funding allocated to the regions. This is giving the Andrews government the opportunity to provide urgently needed worker accommodation, with an investment of $150 million in regional worker accommodation to provide new housing opportunities for regional communities where key workers are struggling to find affordable places to live. It is apparent that there is no more important issue anywhere in our state currently than housing. This government is committed to making regional jobs more secure and also making it easier for businesses to find and keep staff. The south-west is full of ideas on how to quickly and affordably fix the regional worker housing accommodation crisis, and I hope that we see some of these initiatives come to fruition in the future.

The government has also taken this opportunity to announce, ahead of the housing statement to be released later this year, that it will provide a new $1 billion housing fund to deliver more than 1300 new homes in regional Victoria. And there are more benefits for regional Victoria. It is true the games were expected to bring many tourists from the Commonwealth to our shores, yet even without a 12-day influx of tourists, it is a sure thing that tourism will continue to flourish in our state’s regional economies and for the long term. In fact the new $150 million Regional Tourism and Events Fund will ensure our regions have the best of everything to offer, with new events, new attractions and more accommodation.

I am very pleased that sporting clubs in the south-west are motivated to advocate for their share of the $2 billion in extra funding. Paul Dillon, president of the south-west hockey association, has pointed out that there can be real opportunities due to this realignment of funding opportunities. Money not being spent on the organising and logistics of an enormous event to be held across Victoria can now go to permanent infrastructure opportunities and can potentially be accessed with larger regional scope. As Paul said in a Standard article on 18 July:

I went from a first impression of shock to then realising the silver linings which immediately became apparent to me … Our expectations were that Warrnambool and other communities outside the five hubs were going to get almost nothing as a legacy.

The government had promised to spend $2 billion in regional Victoria with more details on how and where yet to be announced.

All of a sudden, I just think there is so much more room in that $2 billion for communities like Warrnambool and others to actually get more than they would have got if the games went ahead …

He went on to say:

I just think one door has closed and two doors have opened.

There’s a huge silver lining for Warrnambool and the south-west, not just for hockey but sports in general.

Mr Dillon is right. The $60 million Regional Community Sport Development Fund for initiatives that encourage regional Victorian families and children to be more physically active exemplifies Mr Dillon’s view. A difficult decision, even a shocking one, was made, but the benefits to regional Victoria are not only an extra $2 billion but also a more equitable spread, and that is what I want to support today in arguing against this motion, the premise of which is absolutely flawed.

There was no conspiracy about the games. We were certainly going to go ahead with those games, but the circumstances changed, and I am very, very proud that our leadership is in a position to take the gutsy decisions when they need to be taken. The benefit to the whole of Victoria is that our children and grandchildren will not be left with a Commonwealth Games debt legacy but instead a marvellous legacy of sporting, tourism and housing infrastructure for generations to come. I am so proud to stand with our Premier Daniel Andrews, who recognises when a decision is required and is prepared to make the right call.

Nicholas McGOWAN (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:47): I would like to begin my contribution by congratulating the newest member of the Parliament of Victoria, Nicole Werner. This is yet to be recognised by the Victorian Electoral Commission, but that should not surprise us given how inefficient we know the VEC are. They are my good friends, and I am sure they will get around to it in good time. Nonetheless, to Nicole: congratulations. I cannot wait to have her in this place in the other chamber. I was there in Warrandyte, which is also part of the electorate that I serve, on the night of Nicole’s win. It was a joyous event, a great win. I did not see the –

Members interjecting.

Nicholas McGOWAN: The other side interject to say ‘one-horse race’. They are absolutely right in the sense that there was not a candidate from the Labor Party, so I am happy to take that interjection up. In fact I have been wanting to talk about this for quite some time, so I thank you for the interjection. I implore the good rank-and-file members of the Victorian Labor Party: perhaps next time they might want to actually have a candidate. I know that they have some voters – not many – in Warrandyte, and even I feel for them. I am very sympathetic to their desire to at least have their democratic choice. The very fact we had such a large proportion of people not vote at all demonstrates to me that perhaps the Labor voters had absolutely nowhere to go, the poor things. What were they going to do when their own party had abandoned them?

A member interjected.

Nicholas McGOWAN: We cannot rely on the VEC for anything. They did not even inform the Victorian people there was a –

A member interjected.

Nicholas McGOWAN: I am coming to the Commonwealth Games. I am just warming up. I am coming to the Commonwealth Games, but you have taken me off track, what with the VEC and the absence of a Labor candidate in Warrandyte, which again I find ghastly. I just find it the antithesis of democracy. The fact is that you have just had at your national conference the opportunity to represent your own people, to select your own candidates, and you have run away from that opportunity. It is extraordinary. All of those opposite sat there while their own party decided not to field a candidate.

