Thursday, 13 November 2025

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (15:01): I move:

That this house notes:

(1)   the large number of annual reports tabled, or rather dumped, in the Parliament in the 28 to 30 October 2025 sitting week;

(2)   that at least 103 agencies were reported as being in deficit, reporting a collective net loss of $3 billion dollars, which includes, amongst many others:

(a) three state departments;

(b) 57 health services;

(c) five arts and creative industries agencies and bodies;

(d) Victoria Police;

(e) sports centres and agencies;

(f) transport, port and tolling agencies;

(g) training agencies, stadiums, sport and event authorities;

(h) eight water authorities;

(i) five catchment management authorities;

(j) the Victorian Ombudsman;

(k) Breakthrough Victoria and the market authority;

(3)   the removal of key transparency and financial data from the reports, particularly the cash reserves in health services;

(4)   the scale of the Allan Labor government’s mismanagement of Victoria’s finances and the direct consequences of the mismanagement of these agencies in the form of poorer services and higher charges; and

(5)   Victoria’s net debt is growing by more than $2 million per hour and the general government sector’s net debt is projected to grow to a record $194 billion dollars by 2028–29.

This motion deals with the annual reports that were tabled, or rather dumped, in the Parliament between 28 and 30 October, last sitting week. It is important to deal with these because there are a range of points to be made. There were about 267 reports tabled in that week, 103 agencies were in deficit, 38 –

Michael Galea interjected.

David DAVIS: I am pointing to the tawdry state of the reports and the problems that are in the reports. 103 agencies, a loss of more than $3 billion across those agencies. Some of these are whopping amounts of money, Mr Galea: the Department of Family, Fairness and Housing, $469.7 million; the Department of Transport and Planning, $408.9 million; the Department of Justice and Community Safety, $232.2 million. These are very, very significant deficits that are being reported by three state departments, 57 health services, five arts and creative industries bodies, Victoria Police, sporting groups, transport and tolling agencies, water authorities, catchment management authorities, the Ombudsman and Breakthrough Victoria. In the case of many of the hospitals, some key transparency data has been pulled out so the details of cash reserves are harder now to discern, and that is, I think, a big problem.

The scale of the Allan Labor government’s mismanagement of Victoria’s finances and agencies has a consequence in poorer services and higher charges. We know that debt is growing by about $2 million per hour. The general government sector debt, net debt, is projected to reach $194 billion by 2028–29. These are huge increases, huge and significant problems for the state. I look closely at a number of these, and when I work my way through a number of these agencies, some are in my portfolio area – the shadow arts and creative industries portfolio – and I will come to those in a moment. But even when I look at the SEC, that is $6.8 million down the tube.

Some of my local hospitals – if you are a person who lives in Ashburton, for example, you might go to Monash Health. That hospital, our biggest health service – and as a former health minister I understand the importance of Monash Health – is $80.5 million in deficit. That is a very significant amount of money. It is an amount of money that puts real pressure on that health service. Eastern Health – and I am obviously very fond of Box Hill Hospital; a hospital that we rebuilt – is $54.8 million down the tube. The Royal Children’s Hospital is $29 million down the tube. These are very, very significant impacts on these hospitals. They are not being funded properly, they are not being managed properly and the consequence for patients is significant. The consequence for some of these other agencies is also very significant. Ports Victoria made a loss, Dairy Food Safety Victoria made a loss, V/Line, the convention centre – all of these services made significant losses. 103 of them in that week made significant losses.

It is interesting to look at some of the arts and creative industries ones, and I am conscious of time here. I am not going to take my full time, in fairness to others, so that they can have a decent go. Museums Victoria was $10.4 million in the negative. The Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation was $15 million in the negative; Docklands Studios, $1.37 million; and ACMI, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, $4.86 million. These are very significant figures that we see in our arts and creative industries portfolio. I look at some of the issues here, and I look at Museums Board of Victoria and Museums Victoria and the self-generated income. The 2024–25 Museums Victoria self-generated income was $44.7 million. This is a decrease of $8.664 million, or 16 per cent, from the previous year. They point to the fact that they had had a big exhibition before that, but nonetheless that is a very significant fall in the revenue coming through. Government funding has increased between 2023–24 and 2024–25, but self-generated income has not increased.

It is interesting to look at the reporting against their output measures. For example, the number for attendance has fallen from 14.36 million down to 12.33 million. These are significant falls in the performance outcomes. The performance measures – and this is on page 50 of the annual report – look at memberships. There is not an increase there over two years, and I think that that is a problem. Attendance is down. Website visitation is up compared to last year, but not compared to 2023–24. Visitor satisfaction is down, and the collection stored by industry standard has also slipped significantly. These are significant output measures. I am picking on the museum as one of the portfolio areas that I actually do care about and want to see be very successful. But this is not a success story in this year. It is a story where there is a significant deficit, where the attendances have fallen and we are down on a number of the other key metrics. The institution has not performed as well as it should have.

I say that this is this state government – they have not got the focus on many of these areas that they need. They need to actually sharpen their approach to many of the arts and creative industries portfolio areas. These are matters that I think are quite significant for Victorians. These cultural, creative and arts institutions actually play a big role in our state, our identity and our future, but they also play an economic role in bringing people into the state, bringing people into the city and actually being able to help and support tourism in a constructive way. The consequences of some of our creative institutions not firing on all cylinders are actually an outcome that is not ideal for the state. I look at these and I think this is a pattern across a number of our cultural institutions, our creative and artistic institutions. The pattern that is there is that the state government is not focusing on these sufficiently. They are not understanding the importance of these institutions in the broader spectrum for the state. They are not understanding that in fact we need to make sure that these institutions are able to provide the outcomes that Victoria wants: big visitation, financial security and independence for the institution. They are always going to have very significant government subsidies – of course that is the case – but that does not absolve the institutions of the responsibility to perform well in delivering the best outcomes for Victoria.

