Thursday, 30 May 2024

Motions

Budget papers 2024–25

Debate resumed on motion of Jaclyn Symes:

That the budget papers 2024–25 be taken into consideration.

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (16:15): I rise to speak on the take-note motion. It is the second time I have done this, so I am looking forward to doing it again. This budget delivers for my community of Southern Metro whilst delivering the sound financial management our state needs to bounce back from COVID, so let us get into it. I was honoured to announce a few weeks ago that Camberwell Primary School, in my community of Hawthorn, will receive $9.7 million. It has been a long journey, but we have got it done. This is a win for you, and it is a win for the community. The community of Hawthorn knows that only an Allan Labor government is committed to the electorate of Hawthorn, but we must represent all Victorians no matter what. No matter where you live, we have all got your backs.

This is a win for the parents of Camberwell Primary School. On a visit last year I saw firsthand some of the facilities they have, and they are incredible, but they are old and the school is old. It has been operating for decades – in fact for centuries. It opened on 19 August 1867 as a common school. Back then there were 24 students enrolled, and by the third week there were 80 students. A new brick building was opened a year later, and that was big enough for 150 students. That building still exists to this day. The school became a state school in the 1870s, and by the 1900s the community had grown to 1000 young Victorians. By then, the size of school was made bigger, with more classrooms added. The school was renamed Camberwell Primary School, and in 2017 it celebrated 150 years of operation.

To Janet and Stuart, you are part of the current and the now, but what you have achieved by working with the former member for Hawthorn John Kennedy is incredible. I also want to credit the efforts of the now member for Albert Park in the other place Nina Taylor and her advocacy. I am so proud of the work that we have done. It took a lot of work, and we are not done yet, but I am pleased that we got the money in this year’s budget. I am excited that I will still be a member in this place in two years to open it with you. The funding will change the community for the better – a new toilet block and refurbished main building will bring the school into the 21st century. Camberwell is the heart of my community of Hawthorn, very close to Camberwell Junction, which has been hallmarked as an activity centre. I am excited to play my part in representing the voices of people of Camberwell and the electorate of Hawthorn.

I turn now to the benefits of the budget for all Victorians, and these will also be of benefit to Camberwell Primary School. The Glasses for Kids program is being funded in a big way – we are giving $6.8 million to triple the size of the program. This program will reach a further 74,000 prep to grade 3 students at 473 government schools across the state. The program provides free screening and glasses for students who need them, and a lot do. We cannot allow some kids who need glasses to go without or parents to put them off. There should never be a choice between making ends meet and getting your kids glasses, and that is what we are ensuring. It also helps families because they no longer need to juggle appointment times or incur additional out-of-pocket costs.

We are bringing back the Get Active Kids vouchers. We are investing a further $6 million to extend this wildly popular program, something I know all sides of the chamber can get around. We are also supporting legends like Neil ‘the Reverend’ Daniher. That is because sport brings communities together, and this program does exactly that. We are providing vouchers worth up to $200 to help eligible families cover the cost of sports, and in that spirit we are investing $116 million in the active schools program. Too many people in our community, even adults and the elderly, avoid the beach, the river or the lake. They avoid Port Phillip Bay, Bonnie Doon and the Murray not because they do not want a holiday or a dip but because they cannot swim. In a country like Australia we can do better. I am proud we are investing $116 million in the program, including $73 million to support schools to run swimming and water safety programs for their students.

To health care – we are recovering from the pandemic. To list off the main takeaways, we are investing $8.8 billion for hospitals over the long term and $1.2 billion to address the reduction in Commonwealth funding for Victorian hospitals; $755 million to open and operationalise new hospital facilities; $146 million to ensure Ambulance Victoria continues to meet the needs of our growing state; $126 million to continue to supply blood, blood products and blood services to Victorians who need them; $35 million to protect health services from cyber attack; $28 million to support our healthcare workforce; and $18 million to provide support to 12 women’s health organisations to provide preventative health services and community outreach. I know in my community of Southern Metro my good mate Matt Fregon, the member for Ashwood in the other place, is passionate about these issues, and I am looking forward to working with him on them. There is also no better time to remind my community to contribute to the women’s pain inquiry. With less than six weeks to go until submissions are due, let us get that done.

In my community of Southern Metro just near my office is the Alfred. We are investing $118 million to upgrade infrastructure to ensure that it continues to deliver world-class care. We are investing $40 million to upgrade and replace essential engineering infrastructure at hospitals to improve safety and reliability; and $35 million for new and upgraded medical equipment supporting operating suites, emergency departments, surgical wards, intensive care units, neonatal and maternity services in hospitals across the state and much more.

We are supporting our state’s specialist palliative care services with a $38 million investment. This investment cares for Victorians at the end of their life, with support provided in our aged care facilities, hospitals and, most importantly, in patients’ homes. There is also $31 million to support Victorians with an eating disorder, to establish a dedicated early engagement and treatment program to combat this. I am proud of our investments in this space.

There are also investments into schools and TAFE. This year we are celebrating five years of free TAFE, and there has never been a better time to take up a free TAFE or free apprenticeship pathway course. There are now more than 80 priority courses available as part of free TAFE. This year we have got four new courses in hospitality, youth work, kitchen management and tourism. What is better is that we have removed the prior skills and qualifications barrier, meaning that there has never been a better time to gain new skills or a new start for a new career. To find out more, google Free TAFE Victoria or, for many residents in my community of Southern Metro, check your mailbox for the QR code in the coming weeks with all the information. The skills offered are essential to help us deliver the big projects of the future.

We know that delivering the biggest infrastructure projects in this state’s history, including the Suburban Rail Loop, needs workers. It needs workers with a cert IV in plumbing and services and a cert IV in engineering. It also needs the expertise that comes with a cert IV in engineering or even a cert III in building and construction or supply chain operations. To continue delivering our Big Housing Build and implement the nation-leading housing statement, we need to get this done, and that is what we will do.