Anyway, I will go back to the motion we are debating, notwithstanding the fact that I do have great sympathy for the rank-and-file members of the Labor Party on this occasion, because they did not even have a candidate because their party did not have the guts or the gumption to put one forward.

I was there, as I was saying, in Warrandyte to congratulate Nicole, and that evening there were very many questions put to me by members of the local community – very many questions, that is, in regard to the Commonwealth Games. In particular today is a great opportunity to put some of those questions to the Premier himself through this contribution. One of those questions was: does Premier Andrews truly care about hospitals and schools? To be fair, it is a somewhat rhetorical question, because we know the short answer is no. Why do we know that? Well, we know that because he has just literally blown $380 million at least – at a minimum. This is somebody who, walking as they talk, has no regard for the fact that $380 million can be literally thrown down the drain. It is unbelievable.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews presented withdrawing from the Commonwealth Games contract ‍– this was, let us not forget, a bid that they put in voluntarily – as a prudent decision. In his words:

No ne wanted this thing to cost $5bn, $6bn, $7bn …

He said he was:

… not going to apologise for not taking money out of hospitals and schools.

Really? Not taking money out of hospitals and schools? $380 million – there are a lot of schools I know in our electorate, Dr Bach, who would absolutely appreciate that money. They are trying to scrounge together, as we are speaking, money to try and facilitate school camps. That is a lot of school camps for $380 million. My goodness – you could send them all overseas at that expense.

As this chamber knows and any Victorian worth half their salt knows, prudence lies in doing your due diligence before you bid for a job and not after. I mean, it is not a complicated concept, let us face it. Unfortunately, Victorians are left to pick up the tab. It is literally like you have had a runner; you have gone to the restaurant, you have had a beautiful meal but no-one wants to pay for it and everyone else gets up and runs – that is everyone from the Labor Party – and my poor colleague here Mrs McArthur is left there with a cheque in her hand for $380 million and nothing to show for it. So she turns to her people in Ballarat, Geelong, Warrnambool, Terang and Portland, and she has nothing to show for that; she has just got a bill in her hand. It is quite unfortunate.

When asked about these woefully inadequate estimates, the Premier, as is his habit, pointed elsewhere ‍– he blamed everyone else. That is great. It is a goodie but an oldie. I think it is probably wearing thin for this government at this point. He blamed of course the officials and the consultants. We actually do not know if any of this is a fact. There are no facts in this debate. I do not even know if the $380 million figure is a fact either, because there is a gag order, and this is one of the great ironies. It seems to me that when the Premier said he would provide all these details later once the negotiations had concluded, he knew that he would make sure there was a gag order to make sure that they would never actually have to do that.

It was not so much mastery as just trickery I think, because to say it was mastery would be craven – to deny the Victorian people the right to scrutinise, to deny the Victorian people the right to know what was negotiated and the true extent of the actual bill. We are told – and I do not believe it – that it is only $380 million. It is probably well in excess of that, because we also have to recall that when the Premier was discussing these matters early on, he was really referring to the major contracts. He made this differential in his language, which he often does – and I have to get better at catching him out on this when we have him next time at the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, because I think maybe I did not do quite a good enough job – because the reality is that there are small and medium contracts as well. To what extent are we exposed to those contracts? To what extent do we have liabilities there as well? There is no doubt in my mind that the bill for this will continue to grow over time, and in all honesty until there is a change of government I do not think any Victorian will ever know the true cost of this decision to axe the Commonwealth Games.

I want to pick up on an interjection that was made earlier on, because it took me back in time. It was an irony, to say the least. I recall very well when those opposite, in government, were claiming that Matthew Guy, the then Leader of the Opposition, would cut or axe the Commonwealth Games. There was the tile that they used in social media with great enthusiasm and fanfare: ‘This is what Matt Guy’s going to do, he’s going to kill the Commonwealth Games.’ So then lo and behold, some months later, for Labor to do that to their own games themselves was not only ironic; not even those twisted scriptwriters from Yes Minister, Yes, Prime Minister, Veep or In the Thick of It – not even those guys and girls – could come up with something so comical, so twisted, so perverted that in actual fact the very thing that you have accused those opposite of you do yourself. In fact it was almost like there was this sense of projecting. That really was the last campaign in its entirety: ‘Let’s project.’ They labelled Matt Guy ‘the cuts guy’, but in their very first budget when back in government, what did they do? They cut everything. At the next campaign Victorians should be well aware that whatever Labor is saying, it is probably a good projection of what they plan to do themselves.