I just want to also pick up a number of the other key points that I think we see as important here. Stadiums are doing poorly – you know, Kardinia Park. The Melbourne Recital Centre, I should have mentioned earlier, is $3.3 million down the tube as well. That is an important recital centre that should be playing a stronger role, should be able to deliver more for Victorians. It should be able to do the work that is required for our state in a cultural sense but also with the economic importance of such institutions as well. The botanic gardens are also in deficit. I mean, this is a sea of red ink right across many portfolios – a sea of red ink. There is VicPol, $37.1 million down the tube.

These are very significant outcomes for Victoria, where the state government has failed. It just seems that the state government does not care about the financial results and does not respect the fact that you have got to run institutions properly. They have got to be run in a way that enables them to be robust and secure in the long run. They have got to have sufficient financial viability to be able to map their course into the future, and that means looking forward, saying, ‘What can we do to position our institution into the future?’

Ms Crozier no doubt will have a lot to say about health services, but they are an area where the performance has actually been absolutely appalling. The state government has lost control of many of these health services, and they are careering into significant financial difficulty. Even the departments – I do not understand how it is that the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing can be $469.7 million down the tube. How is it that the Department of Transport and Planning is $409 million down the tube? How is it that the Department of Justice and Community Safety is $232 million in the red? What is going on in our state, where the state government across this huge front appears to be unable to keep organisations in a financial position where they are able to deliver proper long-term outcomes, proper planning, proper financial and regulatory performance? That is the question. Why is the state government so unable to do that? I think it is because they do not care about the finances. They do not mind if the deficit blows out. They do not mind if debt grows astronomically. We have heard the Treasurer here in this chamber; she will not come clean on the Silver review.

Michael Galea interjected.

David DAVIS: Well, she is not doing a very good job, and the budget deficit is blowing out of control. She has not been able to constrain the budget deficit, and you know that she has not been able to do what is necessary to get the state back on track.

We debated a motion in this chamber a little while ago, and this was about the debt constraints that were put on by the Brumby government; 6 per cent of gross state product was the guideline. That was accepted by Bracks, Brumby, Baillieu, Napthine and initially by Andrews, until 2018 when he and Tim Pallas pulled the pin on the grenade and said, ‘We’re going for it now. We’re going from 6 per cent of GSP to 12’. But at the same time they were signing contracts around the countryside, unconstrained contracts, contracts without proper cost control, and the costs were careering out of control. They said, ‘We’re going to 12 per cent of GSP’, but of course, never forget that on 31 December 2019 – BC, before COVID – the budget was in deficit. Before COVID the budget was already in deficit. It is true there were borrowings during COVID, but the Auditor-General has pinged the lie. He has pinged the lie that the debt that the state has is due to COVID. About 18 per cent of it, he says, is due to COVID – just about 18 per cent of it. The rest of it, more than 80 per cent, is due to the state government’s own mismanagement, and it began in that period as they signed up large project after large project without proper cost control – crossings, roads, the works and no proper controls.

Michael Galea interjected.

David DAVIS: Well, we would have kept them under control. We would have kept them within their budgets. We would have. That is right. We would have.

We would not have started on the North East Link at $10 billion only to have it now at $26 billion or $27 billion. That is a huge blowout. We would not have started. More than $50 billion is the blowout, and that blowout is added to every year with these cost blowouts. If you look at the list here, the list here is a huge one. The cost of these cost blowouts and the outcome of these cost blowouts is more and more and more debt for the state. The Treasurer and the Premier do not seem to be able to control the spending of Victoria. They seem to take more and more taxes, and they waste –

Enver Erdogan interjected.

David DAVIS: They are not investing it, they are squandering it; they are wasting it. If you think about the North East Link as the example, we all think it is a good project at $10 billion, but is it a good project at $27 billion, another $17 billion?

Michael Galea interjected.

David DAVIS: The Metro was a good project at somewhere around $9 billion, but is it a good project at $15 billion?

Michael Galea interjected.

David DAVIS: Well, it would have been built a long while ago actually. We would have had an airport rail as well, and we would have had a transport node in Fishermans Bend. But leaving that aside, the government’s own Metro project has benefits. We have never said that there should not be a Metro. In fact on the contrary, we have said that there should be a Metro, but the Metro costs should have been constrained. We do not think the government should have allowed an extra $6 billion of cost. That is where it went. The money has all just been – I was going to use some vernacular – something against the wall. That is what has happened. The money has been squandered by inappropriate cost control. That is what has happened.

This motion is actually a straightforward motion. It notes the tabling of the reports. It notes that 103 of them are in deficit, and it notes a number of other points here that are factual and understood, I think, by the broader community. We need to keep this government on watch, and we need to try and drag them back into proper fiscal management.

 Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (15:17): I appreciate the opportunity to rise to speak on Mr Davis’s motion. Look, he did keep to his word. He did go a little bit short of his time. I think it was at least 4 minutes short there. I acknowledge that and his keen desire for us all to have a go, as it were, on this motion.

Yesterday Mr Davis brought into this chamber a prop – he brought in a wooden spoon – and today what he has done is he has brought in the cherry picker. He has brought it into the chamber. It is right there with him, the big cherry picker. We know they are not very good at construction projects. They are not good at actually delivering anything, but a cherry picker, insofar as Mr Davis can conceive it, he has brought into the chamber, and he has presented it to the house in this motion today, because the list in his motion is a highly cherrypicked list from all random spots. I do not think the overall performance of the state of Victoria is going to be in huge peril because five arts and creative industries agencies and bodies reported an operating deficit, Mr Davis. You cannot just cherrypick reports that you do like, reports that you do not like, throw the ones that you do not like that do not suit your preconceived narrative out of the way and then present what is left to the chamber. That is not a fair and reasonable discussion to be having.

