25 May 2011
Mr MORRIS (Mornington) — I am delighted to join the discussion on this definite matter of public importance. I do congratulate the government on its many achievements — they are considerable — and I think they provide an excellent basis for the balance of the term.
In recent weeks in the run‑up to the budget, through the budget process and most recently during the last 11 days of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee process I have had the opportunity to reflect on what could have been had government not changed.
It is interesting that there are considerable parallels with 1988. In those days the state economy looked reasonably secure, as it did last year, but there were also widespread whispers of dissatisfaction. I think the same can be said for last year.
Members will recall that in 1988 the Cain government was returned with a small majority, and almost immediately afterwards the wheels started to fall off. The decline and the fall into the abyss began, a fall that was eventually arrested only by the election of the Kennett government in 1992.
This time around government has again changed hands. New eyes have had the opportunity to run over the books and to review the situation. The fact is that it was not good. The fact is that for the last four years economic growth in this state has stagnated. Labour productivity has gone through the floor. The only real economic growth we have had has been boosted as a product of population growth. That has been it. Growth has come solely off the back of population growth.
In the last decade our population growth exceeded by a significant factor our closest competitors — whether it be Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, our population growth has exceeded that of other Australian cities. Of course that is not something that a state government has any control over, but it certainly provided the basis for the little economic growth that we have had.
The contrast with the productivity result is stark. Throughout the 1990s Victoria comfortably exceeded the national figures, rising from 2.1 per cent in the early 1990s to 2.8 per cent in the second half of the decade. If you compare that growth with growth in the first decade of this century, you see that it was down to 1.5 per cent in the first five years of the century, and in the last five years it has been considerably less than 1 per cent. In other words, Labor presided over a decline in productivity and growth of almost three‑quarters of the previous rate. It was masked by the impact of strong population growth, but that population growth was undermined by a chronic lack of investment in infrastructure.
Then of course in the last couple of years, when the chickens were fast approaching the roost, Labor decided that it had to start investing. The borrowing began, the debt began to balloon and a negligible level early in the decade rose to a level that is quickly becoming unsustainable. It continues to spiral because of ill‑advised funding arrangements which have left a real millstone around the neck of Victorians. Because of the commitments the former government made, our debt will continue to rise. Absolutely because of the actions of the former government, because of its ill‑advised, ill‑informed decisions.
In tackling the budget the government was required to deal with that legacy — a legacy of waste and mismanagement, of cost blow‑outs, black holes and lapsing programs. If we have not heard enough of lapsing programs over the last few weeks, we have had to deal with that process, to say nothing of the shock from the commonwealth, courtesy of the reallocation of GST funds. This is an issue on which we all should have common cause and we should have bipartisan support.
Unfortunately we have heard absolutely nothing from the opposition on this — just dead silence. I have made the observation before that if both sides of the house do not address the growing imbalance between state and commonwealth government responsibilities, we will find that the revenue we require to supply the services and provide the infrastructure our capacity as a state will be at very real risk. We run the risk of simply becoming vassals of the commonwealth government.
Unless we have an approach on both sides across the states that says, ‘We are going to tackle this’, we are going to be in a lot of trouble as states. The whole capacity of this state to compete and to chart its own destiny will be lost. Our priorities will be determined in Canberra. Public servants in Canberra, no matter how professional — and I have no doubt about their professional approach — inevitably are going to have priorities that are very different from those of this state and those of the Victorian people.
The bottom line in the financial management argument is very simple — under Labor, government expenditure was rising and continued to rise at a faster rate than revenue. No budget, be it that of a family, a small business, a mining giant or any government, can afford that sort of pressure to continue. Yet that is the legacy that Labor left — rocketing expenditure, shrinking income in real terms, unsustainable debt and a total and complete failure to meet the infrastructure challenges of the state. That was the hand dealt to the Baillieu government by its predecessors.
From my perspective at least, undoubtedly the greatest achievement of the government to date has been the recent budget. Despite the mess, the black holes and the legacy Labor has left it, the government has kept its promises and in its first budget it has delivered for the community. It has delivered in the area of community safety. Our investment in new police and the protective services officers will provide a uniformed presence on the ground that has been lacking for much of the past decade. We have introduced legislation to abolish suspended sentences, to allow principals to search for and to seize weapons in schools and to set new penalties for drunken behaviour.
We have delivered in the area of health, providing a record $13 billion in 2011–12, including $448 million to initiate the provision of 800 new hospital beds. We have plugged the black holes at the Olivia Newton‑John Cancer and Wellness Centre and the Royal Children’s Hospital’s IT system and in nurses’ holiday pay. We have provided a funding boost of $34 million for palliative care. That is a very important initiative. It is a service that is absolutely critical to people in the final days of their life. I certainly applaud that decision.
We have ended the secrecy surrounding our hospitals. We are providing information for both patients and health professionals on median waiting times by hospital and by procedure; ambulance bypass information — so long hidden; hospital early warning system data; the hospital‑initiated postponement data; and patient transfer times. All those things are now out in the public domain.
We have delivered an expanded capacity for the emergency response function, with more than $100 million in extra funding for the Country Fire Authority and the SES (State Emergency Service), 101 new firefighting vehicles, 60 new or rebuilt fire stations and $15 million for a state‑of‑the‑art emergency services communications system. We have legislated to enshrine the CFA volunteers charter into law. We have legislated to provide independent oversight of the implementation of all 67 of the bushfires royal commission recommendations.
We have delivered on measures to ease cost of living pressures on Victorian families. We have delivered in education and in community services, including — I think this is a very important initiative — delivering leadership in the debate on the national disability insurance scheme, actually getting it onto the Council of Australian Governments agenda. That is an important initiative.
In transport, we have invested $6 billion this year alone. We have budgeted for 7 new trains, the first of an extra 40. In the area of traffic camera operations we have moved to disclose the location of mobile traffic cameras and announced the appointment of an independent commissioner to monitor the accuracy and use of cameras. I know from my own experience in the last Parliament that getting anyone to have a look at serious issues with traffic cameras has been just impossible.
We have moved to cut more than $2.2 billion in waste from the budget.
The Premier and his cabinet colleagues should undoubtedly be congratulated on an excellent record in their first six months.
Legislative Assembly 25 May 2011
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