Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria)

My constituency question is for the Premier, and concerns his recent insistence that the AFL Grand Final public holiday will take place this year, regardless of the location of the final, or the continuing lockdown.

Many people in Western Victoria Region are already horrified by the economic devastation lockdown has caused, by the businesses bankrupted and the livelihoods lost. While recognising the necessity of some economic support and stimulus, they look with horror at the collapsing tax revenues and ballooning debt Victoria faces.

Your glib statement that ‘it is about working to live, not living to work’ provides no reassurance to those outside of the taxpayer-financed public sector, who see a direct correlation between the work they do and the economic activity that generates wealth for our economy.

Why have it now, when we cannot afford it and cannot celebrate it? In this time of modelling and evidence-based responses, I ask the Premier just how much will his latest attempt to bribe the electorate end up costing the Victorian people?