Thursday, 4 June 2026

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (04:31): (2567) My adjournment is directed to the Treasurer, and I wish she were still here. It concerns responsible financial management. Treasurer, yesterday your South Australian Labor counterpart Tom Koutsantonis delivered his state’s 2026–27 budget. South Australia’s budget unveiled a growth in debt from $34.7 billion in 2025–26 to $53.7 billion in 2029–30 – a drop in the ocean compared to Victoria. While a substantial figure, I am sure this is a debt figure that the profligate Victorian government looks at with envy. As part of the budget, though – I found this quite interesting – Treasurer Koutsantonis announced a partial public servants job freeze, saying:

My first step is I want a public sector that is lean and fit and not competing with the private sector …

He specifically said it would be through natural attrition and would exclude frontline services. Where have I heard that before? That is right, it is part of Jess Wilson’s 10-year economic plan. But he has also taken a bit from column A and a bit from column B. He has taken the Labor Party’s policy of cutting a thousand public service workers while also taking our policy of doing a hiring freeze. No-one, under our policy, will lose their job on 29 November that does not already have a job today. Under Labor’s policy, as Jacinta Allan said, not hundreds but thousands – thousands. The Labor Treasurer also said that:

… we are not going to become Victoria where there is no problem money can’t fix.

He does not want his state to end up like Victoria. Funny that you have got Chris Minns, South Australia, Queensland – almost every other state – pointing towards Victoria as an economic basket case. Treasurer, this is a stunning rebuke of your 12-year-old wasteful government from a supposedly friendly Labor government right next door. In fact I remember Jacinta Allan putting out a tweet when Malinauskas won the election, congratulating her great Labor friend. By contrast, you have described opposition leader Jess Wilson’s similar plan as a ‘handbrake on economic growth’. In the same release your colleague Mr Dimopoulos even described it as a ‘radical agenda’. Are they going to describe South Australia’s approach as a radical agenda of cuts? I seek the action of the Treasurer to recognise that Labor has absolutely ruined Victorian finances and that even your own Labor counterparts are using Victoria as a byword for debt and financial disaster.