The workers at the Metro Tunnel project are remarkable. They are working day in, day out to get it delivered next year, and that is not that long to go. That is why this year’s funding of $394 million will help. It will go towards increased accessibility to vocational training and free TAFE, with $113 million for TAFE support services and delivery and $32 million to support worker retention and upskilling. Of course to meet our priority workforce needs, there is $11 million to support apprentices, trainees and our partnership with industry employers. These workers will help us deliver a $964 million investment to maintain and improve Victoria’s road network over the next 12 months. We know that the 2022 flood event damaged many roads, and many communities continue to suffer from this. I saw that firsthand when we visited regional Victoria. That is why I am proud that an initial $100 million has been committed to repair the roads. Closer to my community of Southern Metro, there is $17 million to improve roads and intersections in metropolitan Melbourne.

This budget is about delivering real outcomes, the sorts of outcomes that I am so grateful that Victorians have continued to vote for. So let us get it done.

Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (16:24): I am pleased to speak on this take-note motion on the budget. Of course it has been a very difficult budget for most Victorians. We have seen many, many cuts to many, many things except to the Suburban Rail Loop, and of course we have not seen any improvement on the state debt, which continues to climb, and that is very, very dire. It was an opportunity for budget repair. It would have been very healthy to have had budget repair in the order of the $34 billion to $40 billion that the SRL will cost, but there were perhaps other areas too that could have been repaired. One I would like to reflect on a little bit is Breakthrough Victoria, the venture capital (VC) fund in the Premier’s office that is there to take bets on what it thinks is a good deal or not. The government says that as a stock picker:

Breakthrough Victoria is an independent company that is subject to the same rules and regulations that other companies are held to …

which is not true, because unlike private venture funds, Breakthrough Victoria does not declare the structure on individual investments, company valuations or when it will deliver a return on taxpayer money. So how would you like to be a shareholder at that particular venture capitalist’s AGM? How are we going? Not telling. Are we making money? Not telling. Are we getting a return? Not telling. Are we making good investment choices? Not telling. Who are we investing in? Not telling.

The fact is, though, you will not be attending that AGM, because this VC only has one shareholder, and that is Tim Pallas. He is the only shareholder of Breakthrough Victoria, and the fact is, according to the annual report of Breakthrough Victoria, its only KPI is to invest in a set number of companies each year with taxpayer money. Its KPI is not making a return. So are the people with that loose KPI qualified to be operating a VC out of the Premier’s office? Well, many doubt it. Can the Victorian government genuinely claim with any credibility that it has the expertise to be a venture capitalist? If we take its procurement and its project management and approach to other taxpayers money, clearly the record says no. If it runs Breakthrough Victoria like it runs projects, then we would expect it would be well, well, well over budget and losing money. The CEO receives $500,000 per annum. It has 52 staff, including a number of former political staffers and public servants, costing a sweet $9.9 million a year, so this is not a lean VC. It is not operating truly as a VC would in the normal market. Fifty-two staff to make eight investments in 12 months – I think I could do that by myself. What they are doing is trying to pick winners and almost certainly returning less to Victoria than they are earning.

Just like other VCs, we have the SEC as well. It should have been scrapped. Breakthrough Victoria should have been scrapped. The $2 billion should have been returned to general reserves and been part of a debt repayment strategy. Or that $2 billion could have gone directly to relieving cost-of-living stress in our own community. Or it could have been a substitute for one of the numerous tax or levy rises that have hit businesses and households. Ineptly investing in failing companies does not achieve this. For example, Breakthrough Victoria invested $30 million in a medical enterprise in 2022. Thirty million dollars – that is a very hearty investment indeed. Then we hear, in the midst of that company laying off workers and unable to fund its operations, Breakthrough Victoria poured another $4 million into it this year, in the midst of redundancies. Good money after bad – this is not how you run a VC. It is a very poor VC indeed.

The track record of governments trying to pick winners is almost always, almost inevitably, bad. Occasionally it might get a win, but not over the long run. And we have been here before. This government is fond of blaming its failures on the Kennett government and the difficult decisions it had to make 30 years ago. Well, those decisions did not take place in a vacuum. They were the product of Labor’s catastrophic management of taxpayer money and state assets. The Cain–Kirner years crippled this state, and now we are seeing history repeating. Many will remember the collapse of the Pyramid Building Society, the fire sale of the State Bank, the fire sale of the original SEC, the Tricontinental disaster and the National Safety Council.

But amongst those there is one that does not get nearly enough attention, and that is the failed VEDC, the Victorian Economic Development Corporation. The VEDC, if anyone needs a reminder, was considered to be, and I will quote from the Age:

… the final nail in the economic coffin of the Cain/Kirner governments; a venture-capital fund that tried to pick winners but racked up losses estimated at $110 million.

The VEDC and its sister, the Victorian Investment Corporation, were created to back new industries –

just like Breakthrough Victoria. But –

The VEDC collapsed under poor management and the absence of political accountability after it had provided $450 million of loan and equity assistance to business.

Very poor indeed.

A member interjected.

Richard WELCH: Oh, yes. As businesses went broke under the VEDC – and this is a really pertinent point – they called on other state bodies to bail them out. Guess who underwrote some of the businesses that were failing under the VEDC? Guess what they did. They got the Gas and Fuel Corporation Superannuation Fund to pour money into one of these failing businesses. So they took workers’ superannuation funds to underwrite – to bail out – the VEDC, which was acting as a failed venture capital business; the savings and futures of workers were used to bail out a failed government-run venture capital organisation. Of course Breakthrough Victoria is just Labor’s next failed attempt at playing venture capitalist, like the VEDC, only it is even less transparent, less clear in its remit and less accountable.

It is a bit like the Treasurer’s lovely new credit card, a $12 billion reserve for policies not listed in the budget and not scrutinised through Parliament. Of course this Treasurer’s reserve is not business as usual. Ten years ago it was just $365 million; it is now $12.1 billion. Last year that reserve, this new credit card, funded 335 policy promises that were not in the budget – discretionary, not through Parliament, not with scrutiny, not with transparency. So if our state budget is now so denuded of detail, so blanketed in purpose, it can only imply one thing: this $12.1 billion is there because it expects failure, not just in a few areas but in $12 billion worth of areas – $12 billion worth of budgeting failure is expected over the next 12 months. Add this to the ‘to be confirmed’ put in place for the SRL, and the budget is utterly compromised. I have it on good authority that TBC is there because they were not able to fit enough zeros at the end of the amount to put it on the page, so they just said ‘TBC’ instead.

