Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Regional infrastructure

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:39): (668) My question is to the Minister for Regional Development. Twenty-five per cent of Victoria’s population lives in regional Victoria. However, the PBO has identified that over a number of budget years the regions received only a little more than 10 per cent of the infrastructure build from the Allan Labor government. Why has the Minister for Regional Development been so ineffective in achieving a fair share of infrastructure spend for regional Victoria?

Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Skills and TAFE, Minister for Regional Development) (12:39): Goodness me. $45 billion has been allocated to regional Victoria since 2014. There are absolutely no grounds for those opposite to claim that there has not been significant investment in regional Victoria. Our contributions have been absolutely significantly more than what you did when you were in government for four years, a time when it could be testified you did nothing for regional Victoria, let alone Victoria.

Members interjecting.

David Davis: On a point of order, President, the opportunity in question time is for ministers to answer questions, not to attack the opposition. She is heading down that road.

Harriet Shing: On the point of order, President, the nature of the question itself was an attack on government. When the minister got to her feet to begin the answer, the interjections came thick and fast in a way that invited response, and reasonably so.

The PRESIDENT: The minister has only been addressing the answer for a bit over 30 seconds. It was actually difficult to hear her too with the interjections.

Gayle TIERNEY: Thank you, President. I also remind the house that I think that I have been minister for around 12 months, so to actually make the claim in the question that the member put to the chamber is somewhat ridiculous, to be quite frank.

What I do need to do is to remind the house again what I did in the chamber at Echuca, which was to remind the house of all of the investment that this government has made in terms of regional Victoria. We have created over 180,000 jobs in regional Victoria since 2014. There is an all-time high of regional Victorians now in work – 840,000 regional Victorians in work. Regional unemployment has remained at a historic low, at around 4.1 per cent. We also know that we have facilitated more than $600 million in exports from regional businesses, and we are on track to secure more than $1 billion in private sector investment in our regions between 2022 and June 2024. We have also cut regional payroll tax by 75 per cent to just 1.2 per cent, the lowest in the nation, a quarter of what it was under the opposition when they were in government.

This government has done a lot in regional Victoria, and indeed I also refer those opposite to an opinion piece, an op-ed, I had in the Geelong Advertiser on Monday, which again exemplifies what this government has done in the Geelong regional area as well, in the G21 catchment area, as just one example. But also of course we have in the most recent budget allocated $2 billion in services and projects that really matter to regional Victorians. When we look at the Tiny Towns Fund, a fantastic, well-received fund, even those opposite, their local members of Parliament, have been in their local papers trumpeting – (Time expired)

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:44): I note the minister’s response. The CEO of G21 Geelong Region Alliance Giulia Baggio identified the $200 billion price tag for the Suburban Rail Loop as taking valuable funds away from regional Victoria. Why, Minister, are you supporting the Suburban Rail Loop at the expense of regional Victorian communities?

Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Skills and TAFE, Minister for Regional Development) (12:44): This government has on average invested over $4.5 billion annually, and that is significantly more than what those opposite did. I listed a whole range of investments in that op-ed on Monday that deal with the claims that Ms Baggio made in her contribution. What I also did not mention is the history of what has occurred, and of course no-one in this chamber could forget what those opposite did in terms of the car industry and what the impact was in terms of the Geelong industry. I remember that day because there were people in your party on this side that laughed that Geelong was no longer going to have Ford. Then the leaders of Geelong – I was there – went to Kardinia Park, and we had a conversation. We were absorbing the shock – (Time expired)