Ann-Marie Hermans: That’s right, exactly.

Nicholas McGOWAN: Yes, I know. It is almost like Mr Smithers, isn’t it? It conjures those –

Michael Galea interjected.

Nicholas McGOWAN: Mr Smithers – we will introduce him to this debate. We have got a few other people –

Michael Galea interjected.

Nicholas McGOWAN: We will come to the nuclear debate. I have got plenty of time for that on Thursday. I am looking forward to that.

But back to these consultants that the Premier has blamed, who hired these consultants and the officials? Well, his government of course, the Labor government. Who reviewed the estimates and came up with them? Oh, yes, that is right, it is his government. Yes, it is the same people: ‘Oops, sorry. Sorry about that.’ Who decided at that point in time the estimates were reliable? Oh, yes, that is right, it is this government as well. Oh, this is getting good, isn’t it? There is a theme being created here. I almost cannot keep track of how often they pose their own question and then answer it – or pose a question and answer it, and then say that actually that was not the question in the first place but this is another question. They lose me, they lose Victorians, in a myriad of words and wordplay, such that we are all left wondering. We are all left like my poor colleague here, Mrs McArthur, holding the check for $380 million at the restaurant table when everyone else has run away. It is a very nasty feeling. I mean, the meal tasted fantastic –

Bev McArthur: All my friends outside of the tram tracks are bereft.

Nicholas McGOWAN: Everyone is bereft. But I realise here that I have taken up way too much time in the debate, because I have only got to the one question that the good folk of Warrandyte were asking me when I was at the victory party for Nicole Werner –

Bev McArthur interjected.

Nicholas McGOWAN: She stood in the seat of Warrandyte, Mrs McArthur. You were not there for the introduction of my speech, but –

Bev McArthur: Where was the Labor Party? They did not want to represent their –

Nicholas McGOWAN: Well, we have covered this, but just for the sake of comprehensiveness, they failed to field a candidate at all.

Bev McArthur: They did not turn up. They were a no-show.

Nicholas McGOWAN: They failed to turn up. I do have some references to the monarchy, and I will come back to the motion itself, because I do think this is an important –

Bev McArthur interjected.

Nicholas McGOWAN: As much as I would like to indulge those opposite in their whimsical take on this motion – and Mr Galea, I know that you had some commentary about barbs before and those coming your way, but I know that you sledged a few this way as well in respect to the actual motion itself. I think it is a fine motion, I have got to say. I think it is quite well put. Some thorough thought went into this. And one of my greatest disappointments – I have to get to this in the 30 seconds I have left. I have said this across the chamber: I do want to know what the mascots were. I want to know their names. I want to know how much we paid for them. They were never revealed. I think you owe it to the Victorian people to come clean on that and let us know what they are. And while I say that in jest, the reality is there is no doubt, whatever those mascots are, they cost us millions – millions. I do not know whether there is a truckload or a boatload full of them right now in some overseas country. There probably is, and they are probably crying to get out. We are all crying; it is unfortunately what happens here in Victoria today.

David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (10:58): I am a bit uncomfortable in speaking to this motion, and I come to it I suppose as one of the ‘newbies’ here. But I am trying to look at it from the outside, because I do not think many people actually watch what is happening here in real time. And can I say to both of those people: thank you for your time in sharing with us. I think, more broadly, most people are really sceptical about what we do here sometimes and how we operate sometimes. It is not that there are not really important things that happen here, it is just that we need to be seen to be doing things properly sometimes.

Bev McArthur: Sometimes.

David ETTERSHANK: Now, let us do it at least sometimes, yes? Let us do it sometimes; maybe other times we will just be grossly opportunistic. But I guess coming back to the question of the Commonwealth Games and this motion before us, can I firstly record that Legalise Cannabis Victoria voted with the majority of this house – that is, the opposition and every other member of the crossbench ‍– to support the establishment of an inquiry. We voted that way because we thought, and we still think, that there are important questions that need to be answered about how we ended up in this situation, and Mr McGowan has eloquently expressed some of those, I think.

But I would like to just sort of step back for one minute when we think about this resolution that is before us, because I know, even though I am new here, that when we refer something off to an inquiry, we are not sending it off to a court. It is not a court. And the members who will participate in that inquiry, they are not impartial jurors. We all take our values. Goodness knows when working in this place you get so much information it is hard not to have an opinion on so many things. But I think, notwithstanding that, it is really important that when we go into an inquiry we are seen by the public to go into that inquiry with an open mind. Irrespective of our political tags, irrespective of where we have put ourselves on the record, we are going in there for a thoughtful process where taxpayer funds will be spent on an inquiry to try and get to the truth. And then I look at this motion, and it sort of reminds me of – I am going to show my age here; I do not know how many people remember the Mel Brooks classic Blazing Saddles.