Mr Davis, you could have made reference to the annual financial report, but I do not actually believe you did. If you were to – through you, Chair, for Mr Davis – look at the annual financial report, you would actually see, if you were to give the aggregate figures a bit of a looking into, that many other agencies have performed strongly and in fact the overall picture is actually positive. We know that, for example – it is right there on page 2 of the AFR, Mr Davis – the net operating cash surplus was $3.2 billion, which was $2.6 billion higher than the revised estimate in the budget earlier this year.

It does not fit Mr Davis’s narrative, and it conspicuously did not make its way into Mr Davis’s contribution, but I would suggest that for his benefit Mr Davis may wish to actually look at the annual financial report. It is a substantial document, but if you only go to the first couple of pages, just to the executive summary, Mr Davis, you would see that the overall picture is far removed from what you have tried to paint in this chamber today. You can get it from the tables office. I would be happy to table it for your benefit, Mr Davis, if you would like, but I am sure you have the means to find it.

David Davis interjected.

Michael GALEA: You printed it. You do have a copy. You have got a copy. Excellent. Well, Mr Davis, I highly encourage you to go through to page 2. Through the Chair, I would encourage Mr Davis to go to page 2, where he will see again – I think it is an important point to note – a net operating cash surplus of $3.2 billion. That is an increase – not of a small amount, mind you – of $2.6 billion above the estimate in the May budget. But that is not all that you will find in there. What about net debt to gross state product, which is currently, as at the end of the last financial year, 23.7 per cent – lower than the revised estimate in this year’s budget of 24.5 per cent. What if we look, though, at the broader –

Tom McIntosh interjected.

Michael GALEA: It is killing them, Mr McIntosh. We know that they always talk Victoria down, whether it is the delivery of projects, of infrastructure, which is actually setting up the next generation of Victorians. They talk down the housing aspirations of young Victorians and they talk down the very strong in fact business investment that we have seen in this state. We have seen that business investment solidly continue to grow. We have actually seen – Mr McIntosh, I know this will interest you – that goods exports have recorded solid growth once again, driven especially by food and agriculture products, especially beef. We know that Australia has far and away the world’s best beef, and perhaps there is no better place than Victoria to find that beef in. We know that beef exports from Victoria grew very sharply in the previous financial year. It is one of many symptoms of an economy that is performing strongly, and that is important not only because it delivers better balance sheets and better results in the annual financial report – that is not really why it matters – but because it provides good jobs, it provides better wages. Again – page 2 of the report – Victorian wages grew by 3.3 per cent in 2024–25, and we know that this happened at a time when employment growth continued to be strong and the unemployment rate remained at historically low levels. That is what happens when you have a government that invests in the state’s economy, when you invest in the state’s infrastructure and when you invest in the state’s people.

We know that they do not like to hear it – it drives them wild – but they should consult the annual financial report. I am glad to hear that Mr Davis has a copy of it himself. I do not know if he has read the copy. I do not know if he made it past page 1. How far did you get, Mr Davis? How far did you get? I do not know if the other cheerleaders on the bench over there have actually read the annual financial report or not, but I would highly recommend it to all members of this chamber. It is very important that we do have the facts of the situation that we are in for the state that we are legislating for, and indeed there are some very, very positive and strong things. But instead, we do not have a considered or nuanced discussion from Mr Davis – no, no, no, no, no. We do not have him coming in here saying, ‘This is what’s going well. This is what’s going badly. This is what we as the opposition are going to throw over at your heads and make an issue out of.’ Not even an attempt – just ‘Everything’s disastrous. Everything is.’ It is all certainly all I have heard from Mr Davis for three years straight in this place, but what we do not see is a championing for Victoria. What we do not see is a vision for Victoria, certainly not a vision for young Victorians, as we have seen from the various attempts by Mr Davis in this chamber over the past few years. And what we have seen is that a budget black hole has been predicted by the measures that have been announced by the opposition – $11 billion worth of shortfalls, which is an extraordinary figure that they will have to answer for. And they have not given any answers as to whether they plan to meet that by raising taxes or by cutting services. They will not of course say what services they will be cutting. But here on this side of the chamber we are continuing to focus on the COVID debt repayment plan, be it the fiscal recovery that the Treasurer has been working through or be it the strong investment.

Whether it is beef exports, subsea optical cabling, batteries, renewable energy, manufacturing in so many fields or indeed medical research, Victoria continues to be –

David Davis interjected.

Michael GALEA: one of the top three centres in the world, Mr Davis, with government support and with private investment, which I thought you guys actually liked over there, but maybe not. Maybe you do want us to fund everything ourselves – I do not know. But those sectors are still thriving, and as a result we are seeing those industries employ more Victorians, provide more and a wider breadth of jobs to Victorians and a better standard of living.

