APPROPRIATION (2011/2012) BILL 2011
03-June-2011
Mr BURGESS (Hastings) -- What a great pleasure it is to rise to speak on the Baillieu government's first budget. What a stark contrast we have between this budget and those delivered by the Brumby and Bracks governments over the past 11 years.
Instead of bluff, bluster and spin, there is true delivery on services and infrastructure. The burden on families is being eased, community safety is being restored and transport and other infrastructure across the state is being rebuilt.
Who could forget that in 2008 the Brumby government announced its $38 billion transport plan? It was the fifth transport plan. None of the previous four plans were delivered. What did the fifth one have in common with them? Absolutely everything, because none of it was delivered, either. The government announced $38 billion for its masterpiece of a transport plan. How much was funded? Zero was funded. How much came out of it? Zero came out of it. It was not a plan. It was bluff, bluster and absolute spin.
That is where the stark contrast is with this first Baillieu budget. Who can forget the myki system? Who can forget the $2 billion black hole that the previous government left the new government? Who can forget what Labor at the federal level has done to this state, with a $4.1 billion GST cut? It is a cut, contrary to what the member for Melton was saying. If he understood, as he says he does, what really happens in financial circumstances such as this, he would understand that that money had been planned for, as it was in previous budgets. In reality it is a cut to the money that this state has to spend on its community, and that is where we are suffering because of the federal Labor government. On top of that, $550 million has been slowed down. What does 'slowed down' mean? No-one knows.
No-one knows what members of the federal government are thinking at the moment.
One thing that nobody in this state will be allowed to forget for 28 years is the desalination plant, the white elephant that will stand as a tribute to the Brumby government for the rest of time. We will pay $2 million every day for 28 years for that plant. That is a wonderful legacy for that government to leave this state!
Moving on from the problems that the previous government created for this state, I refer to some of the positive things that the budget introduces. Law and order is a very important issue because across the state it had been allowed to deteriorate dramatically. A little later I will refer to some statistics on the issue. One of the most important things that has happened for my community in my electorate is the announcement of the Somerville police station, something that the community fought for for years and that this government is delivering on.
I refer to something that was said in the other place by a member for Eastern Victoria Region. He condemned the Baillieu government for not having delivered on the promise to build the Somerville police station. All I can suggest to the member for Eastern Victoria Region is that he probably should enrol in budget 101, because it is in the budget and if he knew how to read a budget, he would be able to see that it is there. It is easy to be critical if you do not bother to open the pages. This was a mistake that the former member for Frankston invariably ran into around budget time -- he accepted the Labor Party spin and just made statements. If the member for Eastern Victoria Region had opened the budget papers, he would have found that funding for the Somerville police station is there.
The coalition has also promised 1600 extra police officers and is well and truly on the way to delivering on that, plus an extra 100 transit police and more than 900 protective services officers, and I will deal with those a little later.
A stronger police presence is of critical importance to bringing law and order into circumstances where the people of Victoria expect it. Over the past 11 years it has been allowed to deteriorate dramatically, to the point where people do not feel safe on the streets and in their homes any more. Members only have to get out and knock on a few doors to understand that people do not feel safe in this state -- not as safe as they should, not as safe as they could and not as safe as they will.
The government has moved very quickly to remove suspended sentences and home detention. The government is also moving to develop detailed and tailor-made innovative approaches to reducing crime in local areas. Who could forget that under Labor we had the fewest police per head of population of any state in Australia? Not only that but we also spent the least on police per head of population of any state in Australia. Crimes against the person increased by 36.9 per cent.
I remember standing on the other side of this house and saying to those opposite in government, 'We're coming up with all these statistics. You're coming up with statistics that don't marry with ours. Somebody's right, somebody's wrong, or we're both wrong. What is the problem?'. Government members said that we were making them up. The fact is the members of the previous government were making them up. It has now come out that the crime statistics were incorrect. Coalition members had been saying that for years because that was what the community was telling us: people were not feeling safe because crime was increasing. Did government members listen to that? No, they did not. All they did was say, 'No. We've had a 26 per cent cut in the crime rate'. That was absolutely inaccurate, and the community knew it.
As I said, crimes against the person had increased by 36.9 per cent.
As well as that, assaults had increased by 57.6 per cent, rapes had increased by 33 per cent, and women and the elderly were twice as likely to be assaulted as they were 10 years before. That is an absolute disgrace. One of the things that came out of having Labor governments for more than 10 years was that women and the elderly were twice as likely to be assaulted. What also came out was that the hospitals were reporting that not only were there more assaults but those assaults were far more violent and more people were presenting with acquired brain injury than had been the case in the past. What that really shows is that the Brumby government had completely lost control of law and order in this state. That is one of the major issues that the coalition government is taking on. As I said, people in Victoria have a right to feel safe on their streets and in their homes.
