Mr Pallas (Tarneit) — It gives me pleasure  to speak in the grievance debate. I  suppose  it  would  go without saying that I  cannot  leave  the  Treasurer’s comments without at least reflecting  upon his hypocrisy. Let us not forget what the Treasurer said about TAFE when he was the shadow Treasurer in 2009:

There  is something wrong with a government that raises fees for training at a  time of rising unemployment when many people are seeking new training to enter  or re-enter the workforce but have less resources to do so

Here we go! Members could not have  a  more  transparent  demonstration  of  the hypocrisy of the Treasurer, who is now leaving the chamber in shame. He has been shamed out of this place for a good reason.

We know this is a government that is so obsessed with  its economic  performance that it  has failed to perform substantially and economically  for Victorians. I grieve for the disastrous state of  infrastructure planning and delivery  in the state of Victoria. I grieve for our state’s lost opportunities. I grieve for the jobs  lost in the building and construction industry  in  this state  due  to  the  culpably  negligent  management of  this lethargic,   inactive,  incompetent  and  do-nothing  government.  The  Baillieu government  is  not  just  working against the interest of Victorians; it is not working  at  all  when  it  comes  to  cogently  argued  and  clearly  presented infrastructure pipelines  that  industry can appreciate  and  plan for.  We  see government members are intent on commentary and criticism of the  past  and  the circumstances they  find  themselves in or  any  other factors they  believe can exculpate  them  from  the increasingly  apparent  realisation that  hardworking Victorians are coming to — that is, that in relation to infrastructure delivery things are getting worse not better because of this government.

This disappointing government and our phantom Premier, who is otherwise known as a  political  ghost  who walks, is nowhere to be seen, particularly  when  those hardworking Victorians who are struggling expect his help.

Instead they are met with an arrogant indifference to their plight. I grieve for 18 per cent of  the  construction  industry workforce or the 48 200 construction workers  who, according to the  Australian Bureau of Statistics, have lost their jobs in the  last nine months and for the 95 building companies  which went into liquidation or voluntary administration in the first six months of this year.

The single biggest cause of the decline in activity and employment in Victoria’s building and  construction  industry  has  been  the  withdrawal  of  government investment. One key action that  Victorians would expect from this government to improve our  quality  of  life and  boost  our  state’s  productivity  would  be investment  in high quality infrastructure that improves our lives and also make our economy perform better.

I grieve for  Victorians who have had to settle for a second-rate, sloppy, lazy, arrogant and  partisan government that has failed to recognise that investing in infrastructure will not only boost productivity  but also improve our quality of life. Instead Victorians  have seen our  infrastructure pipeline turned off  and replaced  with  an  infrastructure  pipedream. A public works phantasmagoria has replaced  practical, rational and  coherent projects,  transparently identified, prioritised   and  delivered  as  part  of  a  coherent,   publicly   enunciated infrastructure plan.  I  grieve  for  Victorians because opportunities are being lost.

We were told before the last election by the now Minister for Roads and Minister for  Public  Transport  that the coalition had no plans for the construction  of cemetery link, the  connection between the  Eastern Freeway and the  Tullamarine Freeway.  Instead  the minister told the Victorian  people  on  ABC  774  on  19 November that the coalition had big plans for public transport.

The  Doncaster, Rowville,  Avalon  and  Melbourne  Airport  railway  lines  were nominated.  The development  of  this policy  position  does nothing  more  than demonstrate that this  government has simply grabbed  the latest headline in  an effort  to  say,  ‘We are doing something’. But it  lacks  the  credibility  and capacity  for  coherent  delivery  of  policy  that  has   been  prioritised  to demonstrate and deliver the wellbeing of Victorians.

We have been told  this morning by the Treasurer of the state that as soon  as a business case for cemetery link  is  complete he is keen to get on  with  it. It would probably have been  a good idea to have  that business case well and truly available to him before he committed to the project. How much does it cost — —

  Mr Ryan — A bit like the pipeline!

  Mr Pallas – A bit like the pipeline, says the Deputy Premier.

There is only  one difference: this is a  $15 billion commitment. Let me  put it another way.  There  is  now more infrastructure being spent on and committed to without business cases in place than the state of Victoria invested in roads and public transport in 10 years. And who is going to miss out? The Deputy Premier’s constituency, because if you take  that  money and you misapply it, then country Victoria will be the  big losers.  The Deputy Premier should not doubt that when Victorians realise  that the roads  in  country Victoria are  falling  apart the misapplied priorities of this government will be to blame.

The  distorted  priorities, the non-existent plans, the poorly  thought  through project commitments and lack of a  credible  pipeline  of  projects all serve to demonstrate that  Victoria  deserves better. It  deserves a government  that  is prepared to work  hard to make the  case  for investment, not one  that  rips up strategy after strategy because they were developed by the previous government.

Think about it. We had the nation’s only integrated freight strategy; we had the nation’s only integrated transport and planning strategy. They  all disappeared. It  is quite within the fiat of a  new  government to come along and simply say, ‘We have better plans’. But you do  not replace  existing plans  with an  abyss. That  is  what  Victorians  have  seen  over the  last two  years. That  is what Victorians have seen as a consequence of the creation of this uncertainty in the building and construction industry. They sit back and wonder where the next jobs are  coming from, not at the phantasmagoria of infrastructure that is mooted but which will never effectively deliver for Victorians.

