Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria)

I wish to contribute to the Appropriation (Interim) Bill 2020.

It is with great regret on behalf of all Victorian taxpayers that this bill details that the Victorian government will be borrowing an additional $24.5 billion.

This is an extraordinary amount of money that will take decades to repay, if ever at all.

In just three years, this government will more than triple the state’s debt and condemn future generations of Victorians to an economic burden they may never overcome.

To pretend, as the government will, that this economic burden is due to rectifying the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is simply false.

These borrowing measures are designed to rectify the damage caused by Labor’s financial mismanagement, budget blowouts and project failures.

State borrowings were already forecast to reach $47 billion next financial year and $55 billion by 2023, without even taking into account the cost of the budget blowouts.

The government will point to Canberra and attempt to compare the Victorian government’s huge increase to the state’s debt to the economic stimulus provided by the federal government.

The key difference is that the federal coalition government has spent the last seven years rectifying the economic mismanagement of the government before it and pursued a budget surplus.

Meanwhile, the Andrews government has spent the last six years crippling the state’s finances to fund wasteful election promises, unnecessary government programs and growing the productivity-disrupting bureaucracy, while not being able to manage projects on time or on budget.

Times like this remind us why governments need to be economically responsible.

In crises, there will be an unavoidable cost to the economy.

Economic responsibility involves preparing a state or nation for the costs of crises.

This government wasted six years of relatively strong economic conditions, when it should have been saving the taxpayers money but instead squandered it, and now it plans to squander more.

To make matters worse, they are determined to avoid any scrutiny over where they spend it.

While the federal government has established the Senate select committee inquiry into the response to COVID-19, chaired by the Labor opposition, which met today.

This government refuses to take similar action.

Instead, this state’s future and finances rest in the hands of the eight-man politburo for months to come.

We will return briefly in June of course, but for the most part Parliament is suspended.

Mr Andrews clearly thinks that democracy is not an essential service.

Mr Melhem was even kind enough to praise his ‘dear leader’ this afternoon, declaring that if we were to have a dictator, he would hope that it would be Mr Andrews.

Free from scrutiny, democracy and transparency, the Premier will be able to further ravage the state’s finances.

In previous speeches, there have been a few misquotes of the economist, Milton Friedman.

The correct quote is, ‘Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program’.

Of course, we can expect this of the enormous spending sprees that will come from this $24.5 billion in extra borrowing.

Rather than borrow such an extraordinary amount, where have the government’s efforts been to reduce spending in other areas?

Under schedule 1 of the bill, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) amidst a pandemic will receive $1.3 billion for July to December this year.

The 2020 bushfire season demonstrated that clearly this department has completely failed to manage fuel loads in state forests and the out-of-control roadside vegetation.

Additionally, the government’s stage 3 restrictions have prohibited activities from taking place in state forests such as prospecting and camping, obviously reducing traffic into these parks. Meanwhile, the vermin and weeds that they are meant to control are out of control.

What exactly will DELWP be spending $1.3 billion on in the second half of 2020?

Other significant spending measures by the state government have included a $59.4 million boost for mental health support and a $40.2 million support package for those at risk of family violence during the coronavirus pandemic.

What this demonstrates is that there is in fact another cost that comes with a pandemic—not only the cost of lives from health implications, or the cost to the economy from business shutdowns, but also the cost to individuals’ sanity and family stability when you lock people up at home.

Now—to increase the load on families—parents stuck at home, whether working or not, are expected to be educators as well.

The decision must ultimately be up to the parents if they believe their child needs to go to school. Parents know what’s best for their child’s learning—not the Premier and not the school principal.

I hope before long that these burdensome restrictions are lifted so that we can alleviate the stress caused to families across the state.

The level of regulation and compliance in this state is massive.

The Institute of Public Affairs have estimated based on international econometric studies that the cost of Australia’s red tape to the economy is in the order of $176 billion every year, a large proportion of which no doubt emanates from Victoria.

If we’re serious about getting the economy back on track, we are going to have to reduce the level of red tape with which this government is so obsessed.

Regulation and compliance are costly and impede economic growth in the private sector, which will be vital if we are to create wealth and job opportunities in this state.

Under this government, Victoria has become the biggest taxing state in the country, with taxes equivalent to over 5 per cent of gross state product.

We have seen 26 new or increased taxes and levies handed down to Victorians over the past six years.

How many more will be required to fund the additional $24.5 billion in borrowings?

Excessive taxation on individuals and businesses will only further stifle the economic disaster that now seems unavoidable.

With the unemployment rate set to double from 5.2 per cent to as high as 11 per cent by September, as many as 270 000 jobs potentially lost as a result of social distancing laws and gross state product to fall by 14 per cent from $226 billion to $194 billion, serious tax reform will be essential for economic recovery after this pandemic.

Where are the government’s plans for such reform?

They have decided to temporarily ditch their waste levy hike on Victorians—how about ditch the hike all together?

If this government were serious about helping get people back to work, as they claim with their Working for Victoria economic support package, wouldn’t they abolish a tax on employment like the payroll tax?

If you really wanted to reduce the economic stress on tenants by banning evictions, surely you would begin by repealing legislation which disincentivises property owners from entering the rental market and subsequently drives up rent, such as the amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act which came into effect this year after passing in the last Parliament.

There are countless ways in which this government could reduce the burden on households, individuals and businesses by cutting red tape and reducing or abolishing taxes, but instead they choose to borrow more and spend more.