Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

BUDGET PAPERS 2011–12
1586 COUNCIL Tuesday, 31 May 2011
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr O’Brien) —
Order! There is no point of order.
Mr Leane — Acting President, I draw your
attention to the state of the house.
Quorum formed.
Mr ELASMAR (Northern Metropolitan) — I rise to
contribute to the debate on the state budget 2011.
Before I address the implications of the Victorian
coalition government budget I, as one of the members
in this house representing the people of Northern
Metropolitan Region, wish to ask the coalition
government a question: what is the government doing
to support the people of the north who elected two of its
members? I was listening to Mrs Coote, who I respect a
lot, and she said some people are better in opposition
than in government. I agree — with an exclamation
mark!
The budget clearly discriminates against the northern
suburbs. Government members should explain, if they
can, why we have been left out of everything, including
manufacturing, job creation, capital works and
upgrades to schools — to mention but a few items. We
know that historically the northern suburbs have been
seen as a Labor heartland, but I am sure the voters in
Northern Metropolitan Region did not expect to be
denied opportunity or updated facilities. Take, for
instance, the kindergarten budget allocation: only
$15 million has been provided over a four-year period
to cater for the 200 babies born in Victoria every day. It
does not make sense to me, and I am sure it does not
make sense to the voters in the northern suburbs.
This budget fails to address the needs of nearly half a
million voters. The people in the north want jobs, a
decent standard of living and decent schools so that
their children can receive an education that will give
them the best start in life. This budget has only
allocated a measly $208 million for school capital
projects. As my colleague in Northern Metropolitan
Region, Ms Mikakos, quite rightly stated, it is the
lowest amount of money allocated in eight years. How
can this be justified? This budget has failed the voters
of Northern Metropolitan Region. It shows no new
initiatives, no job creation schemes and no updates to
transport facilities. There is nothing to hearten the
voters who mistakenly thought they were important to
the coalition government. This budget has failed them
on all levels.
There was a lot of excitement generated by the
announcement of the new wholesale fruit and vegetable
market. We have been waiting for six months for
something to happen, and yet we find that still nothing
has happened. Why? The wholesale fruit and vegetable
market needed to be expanded, and when it gets off the
ground this extraordinary project will create thousands
of much-needed jobs in Northern Metropolitan Region.
Why are we wasting more time?
We in Northern Metropolitan Region deserve our fair
share of this state’s funding. Apart from the fact that we
are one of the fastest growing regions in the state, it is
unfair to deny us our allocation of much-needed
infrastructure projects and resources. My
disappointment with the resourcing of schools is a bitter
pill to swallow, because it means children will miss out
on a proper teaching environment. There is no doubt in
my mind that our professional teaching staff are headed
for a huge shock when they finally wake up to the
reality that they will not be the best paid teachers in
Australia.
I know that Northern Metropolitan Region has been let
down by this government, but in the final analysis
Victoria has been let down too. The vision is missing.
Victoria will now lag behind the other states in all
aspects because the Baillieu government failed to
deliver a bright economic future for the people of
Victoria. The fact remains, as Mrs Coote said, that
some people are better in opposition than they are in
government.
Ms CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) — I rise to
speak on the budget, and in doing so I congratulate the
Treasurer, Mr Wells, on delivering his first budget for
the coalition government under challenging
circumstances. This budget is both a responsible budget
and a caring budget in light of those challenges,
including the recent Victorian floods that affected
almost one-third of the state. That event alone had
subsequent social and economic impacts that have
affected many communities and continue to do so. The
cut in GST revenue to Victoria of $4.1 billion by the
Gillard government is yet another challenge that this
government has had to deal with, together with the
enormous cost blow-outs on several large projects — I
hardly need to name them, because they are household
names — such as the desal plant, myki, HealthSMART
and so on.
With those challenges and the commitments that were
made to the Victorian public at last year’s election in
mind, this government has delivered $5.1 billion of its
election promises, contrary to what Ms Tierney said
about this government having no plans. She mentioned
a number of areas, including health. This budget has
provided exceptional funding in the area of health —
that is, $13 billion in health spending in Victoria that