Members interjecting.

David ETTERSHANK: There are a few people who might remember it. And you might recall there is a scene in Blazing Saddles where the heroes are in front of a lynch mob.

Nicholas McGowan: Who was the hero?

David ETTERSHANK: Don’t go there. And the lynch mob are saying, ‘Hang ’em, hang ’em, hang ’em up high.’ And the judge steps up and tells them all to shut up: ‘Shut up. We’re going to try ’em first, and then we’re going to hang ’em.’ And I am afraid when I look at this motion and I think about this motion and this inquiry coming up, it is awfully Mel Brooks, because you are saying to everyone in Victoria, ‘We’re going to hang ’em.’ It does not matter what comes out in the inquiry; we have already made up our minds, because this motion says just that – that we have already made up our minds. So it is in that context and in that context specifically, not because of any lack of questions to be asked through the inquiry but for the very question of the probity and the dignity of this place and this process, that Legalise Cannabis will be opposing this motion.

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (11:02): Today I rise to speak on the opposition’s motion on the Commonwealth Games, but I note, just as many voices from the government have before me, that the games would have cost Victoria far more than we can justify. As far as we are concerned, we are interested in delivering viable results for Victoria, and the Andrews Labor government knows that this money would be much better spent invested in everyday Victorians from the regions. It did not stack up. To quote the Premier:

What’s become clear is that the cost of hosting these Games in 2026 is not the $2.6bn … which was budgeted and allocated.

So the Andrews Labor government decided to go another way. Of course as the sporting capital of Australia it would have been wonderful to have the games in our regional centres. However, this was not a tough decision, not when the money could have been spent elsewhere. How could we justify spending billions on the games when money would be so much better and more well placed improving the lives of regional Victorians, not just for the duration of the games but for their lifetimes? Sports are an important way to foster community and improve lives, but our focus is first and foremost those bread-and-butter issues. I am talking about health, employment, education and so on.

What are we doing with our money instead? We are investing in the wellbeing and quality of life of Victorians in the regions. Unlike when those opposite get into power, we invest in the regions. We invest in regional health, roads, education and industry. Our record investment for the regions has funded countless important aspects of Victorian regional life, from health to education and everything in between. Let me take one example of our investment: for Ballarat that means a new athletics track and an extra 5000 seats for Eureka Stadium, giving spectators a bigger and better experience and making sure Ballarat continues to attract AFL games, major events and live music. And the 2023 budget expanded the V/Line fleet and of course introduced the daily capping of V/Line prices earlier this year. We are installing thousands of kilometres of fibre-optic cable and introducing some 150 new upgraded digital infrastructure centres. Additionally, the initial 1000 kilometres of fibre that we promised to build has now been extended. With another 2000 kilometres added to the expansion, even more Victorians will be able to access the NBN. This is part of an effort to improve the speed of internet connections for homes and businesses in the regions. Nearly 130,000 homes and businesses across 40 regional towns and cities, including several tourism hotspots, will now be able to enjoy faster speeds thanks to the Andrews Labor government.

Of course how could we discuss how the Andrews Labor government is delivering for regional Victoria and how could we discuss this work without mentioning the investments that we have made in the bread-and-butter issues – core issues that are making lasting differences in people’s lives – like improving healthcare services and supporting our schools and students. The Andrews Labor government has invested billions in regional health since first being elected in 2014. Our government believes in supporting and even growing our healthcare systems, regardless of where you live.

Take for example the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund, a yearly funding round that funds projects ranging from theatre and consulting room refurbishments to expansion projects. Since its inception in 2016, 630 projects across rural, regional and remote Victoria have been funded by the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund. Last year the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund awarded $1.5 million to Grampians Health. This money was spent on replacing and upgrading the outdated sterilisation equipment at the Ballarat Base Hospital. Colac Area Health used a payment of $580,000 to purchase much-needed CT scanning equipment to ensure that vital scanning services continue in Colac. Gippsland Lakes community hospital was able to install 220 solar panels to act as a much-needed backup in the instance of a power outage. This would not have been possible without the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund. I should note that submissions for the 2023 round are open until 11 September.

The Andrews Labor government has assisted Victoria in making much-needed progress in mental health reform. The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System highlighted the gap between regional Victorians and Melburnians in access to much-needed mental health support, which is exactly why the Andrews Labor government has established projects like the regional mental health workforce incentive program. The program offers 200 grants for workers in area mental health services and up to 80 grants for community-managed mental health services. These grants will assist highly qualified mental health professionals in relocating to regional Victoria to ensure that all Victorians have access to the health care they need. This is a key part of the Andrews Labor government’s Victoria’sMental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Strategy 2021–2024.

