Kim O’KEEFFE (Shepparton) (18:37): I am very pleased to finally get to speak to the budget. The state budget highlights the reality and disadvantage that communities face due to this government’s financial mismanagement and cost blowouts. I have never known a time of distress like people are experiencing right now. Cost of living, housing affordability and availability, rental stress and homelessness are at an all-time high. It has simply become so hard for so many just to make ends meet, and this government has a lot to answer for. Victorian families are facing really tough times, all because Labor does not have a plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis or pay down the record debt that will make life harder for generations to come.
Victorians have been hit with more than 56 new or increased taxes, with the recent addition of a death tax, since 2014, and our state is being forced to pay the highest taxes in the nation, with less money to spend where we need it most. The $216 billion in cost blowouts on the Suburban Rail Loop and the billions in cost blowouts should be spent on the housing, hospitals, roads, schools and infrastructure needed in our communities. We are currently in a health crisis, with hospital and service cuts. This budget cut health by $207 million, down 33.8 per cent. Cuts to health will force Victorian hospitals – many, like GV Health, are already operating in deficit – to reduce services. It was appalling that the government called on hospitals to cut budgets in the planning of hospital amalgamations. This led to an outcry and community protest. We still do not have the details regarding cuts to hospital services and staff.
We do know that the government is forging ahead with grouping 74 health services into 11 local health service networks, as it is calling them – this is amalgamation – and the government is progressing measures to cut costs on the already distressed health sector. What does this mean for health services? The government then did do a backflip and there was an announcement of $1.5 billion due to the outcry. There are still no details regarding funding from that budget announcement to assist GV Health, which in recent times had to close beds and put a freeze on staff recruitment. A community forum was held in Shepparton in August, where we heard firsthand from hospital staff from GV Health about extreme staff shortages, staff recruitment being frozen, staff burnout, ambulance ramping and patients being left on beds in hallways. There are still significant issues that need to be addressed across the health sector, and this government is failing.
In this budget we also saw dental services cut by $36 million, ambulance services cut by $24 million, the home and community care program for young people cut by $41 million, health workforce training and development cut by $24 million and maternal and child health and early parenting services cut by $2.6 million.
This government have their priorities all wrong, and health care must be a priority. It is also appalling that 75 per cent of funding has been cut to cancer research. Cutting critical cancer research is scraping the bottom of the barrel and has outraged Victorians. After a decade of Labor we now have an exorbitant debt forecast to reach $188 billion by 2027–28 and interest payments expected to hit $26 million per day. This government has lost complete control of its spending and complete control of its debt, and it is Victorians who are paying the price.
Victoria has been labelled one of the country’s biggest underperformers by the Reserve Bank of Australia, as new data ranks the state the worst for doing business. Victoria is ranked the worst state in the nation for payroll tax, land tax and land transfer duty. RBA assistant governor Sarah Hunter singled out the Victorian economy as one of the worst performing in the nation during an appearance at a parliamentary inquiry.
Cost of living is a significant issue impacting the lives of Victorians every single day. People are doing it tough, and my office is inundated with many people struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table. My hope from this budget was that we could help those doing it tough, but that has not happened and things just keep getting harder. Cost of living and financial stress have got to a level that is overwhelming, and the level of hardship continues to grow. How does this government expect people to manage with increased power bills, rental increases, increased grocery bills and increased taxes? I recently had a response from the Treasurer to my adjournment matter. He said:
We know Victorians are paying more at the bowser, the supermarket and for their electricity bills.
The Treasurer’s own response acknowledges the increased financial pressures being put on Victorian households. Well, Treasurer, you need to do something about it.
A growing number of working families are joining the queues for the first time of hungry Victorians relying on food donations. Just recently Shepparton Foodshare had a fundraiser highlighting the significant increase of people seeking food relief. The alarming increasing trend shows that many families are anxious about adequately feeding their families. I have been a volunteer at Foodshare, and it is overwhelming to see the enormity of the need to help people get food on the table. Agencies are stretched to the limits, constantly putting a call out for more support.
Just this week Shepparton Family and Financial Services put out a call for help for food donations. They are really struggling to meet the demand for food relief from the community as the numbers are growing at such a significant rate, and they mentioned their grave concerns for the increased number of families that will need support over the Christmas period. Organisations like Shepparton Foodshare are also putting calls out to the community to help provide food for those that are struggling.
People Supporting People are another local organisation who provide meals for the homeless and those in need, and I am a volunteer. I want to acknowledge the amazing work of Azem Elmaz and his team and the other volunteers. Azem is an extraordinarily selfless man who lives his life giving to those in need. This government could learn a lot from him. People that are living on the street and sleeping rough depend on people like Azem and his team. Azem also goes out most nights, delivering hampers of food to the homes of those who do not have food to provide for their families. It is extraordinary to think that that level of demand and of need is happening. Azem has also found the increase in demand has grown, and it has become extremely overwhelming.
The government just keeps adding more taxes, expecting the family budget to stretch further, and many households are under extreme financial pressure. This budget saw an increase of two more taxes, the fire services levy and the waste levy, adding additional and unforeseen costs to a family household. Once again this government expects people to just find these extra costs. Well, it comes at a sacrifice. I recently heard of a family that said they had to cut out swimming lessons and gymnastics classes for their children as they simply could no longer afford them. This would just be one example of how families are having to make sacrifices to be able to make ends meet. Victorians are paying the highest taxes in the country. Every single Victorian man, woman and child has a yearly Labor tax bill of $5834 floating over their head.
Real cost-of-living relief comes from lowering taxes, something this government continues to ignore. More than 3000 businesses packed up and left Victoria from January 2022 to March 2024. 3085 Victorian businesses moved interstate. At the same time Queensland welcomed 4276 new businesses. Victoria’s growth rate of new businesses was the lowest in the nation. Victoria has the reputation of being the most expensive state to do business. Surely this government has to acknowledge these alarming figures and see the damage being done to the state by losing so many businesses.