God help us if it were to come to pass that this infrastructure was committed to without a transparent public debate around its merits.  But apparently  all of  that —  its cost, its business case — has been passed  by the wayside because, ‘We expect governments at the state and federal levels to apply billions of dollars to it  even without the case being made’. I grieve for a state let down by its partisan, visionless, lazy government which does not work hard for hardworking Victorians. I am proud, however, of the  substantial efforts that  state Labor, under the  leadership of the  Leader  of  the Opposition, has made to show this government  exactly  what could be done if it wanted to get serious about jobs and investment.

In  regard  to  real   infrastructure   projects,  the  Baillieu  government  is effectively turning off the infrastructure investment tap. An infrastructure gap is emerging that will hurt our state’s ability to maintain our  quality of  life and  productivity. Do  not take  just my  word for  it. The Public  Accounts and Estimates Committee no less revealed in its 2012-13 estimates report that the

2014-15  financial year’s  net  direct investment  is  forecast  to  fall  below depreciation.  So the  next time  the Treasurer  gets up in this place and talks about record investment on infrastructure we will ask him to turn to the members of his party who contributed to that PAEC  report and  said that  the investment going on  in  this state does not  even  keep pace with the  depreciation of our asset base.

Labor believes that  our infrastructure priorities  must endure beyond  a single electoral cycle or the duration of any one government. That can only occur where a substantial process is put in place of argument, justification,  demonstration of  need  and benefit, and,  more importantly, why a  prioritised project stands head and shoulders above others.

If Victorians do not get the opportunity  to have that debate, if we simply take our  government  at  its word that these things  are  most  important,  then  we abrogate our responsibility as  members  in  this  place to be assured that that money is being put to the best  effect for all Victorians, and  not just because it  is a  pet project  of  some  particular  minister or  a thought  bubble that occurred in the absence of anything substantial happening.

Victorians  need  to  be  reassured  that  projects are  the  result  of careful consideration,  that  alternatives are properly considered  and  that  the  most urgent priorities are accorded the highest priority.

Victorians need  a body such as Infrastructure Victoria, with responsibility for providing independent and  transparent advice to  ensure that key  projects  are prioritised and given relevant priority, not the shambolic approach that we hear day in, day out of  a government adrift, bereft of vision or values and  without purpose largely because it came to this  place without  any idea  about what  it meant to actually govern.

Victorian Labor believes Infrastructure Victoria should be established to ensure that the government  and  the Victorian  public  are provided  with  specialist, properly considered, transparent advice on infrastructure priorities, their cost and the benefits  of particular proposals. To achieve this Victorians  should be able  to identify, through Infrastructure  Victoria,  the  state’s  current  and future needs and its state and nationally significant priorities.

Infrastructure priority  lists  should  be  developed to  prioritise  Victoria’s infrastructure   needs,  evaluate  proposals  for  enhancements   to  Victoria’s significant infrastructure,  provide  advice to  government  on  impediments  to infrastructure delivery, develop and publish research on the economic and social benefits of  particular  projects,  provide  advice to government on appropriate funding  and  financing models for infrastructure  and,  of  course,  coordinate submissions from the  state  and its agencies  to the Australian government  and other bodies.

This  proposal is welcomed by  Engineers Australia. This  move will provide much certainty  to  the  thousands  of people  employed  in  the  delivery  of  major infrastructure projects  across  the  country.  It is welcomed by infrastructure partners.  Essentially it  is  a  proposal that  is  welcomed by  the  Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Time after  time  we have seen key  stakeholders form the view  that  we need an independent, rational process of project assessment and delivery.

  Mr Ryan — Why didn’t you do it?

  Dr Napthine — Why didn’t you do it for 11 years?

  Mr  Pallas — I  hear  from  across the table,  ‘Why  didn’t you do it?’.  The problems  that  confront  every  government  are  of   the  time  they  are  in. Infrastructure Australia was  created  only in the last four years. When have we seen these bodies develop?  They have  been delivered over the last 12 months at state levels, and it is critically important  that  those  opposite get on board and  abandon  their   project  sophistry  and   phantasmagoria.  The   Victorian Auditor-General’s analysis of our debt — a debt that  those opposite created — is that it grew by 31.9 per cent or $73.3 billion in total.

That is  $17.7 billion of new debt  created by those opposite.  Let  me put that another  way: that  is $3187 of  debt created  for every  Victorian in  the last budget year of those hopeless  administrators because they  cannot manage money. It is a total of $48.5 million extra debt per day.

  Honourable members interjecting.

  Mr Pallas —  Do you want to hear  about desal? Forty-eight and a half million dollars  in debt constitutes  24  desalination plants. That  is  the debt  those opposite have run up in one year — 24 desalination plants’ worth. Hopeless! But it gets worse. This is what the Auditor-General had to say:

  … in areas that the state  can  directly  control,  there were also negative  trends. These require attention to improve the state’s financial outcomes.

But we  will not see it. There  is set to be growth of $12.4 billion in 2015-16. Hopeless, I agree, for Victoria.

See Tim’s speech in Hansard here.