The budget is an utterly compromised financial document that can give no comfort to credit agencies, let alone Victorians, who have the right to know where their money is going, what debt they and their children will shoulder and why they are shouldering that debt. The other VC organisation of course is the parody body known as the SEC; this joke organisation is also in the business of picking winners, only with even less transparency. Simon Corbell, the CEO of the Clean Energy Investor Group, said, ‘The SEC’s focus is on projects that struggle for commercial funding.’ That statement says it all. No VC organisation will invest in a subcommercial transaction unless they are quite insane. This is obviously the act of an insane organisation.

And struggle they do. The Premier announced in October that the SEC, this VC organisation will be tasked with grabbing a chunk of the energy market from the existing retailers by selling directly to schools, hospitals and manufacturers. That statement sent shockwaves through the industry. It is not just picking winners now, it is undermining the viability of the sector itself. So it is no surprise then that yesterday one of the world’s largest energy suppliers quietly shelved plans to develop offshore wind in Victoria because it was not commercially viable. Why would it be if you have the state itself underwriting subcommercial transactions to lower the market and underwrite the market? This illustrates the Grattan Institute’s view that questioned whether there was a need for government to be in the stock-picking business at all when it could focus on policies that make the market attractive to invest in.

I will not go much further in my contribution. It is simply that it is a very poor budget, as we all know, but Breakthrough Victoria is a puzzling entity, puzzling on many levels because we do not know what it does, we do not know what it invests in and we do not know when we are getting our money back. It is not subject to the usual process of scrutiny and transparency that it should be. It is a case of the government trying to pick winners, which will end in grief, and it should have been going towards cost-of-living relief or tax relief or debt relief or any number of other issues that would have been a far better purpose of our money, of this state’s money. And with that I will thank you.

Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (16:35): I am very happy to speak on this take-note motion for the budget. The Allan Labor government’s first budget is dedicated to helping families across the state. Whether it is helping with the cost of living, making sure our kids can be their best, record funding for our healthcare system or continuing to invest in more of the services families rely on, the Victorian budget 2024–25 invests in our community.

I am very pleased it is a budget that is helping families right now. Cost-of-living pressures continue for many families, and for many families interest rate rises have made things challenging. The costs of learning are also real on the family budget. Things like uniforms, camps and excursions can really add up. That is why this budget provides a school saving bonus to help cover costs. The $400 bonus will help make sure our kids have everything they need for the school day, supporting families with children at government schools and families at our non-governments who need it the most. It will help cover the costs of learning essentials and the extracurriculars that make school fun. We will work with schools to make it available for the start of the 2025 school year.

Life can also be very busy – providing kids with free vision tests and free glasses is making a real difference to the learning experience for many children. That is why we are also tripling our free Glasses for Kids program, as Mr Galea mentioned. We are tripling our free Glasses for Kids program, making sure even more young Victorians can be at their best in the classroom and beyond. Having already helped 34,000 kids across our state, this investment will help 74,000 more, providing free vision screening and prescription glasses for students who need them. Let us face it: if you cannot actually see the blackboard – whoops, that might be a bit old-fashioned, the screen – it is difficult to participate in a class. Providing Smile Squads, with free dental check-ups, also saves families money and time getting children to appointments, and very much helps with dental health in the long term. These small things add up to making a big difference for our young learners, continuing to help them to be their best in the classroom and outside it. And because we know that learning is not limited to the classroom, we are investing $6 million to extend our Get Active Kids vouchers, providing up to $200 to help eligible families with the cost of sporting club registration, uniforms and equipment. What an amazing and wonderful thing to join a club and participate in a group activity and gain that sense of belonging to your local community and neighbourhood. What a wonderful thing it is to be not excluded from that because of price.

We are also backing the community organisations that provide support and services to help young Victorians succeed in and out of the classroom. This includes $1.7 million for Beyond the Bell. This will improve the educational outcomes of young people through local collaboration and a collective impact model in the south-east region in my electorate.

For too long women’s health issues have been overlooked and underdiagnosed. This budget invests $18.3 million to improve women’s health and wellbeing, with support for 12 women’s health organisations to provide preventative programs through community outreach and education. I am looking forward to hosting a series of round tables on women’s pain across the south-west in the coming months. The uptake of women already registering for these conversations shows me that many women are keen to share their experience of under-recognised pain. We know how important our frontline healthcare services are for patients and their families. Since we came to government, Victoria’s public hospitals now employ 5000 more doctors and over 13,000 more nurses. During the pandemic, when our health system was stretched like never before, we acted decisively, providing record funding to bolster our health system. Since the pandemic, the cost of growing and running our health system has continued to increase, but every cent is worth it to keep Victorians healthy. That is why we are making the biggest multiyear investment in our health system in Victoria’s history. It will mean our hospitals have the long-term certainty they need over the coming years.

We also know how important regional public transport is in connecting our communities. That is why we are investing to continue running extra train services, including weekday return services for the Warrnambool line, because outer regional Victorians deserve a great and upgraded public transport system as well. Capped fares have made an incredible difference to many people and families across the south-west. Since the capped fares were introduced, residents of Portland and Heywood use the V/Line bus to travel to Warrnambool for specialist appointments. I think that is intraregional travel, if that is the technical word for it, and that is actually making a real saving for residents in Portland to be able to come to Warrnambool and back on $10 a day. Capped fares have made an incredible difference to those many people and families across the south-west. If you saw the car park at the Warrnambool station, you would know that many locals are travelling to Geelong and Melbourne to visit family and for health appointments, study and work reasons, and they are doing so affordably. This is including regional Victorians when they were previously not included, and it is on an equal basis with metropolitan fees. So it is perfectly reasonable and exactly the kind of thing that the Allan Labor government would do – the kind of thing a Labor government would do.

