Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

BUDGET PAPERS 2011–12
1574 COUNCIL Tuesday, 31 May 2011
plant, the Premier was forced to announce that despite
his ramblings he was powerless to change anything.
The Weekly Times of 2 February called on the Baillieu
government to keep its promises, saying that it was
time to start work and that the time for excuses was
over. The highly respected businessman Sir Rod
Eddington, chair of Infrastructure Australia, said the
Baillieu government needed to make clear transport
decisions, and Swinburne University of Technology’s
Professor John Wilson, speaking for Engineers
Australia, said the government had a lot of plans but
had not taken a lot of action.
In recent days the Herald Sun reported that the
government is ‘facing rising criticism of paralysis at the
top levels of government’ and that the 80 or more
reports the government is not dealing with are
weakening its capacity to govern. The paper reports that
one coalition MP is saying that it is almost impossible
for the government to make a decision. It is this kind of
talk that is heard up and down Bourke Street in any of
the cafes you walk into. The delay on myki alone is
costing taxpayers around $200 000 every day. Then
there was the backflip on teacher salaries when the
government announced that teachers, public servants
and police officers would have their wage increase
pegged to 2.5 per cent to help pay for the $1.6 billion
election overcommitment.
Amidst all this confusion and disappointment there
arose an expectation that the government would use this
budget as the turning point to set out a vision and a plan
for Victoria over the next 10 years, but how did the
government prepare us for this budget? Rather than
seeding a positive narrative for the future, the
government behaved like an opposition in exile,
attacking the economic credibility of the previous
government. What a waste of time!
The Baillieu government’s Victorian Economic and
Financial Statement — April 2011 and its subsequent
Independent Review of State Finances — Interim
Report — April 2011 aimed to discredit Labor’s
financial management and attempted to paint a picture
of a state in an unsustainable financial position. The
statement and interim report were an attempt to rewrite
history and to ignore the fact that the Bracks and
Brumby governments delivered an operating surplus in
each and every year and that Victoria’s independent
Auditor-General audited the state’s finances throughout
Labor’s time in office. The attack on Labor also ignores
the fact that international rating agencies Moody’s and
Standard and Poor’s gave Victoria AAA credit ratings
year after year.
Age journalist Josh Gordon wrote on 15 April:
Yet it —
meaning the Victorian Economic and Financial
Statement —
has little to do with economics and much to do with politics,
dovetailing neatly with an agenda to trash Labor’s legacy and
manage expectations for the May 3 budget.
In his budget speech the shadow Treasurer quoted
Moody’s in February as follows:
Victoria’s credit quality reflects a long-term record of sound
financial performance underpinned by the state’s prudent
fiscal practices …
…
… The state’s sizeable and diversified economic base bolsters
the rating as it amply supports the state’s financial and debt
obligations.
The shadow Treasurer also pointed out that the most
ringing endorsement of Labor’s economic management
over its term in office is that in reality the government
has not changed the fundamental financial parameters it
inherited from Labor.
The Baillieu government made a number of
commitments to the voters of Eastern Victoria Region
during last year’s election. One of them was made by
the member for Hastings in the Assembly, Neale
Burgess, who promised a new $10 million 24-hour
police station in Somerville — a promise not kept. The
coalition also promised a $4 million new technical
college in Somerville, but there is nothing in the budget
that delivers on this promise.
The member for Bass and now Speaker in the
Assembly, Ken Smith, seems to have misled the people
of Koo Wee Rup when he promised that an elected
Baillieu government would deliver them a natural gas
connection. Ten other towns, including Lakes Entrance
and Orbost in Eastern Victoria Region, will be
connected, but not Koo Wee Rup. Mr Smith knows, as
I do, that the township committee and the Cardinia
shire have been working on this initiative for some
years. Now that the budget is out and Koo Wee Rup
continues to wait, Mr Smith says he only ever promised
a feasibility study. The problem is that you cannot cook
on a feasibility study, and you cannot heat a living
room on a feasibility study.
During the election campaign the coalition promised to
match Labor’s commitment to build a new
$250 million Monash children’s hospital in Clayton.
More than 330 000 children live in the
Pakenham-Cardinia-Cranbourne area, and each year
some 27 000 of them are cared for at the Monash
Medical Centre. Both Labor and the coalition clearly