Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

GOVERNMENT: ELECTION COMMITMENTS
Wednesday, 1 June 2011 COUNCIL 1631
prison’. The Minister for Corrections claims in a
non-credible way that the coalition was not aware of
that before the election.
The most cursory examination of the capacity of
Victoria’s prisons would tell you that there are not
500 spaces to be found in existing correctional
facilities. But the coalition knew that if it went to the
last election promising a new prison as a consequence
of its new tough-on-crime approach, the question it
would have had to answer would have been, ‘Where is
it going to go?’. The coalition did not want to have to
answer that question, so it told a big fat fib. The
coalition said it could deliver 500 beds without a new
prison, knowing full well that was a promise it was
never going to be able to keep. Even now the coalition
government still cannot say where this new prison is
going to go.
It is the height of cynicism to go to an election telling
the Victorian community ‘We do not need a new prison
in the next term of office’ and just six months later
indicate that in fact it does. That was not something that
came as a surprise to this government. It would have
known that when it made the promise, but it chose not
to reveal it to the Victorian community.
It is much the same with regard to premium railway
stations. Two days before the election the now
government released its costings, and in that costings
release there was a mysterious savings item that could
not be identified. My office looked at it and other
offices looked at it, and what occurred to us was that
the savings item that was allocated but not identified
looked very much like the amount of money that the
premium station upgrade program would have cost.
Two days before the election it was put directly to the
now Minister for Public Transport and his office that
that savings item meant that the coalition in
government would not proceed with premium stations.
Do members know what the response of the
Liberal-Nationals parties was to that proposition, which
was put to them directly not just by the media but by
the Public Transport Users Association? They blatantly
and directly refuted any suggestion that the coalition in
government would not proceed with premium stations.
It was put to them directly, and the people who asked
that question received in return, from a coalition that
was desperate to win, a bald-faced lie. We now know
through the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee
process that in fact the premium station program will
not proceed, and yet again the coalition was absolutely
aware before the election that it was not going to
proceed with that project. The question was asked
directly of the coalition, and it refused to tell the truth
about it.
Let us look at the issue of speeding fines. For four
years, and I have only been here for four years, we had
to listen to the now Deputy Premier saying that speed
cameras were not about saving lives but about raising
revenue. We had to listen to the now Deputy Premier
saying, ‘Speed cameras are being placed in positions by
the government and by Victoria Police in order to
maximise revenue’. He said the government was
addicted to speeding fine revenue.
Almost the day after the Deputy Premier became the
Minister for Police and Emergency Services the tune
started to change. All of a sudden we started hearing
about why speed cameras were in fact crucial to saving
lives on the roads. It was the thing that we had been
saying for 11 years and that he had been disputing the
whole time. What do we find when we look at the state
budget? Is this new government going to wean itself off
speeding fine revenue? No, there will be an extra
$24 million in the next financial year alone in fines
revenue.
I spent four years listening to the now Minister for
Gaming talk about how the government was addicted to
gambling taxes. He said we were addicted to gambling
taxes, and he said that gambling taxes should fall. The
previous government was told that if it did not take
5500 poker machines out of the system, it would have
blood on its hands. That is what the now Minister for
Gaming, Mr O’Brien, said. He said the government
would have blood on its hands if it did not reduce the
number of poker machines by 5500.
Is there a move to reduce the number of poker
machines by 5500, by 2000, by 1000 or by 500? No. Is
there any move by the new minister to wean the
government off its addiction to gambling taxes? No.
What does the budget contain? A $76 million increase
in gambling taxes in the next financial year alone. All
the spin and sophistry we heard from coalition
members over the last four years has been made
redundant by a 10-step walk across the aisle. A 10-step
walk across the aisle has made everything they had said
for four years utterly redundant.
I also want to talk about the mantra we heard from the
now Premier for months, if not years, about how he
would lead a government that would be open,
transparent and accountable. It certainly got the Age on
board, and it was the thing that Mr Baillieu said defined
him and separated him from Mr Brumby as Premier —
that he would lead a government of openness,
transparency and accountability. That promise lasted