Hansard debates

Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows)

Catastrophic events change politics. An invisible virus has grown into a pandemic monster. COVID-19 is a scourge without cure, infecting people and laying waste to jobs by the millions, forcing the global economy onto life support. This brave new world has produced a unique event in Victoria’s history.

State Parliament’s emergency sitting today is to pass legislation to allow the Andrews government to potentially borrow up to $24.5 billion to save lives and livelihoods.

Historical context matters. Victoria’s 1850s gold rush underwrote the Marvellous Melbourne era and this imposing building at the top of Spring Street was home to the first Australian Parliament in 1901. An adolescent nation’s concerns about conscription and Australians fighting in the First World War, land booms and financial busts were robustly debated in these chambers of classical Roman design.

When the influenza pandemic of 1919 killed more people than the so-called war to end all wars, the Victorian Parliament was sitting nearby at the Royal Exhibition Building, ominously converted into a makeshift hospital to accommodate the growing number of patients.

To avoid the spread of coronavirus, which is proving more mysterious, elusive and fatal than the flu, the number of MPs sitting in each chamber today has been significantly curtailed. The symbolic corridor of power between chambers is bereft of the hubbub of a normal parliamentary day.

Former prime ministers and constitutional combatants Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser once formed a unity ticket supporting Australia becoming a republic and their campaign speeches filled Queen’s Hall. Gough tugged his forelock, bowed and mischievously declared ‘Ma’am’ in deference to the cold, marble statue of Queen Victoria. Parliamentary guides tell of Her Majesty’s disapproval of her portrayal, reportedly banished to the Antipodes, a historic precursor to social distancing.

To comply with contemporary social distancing requirements, I have written this contribution on an iPhone and submitted it remotely via email. It feels bizarre to make contributions on such important and historic events in silence, instead of standing in Parliament and delivering them with full-throated conviction.

The heartbreaking news overnight of the worst loss of life in the history of Victoria Police has cast a shadow of grief over today’s sitting, a chilling reminder of the risks our first responders and essential workers take in protecting the community, not just in crisis, but even in seemingly mundane shifts.

The Treasurer was blunt. The economy will get worse before it gets better and there may be up to 270 000 jobs lost in Victoria, he told question time. His blueprint for recovery, once the coronavirus has been controlled and suppressed, also addresses the impact of Australia’s unprecedented bushfires, as we grapple with responses to back-to-back existential threats.

Victoria’s priorities declare that unprecedented times require unprecedented action. The Treasurer has outlined the health and welfare of the Victorian people first and to restore the economy afterwards. Previous budget parameters must change to confront these new challenges. Debt needs to be increased, as is the case for governments around the world. We are comparatively well placed to deal with increased debt.

Victoria was in a strong position before the coronavirus, projecting a surplus for the 2019–20 budget year, and our AAA credit rating was affirmed by international agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. This means Victoria is in a strong position to take the action needed to get us through this once-in-a-century catastrophe.

Governments at the federal, state and territory levels have delayed their budgets this year due to the uncertainty. The situation is too volatile to develop reasonable estimates for a budget. It is unclear what will happen to the economy and expected revenue in the coming months. Demands on the budget for the health and economic emergencies continue to evolve.

For many people’s lives and livelihoods, the immediate future will be traumatic.

In summary, this legislation provides another six months of funding at 2019–20 levels, plus 2.5 per cent indexation and the annual capital appropriation. Its purpose is to provide the government with authority for crisis management and to keep the usual business of government operating. Extra flexible funding will be provided for a direct response to the coronavirus and the economic recovery.

The amounts reflect the severity of the compounding crises: $10 billion in 2019–20 and $14.5 billion in 2020–21. These are not estimates of the expenses Victoria will need to meet; we are not in a position to make that estimate, according to the Treasurer. Such amounts are safeguards to ensure the Victorian government can respond quickly and at scale. The world has witnessed how fast and unpredictably this pandemic has spread, so the government needs to ensure Victorians are supported as the danger unfolds.

Victoria’s approach matches the Australian government’s strategy. Their supply bill earlier this year included a $40 billion fund for such contingencies. I support the strategy to go hard and go early against a fatal, virulent virus without a vaccine.

