Tuesday, 9 December 2025

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (12:36): (1188) My question is for the Treasurer. The Auditor-General has confirmed that the government has failed to publicly report on its COVID debt repayment plan since introduction. Why has the Treasurer failed to do so?

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:36): Mrs Broad, what I could draw your attention to is the budget update that I released on Friday. There are plenty and plenty of pages here that talk about our initiatives. They talk about our liabilities. They talk about the economic outlook. I can assure you it is a pretty good read. If you are interested in facts, figures and the true state of the Victorian economy and the state budget, I recommend this to you.

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (12:37): Thank you, Treasurer. Will the Treasurer commit to implementing the Auditor-General’s recommendation by regularly publishing updates on the COVID debt repayment plan?

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:37): Mrs Broad, you have asked about the COVID debt repayment plan. As I have indicated, there are a range of transparency and accountability measures that are detailed in the budget papers. We have a COVID debt repayment plan which is scheduled over 10 years. We certainly are well advanced in that, I am pleased to say; there is certainly no intention of extending the temporary revenue measures beyond the 10-year timeframe. But as I said, it was really important for the state to use our balanced books to ensure that Victorians could be protected, Victorians could recover and we could continue to provide the frontline services people need and to support the economy to bounce out of –

Bev McArthur: President, on a point of order to the Treasurer, Mrs Broad asked a specific question: will the Treasurer commit to implementing the Auditor-General’s recommendation by regularly publishing updates, yes or no?

The PRESIDENT: I believe the Treasurer is being relevant.

Jaclyn SYMES: As I said, these things are reported. They are both streams that are relevant. The Victorian Future Fund balance is detailed quite regularly each year – page 39 of the most recent annual report will show you that – and the COVID debt levy projections are included in budget paper 5, which is available for you. I can provide the references and indeed photocopy the pages for you if you are interested in the detail that you have just asked about.