Stage 2 of the Warrnambool line upgrade – that is, the Warrnambool railway line – will bring further benefits. The works include upgrades to train detection technology at the 53 public level crossings on the Warrnambool line. Axle counters are being installed at the level crossings, along with boom gates, bells and flashing lights to make them compatible with VLocity trains. This means that they will be fully signalised. At various times up to 600 workers are working on the upgrade between Geelong and Warrnambool. Necessary stabling upgrade at Warrnambool station is also included. The 53 public level crossing upgrades will enable the introduction of VLocity trains on the Warrnambool line. However, there is no gain without some pain. Over the next couple of months there will be a pause in train services to facilitate commissioning of the new fully signalised crossings. It will also facilitate major work splits in the Geelong section of the train rail network as well.

I recently toured two of these sites where these works are currently underway and thanked the project workers for showing me the worksite and explaining the additional safety features being installed. The completion of stage 2 represents a great deal of planning, coordination and massive investments towards this truly significant upgrade. We are now on the home stretch, which will deliver huge benefits for passages in Victoria’s south-west. The upgraded Warrnambool line will increase road safety and reduce risks for serious crashes and fatalities as more people have the option to take up train travel due to this government’s investment. I would also like to point out that other smaller projects of significance have preceded stage 2, such as the return of the popular crossing at Gilles Street near the Warrnambool station. This crossing provides a very important community link from the beach to the city centre. It is used for access to the fabulous Lake Pertobe playground and the Port Fairy to Warrnambool rail trail right in the middle of town. It is an important walking and riding crossing for those who live in South Warrnambool and Merrivale. It is just another example of this government improving and maintaining infrastructure for our communities. It is also an example of this government listening to the community. Ms Purcell is not here, but that is all right. Ms Purcell’s predecessor Mr Meddick launched a petition in this very chamber on the matter of the crossing, and I thank the Animal Justice Party for advocating for the Warrnambool community on that matter.

This is a rather stark contrast to what the Kennett government offered the south-west – no upgraded railway lines, no new signalling systems, not five trains a day, not VLocity trains, not new stabling. The Kennett coalition government actually tried to close down the Warrnambool line. Fortunately, he was met with a passionate community resistance who recognised the value of the line. One thousand people rallied at the railway station to resist and to campaign against the closure of the Warrnambool line, and thank goodness it was not closed. Thank goodness we won that battle. It is fabulous to see how the now improving service will be used by so many people across the region, as well as contributing to our carbon neutrality.

The coalition claim that they represent regional Victoria, but in reality, if you look at the record, Labor budgets invest in regional communities and the coalition closes down regional communities. The Allan Labor government, as part of this budget, is providing $4.11 million to support the Rural Financial Counselling Service in partnership with the Commonwealth government. This will enable the Rural Financial Counselling Service to continue providing free financial counselling to Victorian farmers, fishers, foresters and small related businesses experiencing or at risk of financial hardship.

Another indispensable service in Western Victoria is Food Share. Food Share helps families and households in the south-west by providing much-needed everyday food relief. This includes providing our local schools with fresh fruit every day. I am very pleased that as the cost of living rises this budget delivers an extra $3.5 million to continue the work of our six regional food relief hubs, including Geelong and Warrnambool.

During devastating bushfires, floods and natural disasters, we rely on our first responders to keep communities safe, and that is why this budget delivers more of the tools and technology that we need to respond to fire and flood and everything in between. The budget provides $185 million to bolster our state’s bushfire prevention and response, including those with specialist aerial capabilities for built-up areas to support our firefighters on the front line. This investment includes 15 new CFA pumpers for local firies and volunteers across Victoria, helping keep our communities safe. After visiting Pomonal twice this year and seeing firsthand how that resilient and connected community is dealing with the loss of 44 homes, it remains clear that prevention and response need to be bolstered due to climate change. The CFA does an amazing job, and this budget responds to their increasing workload.

We are continuing our support for those Victorians that have been affected by these catastrophic weather events, with $301.5 million to help them rebuild and recover. This includes repairs to schools, roads and other infrastructure, as well as temporary accommodation relief payments and mental health support for residents who need help with the aftermath.

We are continuing our Local Sports Infrastructure Fund, backing local communities and local clubs with funding to improve their facilities, from ovals to pavilions to change rooms and scoreboards. One example is the Balmoral bowling club, who will receive $220,000 towards the delivery of a new synthetic bowling green. We also know that sport is at the heart of the community in Portland, and that is why the Labor government is investing $100,000 towards upgrades at the Portland BMX club. I am thrilled at this announcement. The BMX club is well organised and advocated strongly to build a new start hill for their growing club. The start hill will meet BMX standards, which means that more competitions will come to Portland – great for Portland and encouraging other youth to potentially join the vibrant club. Each investment is an investment in the people of western Victoria because this is a budget and a government dedicated to helping families, and I fully support it.

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (16:50): I rise today to speak on the state budget. I thought last year’s state budget was bad, but this year it is even worse. After a decade of financial mismanagement under Labor, Victoria’s net debt has risen from $21.8 billion and is set to be close to $188 billion by 2028. We have the highest debt of any state in Australia – more than Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania combined – and due to Labor’s financial mismanagement we are currently paying $15 million every single day in interest. That is soon going to be $18 million every single day in interest. I would love to do the calculations and just look at the clock and think for a moment how many thousands of dollars are just going towards paying off interest, because that is going to be $26 million every single day by 2027–28. It is very hard to imagine. I do not think Labor know how to imagine it, because they certainly do not know how to manage money and they do not know how to manage projects.

The Treasurer referred to a disciplined budget, but it is far from it. Labor has no plan to repay the debt. If you ran a business like that, you would be going broke in no time. Victoria’s annual interest bill is set to reach $9.7 billion by 2027–28. That is close to 9 per cent of the government’s total revenue spent paying interest on our state debt instead of going towards vital services.

The Premier’s track record speaks for itself. Her Commonwealth Games were cancelled – $600 million wasted – and Jacinta Allan was responsible for now close to $40 billion of cost blowouts on major projects providing overpaid jobs for the CFMEU. So you go around Melbourne and you see the massive flags on the signs, and we have read in the papers of people holding stop signs that are earning $200,000. It is absolutely extraordinary. I have seen up to 10 ambulances ramped at Bendigo Hospital, and I have spoken to constituents in the Premier’s electorate that have called 000 for an ambulance and been told that they will have to take a taxi.

