Tuesday, 25 August 2026

 Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:44): Pursuant to section 35 of the Parliamentary Committees Act 2003, I table a report on the 2026–27 budget estimates from the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, and I present the transcripts of evidence. I move:

That the transcripts of evidence be tabled and the report be published.

Motion agreed to.

Michael GALEA: I move:

That the Council take note of the report.

It is somewhat bittersweet to be talking about the final Public Accounts and Estimates Committee budget estimates hearings for this term of the Parliament. We will have some other reflections on the PAEC more broadly in a subsequent report. However, this was, as always, a really valuable opportunity for the committee to dive in and engage on behalf of the Parliament with the projected budget and to go through that in broad and finite detail as well. This year’s state budget is another one that delivers on the government’s fiscal commitments and invests in Victorian households, and it is also one that came about earlier this year at a particularly difficult time through foreign conflicts in the Middle East. In spite of that, notable facts from the budget which are reiterated and endorsed through the PAEC report include that the gross state product is projected to increase by 1.5 per cent this year, with employment increasing by 1.25 per cent, wages growth to remain above inflation and population to return to long-term growth trends as well. Of course in terms of the government’s fiscal strategy we are now well and truly progressing through the various steps of that, with the objective to stabilise net debt as a proportion of GSP targeted to be achieved in this financial year, which will then allow the subsequent stage of reducing net debt as a proportion of GSP to follow in the years thereafter.

Of course the state budget is critically important, but so too are the household budgets of 7 million Victorians. That is why it is good to see this budget continuing to invest in meaningful, practical cost-of-living relief for Victorians, as we are in a difficult time, with reference again to some of those broader economic headwinds that are affecting not just Australia but other developed economies around the world too, indeed through measures like the 20 per cent off rego, which has been extended following the hearings for another month. It is now closing in just a few days time, early next week, and it is a really important initiative that has been taken up with gusto by Victorian households. This is a really good opportunity to remind people to claim the 20 per cent off rego discount and indeed to avail themselves of half-price public transport, which continues to provide benefits to tens of thousands of Victorians each and every day as well.

This report obviously is a broad look into various different facets of government expenditure and revenue, so there was a focus this year on some of the very important judicial and justice reforms that have been implemented by this government and put through the Parliament over the preceding couple of years. That includes measuring the performance, financial outcomes and projected financial outcomes of the court system, the corrections system and all the other interrelated parts as we have seen the success of the government’s bail reforms, the rollout of PSOs to shopping centres through Operation Pulse and other initiatives as well. This report does take a detailed look at its impact on various parts of state spending, which is good to see as well.

In the transport space there continues to be significant investment by this government, and one other part the report looked at was the Suburban Rail Loop. It is great to see this very important city-shaping project continuing apace and to see the transformation that this is going to bring to the south-eastern suburbs, broader metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria as well. Indeed I take the opportunity to welcome the announcement from Premier Carroll, from the Treasurer and from the Minister for Public Transport this morning identifying ways in which this city-shaping and vital infrastructure project can be delivered in an even more cost-effective manner. It is very important that when it comes to spending taxpayers money it is done in as prudent a way as possible. Today’s announcement certainly seeks to continue that work and to make sure that this very, very important project which must proceed and which would potentially be cut by a Liberal–One Nation coalition can proceed with all the thousands of jobs let alone the city-shaping opportunities it will provide in the years to come. Now, with my time coming to a close –

Members interjecting.

Jeff Bourman: On a point of order, President, I invite Mr Davis to withdraw his comment and what he just called Mr Galea, without repeating it. I heard it.

The PRESIDENT: Sorry, I did not.

David Davis: On the point of order, President, it is a matter for the relevant member to a call for that, if anything.

Michael GALEA: I will ask Mr Davis to withdraw.

David Davis: I withdraw that he is a whacker.

Michael GALEA: On a point of order, President, as Mr Davis well knows, withdrawing a comment is not an opportunity to repeat it to the chamber, though he is certainly an expert at doing that.

The PRESIDENT: That is very unparliamentary, Mr Davis. Can you please just withdraw –

David Davis: I do withdraw. I know he is sensitive to the matters around ‘whacker’.

The PRESIDENT: No. Have another crack at it and just stand up and say, ‘I withdraw.’

David Davis: I withdraw. President, I do note he is very sensitive.

The PRESIDENT: No. Have another crack at it and just say, ‘I withdraw.’

David Davis: I withdraw, President.

Michael GALEA: On that note, I very much look forward to Mr Puglielli’s annual PAEC poem.

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:50): I have been summoned. From the outset, I will thank the secretariat, Igor and the team, for what is a massive undertaking every time one of these reports needs to be brought forward. I also want to thank fellow committee members for the weeks that we slog out doing the PAEC process.