Additionally, there is more mental health support coming to regional Victorian schools. This will fulfil one of the key recommendations of the royal commission – supporting the emotional wellbeing of children in schools. The $200 million program delivers a range of mental health support tailored to each student that needs it. The program will be fully rolled out by 2024, starting in the regions as this is something they are truly in need of. This program has three tiers that respond to the mental health needs of students across regional Victoria. The first offers broad services and promotional material to students, with things like anti-bullying campaigns. This is to foster a positive environment in schools to prevent conditions that may lead to environmental causes of mental health issues. The second tier is an early intervention program for children recognised to be at risk. This offers specialised initiatives such as cross-cultural responsiveness training and trauma-informed care. The final tier is specialised individual care for those students suffering more severely from mental health and trauma-related issues. By operating through regional schools, this program also addresses some of the biggest barriers regional Victorians face when seeking mental health care: accessibility and proximity.

On the discussion of regional schools, I would like to speak about all the work the Andrews Labor government has done for education and will continue to do with the $2 billion diverted from the Commonwealth Games. Since it was first elected, the Andrews Labor government has maintained a strong commitment to making Victoria the Education State, a mission that has held with much success. Integral to becoming the Education State was ensuring that regional schools would be able to share the benefits and ensuring regional schools and Melbourne schools received the same access from the increased funding and reform.

It has been a key mission in this focus on education across the state to open new schools across the state. Most of these projects are ahead of schedule, which is great news for all Victorian students and their families. These schools include new schools in Shepparton, Morwell, Ballarat, Gisborne, Torquay, San Remo, Clyde, Bannockburn, Benalla and Geelong. This is along with sweeping upgrades across the regions to ensure that every school, not just schools in Melbourne, has access to modern and up-to-date facilities. Additionally, as populations grow in the regions, we are ensuring that schools are not overcrowded, with the expansion of existing schools across the state.

Only Labor governments deliver for regional Victoria. We have proven this time and time again. I could talk for hours about everything the Labor government is doing to improve regional Victorians’ lives, but what would any of that be worth if it did not bring results? I can assure you that the Andrews Labor government is delivering results for Victorians. For one, jobs are on the up. Earlier this year, the ABS released figures stating that unemployment in regional Victoria had dropped to 2.8 per cent, which is the lowest in the state’s history. That is right, regional unemployment is the lowest it has ever been thanks to the hundreds of thousands of jobs made by the Andrews Labor government. Since 2014 just shy of 200,000 jobs have been generated throughout regional Victoria. The raw number of Victorians in work in the regions is also at an all-time high of 856,000.

I saw firsthand last week how the Andrews Labor government is delivering for Victorians in the regions when I visited the Murray–Darling Basin. Northern Victoria has been hit hard by the floods in recent years, which has made life more difficult up there. The Andrews Labor government know this, which is why we always stand by the regions. Certain voices in this place like to make out like we have turned our backs on the regions. That could not be further from the truth. Only Labor delivers for the regions on health, only Labor delivers for the regions on education and only Labor delivers for the regions on jobs – simple as that. For nearly a decade the Andrews Labor government has been committed to delivering for regional Victoria, and what I have mentioned today is nowhere near the full picture.

With the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games, the Andrews Labor government continues to deliver for the regions. The games may not be proceeding, but every single one of our permanent new and upgraded sporting infrastructure projects will still be delivered, as planned, by the end of 2026 – that means big and small projects right across Victoria that deliver the modern facilities communities want for both elite and grassroots sports for many years to come. It also means that we can go straight to delivering the final legacy form of the infrastructure so that regional communities can benefit from the new and upgraded facilities earlier.

Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (11:12): I rise to speak on the motion about the government’s disgraceful cancellation of the Commonwealth Games. I have had to listen to quite a few speeches on this this morning and have been quite surprised actually at some of the things people are complaining about on the other side of the house. I would just like to read again the very beginning of this motion:

That this house:

(1) notes:

(a) the government’s cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games;

(b) the $4.4 billion blowout in cost projections for the games;

(c) the government’s belief that ‘broader inflationary pressures across the economy’, including interest rate rises and the war in Ukraine, were responsible for the unprecedented cost increase …

Just in that alone we have enough information to warrant an inquiry, and I find it really baffling that people are actually complaining that this should take place and boasting about how terrific this government has been in handling the finances and managing everything. I have had to listen to members of the other side, particularly Ms Shing, boasting about the legacy of the Commonwealth Games – a legacy, they said it would be, like no other. What a wonderful legacy this is for Victoria.