On that point, we were discussing just a few moments ago other cost-of-living measures. And there are many other things that this government is continuing to do to respond to some of those more challenging headwinds that Victorian families are facing, be that – though they have now tapered off – in the form of interest rates that have been putting pressure on households, especially many households in the outer suburbs of my electorate, where people in newer estates are more likely to be at the earlier stage of those mortgages. I know the pressure that has caused. It is why we have been looking at and implementing a number of reforms, be it support for school students and the school bonus, or whether it is also making public transport free for under-18s from 1 January next year. We have already introduced of course the regional fare cap, meaning that Melburnians can travel across the state, but also regional Victorians can travel across regional Victoria or to the city at no more than the cost of a daily fare. When you take that on top of the fact that we have slashed the regional payroll tax rate repeatedly to the lowest level now in the nation, it is no wonder we see Victoria’s economy going from strength to strength, and that is, at the end of the day, the most important thing. The budget is very important, and indeed, if you look at the operating cash surplus, you will see a vastly different picture to what Mr Davis is trying to portray. The most important thing for the strong economy is that it is supporting Victorians to have a good standard of life so that they can succeed and prosper.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (15:27): I rise to speak to Mr Davis’s excellent motion that we are debating today, because it goes to the very heart of what this government is on about. The motion states the large number of annual reports tabled or rather dumped – because that is what it is; it is known as dump day in the Parliament – in the 28 to 30 October 2025 sitting week. The government knows that they do this; they do this on purpose. A few years ago they dumped these reports just before Christmas. They are very sneaky, they are very deceptive with the Victorian public, and this motion goes to the heart of that secrecy and the lack of transparency.

The motion talks about the at least 103 agencies that were reported as being in deficit, reporting a collective net loss of $3 billion, and it includes a number of areas. I want to talk to my area of health, because 57 health services, three state departments – I heard Mr Davis talking about the creative industries and other areas that this motion goes to. But it goes to the heart of the mismanagement by the government, who have really been very fiscally poor. They have been so bad at managing Victorian taxpayers money in this really important area, and they literally disregard it. They laugh it off and think it is frivolous when we are talking about billions of dollars in deficit and the waste and mismanagement, the daily interest repayments that the state taxpayer has to pay because this government has run up a huge debt. We are paying $20 million today in interest repayments. Those interest repayments will go to close to $29 million a day. That is over $1.2 million an hour in just a couple of years.

Members interjecting.

Georgie CROZIER: I hear them scoffing over there, like it is some sort of joke. These Labor MPs are laughing again at this really important issue around Victorian taxpayers paying $20 million a day in interest repayments, going to $29 million a day in interest repayments. This is no laughing matter. It is the children of our generation and our grandchildren and their children that are going to be paying for this government’s legacy – this incredible debt that they are leaving behind. And it goes to the waste and mismanagement and the reporting and the hiding of what is going on.

I want to speak to it. I know they keep interrupting and carrying on, but I want to go to the issues around the Department of Health’s annual report. In the foreword it talks about transparency and the planned surgery reform blueprint and the number of planned surgeries that they delivered – 212,000. Well, that was down from the government’s own projections of 240,000, which they could never meet, so they had to revise the targets to make them look better than they actually were. They could not even get that right. They have done everything completely back to front, not understanding how the system works.

In addition, they talk about greater transparency and increasing transparency in Victorian planned surgery reporting. I have been wanting to see where the latest VAHI – the Victorian Agency for Health Information – data is. It is now 13 November. It was due on the last day of last month, so it is 13 days overdue. That is for the quarter July–August–September. We are now at 13 November, and there is no data. I checked before I stood to speak, and the elective and planned surgery waitlist for those patients waiting for surgery in Victoria still remains at 58,627. That is tens of thousands of Victorians waiting for vital surgery. They cannot get it, and I have those Victorians ringing my office. In fact I am getting a lot of emails about people’s experiences with the services that they are not getting because of the government’s mismanagement and the huge pressures that are in the system.

I want to go on to this issue, because the elective surgery information system, the ESIS, is part of that transparency that we have been talking about. For a number of years I have been raising this in the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. In fact in the last PAEC hearing in June I asked about it again, and the government said, ‘Yes, we’re going to release the data from a number of hospitals.’ So clearly we do not have the true numbers of the Victorians that are waiting for surgery or procedures, and that is why I say that those figures that have just been released for the last quarter, the 58,627, are inaccurate. They do not have the true picture, and there are many hospitals that are not included in that ESIS list. The government keeps telling me, ‘It’s coming. It’s coming.’ Well, in their audacity, the Department of Health said:

In 2024–25 we worked with the following health services to prepare them to commence ESIS reporting …

and they list a whole lot of these health services. I have been asking for this data for years – not just for the last 12 months but for years – and asking why it is not included, and the department comes and says:

Other health services participating in the project are well advanced towards commencing ESIS reporting in 2025–26.

Well, it is now November 2025, nearly 2026, and we still have nothing. Again, this report is full of spin and ideological rhetoric, which it goes on with. When I look at it, there is a lack of transparency and millions of dollars that have been spent on consultancies. We had the Minister for Health saying that health services have to stop spending on consultancies. Well, there are dozens here and millions of dollars in spending. Then if I turn over the page and have a look at the number of reviews, the reasons why there were the reviews, the terms of reference, the anticipated outcomes and the cost of these reviews, again, there are dozens and dozens and dozens of these reviews. Yet, where it says ‘Publicly available’ – yes or no – nearly all of them say no. There are less than I can count on one hand that have got a public report. This needs to be better. The Department of Health need to do much better than they are doing, because this is not in the interests of Victorians. Victorians deserve to have greater transparency and greater accountability.

If we cannot see the true data, how can you be accountable? Well, they spin their way out of it every time. I could go on – I have got 76 health services and other departments that have done their annual reports. Ambulance Victoria says what we all know, that the ambulance response times for code 1 are way under – a dismal figure for the code 1 response in 15 minutes. We know there are many issues within Ambulance Victoria, but there are issues right across the health system, and that is why I demand greater transparency and greater accountability from the government. They can defend all they like, but it is here in black and white. There is an ideological push right through this annual report.

