Thursday, 27 August 2026

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (21:57): (2747) My adjournment tonight is for the Premier, and it concerns the absolutely outrageous secret public transport tax that was put on by this government. The Victorian Auditor-General exposed the shocking truth: Labor had secretly imposed an additional levy on public transport fares above the normal annual inflation increase without telling the Victorian people what they were doing. The Auditor-General found the government planned to direct 60 per cent of revenue raised through this levy for the Suburban Rail Loop East, making it the single largest source of value capture for the project. This is an absolute outrage. The budget and finance committee then actually discussed whether it should announce it along with all the other taxes, including land taxes, stamp duty, uplift taxes and car parking levies. But no, the budget and finance committee kept it secret. This government has lied to Victorians, and the Premier today said that he cannot recall whether he knew about it, even though the Auditor-General found, while he was on the budget and finance committee as Deputy Premier, it was discussed. But he cannot recall. We have heard that before, because we have heard it from Daniel Andrews. We know he was on this committee with Jacinta Allan, which makes him just as bad as Jacinta Allan. He has been there for every failure – every Labor failure.

I recall running through the figures of the value capture arrangements with the then Treasurer Minister Symes at the table, going through how the mechanisms and the numbers did not get up. The then Treasurer knew about this tax and about how 60 per cent of the revenue from this tax was hidden from Victorians. What other taxes is this government hiding? We need to know. What other taxes? The government should have been honest with Victorians and announced it as part of its value capture changes. I recall them saying, ‘Look at all these other cities doing value capture.’ No-one ever charged a hidden secret tax and did not tell anyone about it. It also means, now that the Premier has said he is abolishing this tax, we now know the value capture for this project does not add up to $11.5 billion. It does not have enough money. So I seek the action of the minister to clarify if the $11.5 billion worth of value capture is actually there, is actually funded, because with this tax scrapped, we know it is not. This government lies to the Victorian people, and it is an absolute disgrace.