Again, Labor cannot manage money, and Victorians are now paying the highest taxes in Australia. Labor continue to raise taxes because their priorities are all wrong and they keep wasting money on projects like the Suburban Rail Loop. It is a project that is very conveniently located in marginal seats. It was taken to two elections, but not surprisingly missed out on funding in the recent federal budget. If only people were aware of the lack of detail and lack of a business case that was put into that project, they may have voted very differently indeed.

When Labor were elected to government they promised not to introduce any new taxes. That was a decade ago, but over that last decade they have introduced now more than 55 new or increased taxes. The cost of living just keeps going up, as Labor has increased both the fire services and the waste management levies in this budget. The role of the state government is to deliver key services. Labor keep raising taxes, but they cannot seem to find the funds in this budget for vital services. In Northern Victoria many projects have been delayed and unfunded.

In education we see in the budget Labor promised upgrades to 29 schools, including the White Hills Primary School, Broadford Primary School and Wangaratta High School in my electorate of Northern Victoria, but they missed out on funding in this budget. Labor love to get the big media headlines. They promised to deliver 50 government-operated early learning centres; now there is a five-year delay. Likewise the free kinder program got plenty of coverage, but it is now delayed another four years, until 2036. The government sought to get media headlines again with a $400 payment to families in public schools. But the cost of living hits everyone, and the state government should treat all Victorians fairly and consistently, regardless of which school they send their kids to. I received a letter from a family in my electorate of Northern Victoria that highlights the injustice:

If the rationale behind this decision was means testing, I would understand and accept it as fair. However, it is deeply troubling to witness families in better financial positions than mine receiving benefits while we are left out. This discrepancy only serves to fuel feelings of frustration and injustice within the Catholic school community.

When you look at the state budget, health services in regional areas are also impacted. Key hospital upgrades in Swan Hill and Maryborough have been delayed, and now the government is talking about amalgamating regional hospitals, which will further reduce healthcare facilities in regional communities. We saw in this budget $207 million being cut from public health on top of millions cut from dental services, aged care, ambulance services, health workforce training and maternal and child health.

I was also stunned to see a 75 per cent funding cut to the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, the VCCC. Cancer affects so many families right across Victoria, including mine, and that is an issue that has been raised by constituents in my electorate. The number of Victorians diagnosed with cancer is increasing, and the Liberals and Nationals have called on the government to reverse this appalling decision. The centre has provided cutting-edge cancer research and been responsible for many groundbreaking therapies. The momentum that they have gained over the last 30 years will be lost, as the funding cuts will slash vital research programs. They will lead to a loss of talent, as trained personnel will consider looking overseas, and impact support for patients and their families who are going through a very difficult time.

When you look at roads in our budget, and if you drive on regional roads – I have to drive on many regional roads, as does Wendy Lovell. Northern Victoria is over 100,000 square kilometres, so there are certainly a lot of roads. I can tell you it is like driving in a washing machine sometimes. You feel like you are just bouncing around or dodging cars trying to miss potholes. The government’s own survey last year rated 91 per cent of roads as in a poor or very poor condition. That is extraordinary. The state of our roads will deteriorate further following a 90 per cent reduction in road repairs this financial year. We saw in this budget road maintenance funding has been slashed by 16 per cent compared to 2020, and the budget also reveals that delays are likely to continue with the Kilmore bypass too, as a lack of clarity about its funding and construction continues for yet another year. I was also interested to see the statistics that almost 2000 Victorians have lodged claims due to vehicle damage due to the appalling condition of the roads in the past three years.

Now, emergency services: when you look at the budget, the CFA and SES have done incredible work, and the majority are volunteers. But despite one of the worst bushfire seasons in decades, upgrades for our CFA tankers have also been pushed back by another year. I have also received letters from many people in relation to the Victorian State Emergency Service requesting sustainable funding to support these services. The SES has over 4900 volunteers who provide assistance during emergencies, including floods, storms, landslides and road crashes. The SES rely on volunteer-led fundraising to procure vital equipment, maintain facilities and replace end-of-life fleet assets, and this year’s budget provided very little. It is clear that revenue raised from the fire services levy is not just going to our emergency services; it is being diverted off elsewhere. Victoria needs to catch up with other states and provide a fairer and more sustainable distribution of funds for our volunteer emergency services.

While regional areas have faced further cuts, the public wages bill keeps going up. When Labor first came to office, the wages bill was $18.8 billion. This financial year it is $36.5 billion. Wages blew out by $600 million this year, and in the last decade the wages bill has doubled. But in some good news – I will not be all negative – it was good to see that Labor reduced the amount of money that they are spending on advertising in this budget. We know how much this government absolutely love boosting it up on social media and every other channel that they can.

Victorians cannot afford any more of Labor’s waste and increased taxes. I was very interested to read this article in the Age yesterday. It is entitled ‘Pallas puts $12 b on his ballooning “credit card”’. It states:

A little-known fund has handed Treasurer Tim Pallas a $12.1 billion “credit card” to spend on policy promises not listed in the budget and not scrutinised through parliament.

According to a final tally of the 2022–23 –

financial year’s –

budget, Victoria’s so-called Treasurer’s Advance has ballooned to more than 33 times its size a decade ago, when it was about $365 million.

The article goes on to say:

The Treasury’s final financial report for the 2013–14 financial year shows that during its final full year in office, the former Coalition government used the advance to cover 19 policy decisions, worth a total of $364.6 million. It has since had a 3200 per cent increase in 10 years.

That is a reflection on this government. They do not like transparency, and a change of government is desperately needed to restore transparency and get our state back in the black and back on track.

Labor has absolutely got Victoria into a mess, and they are not going to be the ones to get us out of it. I am counting the sleeps until the November 2026 state election. There about 900 of them to go, or 130 weeks. We need to see a change of government because Labor cannot manage money and they cannot manage projects, and Victorians are paying the price.