When it comes to housing, we are in the midst of a housing affordability and availability crisis. Labor has introduced more than 30 new or increased property taxes in the last 10 years, and we are paying the highest property taxes in the nation, which is leading to higher property prices and higher rents and is driving critical investment in new supply interstate. The unexpected change in land tax, which has lowered the tax-free threshold from $300,000 to $50,000 during a housing and cost-of-living crisis, has had a significant impact and has been completely detrimental to the rental market. Property owners who had planned for their future are now finding themselves in a position where they must either pass on their costs to the tenant or sell their property. Just this week it was announced that Victorians are struggling to pay Labor’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes on time, as new figures confirm that more than one in three unpaid land tax bills are more than 12 months overdue. This should be no surprise when so many Victorians are under extreme financial pressure. The headlines of ‘tax to the max’ are very accurate.
Let me read an email I received from Mr Stafford from Numurkah, who said:
I have made the decision that it is no longer feasible to own a rental property in Victoria, which is resulting in two families in Numurkah that will be looking for a new residence …
based on someone buying the properties to live in. With the incredibly short supply of rental properties in regional Victoria, why on earth would this government target landlords? I have also been contacted by many self-funded retirees who are now faced with financial uncertainty, who thought they were set up for their financial future. These are people who are not financially dependent on the state, and who have tried to put themselves in a positive financial position for the future.
The state budget has failed to address housing. Housing availability and affordability have increased homelessness along with soaring living costs. We are going backwards fast in my electorate when it comes to housing, and those reaching out for housing support have significantly increased. Last week I met with Celia Adams, CEO of Beyond Housing, and we discussed the significant housing and rental stress in the Shepparton electorate. We have 2239 people on the waiting list for social housing, with half of those classified as priority applicants. We have one of the highest rates of homelessness across the state. It is a daily struggle for people trying to find an affordable house or rental, and if you do, there are probably 50 others in line. We have people living in cars, sleeping rough or couch surfing. The government promised 80,000 homes a year. The reality is 51,000 homes were built last year and mainly from the private sector. This government keeps making promises that it cannot keep. I ask: what housing in my electorate will be received out of the 80,000 homes a year? This government is turning its back on housing in regional Victoria.
When it comes to roads – where do we start with roads? My office is inundated with complaints about the unsafe state of our appalling roads. I have never seen our roads in such an appalling state. Based on a poll of more than 7000 Victorians, Goulburn Valley Highway, Nagambie to Shepparton, was ranked fourth of the state’s top 20 roads with safety concerns, with motorists citing potholes, poor road conditions and intersection safety concerns. Labor failed to meet its road repairs target by 25 per cent. This past roads asset management budget was cut by $19 million, and we have 16 per cent lower spending than in 2020 on road maintenance. We have local trucking companies having to pay thousands of dollars per week on repairs to their damaged vehicles caused by the appalling condition of the roads, and many drivers are experiencing damage to their cars. Victorians do not feel safe driving on our dangerous roads, and this government needs to prioritise roads and road safety.
If we go back to Labor’s daily interest bill, which is over $20 million a day, in one day this could pay for 128 ambulances, two breast cancer centres, 2715 elective surgeries and fix many of our roads. In one day we could pay the yearly salary of 315 nurses, 510 police recruits or 305 paramedics, and the list goes on. Less than one day of interest payment would fund the state government share of $20 million for the development of the Shepparton Sports Stadium. It is astounding that my community has been waiting for decades to have this stadium funded, yet you think about the astounding interest on the state’s debt and what we could do with that money. There are many other rundown sporting facilities across my electorate calling out for investment. It is appalling.
The $600 million it cost to cancel the Commonwealth Games is $600 million of hardworking taxpayers money just gone, which could have gone towards important community projects. This is public money getting thrown away due to the financial mismanagement of this government. The economic opportunity that would have been invested into the regions is also now lost. It was an embarrassing debacle not only for our state but nationally and internationally. You do not have a significant announcement like the Commonwealth Games and then cancel and then pay for another country to host it. Tourism and major events have also been cut by $286 million down to 60.9 per cent. Regional Victoria depends on tourism and major events, which make a significant financial contribution. The Airbnb tax will have a significant impact on regional tourism and visitation.
Labor should pause the Suburban Rail Loop, which is costing Victoria billions in cost overruns, and this project is still significantly underfunded, while Greater Shepparton is still awaiting a significant contribution to the Shepparton bypass. We have been waiting for funding for this for many, many years. The state government funded a business case showing that they do support and acknowledge the need for the Shepparton bypass. Twenty-five per cent of the state’s trucks are registered in Greater Shepparton, yet we have this primitive road network where we try and navigate trucks trying to do what they need to do to get their produce to the port. We also have trucks belting through the centre of Shepparton and Mooroopna on the main streets every single day. It is dangerous, it has a huge impact on local businesses and it is time that this government supported regional Victoria when it comes to our road network. Infrastructure – there is so much that we need within our community. As I said, there is much run-down sporting infrastructure.
We also have been asking for a bus review, at a very minimal cost. Our region has grown significantly, yet we cannot even get the government to support a bus review. Many of our small towns – our regional towns – on the outskirts of the Greater Shepparton region do not have a bus connection. We have very minimal bus services. This makes life very difficult, because not everyone has their own car. People depend on public transport, and I have been calling for the minister to support this bus review, this much-needed, small contribution to my region.
Finally, I think the government needs to do more, and particularly more for regional communities. We are feeling very disconnected, and we need to make sure that this government governs for all Victorians.