I am interested in better patient outcomes. I do not want all the guff. I am sick of the spin. I want greater transparency. We have got annual reports that have to be reprinted because they have cut-and-pasted figures from several years, so they have to be reprinted – cut-and-pasted figures. I really find that incredible and concerning given the accuracy of the data that Victorians are getting through this government. Every Victorian deserves a better response from government – greater transparency. I think Mr Davis’s motion is an important one, because it goes to the heart of what this government tries to do: dump all of these reports and not give the MPs, let alone the journalists, any time to thoroughly go through them. It is always about deflection – ‘Look over there, look over there’ and ‘We’ll announce something else to make you look over that way.’ You know, I have got to give them credit for that. They will get 10 out of 10 for spin and deflection, and they will get 10 out of 10 for being disingenuous and deceitful, too. This is a government that is mired in spin. But we have had years of a government that has wasted taxpayers money – billions of dollars – that is wasting taxpayers money, and we are not getting better outcomes for it. It is not transparent in these annual reports. Victorians know it.

Tom McIntosh interjected.

Georgie CROZIER: It is only a Liberal and Nationals government, Mr McIntosh, that will bring transparency and integrity back into government.

 Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (15:37): I thank Mr Davis for this opportunity to correct his misapprehensions and to inform him and his colleagues about the real performance of Victoria’s finances. How can we trust Brad Battin and the coalition when they constantly distort and falsify the financial and economic data of this state? Here we have the cherrypicking – a list of government entities across completely unrelated sectors. There is no pattern or logic to this motion. Included in the list are government-funded hospitals lined up against self-funded water entities. The only thread that we see here are the consistent distortions and inaccurate claims from those opposite about Victoria’s economy and finances. The only other consistency we see is that the motion from those opposite is running down our state as a result – running our state down, running our city down, saying negative things and really causing harm as a result.

The reality is that departments and other government agencies have performed strongly. Many have reported operating surpluses. Where operating deficits were reported, it was generally as a result of non-cash asset depreciation. I wonder if you know what that is? For those opposite that might have bothered to look up the Victorian financial report 2024–25, they would know that in fact we delivered an operating cash surplus of $3.2 billion in 2024–25, our third consecutive operating cash surplus, and that net debt at the end of 2024–25 was $4.7 billion less than forecast. Instead, they read the papers and try and figure out what policy question they are going to ask in question time next. That is not a strategy. As the Treasurer said in this chamber on 15 October, Victoria’s financial report shows that the government’s plan to create more jobs by backing business and state-shaping infrastructure investment is strengthening the Victorian economy.

I would just like to point out, for the avoidance of any confusion for those less financially literate on the other side, and particularly for Mr Davis who gets the figures wrong all of the time, that this is the report for the whole state, not for one entity or a random selection of state entities. We really do have a bunch of economic Henny Pennies opposite us. Henny Penny really is a story about Chicken Little, who believes the sky in falling in after one acorn falls on her head, and she sets off through the party room, just like all the Liberals are setting off, to tell the king. She tells Cocky Locky, she tells Ducky Daddles and then she picks up Goosey Loosey as well. But, you know, the only thing that Henny Penny can conclude is that you do not believe in net zero, particularly in Canberra.

All the numbers on our economy tell the truth. Over the last decade Victoria’s economy has grown faster than in any other state. Our economy is 31 per cent larger than when we came to government. The growth is underpinned by a strong labour market. In 2024–25 we had record levels of working age Victorians in employment and record levels of participation in the workforce. Business investment grew by 1.2 per cent in 2024–25 and increased by 53 per cent in 10 years. It is yet another metric that shows Victoria is leading all the other states. This government is continuing to follow our five-step fiscal strategy, and it is working. We remain on track, particularly against steps 4 and 5 of the strategy, which are: stabilising net debt levels as a proportion of GSP – tick; reducing net debt as a proportion of GSP – tick.

Just to reiterate – in case those opposite were too busy scanning the financials of their local sports centre annual report to notice – the government has delivered an operating cash surplus of $3.2 billion, and that is $2.6 billion higher than forecast. This is our third consecutive operating surplus, as I said, and the net debt is lower than we forecast. Our fiscal strategy is working. We are delivering the services and infrastructure Victorians rely on while delivering an operating surplus. Compared to the reckless plans of those opposite, with policies that would blow out our budget by $11.1 billion – an $11.1 billion black hole – and with all their proposed cuts, I think that is where we see the irresponsible behaviour. All they know how to do is to cut, cancel and close. If they had their way, we would not have a railway line in Warrnambool anymore. If they were allowed to keep going, we would have fewer primary schools in Warrnambool than we do now, because they were closed. As I have said before, we picked up second-hand floorboards for our dining room from a primary school that was closed and demolished by Jeff Kennett.

Then there are the cancellations. Well, I think we know what they are going to cancel. What are they going to cancel?

Renee Heath: You tell us.

Jacinta ERMACORA: Yes, the SRL. You are going to cancel the SRL, or you are going to turn it into some kind of messy partial project that limps along with no commitment, or, like last time you were in government, announce a train station but not knowing where it is. You had absolutely no idea of what the Metro Tunnel was all about at all, and we came up with a with a proper plan. We have done the planning, done the consultation, done the modelling on public transport in Melbourne and constructed the project. Now, next month that project is going to open.

That is the narrative of this government: getting things done – not cancelling, getting things done. When you look at the financial status, the economic status, of this state, there is only one thing you can say, and that is that there are no acorns falling out of the sky. Henny Penny is economically incorrect – completely wrong. Our economy is a strong economy. All of the data shows that, and it is no accident that it is a strong economy. We have been investing in economic infrastructure, supporting our communities and making sure that the right investments are made at the right time. So I condemn the motion, and I really, really strongly encourage the opposition to read the economic reports of this state and the annual report of this state as well.

 Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (15:46): I will probably just need to compose myself after that. The government has demonstrated that transparency and accountability are treated not as clear obligations but as inconveniences. It has dumped over 200 annual reports – a data avalanche absolutely consciously designed to bury scrutiny and protect ministers from answering for their performance based on what is in them. We are talking about 103 government bodies spanning health services, transport agencies, creative industries and even Victoria Police that have lost $3 billion above and beyond their budgets. Amongst them is in fact Breakthrough Victoria, a body designed to scrutinise the financial viability of other companies, which could not even meet its own budget. There is over $3 billion in wrongly estimated, underfunded projects that went bad all within a year, across 100 sections of government. To get one budget wrong is careless; to get 100 wrong suggests something is very fundamentally wrong.

If the state was not in so much debt – if the state was in fine, robust financial health – it might not be so serious. But this is 100 sections of government in serious deficit in a state that is in severe financial distress. The consequence of attempting to cover up losses and deficits makes that all the more serious. Now, if this were the private sector, there would be board resignations, shareholder revolts and regulatory interventions. No CEO would survive the collapse of standards we have seen across state departments. In the real world business owners, directors, are bound by law to provide clear and truthful reports. They can be disqualified, prosecuted and even jailed for misleading financial disclosures. If you are a private citizen or a private business, you try hiding your losses and insolvency from authorities and see how far you get. You do not get to go to the bank and lie about your assets and reserves. You do not get to underplay parts of your accounts to the tax authorities or the State Revenue Office. And what you really do not get to do is invent your own terms, your own accounting standards. In any other walk of life that is financial deception at best but effectively fraud, and it is illegal. But in this Labor government anything is rewarded, anything is permissible, as long as you can dodge a news cycle.

Under the Premier and the Treasurer, ministers are allowed to go over budget, preside over deficits and conceal their losses, and no-one is held to account. The people of this state have to put up with this contempt for basic governance. Victorians deserve the same standards of truth and transparency that every business in this state is required to uphold. It is really not that complex.

Annual reports are the test of any organisation’s or body’s integrity. They are meant to be objective statements of fact, not fantasy novels. Government reports are a direct reflection of the standards the government sets for itself. We can either accept a government that hides losses and dilutes accountability, or we can demand better – open reporting, competent management and fiscal honesty. This is not even a partisan matter. In any quiet, sober discussion of reporting standards, no-one would think this is okay. It is about professional standards, and if the private sector can meet them, surely the government must too. This is a financial problem, but it is also a material problem of ethics, governance and practice. Like all unethical behaviour, it affects the soul of the state. When you manipulate accounting, all kinds of inappropriate activity can be hidden, because that is what fraudsters do when they commit fraud.

There are multiple concerns with the way these annual reports are presented, but I will focus on one today. We have learned that critical financial data, such as the cash reserves in health services, has been removed from the reports. It is not an administrative error; it is a deliberate lie by omission. It hides the depth of the financial hole the government has dug across Victoria’s hospitals and agencies. Meanwhile, net debt grows now by more than $2 million every hour. By 2029 the public sector’s debt will soar to $194 billion. That is not an accounting line; that is a future burden on every Victorian family, every small business and every front-line service.

Victoria cannot operate this way. It is an absolute race to the bottom. It is part of a wider problem in this state – a denial of object reality in terms of roads, crime, finance, business closures, police shortages, hospital infrastructure and the funding fantasy of the SRL, a project for which the government does not know the costs and has no funding for. But none of it matters, because when the time comes to report it, you can drop line items, you can list billions of dollars in liabilities as ‘to be confirmed’. You can transfer liabilities from one set of books to another. You can basically get away with murder – laughing all the way to the ratings agencies. But I will give you a warning: eventually the ride ends. The carnival ends. Eventually the game comes to an end. Eventually there is a reckoning, and only stupid people believe you can get away with fraud forever.

The first sign that that time is coming is when people stop believing your BS. That is when the embezzler has to start inventing ever more elaborate lies to keep the fantasy alive, and eventually the lies and the misdirection become so preposterous that people see you for what you are. A lot of people already do, and a lot more are coming. I guarantee by the time of the next state budget this government will have painted itself into such a financial tangle of misdirection and oh-so-clever accounting – calling cuts ‘investment’ and calling reckless borrowing ‘getting things done’ while allowing the state to fall to pieces around it – that not even that fantasy novel of your annual reports will hide what you have done. I commend this motion to the house.

 Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (15:53): I rise to make a contribution to Mr Davis’s motion. I must say this has become something of a familiar tactic from those opposite – another attempt to cherry-pick numbers and paint a picture that does not reflect the true state of Victoria’s finances or the performance of our public institutions. We have seen this before – select a handful of figures, strip them of any context and present them as evidence of some sort of fiscal chaos. The reality is far more straightforward and in fact far more positive.

Under the Financial Management Act 1994 all public sector entities are required to prepare annual financial statements and reports – departments, agencies and public corporations alike. Each has its own responsibilities, its own revenue streams and obligations, and each report reflects that. But our state’s financial position is not determined by picking out a few isolated results. The true measure is the aggregate result, the combined picture across the entire public sector, which is reported transparently in the annual financial report tabled by the Treasurer. That report makes it clear that Victoria’s finances are in a sound position.