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:02): I also rise to speak today on the 2024–‍25 state budget, a budget that makes sensible decisions, good decisions, and continues to deliver the services and the infrastructure that Victorians need and want – Victorians in the regions, in the cities and indeed in the outer suburbs. This is a budget that responds to the capacity constraints and the inflation that we are experiencing not just at home but abroad as well. We are doing this in a way that is investing in Victorians – investing in our workers and investing in our future generations through the school saving bonus. These measures in this budget are contributing towards continued supports for people right across the Victorian community.

I think at the outset it is important to have a brief look at the context in which this budget has been handed down. Victorians are experiencing significant cost-of-living pressures, and this is a budget that responds to those pressures. We are putting Victorians at the very heart of what we are doing in this budget. In particular we are putting Victorian families, such as those in the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, at the heart of what we are doing. They are the ones in our mind as we put these budgets together.

It is important, though, despite those challenges, to note some of the other context that we find ourselves in with this budget. To start with, Victoria’s unemployment rate has been at or around 4 per cent since early 2022, which is a figure not seen since 50 years prior. Unemployment is even lower in regional Victoria, at just 3.7 per cent. The Victorian Skills Authority has forecast 10,000 new registered nurses will enter the workforce by 2026. I add to comments I made on a previous motion yesterday: we are seeing huge numbers of nurses and doctors from overseas, particularly the UK, coming to our shores, which is very good to see. Employment in this state is forecast to grow by a total of 225,000 over the four years to 2027–28. More than 560,000 jobs have already been created in Victoria since September 2020. That has been the highest jobs growth in the nation. For every job that has been created in Australia since that time, one in every three of them have been created here in Victoria. As I have also said this week, for a state with a population of around about a quarter of the nation’s population, for one in every three jobs to be created in this state shows the success of this government’s broader economic strategy. More than 170,000 of these jobs have been created in regional Victoria over the past nine years, with more people now employed in regional Victoria than at any other point.

Net debt as a percentage of gross state product is forecast to stabilise and then decline within the forward estimates from 25.2 per cent in the 2026–27 financial year to 25.1 per cent in 2027–28. This is a demonstration of the fact that Victoria will achieve the fourth step of the government’s fiscal strategy as we come out of the COVID pandemic, which will stabilise net debt as a percentage of GSP. Deloitte Access Economics is also forecasting that Victoria’s economy will outpace all other states over the next five years. As we have seen, and as we continue to see, business investment in Victoria is leading the nation, with our growth being almost 6 per cent higher than the national average.

Whilst we can look at the big picture, it is also important to look at our local communities as well. For the local communities I represent, this is another budget which will deliver for them. I spoke earlier today about the extension and expansion of the route 800 bus service from Dandenong to Chadstone. Again, I note my congratulations to Peter Parker, the advocate who has been forcefully pushing forward for improvements on that bus route. We have also seen – though strictly not in the budget – through the growth areas infrastructure contribution process a number a new and expanded routes across outer metropolitan Melbourne. The ones I am particularly excited to see in the south-east are the extensions of routes 798, 831, 925 and 928.

Also a new announcement in this budget is we are seeing two new schools for Clyde North. That is of course on top of the three new schools we are currently in the process of building and several other schools that have already been built just in that suburb, one of Victoria’s fastest growing suburbs. We have announced the Clyde Creek north primary and secondary schools – that is the interim name – which will add to Clyde North secondary school, Clyde North primary school, Thompsons West primary school on top of Topirum Primary School, which opened just this year, and other schools before it. This is a government that is continuing to invest to make Victoria the Education State. The initiatives in this budget will round out the 100 new schools figure that we committed to when this government first came into office – an ambitious figure for sure but one that we are meeting. We are achieving that figure, just as we exceeded our target for the number of level crossing removals, having now removed 77 level crossings across the state.

As part of that as well I will mention the school saving bonus. That is going to be $400 for every family with a child in a government primary school in the state of Victoria. That is going to be a significant help for families at a time when they need it the most. As I said at the outset, this is a government that is focused on Victorians first, that is focused on Victorian families first, and this initiative, the school saving bonus, is demonstrative of that.

There are also other local improvements and upgrades we are seeing. I am delighted to see that the intersection of Stud Road and McFees Road in Dandenong North will be upgraded and signalised with traffic lights. It is a very busy area. Stud Road is a very busy road. The Dandenong basketball stadium is across the road, and understandably there is a lot of cross traffic from pedestrians crossing those roads, currently in very unsafe conditions. These traffic lights will make a huge bonus for safety. I would also like to particularly, in welcoming this announcement, congratulate the amazing mayor of Greater Dandenong Cr Lana Formoso, who has been so diligently campaigning for this. She shares in this victory. It is wonderful to see this announcement made.

We also seeing $1.76 million in funding for Viv’s Place, a service which provides wraparound support for women and children escaping family violence. We are seeing $227 million invested in this budget to upgrade classrooms and facilities at 25 existing schools as well. The budget includes $250 million for school maintenance and $187 million for the relocatable buildings program. Some of the schools in the south-east to receive the benefit of these upgrades include Cranbourne Secondary College, Seaford North Primary School, Mulgrave Primary School, James Cook Primary School and Endeavour Hills as well.

We know that this is a budget that delivers for Victorians, because this is a state government that delivers for Victorians and will continue to do so. On top of the school saving bonus program, there is also additional support through the tripling of the size of the free Glasses for Kids program, as well as $6 million to extend the Get Active Kids vouchers program. We have also seen an expansion of the free early morning school meals for primary school students, which is wonderful to see. Every government school is now eligible under the expanded funding to have this service in their school. The best thing for a child at the start of the day – one of the absolute best things – is to have a full stomach, and this budget is ensuring that our kids have exactly that.

