Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

BUDGET PAPERS 2011–12
Tuesday, 31 May 2011 COUNCIL 1575
promised to build a new hospital, but the coalition was
elected and has now short-changed the voters with an
$8.5 million planning grant. The catch is that the
residents of the south-east are being told that if they
want construction to start, they have to vote for the
coalition again at the next election. Families with
school-age children will also lose their $300 School
Start bonus after Premier Ted Baillieu slashed the
number of eligible students from 135 000 to just 39 000
by introducing a means test.
The budget provides no extra funds for Latrobe
Regional Hospital, there is nothing for education and
there are no job-creation initiatives. Despite the record
number of people using the V/Line rail services there is
no provision for more V/Locity carriages in this budget.
Voters have also been tricked with the so-called
$1 billion Regional Growth Fund, because it is spread
over two terms, amounting to $125 million for each of
the four years of the term. Around $300 million is
already committed, and what is left needs to be spread
further, because the interface councils are now eligible
to access the money.
One of the great difficulties is that the Baillieu
government has not been up-front about what it actually
promised. I have commented before on the fact that the
government has not produced a consolidated list of all
its election promises, so it is easy for the government to
use smoke and mirrors to confuse us. I have, however,
put together my own list, and I estimate that across
Eastern Victoria Region around 131 election promises
were made over the 11 lower house seats. The smallest
number of promises was a mere 2 promises for Nepean
at a cost of $3 million, which compares to 23 promises
in Morwell at a total cost of $3.5 million and 21 in
Gippsland East at a total cost of $44 million. It is very
difficult to identify exactly how many commitments
were honoured in this budget, and to be fair the
coalition has another three budgets to go. My point is
government members need to be a lot more transparent;
they owe it to the people who voted for them.
In general this budget has nothing to say about jobs. A
lot has already been said about that in the shadow
Treasurer’s speech. Jobs were not even mentioned in
the budget — a glaring and astonishing omission.
During Labor’s time in office Victoria had a stunning
record in job creation through strategic investment in
infrastructure and careful innovative support of the
farming sector, manufacturing, tourism and education.
Finally, the budget says virtually nothing about climate
change, the most important economic and
environmental issue confronting the nation and this
state. The government has no climate change plan of its
own, and while it has endorsed Labor’s Climate
Change Act 2010 and the emissions target, there is no
evidence of further thinking in this space. This is a
disappointing budget that sells Victoria short.
Mr RAMSAY (Western Victoria) — It gives me
great pleasure to rise to speak on the Appropriation
(2011/2012) Bill 2011, or the budget bill as we know it.
I congratulate the Baillieu government and Treasurer
Kim Wells on delivering a responsible, progressive and
well-structured budget for all Victorians. I know this is
a good budget, because I listened to opposition
members in this house all last week as they waffled on
through their allotted time, and the sad fact is they had
nothing to say at all. What can they say? This budget
has delivered a AAA rating, a surplus that will meet
most of the government’s election commitments in the
first year and put significant funds into schools,
hospitals, transport and police.
The Brumby legacy of rising growth and expenditure
and falling revenue has been addressed in this budget,
but the Baillieu government faced a further challenge
with a loss of $2.5 billion of GST revenue, of which we
have heard. The Gillard federal government showed
true form in turning the funding tap off for Victoria,
leaving it high and dry, withholding $500 million of the
regional rail funding. Then, as Victoria gurgled under
water, the Gillard government played politics and
refused to provide for flood-ravaged Victorian families
by withholding emergency funds unless it controlled
their distribution. Why Canberra would think it knows
where best in Victoria to apply money is beyond me.
Prime Minister Gillard showed total disrespect for the
Victorian people and is doing so again with a federal
and state approach to providing health services for
families in Victoria.
In this house last Tuesday Mr Lenders puffed and
preened for over an hour on the budget but had nothing
to say. For that matter, he has not had much to say in
the last five months. I am reminded of that fateful day
when Mr Lenders and Mr Holding stood side by side as
the Treasurer and Minister for Finance respectively and
were asked a simple question about funding of family
allowances by a TV reporter. They were both unable to
speak; they were like rabbits caught in the spotlight.
The rotten realisation that their days in government
were numbered was all too clear. It was like Dumb and
Dumber. Mr Lenders showed the same signs of
resignation this week as his feeble attempts to criticise
the budget went unheard by most people. ‘Rising debt’,
he cried. Well, hello — whose fault and legacy was
that? You only have to look at the Gillard government’s
debt, which is greater than the total Victorian budget, to