Matters of public importance
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (16:42): What an extraordinary speech we have just had from the member for Tarneit, where a speaker gets up and talks about a litany of cost-of-living measures produced by a government that is the source of most of the cost-of-living pressures in this state right now – I will not say of all the problems. But how dare this government get up and say only they understand cost-of-living pressures when they have been the ones putting the cost-of-living pressures on Victorians every single day for the last 12 years while they have been the government of this place. The 66 new or increased taxes that this government has put on have had an impact on every single household in this state. And now they stand up there and say, ‘We have got the solutions. We’re going to give you a little bit back, because we’ve taxed you to the hilt. Now we’re actually going to give you a little bit back because it’s actually hurting us a bit in the polls.’ That is what is hurting this government; that is the cost of living that they are feeling at the moment. They know that they are on the nose in this state, because Victorians are sick of it. Victorians are sick of being taxed to the hilt, sick of seeing the waste from this government on so many issues but particularly on the Big Build, where there is $15 billion of government money, taxpayers money, Victorians’ money, that has gone into the coffers of, literally, bikies and criminals. And the government stands there and says, ‘Oh, we dispute that figure. But we’re cracking down on the corruption.’
Brad Battin interjected.
Danny O’BRIEN: Maybe it is $14.9 billion, member for Berwick, or maybe it is $29 billion, who knows, because this government is refusing to actually investigate it. They do not care. Victorians want their money back. Victorians are saying to us, ‘When are we going to get the money back? We’ve paid it and we’ve seen nothing for it.’ And it is not just the corruption; on the Big Build alone there has been $50 billion in cost overruns.
Tim Bull interjected.
Danny O’BRIEN: No, that is not even a conservative figure, member for Gippsland East. That is from the government’s own estimates, from what they said something was going to cost to what they now say it is going to cost. And that is not including the Suburban Rail Loop. Despite the fact the government said in 2021 that it would be about $34.5 billion for the first stage, then they said, a couple of years ago, that costs had increased by 20 per cent in the building sector since 2021 but not on the Suburban Rail Loop. They are still saying that it is $34.5 billion, so God knows how much that is going to be when it comes to it.
Victorians are sick of this, and regional Victorians in particular, who the Nationals are here to stand up for. We are seeing $50 billion in cost overruns. We are seeing $15 billion of money wasted going to crooks and criminals on the Big Build, yet in regional Victoria we are getting nothing. Our roads are goat tracks. Our roads in particular are just riddled with potholes because we have seen this government wasting money on the Big Build, wasting money on corruption, going to crooks and criminals and bikies and strippers on government worksites. Yet we cannot get decent roads. I just got an email literally in the last 2 minutes from another person complaining about yet another section of road that is being reduced from 100 k’s to 80 k’s, again because the roads are in such poor condition. We are hearing this time and time again. It is extraordinary to hear the member for Frankston and the member for Tarneit speak up –
Members interjecting.
Danny O’BRIEN: And here is a call coming in now about the waste that we have seen. The Minister for Veterans is getting a call about a pothole, no doubt, because I am sure even in the suburban seats we are hearing these complaints. But we hear those members opposite talk about all the wonderful things they are doing to reduce the cost of living, and I want to quote a Labor MP, the Premier of New South Wales, who said nothing is free. He said:
There’s no such thing as free public transport. At the end of the day, someone’s paying for it.
That is a message that the member for Frankston, the member for Tarneit and everyone on that side should have a think about, because while they are giving with one hand, with all these free things – supposedly – they are actually taking it from Victorians with the other. We never hear the Labor government’s new tax on something, but we always hear how Labor is giving you something for free. They cannot give you anything for free because they are taking it from you in the first place.
Some of the most egregious are those 66 new or increased taxes. We have committed to removing five of them. The number one I want to talk about is the emergency services tax, because that is the most egregious piece of public policy in the last few years. It is very sneaky and very clever and very tricky of the government to say, ‘We’re just going to take a little bit more money to support our emergency services.’ Half of it is actually going on things that we already pay for. Half a billion dollars is going this year on things like Emergency Management Victoria, Triple Zero Victoria, Forest Fire Management Victoria – Crown land, which taxpayers are being asked to pay for again. So it is very sneaky and very tricky. Yet this $3 billion hit on Victorians is actually another cost-of-living hit. Does the government not understand that?
Indeed not only is it on every household, but there is an extra tax coming on landlords. Who is going to pay for that? Renters. We hear this mob all the time having a fight with their Greens mates up the back there about who is better on rent. None of them ever acknowledge that of the 66 new or increased taxes, half are on property and half are on landlords. That has an impact. It actually comes through to the renter, and they have to pay for it. Yet this this government does not understand it.
Brad Rowswell interjected.
Danny O’BRIEN: That is right, member for Sandringham – the people who can least afford it. The Nationals and Liberals will remove the emergency services tax. It is a disgraceful piece of public policy. We will scrap the tax because it is having an impact on every single Victorian. We know the government has supposedly frozen it for primary producers. What do we reckon is going to happen if the Labor government wins the election this year? Do you reckon the 150 per cent increase in tax on farmers is going to go away? No, of course it is not. We know those people over there are already banking it in the ledger. They are going to make the farmers pay even more if they are re-elected. It is a stay of execution, and this is a government that cannot be trusted, because we know it needs the money. We know they are desperate to find the money, and we know that regional Victorians are going to be the ones that pay for it.
The government talk about housing. We have got less housing being built now than there was in 2014, and when there is less housing being built, that increases the costs. If you speak to anyone who is trying to get into the market, that is one thing that they are struggling with, because either they cannot find somewhere or it is way too expensive.
Whether it is the cost of housing or the cost of rentals, this government has made it harder. You hear it time and time again, and I know what they will say – well, maybe the minister at the table, the Minister for Veterans, will not say this because she just accused us of being anti-business. But if you actually talk to business, talk to the Urban Development Institute Victoria, talk to the Property Council Australia, talk to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, talk to the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, they will all tell you about the acronyms ABM and ABV. Investors are saying it to them, and they are saying it to us: ‘We will invest in Australia, but anywhere but Victoria – anywhere but Melbourne.’ If the minister does not believe it, she needs to go and talk to businesses. That is having an impact because this government cannot manage money, and every single Victorian is paying the price for it.
Obviously part of the basis of this MPI is about the free public transport that the government is offering. Well, when you look around regional Victoria, you wonder how much that impacts. I reckon the member for Lowan would like to tell me how many people are catching free public transport in her electorate.
Emma Kealy interjected.
Danny O’BRIEN: None to the Stawell Gift. Half of them do not have trains and half of us do not have buses, and yet we are expected to be thankful for this. Then we have had the government equivocating in the last 24 hours about whether they will even give the GST windfall that they are receiving from the increase in petrol prices back to regional Victorians and to Victorians generally. The government cannot even give us a clear answer on that.
It is embarrassing that this government is raising cost of living and all the wonderful things that it is doing for cost of living, because when it comes to cost of living, this is Dracula being in charge of the blood bank. They have actually caused the problems on cost of living, and this government will continue to make it hard for Victorians. The Nationals and Liberals will ease cost of living for everyone.