We are also continuing to deliver essential investment into our healthcare system, having already invested more than $11 billion into the system and $1.7 billion in hospital and health facility upgrades to meet the future health needs of Victorians. That includes $8.8 billion of funding for hospital upgrades, new hospitals and extensions. We have also seen $146 million to maintain Ambulance Victoria’s ability to respond to the growing demand for ambulance services, additional funding for blood products at Victorian hospitals under the National Blood Agreement, $38 million for palliative care services and aged care facilities as well as other investments. As part of this we are also seeing upgrades to, amongst others, the Austin Hospital and the Northern Hospital. We are seeing investment into the Monash Medical Centre redevelopment as well, which is a terrific project to see. We are also seeing a rescoping of the hospital projects in the Parkville precinct, taking advantage of the fact that a recent change in the building floor limitations set by flight paths has significantly increased them in the Parkville area. Taking into account the electromagnetic interference at the Arden precinct as well, this relocation of the project – the same project, on the existing Parkville site – will ensure that we will continue to be able to deliver the vastly improved and expanded services at both the Royal Melbourne and the Royal Women’s hospitals at their Parkville campuses, just as we had committed to do – except now it will all be in the one site.

We are also taking responsible actions to address the labour force shortages across numerous sectors of the state’s economy and we are committed to continuing to build the workforce of the future through significant new investments, including $425 million for access to vocational training and free TAFE to retain workers for industries and sectors in need, such as disability support, both helping workers and ensuring that industries have the skills they need for in-demand jobs. We are also investing $117.3 million to continue supporting the TAFE network as Victoria’s trusted public provider of choice to meet Victoria’s current and future skills requirements, as well as further support for mental health graduate placements.

With transformational projects such as the Metro Tunnel scheduled to open next year – a full year ahead of schedule of course – we are also seeing investments to put that last stage of works into the timetabling and the operational requirements to ensure that when the Metro Tunnel opens we have got everything switched on. We will be running trains right from my region, the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines, through the brand new Metro Tunnel out to the west through to Sunbury, which is going to be a fantastic thing for constituents in my region. On the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines, commuters will benefit from direct access through to precincts such as Anzac and such as Parkville, as well as going straight through the CBD through those new stations at Town Hall and State Library. We are also going to see Frankston line trains return to the city loop, which is going to provide more coverage for commuters in my region on the Frankston line.

The Metro Tunnel is a significant city-shaping project. It is one that this government got straight into action on when we came into government in 2014, unlike those opposite, who dithered for four years and tried to change the route repeatedly, until the project that they were putting forward would have become a basket case that would have sent Frankston trains halfway out to Port Melbourne before they even went into the city, which would have meant cumulatively many more hours for commuters in that corridor before they would even get anywhere close to the city on their daily commute. This is a wonderful project that is going to have transformational benefits to our entire city’s rail network. Coming on top of those level crossings removals that we have seen and more and more lines becoming level crossing free, the Pakenham line will be level crossing free by the end of the decade. Indeed the Cranbourne line will be very soon as well, on top of the Lilydale line, which is in fact going to be level crossing free in just a matter of months. These things will cumulatively add to and support our public transport network, allowing us to run those additional services and build those structures in place for our growing city as well. All of this will of course be augmented by the Suburban Rail Loop, which remains a priority of this government, because this is a government that recognises that Melbourne is continuing to grow and we must invest in the infrastructure that our growing city needs.

For generation after generation in this state we have seen complaints about a lack of infrastructure for our growing city. This is a government that in the last 10 years has continued to invest and is continuing to invest in that infrastructure so that people can have those services – so that if you are in Clyde North you have a range of government primary and secondary schools to choose from, from the schools that are already open to the ones we are currently in the process of building. We have done the road upgrades as well, the hospital upgrades and of course those city-shaping public transport projects, which supported by the bus route improvements, will make our communities more livable, more sustainable and frankly more viable in the face of growing population growth. We are working as hard as we can to deliver those services and those improvements to the Victorian people right across metropolitan Melbourne and indeed regional Victoria. We have seen every single regional rail line upgraded under this government as well.

As I say, this is a budget that continues to deliver for all Victorians. It makes sensible decisions, it makes tough decisions, but it does so with one thing at its heart, and that is the Victorian public and that is Victorian families. This is a government that will continue to support those Victorian families as we continue to be in a very difficult cost-of-living situation. I commend the budget to the house.

Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (17:17): I rise to speak on this take-note motion on this year’s state budget. Coming out of the pandemic it has been a difficult few years for Victorians. The soaring cost of living and a hostile housing market are causing a spiral of wealth and generational inequality. Many people were looking to this budget for some reprieve, but on the issues that really matter Labor is letting down those struggling with the cost of living and housing affordability. Once again Labor is completely failing to address the scale of the housing crisis – no new money for housing, nothing for renters, nothing to rein in the cost of groceries, axing of sick pay for casuals and stalling of mental health and kinder reforms.

Budgets are about priorities, and this budget has revealed Labor’s priorities once again. Labor has failed to tax wealthy corporations to fund desperately needed social reforms. Instead, it has sided with the big banks, the real estate industry and the price-gouging grocery stores, which under this budget will continue to profit off the hardships of Victorians unimpeded. Renters, young people with a mortgage, the 120,000 people on the public and community housing waitlist – they will all have to keep struggling. The families who are fighting to put food on the table while keeping a roof over their heads will just have to keep struggling too. This budget does absolutely nothing for them.

Under the guise of fiscal responsibility Labor has delivered a meagre budget with no help for those doing it tough. It reinforces the bureaucratic path they are forging further and further to the right on with every passing year. This budget will not make life easier for those that cannot afford the basic necessities, and it will hurt people into the future – those who may never be able to leave housing insecurity and stress. The choices Labor has made are devastating.

Let us talk about the specifics, starting with housing. The private rental market is pricing people out at an astronomical rate. If you are on youth allowance, not a single home currently on the market is affordable to you. If you are on a minimum wage, less than 1 per cent of homes are affordable to you. The rental vacancy rate is around 1 per cent. As our housing stock grows at a snail’s pace, rents keep getting higher and higher. In fact people are having to pay on average $200 more rent a week than they did before the pandemic. In the past if you were priced out of the private market you could turn to public housing. Public housing made up 4.9 per cent of the total housing market in 1981. Now, just 40 years later, it has dropped to 3.8 per cent. By comparison, Canada’s proportion of households in social housing is 13.5 per cent and England’s is 17 per cent. The public and community housing waitlist is currently over 120,000 people long in Victoria. If you are on the priority waitlist fleeing family violence, your wait time for a house is almost two years. If they are not on the priority list, frankly some people will not be allocated housing in their lifetime.