I was also extremely concerned when I heard Ms Ermacora talk about the ‘masterstroke of modernity’ and discuss how not delivering is a masterstroke of modernity. Well, tell that to the Commonwealth Games athletes. In fact I found it extremely hurtful to think that there would be people now totally devastated at being told that the Commonwealth Games is nothing but a practice run for other opportunities in sport. What a disgrace to call the Commonwealth Games, which has been so enjoyed by so many Australians for so long and by many people around the world, as a practice run. What are we saying about all of our athletes that have received medals after working so hard to compete in these games? Were those gold medals worth nothing, those silver medals worth nothing, those bronze medals worth nothing?

All of these athletes that picked themselves up off the ground and ran in pain to demonstrate that incredible tenacity, the persistence, the sort of courage that inspires Australians and people around the world – was that nothing, a practice run, to get up with an injury and finish the race? I suppose that is because this government does not really know about finishing the race when it comes to the Commonwealth Games, because that is one race it did not finish. They promised it before the election: what a tremendous legacy it would be for regional Victoria. And now regional Victoria’s businesses are not going to have that opportunity. Regional businesses and regional athletes are also going to suffer. In terms of expecting things to be delivered on time, well, since we cannot even have a Commonwealth Games, how can we trust this government to deliver these things on time?

The question remains to be answered as to why the government got their figures so wrong in the first place. How can we believe this Premier’s projected figures? How can we? We have 50 new or increased taxes. Under this Victorian Labor government we have more taxes than any other state in Australia, so much so that businesses – like those who were anticipating the Commonwealth Games ‍– are having to consider closing shop and moving interstate or overseas. That is not just because of the Commonwealth Games. We can look at a number of failures here. Let us look at the increase in premiums to WorkCover. I mean, that is costing businesses. They are having to close up and go interstate or overseas. This is a failed promise by a government that is failing – failing to deliver to Victorians, failing to deliver its promises. Can we trust the Premier to front up and actually answer the questions when asked? I seem to remember very, very clearly in an inquiry him not being able to recall anything. Will this be another one of those situations where the response is ‘I don’t recall’?

This cancellation can be nothing but government mismanagement, as this state spirals into a forecast debt said to be $170 billion by 2026, not to mention the estimated $22 million in interest a day, which will be upon us very soon. This is a financially failing government. We need to hold our Premier to account. He is responsible for the decisions that he makes and for the things that he promises to the Victorian people. It is one thing to promise the Victorian people before an election that you are going to deliver a legacy – a Commonwealth Games that we are never going to forget. We are certainly never going to forget the fact that we had no Commonwealth Games. The Commonwealth Games that will be like no other – indeed it will be like no other. Again, I want to stress that I find it really concerning that the lack of delivery is considered to be a masterstroke of modernity.

It is very interesting to see how the Premier continually blames others when he has to make a backtrack on something. There is never the sense of, ‘I’ve actually got to take responsibility. I promised this; I’m not delivering it.’ No, we do not hear that, we hear, ‘Oh, it’s COVID. It’s Ukraine. It’s Putin. It’s everyone else’ – everyone else that can be found. It is just too convenient. A partner from Ernst & Young has said that they used the same framework they apply to other major events, such as the Melbourne grand prix, when they were looking at the initial $2 billion cost estimate outlined in last year’s state budget. It is not possible to continually be pointing the finger.

How did we get from $2 billion in December 2021 to a projected $7 billion in 2023, which the Commonwealth Games Federation itself disputes and is furious about, saying that it is a gross exaggeration? The $380 million settlement with the Commonwealth Games Federation keeps compounding and compounds the argument. It is outrageous to think that this government can get out of paying for the decision that it made and its poor estimates. It should be ashamed that it can make promises, that it can get its budgeting wrong even.

How can you get something so wrong? We are talking about billions of dollars. You did not figure that out when you were doing your budget before you came into the new financial year? The Premier should have learned when he cancelled the east–west link in 2014. That cost Victorians $1.1 billion. Can you think what could have been done with that money? And now this is costing our state $642 million for a termination settlement, according to the AAP. Let us just think about all of the other horrifying things that are taking place as a result of the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games. In fact I am running out of time so I will not continue with that, but I just want to say there are millions of fans, millions of sporting heroes and millions of Australians that are devastated with this decision. I have to remind the house that there are a number of things that this government is continuing to fail on: housing, utilities, education, health care and transport, and these are just a few. And let me talk about WorkCover and what that is doing to businesses. I support this motion.

