Government: initiatives
24-March-2011
Mr BURGESS (Hastings) -- It is a pleasure to rise to speak on this matter of public importance. The modern Labor Party really is a disgrace. It has let down its history and let down those who have come before. The Labor Party has traded in its ideologies and principles for power and for government. Really the best description of its attitude is by reference to what Graham Richardson said: 'Whatever it takes'. That is precisely what the previous Labor government did to keep power in this state.
We can go back and look at the Cain and Kirner years. The government was $30 billion in debt and had to borrow money.
Ms D'Ambrosio interjected.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER -- Order! The member for Mill Park has had her opportunity.
Mr BURGESS -- It had to borrow money to pay its employees, something that is unheard of. Have you ever heard anyone from the other side even admit they got anything wrong?
Ms Ryall -- Never.
Mr BURGESS -- Have they once said they could have done better?
Ms Ryall -- No.
Mr BURGESS -- Not one of them; and yet many of them, particularly in the Bracks government but also in the Brumby government, were the same snivelling creatures. What did they do? As the shadow Treasurer said in his contribution today, they managed to keep the budget in the black for each of their years. How hard would that be? Seriously, when you go out and tax the Victorian people as much and as often as you like, how hard is it to stay in the black?
An honourable member -- And borrow.
Mr BURGESS -- And borrow, and at the end of your term end up in massive debt again. Who would not be able to keep the budget in the black? For years now I have heard from the now opposition members how fantastic they were that they kept the AAA rating -- after the Kennett government got it back for them.
They kept the AAA. Who could not keep a AAA when they had gone from $19 billion in revenue to $45 billion in revenue? If that was applied to your household, it would mean you had doubled your income, and should you be applauded simply because you were able to live within that? I do not think so. This is most disgraceful -- probably worse than the Cain and Kirner performances. Not only did those opposite double the income and spend the lot, but they left this state in $30 billion of debt again. How can they hold their heads up?
What is really interesting about it is when things were clearly not going well -- and under the Brumby and Bracks governments that was quite often -- it was always someone else's fault. I remember listening to contributions at the time from the shadow Treasurer, the now Treasurer, of this state, in which he would point out the various things the Premier would say were the problems: 'The Australian dollar is too high; 'Oh no, the Australian dollar is too low; 'No, hang on, it is drought this time; 'No, it is floods'.
Every time there was a reason: 'It was the Rudd government; 'No, hang on, it was the Howard government'. It was anything but the problem of the previous government, and that was where the problem was.
Let us go through a few examples of those, shall we? Myki was going to cost $494 million -- it is now $1.4 billion and we are still struggling to find out where the end of that debt is.
Ms Ryall -- How much?
Mr BURGESS -- It is $1.4 billion. There is the desalination plant, and the shadow Treasurer is sitting at the table. This is something the shadow Treasurer should really be proud of. The desalination plant will cost $23 billion.
Ms Ryall -- How much?
Mr BURGESS -- It will cost $23 billion -- that is, $654 million a year -- whether we use it or not. What a disgrace. The former government has run up 30 years of debt. The shadow Treasurer is seriously challenging that 'great' member of Parliament, Peter Batchelor, a former member for Thomastown, who was at that time known for myki, fast rail and the smart meters, which I will come to in a moment.
Mr R. Smith interjected.
Mr BURGESS -- Yes. He probably cost this state about $4 billion. The shadow Treasurer has surpassed that. He has cost this state $24 billion over 30 years. What a great achievement that is.
Regional fast rail was going to cost $80 million. How do you go from $80 million to $839 million? How does that happen? Did we ever hear an explanation of that? I did not hear it, and I do not think anybody heard it.
Earlier I referred to smart meters. The original cost of $800 million has blown out to $2.2 billion. What did the Auditor-General have to say about it? -- 'no discernible benefit'. It is $2.2 billion but there is no discernible benefit. I would look away too, shadow Treasurer.
I refer to taxpayer-funded advertising. We have already started to cut into that and will reduce it by 40 per cent. The coalition government is also reducing excessive ministerial advisers and spin doctors by 25 per cent.
It will take sometime to overcome the problems the previous government created as far as the running down of infrastructure when compared to growth throughout the state is concerned, but we are doing that and we will get it done.
There is one other interesting program worth mentioning which has recently come to my attention, and that is a fantastic program called Gold Undercover. That program, which was put out by the previous government in 2006, was aimed at increasing mining in Victoria. It ran from 2006 to 2009. As I say, the aim was to increase mining. Typically Labor members think they understand how business works, but they do not. They spent $9 million.
Ms Ryall -- How much?
Mr BURGESS -- They spent $9 million on a program called Gold Undercover, which means the gold is in the ground, but how much do you think licences increased in Victoria?
Ms Ryall -- How much?
Mr BURGESS -- None. Some $9 million was spent from 2006 to 2009 with no result at all. What a wonderful process that was.
Another thing worth mentioning is that over the time of the previous government manufacturing fell to about 11 per cent, as a share of the economy, and Victorian exports were at an all-time low at 22 per cent.
If I were responsible for those sorts of things, I would be hiding my head in shame, but somehow members of the Labor Party, who seem to have more front than Myers, turn up every day and keep saying, 'But we got it right'. Not one of them over there has yet apologised or even admitted that they got it wrong.
This government has already introduced legislation to abolish suspended sentences, legislation to expand the functions of Victoria Police protective services officers, legislation to give principals the power to ban, search for and seize weapons, legislation to enable tough new penalties for drunken, loutish and threatening behaviour and legislation for new offences to deal with drunks hanging around. We have improved ministerial standards in Parliament by amending the standing orders to require ministers to answer questions and limit answers -- it is a pity that it has not had any effect on the opposition. It has announced amendments to standing orders that would require members of Parliament to be financially penalised for poor behaviour in Parliament.
We have also released the details, much to the chagrin of the opposition, of Labor's desalination plant. It will cost $23 billion over 30 years -- what a disgrace! We have also released new datasets to improve the transparency of Victoria's health system, halved liquor licensing fees for 10 000 small businesses and commenced an expert independent review of the state's finances.
It is a pleasure to speak on this matter of public importance because it gives us the opportunity to revisit the circumstances of the previous two governments and to compare them with the government of the Kennett era, which governed for just 7 years. Yet for the 11 years that the opposition was in government, it continued to blame the Kennett government for all the
problems it confronted and all the problems it left for the new government. Even in opposition, Labor members have still been blaming the Kennett government, yet the Liberals have been in charge of this state for just 7 of the last 28 years.
There is a stark contrast between the performance of the Kennett government and the performance of the Cain, Bracks and Brumby governments. I have gone through the various matters that reflect the poor performance of the recent Labor governments, and it is clear that they really made a mess of Victoria -- --
The DEPUTY SPEAKER -- Order! The member's time has expired.