Death clarifies. The fault lines in societies and the fragility of existence have been exposed across the world. Deaths are mounting. Recession is coming. Depression is feared. When time is critical, a staggering price is paid in lives and treasure for delays. Evidence trumps dogma. Scientific disbelief has finally been suspended amid unprecedented peacetime investments being legislated and lockdowns enforced.

Victoria has already made significant investments to support our health system, businesses and households to continue while activity necessarily slows to prevent the spread of the virus. Such initiatives feature:

an additional $437 million to the health system for extra beds and equipment, extra funding for emergency departments and intensive care units, additional resourcing for pandemic containment and support for workforce continuity;

a $1.7 billion economic survival and jobs package, which includes payroll tax refunds ($550 million), a Business Support Fund ($500 million) and a Working for Victoria Fund ($500 million);

a $1.3 billion injection for expanded ICU capacity; and

a $500 million package aimed at giving certainty to residential and commercial tenants and landlords.

This funding will also ensure important infrastructure programs continue in the safest way possible. This is vital for jobs now and for the economic comeback, because the Andrews government is driving the biggest construction agenda in Victoria’s history. The government has been working closely with industry and unions to protect workers’ safety and jobs, including the 115 000 across Victoria’s Big Build and other projects in this infrastructure program, not just important now for our economy but for the recovery and future productivity.

Disasters demand a new dawn. National security is critical and bipartisan. Countries and cities scrambling to procure life-saving equipment and essential supply chains define why Australia must make niche, advanced manufacturing an utmost priority. Revitalisation zones are needed to attract more investors to repurpose the manufacturing engine rooms which underwrote prosperity after World War II and Australia’s record run of uninterrupted economic growth.

Creating opportunity from adversity is a cause I have pursued for decades with unflinching purpose, and my challenge, issued five years ago in Victoria’s largest selling newspaper, is more urgent now—for economic resurgence and social cohesion. We have the chance to turn adversity into opportunity, to develop industries for the future, to create new jobs for the next generation, to address housing affordability and to replace anxiety and fear with hope.

Attracting investments from Australia’s more than $3 trillion savings in superannuation funds for affordable housing for first responders and essential workers is a proposal I will continue to campaign to deliver. It would also address intergenerational unfairness by providing new opportunities for first home buyers.

Reconstruction will require enlightened federalism, a new era of consensus based on evidence and cooperation. The good news is we have made significant progress on collaboration. Securing the Australian government’s commitment to city deals for Melbourne’s north-west and south-east provides mechanisms across all tiers of government and business to leverage opportunities such as the $500 million private investment into the Ford Motor Company’s sites.

Australia turns to Broadmeadows in times of profound challenge. Ford’s Broadmeadows site is emblematic of change after deindustrialisation. New proposals include harnessing technology for a major hub for cheap, clean energy. The ebb and flow of history points a way to recovery. Diggers, light horsemen and Victoria Cross winners were trained and dispatched from the Maygar Barracks to fight nation-defining battles at Gallipoli and the Western Front—sacrifices we honour this week on Anzac Day. The old army camp has evolved into a logistics hub for fighting bushfires.

Across the road, CSL, a leading company on the Australian Stock Exchange, manufactures life-saving blood products. It began life as the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in 1916, when an island continent feared devastation from last century’s pandemic. CSL has evolved into a global biotech leader providing rapid access for Australians to medical advances, including insulin and penicillin, and vaccines against influenza, polio and other infectious diseases.

Preventing future dangers underscores the need to build greater resilience into the social determinants of life: health, lifelong learning and connecting the disconnected to opportunity. Parliament’s kitchen underscores this understanding. I have witnessed parliamentary staff dressed from head to toe in protective clothing loading vans at the rear of the house with crates of food for the Salvation Army to distribute. The kitchen has cooked more than 30 000 meals during the pandemic for homeless Victorians. This is a practical, real-world contribution to the community, and I commend everyone involved, from kitchen staff and management to the Presiding Officers, the President of the Legislative Council and the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.

This is a humbling reminder of how that miser fate can turn, life’s fragility and why we must stay the course together.