Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

BUDGET PAPERS 2011–12
1576 COUNCIL Tuesday, 31 May 2011
see that Labor’s drive is to spend, spend, spend and
then spin, spin, spin.
Mr Lenders then went on to say there is nothing for
agriculture. He must have had a five-month nap. The
Regional Growth Fund is going to drive prosperity into
regional Victoria. Stamp duty concessions, aerial dog
baiting, fox bounties, the Young Farmers Finance
scheme and increased funding of rural roads are all
commitments for which farmers have been calling but
which Labor was too gutless to deliver. Mr Lenders
says we should turn the tap on to pump 75 gigalitres of
water to Melbourne down the north–south pipeline. The
pipe was a lie, smothered in deceit, cover-up and
corruption — Brumby’s folly, which helped bring the
Brumby government down. Mr Lenders knows that the
water to be delivered down that pipe was to be from
savings to be shared with the farmers, the environment
and Melbourne Water, and only on the infrastructure
investments of $1 billion with another $1 billion from
the commonwealth. True to form, the Gillard
government has reneged on its contribution.
I would like to take the house back in time to the days
of the Brumby government. Members may remember
them, but they will not remember them fondly. They
were the heady days of spend, spend and spend. They
were the days of mismanagement, lack of financial
control or care and lack of understanding about how to
run the state’s finances, let alone the state. They were
the days of secret agreements like the Wonthaggi
desalination plant. Do members remember the
mismanagement? Even if they did not, they will now,
because thanks to Brumby and many of those in this
house today — Mr Lenders amongst them — Victoria
will be remembering the cost of this project for decades
to come. We will be reminded over the next 30 years of
the $24 billion debt the Labor Party gifted the state.
How about another Brumby budget gem — the
$800 million underfunding of the regional rail project?
Of course there is also myki. Should I go on? All this
was hand in hand with the government’s federal
friends — Prime Minister Gillard, Treasurer Swan and
company — who swiped from Victoria’s already
well-drained bucket another $2.5 billion in GST
revenue. It was totally unprecedented, and it is about to
get worse. With the predicted slowing of the economy,
Victoria can look forward to a future with a forecast
$4.1 billion less in GST revenue. This is why
Victorians can be grateful they had the good sense to
vote for the coalition in November last year. Victorians
had had enough of mismanagement — and even worse,
no management. Victorians had had enough of
watching their hard-earnt savings disappearing with
little or no reasoning about why. Victorians had had
enough of budget blow-outs, secret deals and
never-ending photo opportunities to reannounce the
reannouncements. They had had enough of a
burgeoning public debt.
Now Victorians will get from their government what
they voted for — strong decision making, prudent
expenditure, tight project management and a
government that delivers what it says it will. The
Baillieu government will ensure the Department of
Treasury and Finance will be rigorous. It will ensure
projects are not only delivered but delivered on time
and on budget. The Baillieu government will stabilise
the state’s debt in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 financial
years, in line with falling net liabilities. The Baillieu
government will not just promise; it will deliver on its
promise. It will do all this and maintain Victoria’s AAA
credit rating. It will achieve a budget surplus of at least
$100 million a year — indeed $140 million in the
2011–12 financial year. It will achieve efficiency
savings of $2.2 billion over five years.
Victoria arrived coughing and spluttering at the
November election, the Brumby government’s
finishing line. I remind the house what Victoria can
look forward to over the term of the Baillieu
government. In its simplest terms, the government will
do this: deliver on its election commitments, ease the
cost of living, restore community safety and rebuild
public safety.
Our commitments are many and varied. For Victoria
Police, $602 million will be provided for 1600 new
front-line police and 100 transit safety police, and
$212 million will be provided for 940 protective service
officers to patrol railway stations. Another $25 million
will go towards establishing the Public Infrastructure
Safety Fund and the Community Safety Fund. Already
changes have been announced in this budget for
regional cities like Ballarat, where two new police
stations will be built, and another 25 police officers will
be recruited to the city this year.
In the area of transport $601 million will go towards
key road projects for areas struggling with population
growth and the neglect of the former government. In
this regard I refer to $90 million for the M80 Ring
Road, $50 million for the duplication of the Western
Highway between Burrumbeet and Beaufort, and
$5 million for the plan to duplicate the Princes
Highway between Colac and Winchelsea.
There will be $160 million over four years, or
$1 million a year, to 40 rural councils to fix roads and
bridges. Despite the former government’s dismal
project management, the regional rail link will go