Departments and agencies performed well overall, with many posting surpluses. Where deficits were reported, they were often due to non-cash factors such as depreciation, not poor performance. The annual financial report shows an operating cash surplus of $3.2 billion in 2024–25 – our third consecutive operating cash surplus – and that net debt was $4.7 billion lower than forecast in May. It is not an accident. It reflects a responsible long-term fiscal strategy that balances investment in services and infrastructure with sound budget management. This is what the credit ratings look at when assessing the state’s financial strength, and I must say they consider a total consolidated result, not just cherrypicked data from a few select entities. To suggest otherwise is to misrepresent the reality of the work of our credit rating agencies.

I must say that the Allan Labor government’s fiscal strategy is working. We are delivering the services and infrastructure Victorians rely upon while returning the budget to surplus. It is not theory; it is the outcome of disciplined management, targeted investment and an unwavering focus on the long-term needs of our state and the Victorian people. I am very happy to compare that to those opposite with their proposed policies which would create an $11.1 billion black hole in the budget. The only way they could fill that gap would be by cutting the services and infrastructure Victorians depend on. We have seen the story play out before. When they were last in government they cut or they cancelled or they closed – cutting frontline workers, cancelling critical projects and closing schools and hospitals.

On this side we understand that a strong budget means investing in people and investing in services, not withdrawing from them. It means ensuring that hospitals, schools and transport networks have the funding and stability they need to serve communities now and into the future. Nowhere is that clearer than in health. I am delighted to say that the Allan Labor government is delivering record funding for Victoria’s world-class public health system. We understand that health care is not a cost to be managed down; it is an investment in the wellbeing, the security and the dignity of every Victorian. This year’s budget commits an additional $11.1 billion for health, taking total funding to more than $31 billion. That is the largest investment in frontline health care in the history of our state. That includes a record $9.3 billion boost for hospitals, giving every public health service the certainty they need to plan for the future. It also includes an incredible investment of $634 million for nine new or expanded hospitals, ensuring care is closer to home, and there is more than $200 million for health infrastructure across hospitals, aged care and mental health.

These investments are part of a broader $15.9 billion infrastructure program, with 67 projects currently underway across the state. I am just going to give a shout-out for a few that I am especially excited about: the new Melton hospital, the Barwon women’s and children’s hospital, the Ballarat Base Hospital redevelopment and the Casey Hospital expansion – each one representing our commitment to ensuring Victorians can access care when and where they need it. The Department of Health measures performance by operating results, and while some hospitals, I do accept, have reported operating deficits, the overall trend is one of year-on-year improvement. That progress has been achieved through reasonable and responsible investment and collaboration with health services to strengthen their financial sustainability while maintaining the world-class patient care that we have come to expect here in our state.

We will always back our health workers – the nurses, doctors, paramedics, allied health staff and support teams – that hold our system together. They are the people saving lives, supporting families and caring for communities every day. This government, this side of the chamber, recognises that and continues to support them with the investment and the infrastructure, critically, that they need.

The same philosophy guides our approach to broader infrastructure. The Allan Labor government has built a reputation as the government of builders. We deliver what Victorians need. Our record speaks for itself. More than $100 billion has been invested in transport infrastructure, with projects that will serve the state for generations to come. There are 87 level crossings that have already been removed, eliminating congestion, reducing accidents and making local communities safer. The Metro Tunnel, opening to passengers in early December – that is a full year ahead of schedule – will completely reshape how people move across Melbourne. For the first time passengers will have direct access to underground stations in Parkville and along St Kilda Road, connecting them directly to hospitals, universities and workplaces. It will add hundred of new services and cut travel time across the city.

One that I know many folks are excited about is the 9000 trucks that will be taken off the roads every day locally in the inner west with the opening of the West Gate Tunnel, giving communities back their peace and their safety. It will provide a vital, real alternative to the West Gate Bridge and deliver faster, more reliable connections between the city and the western suburbs. There is also the North East Link connecting the M80 to the Eastern Freeway, the missing link in Melbourne’s road network. It will save up to 35 minutes on a trip from the airport to Doncaster and remove 15,000 trucks from local roads every day. It is delivering 6.5 kilometres of twin tunnels, new parklands, wetlands, open space and a dedicated busway, cutting travel times by up to 30 per cent.

There is so much more to say, but let me just go on and talk a little bit about the job creation that comes from these incredible projects. Every one of these major projects supports jobs. Victoria’s Big Build has created or sustained more than 50,000 direct and indirect jobs. It has also delivered 380,000 square metres of new open space and 220 kilometres of walking and cycling paths, and 3.6 million trees and shrubs have been planted. We are creating a much greener, more connected and livable city, and I am saying, importantly, we are doing it while managing the budget responsibly and returning it to surplus. Every project is delivered with a focus on long-term value, local content and community benefit. These are not short-term showpieces; they are the backbone of Victoria’s future growth.

Victoria’s economy remains strong. Employment is high, economic growth is steady and confidence across the construction and service sectors remains solid. Despite global pressures from inflation to supply chain challenges, our state continues to lead the nation in investment and innovation. This is a result of disciplined management but also a belief in the role of government to shape a fairer and stronger society. We know that when we invest in people and we invest in communities and infrastructure, we build not just an economy but a state where opportunity is shared. I will not enter into debate that will seek to divide and diminish our state and our brilliant works, because I know that we continue to manage the budget responsibly, invest in services and deliver for every Victorian. We back our workers, support our hospitals and keep building the infrastructure that keeps our state moving.

Mr Davis’s motion before us today is another attempt to distract from that record, but the facts speak for themselves. The Allan Labor Government is managing Victoria’s finances responsibly, delivering record health and infrastructure investment and building the future that this very state deserves. This is a state firmly focused on delivery and discipline. We are a government that builds, a government that protects and a government that plans for the long term. While those opposite continue to look backwards, we will keep creating jobs, supporting communities and ensuring that Victoria remains the best place to live and the very best place to work. I thank you, Acting President Galea, for the opportunity to make a contribution on Mr Davis’s motion, and I look forward to making my views known later on this afternoon.