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (11:22): One of the very important aspects of this motion is that this house:

(4) further expresses its concern at the cost implications these factors could have for the government’s key election promises in areas such as schools, hospitals, roads and housing;

and calls on the Andrews government to urgently release a state budget update, outlining the status and current costs of these projects.

That is surely not too much to ask. It is just an update. You should be able to produce an update. It should not be too hard.

These games were fraught from the beginning. Clearly a games program over multiple sites was going to cost an awful lot of money and probably be delivered badly – well, we know that you cannot deliver anything on time or on budget, and usually they are delivered badly. In question after question in Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearings I asked ministers about, for instance, the site in Ballarat where you were going to put housing, which was totally contaminated. After 150 years as saleyards it was clearly contaminated, but that is where you were going to have the games. As the Committee for Ballarat CEO said, they wanted an inner-city site. That would have been very logical and would have added to the housing stock needed in Ballarat, but no, we were going to relieve the council of their obligation to sort out their contaminated site. That did not happen.

What I find interesting is the fact that in PAEC I questioned Minister Shing and Minister Allan about the fact that the councils, in my understanding, were not onside with this whole thing, but now we learn that the councillors did not even know what was going on, because the CEOs had had to sign a confidentiality agreement. We know this government is about secrecy and no transparency, but that was really rich, to say that those city councils were going ‘all the way with LBJ’ on this proposal when they did not know anything about it, because it was all top secret. No surprise – that is how this government does operate, in a veil of secrecy continually. What is also appalling is the fact that if you can say how important it is to cancel the games, then why can’t the Premier and Minister Allan front the inquiries and explain exactly why they think it was such a wonderful thing to cancel them? If there is nothing to hide, they will be heroes. Just front up to the inquiry and tell everybody exactly why you have gone about this process.

I was interested in Ms Ermacora’s contribution, which went to the outdated concept of the Commonwealth Games. As I said yesterday, I am a monarchist. I was surprised that you lot did –

Matthew Bach: Hear, hear. So is Mr Galea.

Bev McARTHUR: I know, though some of them like to hide it under a bit of a bushel, Dr Bach, as in, ‘We don’t want to talk about it too much, so we’ll keep it quiet’, but there are monarchists here. I mean, there are monarchists in the Greens too. They are in my young monarchists group, I might tell you. But anyway, she said it was such an outdated concept. Well, if it was an outdated concept, why in hell did you embrace it in the first place? For goodness sake, if it was an outdated concept – probably a colonial concept, actually – you should have given it a miss. No, you launched forth, and you thought you would win a whole lot of votes coming into an election in regional areas. You probably did. The Victorian population are an honest group of people. They believe what politicians with buckets of money coming along might promise. Well, they were promised an absolute fig, weren’t they – nothing ‍– because in the end they have got nothing.

We have been told we had to save this money. We have only heard about what the games were going to cost us. We are having to spend $380 million to cancel them. It is going to the games commission. But what about all the salaries? We know that Commander Weimar was on a $2 million salary. I think there was an Aboriginal affairs director, and I think he was on a quarter of a million dollars – I am not sure. And then we have heard that the Dja Dja Wurrung people were not properly consulted anyway, so what in the hell was the Aboriginal director doing if he did not consult properly with his friends in another mob? Seriously. How much has it cost us in all the salaries? There were lavish offices. We hear they are still operating. There were curtains and desks and all sorts of things that we have spent money on – completely wasted; all down the gurgler. That is some legacy you have left behind – waste, mismanagement and abuse of taxpayers money writ large.

Now these mayors have actually come good and told us exactly what did happen in the veil of secrecy that is fundamental in this government, and we have heard comments like that this is a complete ‘kick in the guts’ for those who have done a lot of work planning for upgrades. My wonderful colleague Mr McCracken and I stood outside Mars Stadium, which was going to be a fabulous legacy of this whole operation in Ballarat, and across the road there was a railway line. We were going to bring thousands of tourists and athletes and families and friends, but there was nowhere for them to get off to get to Mars Stadium. In fact the minister – she must have known they were going to cancel the games ages before – ruled out having a platform on the little railway line that exists right opposite Mars Stadium. It could have been a wonderful thing. Now, that would have been a legacy. The road there absolutely needs upgrading outside Mars Stadium. No, that was not going to happen. We were in the potholed, crater-ridden land outside the tram tracks, where your EV gets completely wrecked every time you move outside Fitzroy, in country Victoria.

I had a colleague that went interstate the other day, Dr Bach, and he reported that in driving from here to Brisbane, Queensland, outside of Victoria he only found one pothole. It is remarkable. I did try to get up an inquiry into how we build roads in this state, but I was thwarted in that episode. We could not do it. How can the rest of the country only have one pothole and we have them every few metres out there outside the tram tracks?