PAEC examines budgets, our economy made visceral

With information plentiful and right through to peripheral

We heard the debt of our fair state but not solutions literal

More taxes on the corporations because of course I’m not a Liberal

We are very well acquainted too with reasons mathematical

From ministers, departments and officials most emphatical

About all the reasons things are going well, naught problematical

And anything opposing this condemned as though fanatical

There was a flavour missed this year: integrity

Miraculous: not knowing diaries of staff or those of gambling lobbyists

The lottery: the deal was struck with answers quite the sloppiest

So IBAC’s been referred a minister who is not the jolliest

We know department histories, changed minister’s portfolios

We’re asking the hard questions but the answers would be more holy, though

I could quote a wonderful exchange with Lily D’Ambrosio

And again commander Weimar was the government’s fair Romeo

So here I stand still calling for a modicum of PAEC reform

To which extent I will stand before you now and happily perform

In short, the chair should not be government – I mean the person, not chair literal

That is my message from the Greens to parties Labor Liberal.

Motion agreed to.

 Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:52): Pursuant to section 35 of the Parliamentary Committees Act 2003, I table the 60th Parliament End of Term Report, including appendices, from the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. I move:

That the report be published.

Motion agreed to.

Michael GALEA: I move:

That the Council take note of the report.

It is an exciting report, although the gallery seems to be a bit lighter on than it was. It is effectively PAEC’s version of a high school yearbook. It gives a bit of a quickfire summary of the work that we have done over the preceding four years. It does give me a chance to make a few acknowledgements, including to some former members of the PAEC who I see in the room, Mrs McArthur and Mr Welch, and Mr McGowan is somewhere in the precinct as well, I am sure, and other former members of the committee in this place as well as my colleague here Mr Puglielli who remains on the PAEC. There is a lot of important work that the PAEC undertakes. Indeed we have just spoken to one of the most prominent and visible parts, which is the estimates process. Over the course of this Parliament, this committee has tabled 15 separate reports, including estimates but also a wide range of other activities as well. Certainly though for each estimates and outcomes hearing there is a great deal of work done by the incredibly hardworking secretariat, by broadcast, Hansard, the catering teams and all the other support staff in the Parliament too. Particularly for estimates, and the gruelling daily long-haul flight that that turns into for PAEC members, I do want to acknowledge the tireless efforts of our staff and our secretariat, including our executive officer Igor Dosen, lead analysts Dr Krystle Gatt Rapa and Charlotte Lever, financial analyst Dr Kathleen Hurley, analyst Dr Merryn Smith, research assistants Rowen Germain and Erin O’Neill as well and administrative officer Jacqueline Coleman.

For this and many other inquiries, including two very important follow-up inquiries to Victorian Auditor-General’s Office reports this term, which included one into gambling and liquor regulation in Victoria, we had some very powerful roundtable sessions held here in the Parliament, with a forum for young people to share their perspectives on gambling in the Legislative Assembly chamber. This was certainly very moving for me and I know for so many other government members as well. We also undertook a Victorian Auditor-General’s Office follow-up inquiry into local government financial and fraud controls. Further to this, there was an own-motion inquiry by the committee this term into vaping and tobacco controls, which was kicked off with a regional hearing in Shepparton. It was great to hear a wide breadth of evidence, again in fact particularly from young people. I will acknowledge again the student leaders from Greater Shepparton Secondary College, who came to our inquiry and spoke very powerfully.

Beyond the inquiry space, though, there are a number of other important functions that the PAEC undertakes as part of its public accounts function. That included in this term the ongoing financial and performance audits of the Auditor-General’s office, and it also included the recommendation to reappoint the Auditor-General for a second term. Indeed it also consulted on the selection of a new Parliamentary Budget Officer. The Parliamentary Budget Officer is a very important part of the Parliament, as a relatively new function and officer, but it is a service that has been taken up with gusto by members across the aisle in both chambers. Indeed it is quite a unique situation in Victoria. We are the only state or territory to have a permanent and ongoing Parliamentary Budget Officer role. Other jurisdictions, like New South Wales, do have a time-limited one solely for election time, but in Victoria we are the only state to have that ongoing going function. We met with many visiting delegations from other states who were quite interested in the Victorian model and how they can adapt that to their own jurisdiction.

On that note, of course there is also the ever so highly important work of the Australasian Council of Public Accounts Committees, which held two meetings in the course of this term. Members of the PAEC, including me, were able to represent the work of our committee. It is always good to hear, connect with and learn from the experience of other jurisdictions in this space as well.

We have had quite a few members of the PAEC, and I have already acknowledged the members from this chamber, but I do wish to acknowledge all of the members I have had the privilege to work with on this most absorbing and enlightening committee over the past term. I pay particular tribute to the chair, the member for Laverton Sarah Connolly, who has been a wonderful example and role model and whom I have certainly learned much from in this term through the PAEC and more broadly as well. I want to pay tribute to her tireless dedication to ensuring that we could fulfil our functions to the fullest manner, be it through various inquiries or the other work that the PAEC does. I do commend this brief report on the PAEC to the house.

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:58): I also, similar to the last report, want to congratulate fellow committee members and the secretariat on their work over the course of this Public Accounts and Estimates Committee term. This is a report that I did not really know existed until quite recently, and then I had forgotten that they were going to be debated separately, so I do not have a big, long poem. However, I have written one of those acrostic-style ones, so Hansard might need to reflect it that way.

Public

Accounts

Estimates

Comprehensively

Rendered

Exceptional

Following

Overhaul

Reforms

Mainly

Non-government

Oversight

When?

Motion agreed to.