What does this budget say it will do? Has Labor committed to building the huge number of public homes that are needed to address the housing crisis? Far from it. Last year the government added only 1554 houses to the public and community housing stock. It knocked down or sold off 1296 homes. That is right – in the middle of a housing crisis the government is knocking down about as many homes as it is adding to public and community housing stock, and this year the government intends to build even fewer houses than it did last year. At this rate it will take no less than 31 years to clear the public and community housing waitlist, assuming the waiting list does not grow, but of course we know that it will.

Governments of the past knew their crucial role in building and maintaining public housing. They knew that something as fundamental as housing could not be left to the whims of the private market and property developers. Other countries and cities have taken this role seriously over the years, and through proper investment they have built and accumulated significant public housing stock. This creates more housing stock and a safety net as well as setting a minimum standard for housing, which means people are not thrown to the wolves if they cannot afford rent on the private market. Labor has turned its back on this core responsibility of government. They are choosing now to demolish 44 public housing towers in the middle of this housing crisis and privatise the land without producing a cost analysis. They are handing over public land to property developers, who stand to profit at the cost of Victorians, especially those on the waiting list. This cements Labor’s privatisation agenda further.

Let us now talk about family violence. Women are among the most affected by the housing crisis, especially those who are experiencing family violence or have limited income due to caring responsibilities. Currently for people fleeing from violence who have been given priority on the public and community housing waitlist the wait time is almost two years. Imagine you are fleeing family violence, you have nowhere to go, nowhere to keep you and your children safe – in the current conditions you will be waiting two years before a permanent public home becomes available. The dismal state of things means that women are having to choose between sleeping in their cars and sleeping under one roof with their abuser.

Communities are consistently reeling from the impact of the shocking family violence incidents which take place every day in this country. The scale of this issue can be hard to comprehend. What we know is that demand for specialist family violence programs is up and that services are not meeting this demand. They are having to turn away women and children seeking help, and they are having to turn away perpetrators who want to change but do not know how, yet this budget contains no new money for specialist services providing frontline support.

In the past few months Labor warned that the budget would be tough everyone, that services should not expect much. Services were anticipating the loss of uplift funding, which has become core to their programs’ offerings. They advocated fiercely against this loss, because without it they cannot continue doing their vital work. The government could not ignore the collective voices of the sector so they decided to extend this funding, but only for another two years. This is simply not good enough. Family violence services need more funding and they need it for the long term. By providing short-term funding arrangements only, the government is limiting the ability of services to deliver the long-term, sustainable reforms recommended by the Royal Commission into Family Violence. They are placing these crucial services in precarious positions, resulting in women and children falling through the cracks, overworked staff and a hamstrung sector.

This budget has failed to adequately fund men’s behaviour change programs, which are essential. This budget came with a statement on gender-responsive budgeting. While the government’s intent is commendable, in reality many women will continue to do it tough as a result of this budget. We remain concerned that the government is not doing enough to support culturally diverse communities grappling with family violence. Many community organisations remain unfunded despite being at the front line of the family violence crisis. Many organisations are run by volunteers and on the goodwill of people who want to support those in need. These organisations desperately need funding as Victoria’s migrant population continues to grow, yet there is no new funding earmarked for multicultural organisations and no sign of any multicultural strategies to guide the government’s approach.

There is still no commitment to culturally specific women’s refuges. It is really important the government takes this ask seriously from the community. Many women from diverse backgrounds do not feel included in mainstream services, and it can mean the difference between seeking safety or staying in an abusive, violent situation. At the same time the demand for refuge beds continues to accelerate, with the budget revealing that only about 1000 refuge requests were able to be met. In the coming year the government is only aiming to support 60 per cent of people who seek shelter at a refuge. What is going to happen to everyone else? We are hearing that many women and children are spending months on end in unsuitable hotel and motel accommodation because we do not have enough family violence refuges in Victoria. This must be fixed, and it must be funded.

Another area of concern in this budget is young people and the justice system. The Yoorrook Justice Commission made very clear recommendations about raising the age of criminal responsibility and about bail reforms. The criminal justice system is no place for children. Children and young people should have care and the support of their community, so it is disappointing that this budget does not seem to earmark any funding towards the alternative service model that the government has promised ahead of raising the age of criminal responsibility. It is devastating enough that Labor has rejected Yoorrook’s recommendation to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 without exception, despite all the evidence and international law, but now this government seems to be falling behind on even its more conservative commitment to raise the age at all. Instead they have invested in ankle bracelets and electronic monitoring of young people on bail.

The choices made in this budget are a troubling and telling indication of Labor’s desperate attempts to look tough on crime and their allegiance to the police. While Labor attempts to court conservative voters, First Nations children will continue to be overpoliced and criminalised. It is pretty easy to become disheartened with politics given budgets like these, but it is important to keep fighting for better budgets, better policies and better governments.

The Greens are firmly in the corner of everyday Victorians who we are hearing from daily about how tough things are out there for them. We are fighting for the rights of renters and a rent freeze. We are advocating for a real increase in public housing stock to take pressure off the private market. We are advocating to regulate the price gouging by supermarkets and grocery stores. We are standing staunchly in support of our Palestinian community and allies as this country’s major parties continue to support the potentially genocidal actions of the state of Israel.

The Greens have a vision that will see profiteering corporations pay their fair share of tax. We want big corporations to do their fair share – pay tax and stop price gouging and profiteering off people’s misery. We want big property developers to build genuinely affordable housing, and we want the government to do what good governments would be doing – building more public housing and not letting property developers write housing policy.

Budgets allow people to peel back the layers of spin and rhetoric spouted by governments to reveal what they really care about. This budget lays bare Labor’s priorities. They have essentially told Victorians to suck it up and hope for the best. Considering Victoria is a wealthy state in a wealthy OECD country, it is simply not good enough. Victorians want a fair budget. They should have a government that is compassionate and acts with conviction on the things that matter the most. The Greens are offering an alternative vision on how things could be – a future which prioritises people over profit. I hope that the Labor and Liberal parties are listening to the community, because that is what they want too.

Lee TARLAMIS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:29): 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.