Michael Galea interjected.

Bev McARTHUR: Actually, you have got a few here inside the tram tracks as well, Mr Galea. I am sure you have got a few in your electorate.

Michael Galea: I don’t have tram tracks in my electorate.

Bev McARTHUR: No. But have you got any potholes, or have you got pristine roads? I bet you have. I bet the roads are fabulous out there in your electorate.

But anyway, there will be no legacy from these games except waste and mismanagement. Nobody is prepared to front up to an inquiry to actually give the real story – those that are in the know. It would be like the Coate inquiry, even if they fronted up – ‘I don’t recall. I don’t read emails. Not my responsibility – it’s somebody else’s.’ I read today they are blaming Ukraine for cost blowouts here – Ukraine, I ask you. Goodness me. Can’t they send a memo to Mr Putin to stop fighting so we can get our system back in place here? Because it is a real problem for the budget of Victoria if there is a war in Ukraine.

But the kind of story that you were trying to impart to people in Victoria was so disingenuous. You were going to provide these sporting facilities and this wonderful operation, and it was a complete fraud. Everybody has been completely deluded. People worked millions of man-hours to try and work with the government to make sure that things would be good. I thought it was farcical from the beginning, I have to say. But anyway, people in good faith worked hard to get out a system that would be good. I support the motion. Just please give us the budget update. That cannot hurt you too much.

Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (11:32): I would like to thank all members who contributed to the debate on this motion. I will just make a couple of brief comments in closing. It has been referred to at numerous points in the debate that there is an inquiry, and why would we need to bring forward this motion when there is an inquiry? Well, the need is around the urgency regarding these so-called ‘broader inflationary pressures across the economy’, including the war in Ukraine. That is a direct quote from the government. The Commonwealth Games blew out and had to be cancelled because of ‘broader inflationary pressures across the economy’. And these broader inflationary pressures across the economy had such an impact on the Commonwealth Games costings that in just two weeks those costings blew out from just over $2 billion – that is what Ms Shing said here in the house two weeks before the Commonwealth Games were cancelled – to a much higher figure, higher by threefold.

I take some of the points that Mr Ettershank made in his contribution. He said that in this motion it looks like we may have already made up our minds. Now, I suspect that the Commonwealth Games always was a con, because I cannot see how it is that the Ukraine war and other broader inflationary pressures across the economy could have caused the Commonwealth Games to blow out by a magnitude of three in two weeks. Notably, not one member opposite sought to go anywhere near that question in their contribution or to explain to us how it is that these broader inflationary pressures across the economy had such an impact on the Commonwealth Games in such a short period of time.

Be that as it may, we are arguing in our motion that unless the government can talk to us about how it is that these broader inflationary pressures across the whole economy impact just the Commonwealth Games, they must by definition impact all manner of other government projects. So the reason for wanting to bring this forward now is that we cannot wait more than a year for an inquiry to be handed down when the government says that these broader inflationary pressures caused a blowout by a magnitude of three in two weeks. We must urgently look again at the budgets for a whole series of other major projects.

But again, I would note that not one member opposite sought to explain to us how it is that these broader inflationary pressures across the economy, like the Ukraine war, acted upon the Commonwealth Games but only the Commonwealth Games and will not have an impact on other important projects, many of which have already blown out very significantly. I take Mr Ettershank’s point. I think the Commonwealth Games was always a con, but if the government wants to maintain that it blew out and then had to be cancelled because of the Ukraine war, La Niña and other broader inflationary pressures across the economy, it is incumbent upon the government to explain how it is that that was the case and how it is that these broader pressures will not impact other projects. In the course of this debate they have not done so, thus I would urge all members of the house to support the motion.

Council divided on motion:

Ayes (17): Matthew Bach, Melina Bath, Jeff Bourman, Gaelle Broad, Georgie Crozier, David Davis, Moira Deeming, Renee Heath, Ann-Marie Hermans, Wendy Lovell, Trung Luu, Bev McArthur, Joe McCracken, Nicholas McGowan, Evan Mulholland, Adem Somyurek, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell

Noes (23): Ryan Batchelor, John Berger, Lizzie Blandthorn, Katherine Copsey, Enver Erdogan, Jacinta Ermacora, David Ettershank, Michael Galea, Shaun Leane, David Limbrick, Sarah Mansfield, Tom McIntosh, Rachel Payne, Aiv Puglielli, Georgie Purcell, Samantha Ratnam, Harriet Shing, Ingrid Stitt, Jaclyn Symes, Lee Tarlamis, Sonja Terpstra, Gayle Tierney, Sheena Watt

Motion negatived.