Thursday, 4 December 2025

 Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:28): (1179) My question is for the Treasurer. Treasurer, in February you said you wanted to accept all of the Silver review’s recommendations and that:

It’s needed to address the budget recurrent problem that we have.

You have accepted barely half of the recommendations. Does this mean you are only addressing half of Labor’s budget crisis?

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:29): I thank Dr Heath for her question and the opportunity again to talk about the independent review of the Victorian public service. The final report is available for members. I have got some copies in my office if anybody would like them. As we have indicated, we have accepted the majority of Ms Silver’s recommendations. Some of them we have accepted in full; some we have accepted in part. Therefore we have accepted some and not others – particular recommendations. And there are several that we have accepted in principle; a lot of those are along the lines of the entity reform mergers and the like. For example, she might have suggested that we should look at merging four entities together, and we might have accepted to combine two and two. But it is ‘in principle’ because it is partly something that we want to implement immediately. It might be something that we look to do further down the track, particularly for some of those entities that have recently been created or recently received new functions. One of them fits squarely in my portfolio as the Minister for Industrial Relations. Her recommendation was to bring together all of the workforce regulators, for example. We have labour hire legislation in this chamber this week, and there are new tasks going to that organisation. We did not think it was the right time to accept that recommendation, to do it now, but we accept that there is merit in that, and it might be something going forward.

Dr Heath, of course I said I would like to be in a position to accept recommendations. There are some recommendations where there would be interest in an alternative government’s view. We did not accept all recommendations because we were concerned that there would be an impact on frontline services for Victorians, and we are a government that will not cut frontline services. I know that you have to take a different approach on that side, because when you purport to diminish the revenue, if you were elected to government, you would have to make cuts to frontline services because that is the only way you could fund the promises that your leader has confirmed will be part of a Wilson government in the event of the government changing.

I thank Ms Silver for her work – $4 billion in savings. That implementation has already commenced. I also welcome bipartisan support for the entities bill that has been introduced into the lower house today and is bringing together some of the recommendations in relation to entity consolidation.

 Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:31): Treasurer, you said your response to the Silver review will save $4 billion over four years. Net debt increased by $7.2 billion while you sat on that review. How is your response anything other than a symbolic drop in the ocean?

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:32): First of all, Dr Heath, as was indicated in the budget back in May, some of the interim findings from the report had already commenced. So, yes, there is $4 billion of savings. Some of that is already underway. I probably shudder with concern that we have an opposition that calls $4 billion a drop in the ocean. And it has been put out by your leader in her press release –

Renee Heath: On a point of order, President, either the Treasurer is deliberately misinterpreting what I said or she did not hear it.

The PRESIDENT: There is no point of order.

Jaclyn SYMES: Well, just to clarify, the Liberal Party’s press release that was released today says:

These supposed savings are a drop in the ocean.

I thought you were just repeating your leader’s comments. I will release the budget update tomorrow. I will not give an indication of exactly what that says, but, Dr Heath, we are on track to deliver a surplus.