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (16:03): I rise to speak on Mr Davis’s motion highlighting the reckless financial incompetence of this government with its dump day reports. Drowning in red, is this government, and so are all of its agencies. It is classic of the government to release these documents just before Melbourne Cup weekend. When it is about a long weekend, when it is close to Christmas Eve, a long weekend or the Labor Day weekend, you know the government is going to do something on a Friday or a Thursday to try to hide everything and sweep everything under the carpet. We had the same talking points from all those on the other side, again repeating slabs of text from the Premier’s Private Office. They keep talking about this $11.1 billion black hole or something along those lines, which every single one of them mentioned, gracefully given to them by the Treasurer.

The Treasurer clearly has not done her homework, because they claim that we have costed a $7 billion black hole for scrapping the emergency services tax. I invite the government members to be in the chamber for the petition debate tonight to hear from the communities affected by the emergency services tax.

Imagine calling a tax cut a black hole. You are taxing families, you are taxing farmers, you are taxing our volunteers and you are taxing property owners, and yet you are saying that is a black hole. You yourselves, this government, delayed the consequences of this tax for farmers for 12 months, recognising the damage that it is causing, and you have the gall to say it is our black hole. We will replace it with the fire services property levy, which is only a $3 billion cost. We are happy to work through those costings, but the Treasurer clearly has not done her homework. The total impact of our tax cuts for Victorians is only $5 billion.

It is no wonder this Treasurer refused every single media interview post putting out her little two-pager that is supposedly modelling of the opposition’s costings. She refused every single interview because she does not like the pressure. She is listening to the polling, but the polling that is very interesting is the 12.1 per cent drop in Labor voting intention in the Legislative Council. No wonder Mr Erdogan wants to move to the number one position when we are seeing a dramatic drop in support for the Labor Party in this place because of silly games like this and silly stunts like this, because of dodgy financial accounting and dropping everything on the one day, again drowning in red. We saw all of the agencies’ annual reports released on dump day. It cost $800,000 to fix up the mess the Deputy Premier created with multiple years of exam errors – $800,000.

But there is one decision that highlights government incompetence. We saw a $1.5 million program for fishing rods for kids a couple of years ago, and didn’t that go well? Fishing rods with Victorian government logos on them ended up on Facebook Marketplace in the hundreds. Is that a good use of $1.5 million? What has the government done this year? It announced round 2 of Little Anglers, a $1.5 million investment. Do you know what they have just done at the same time? A $1.3 million cut to Parentline. If you ever need to know what are the core, heartless Labor government decisions that make up the heart and soul of the Labor Party, it is cutting funding to Parentline while giving out free fishing rods that end up on Facebook Marketplace – an absolute shame of this government.

The release of these reports follows recent confirmation that Victoria’s net debt is growing by more than $2 million an hour. Only this government could come up with a COVID debt repayment plan, a 10-year plan, and still have debt rising up to $194 billion by 2028–29. Debt is rising, yet you have got this repayment plan with all these taxes and are not paying down the debt. $194 billion of debt means over $25 million a day, over a million dollars every single hour.

When Labor cannot manage money, it is all Victorians that are paying the price. It is all Victorians that are feeling the effect of new waste levies, it is all Victorians that are feeling the effects of new land taxes, it is renters that are feeling the effects of new land taxes and it is manufacturers and industry that are feeling the effects of property services taxes and emergency services taxes. It is farmers that are feeling the effect of the emergency services tax, because we know deep down in their souls the Labor Party have always wanted to charge farmers land tax. They have always wanted to do it, and now they have done it. They have delayed it for 12 months, and just before the election next year they are going to have to hit farmers even harder during a drought. That goes to show how heartless this government is. Its financial reporting is a sham, as Ms Crozier mentioned, just scrubbing out key reports.

We saw the disgraceful situation where the Victorian Multicultural Commission produced a map of India that cut off multiple sections of India, causing great offence to many in our Indian community.

I am glad the head of the Victorian Multicultural Commission has apologised over this, but the Victorian Multicultural Commission sits within the Department of Premier and Cabinet. They are the ones that pulled back the independence of the Victorian Multicultural Commission; now they want to reverse that again. It is up to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs and the Premier to apologise to our Indian community for causing great offence to our Indian community by printing this report –

David Davis interjected.

Evan MULHOLLAND: A bogus map. They clearly had not checked their homework. They might have not had Canva Pro or they might have an intern doing the work, but at the end of the day the government has starved the VMC of funds. It has not reappointed any new commissioners, so there is no-one to check the homework. Clearly the minister is too busy to actually check whether they are printing the right maps of a critical trading partner and a critical diaspora community in Victoria. Again it goes to show the incompetence of this Labor government. Only a Liberals and Nationals government will clean up Victoria’s books by establishing a real-time expenditure tracker and a charter of budget honesty.

We know that ministers have not even been briefed on their Silver review. And do you know what they left out of the Silver review or what was exempt? The Suburban Rail Loop Authority – the SRLA. You have got Frankie Carroll getting paid almost a million dollars a year and $300,000 in addition to go back and forth to Brisbane. You figure if the minister wants to pay him that much, he should be living here in Victoria. It is an absolute disgrace. Surely a Victorian could do that job and save the taxpayers money. But it goes to show the largesse of the SRLA, who go out and buy wine for all their board members and try to hide the results and try to leak the results – (Time expired).

Motion agreed to.