Two former local police officers from my community, Gordon Charteris and Adam Carrigg, put their jobs at risk to speak up. With respect to Gordon Charteris, he had had a 36-year career in the police force and had never before felt the need to speak out, and that was under various flavours of government. He felt the need to speak out and say that he did not have enough police to do his job. Within two weeks he started to get emails saying his performance was not good enough and within a month he had been bullied out of the police force.
That is what happened under the previous government: when anybody in the public service had the nerve to speak out and say that the government was not doing the right thing, it shut them up. That is how it was.
An honourable member -- Disgraceful!
Mr BURGESS -- It is a disgrace. Moving on to other things, I refer to the protective services officers on the railway stations. That is obviously a very important project for the government, because while there is an absence of safety on our streets, it is also absent on our transport systems. There will be an extra 900-plus PSOs on the metropolitan stations and the major regional stations. Fortunately the stations on the Frankston to Stony Point line are included in that program, so we will have two PSOs from 6.00 p.m. until after the last train every night. My community is very keen on that very important initiative of the state government.
Neighbourhood Watch will get $550 000 to assist it to continue helping to protect local communities. The budget includes $13.5 million for a zero tolerance approach to graffiti. That is something I am very keen on because graffiti is out of control. Over the past 10 years very little was done to get rid of graffiti. That is another issue that the government is focusing on.
A broad range of sports clubs play at Lloyd Park in Langwarrin in my electorate. The government has put in $300 000 to assist with the upgrading of the facilities there, and that has been very well received. The Somerville Netball Club has been given $250 000. At the moment its members play on a surface that looks more like waves down at the beach, so that will be very helpful there. There is $300 000 for Balnarring football and netball club to build its facilities down there, which is obviously going to be very useful.
Balnarring has a fantastic netball club and junior football club that are having a lot of success at the moment, and that is a great tribute to the people who have resurrected them. There is also $60 000 to redo the Tooradin foreshore car park. That is another very worthwhile project and something that will be beneficial to that area.
To help improve the health system $13 billion has been put forward, and 800 new hospital beds will be provided over the period. There is $1 million for planning and expansion of Casey Hospital and $36 million for the expansion of Frankston Hospital. The wonderful member for Frankston is in the house at the moment, and I know he joins me in supporting this particular initiative. There is funding for 64 extra medical and surgical beds with expanded critical care services to treat nearly 5000 additional patients each year, which is of vital importance to our local communities.
There is $88 million for mental health, particularly to improve education completion and employment participation for people with mental illness. There is $34 million for the very important area of palliative care, and I know all members are in sync on that; they all want that to be brought forward.
There is funding for 340 extra ambulance officers and the halving of ambulance membership fees, and I think that is something that has not been given enough attention. The 340 extra ambulance officers are of critical importance, particularly in my area. We have had a number of incidents where people have had to wait too long for ambulances, and there has been a question of whether the results would have been much better had the ambulances been able to get there earlier. The ambulance officers try their hardest. They are very hardworking, dedicated people, but there are just not enough of them. The 340 extra ambulance officers will help a lot.
There is $11 billion going towards Victoria's education system, including funds to review, upgrade and expand antibullying programs, build and renovate Victorian schools and acquire land, and $156 million to assist students with disabilities. That is a fantastic initiative and something that I think all members of the house would be very much in favour of. There is a massive increase in maintenance funding for public schools and extra funding for school modernisation.
The budget also identified that the technical college we have said we will build in Somerville will go ahead, and I am particularly keen on that. Children are unique, and they learn in different ways, but they are all just as valuable as one another, and it is important that we have a system of education that allows them to learn in the way that best suits them. There is $56 million to reduce TAFE fees for 15 to 24-year-olds who are concession card holders, and that again is a very important thing the government is doing.
We will be investing heavily in transport infrastructure and service expansion and reforming taxi services in Victoria, which is also an important thing, because taxidrivers are very like receptionists in offices or businesses; they are the directors of first impressions for our state, and we need to make sure that they are making the right impression on people who come to this state and also those who live here.
The port of Hastings is another very important element in my electorate, and $2.3 million has been committed to commence the planning and building of that particular project, which will be fast-tracked to be finished over a 15-year period. It is very important because we need to have the competition that that will generate, and we also need to cut down the congestion that is just out of control at the port of Melbourne. The $2.3 million will be put towards doing the financial, environmental and social impact statements that will be completed prior to any work being started at the port of Hastings, as I committed to before the last election. The bill to establish the Port of Hastings Development Authority has been introduced into the house. That authority will have the imprimatur of the government to move very quickly to make sure that these things get done.
The other things the government is doing include moving to reduce cost of living pressures wherever possible.
One of the very important things was extending discounts on energy bills for Victorians on low incomes so that they will apply year round. That is a $382 million boost in concessions, which means that more than 815 000 Victorians, including aged pensioners, veterans, sole parents, people with disabilities and carers will benefit from an extension of the concession that provides a 17.5 per cent reduction.
We have also moved to reduce by 50 per cent stamp duty for first-time owners on properties they purchase under the value of $600 000. I commend the bill to the house.