Mr PALLAS (Treasurer) — I rise to update the house on the continuing success of the Victorian economy. The CommSec State of the States report confirms that Victoria has nominal annual economic growth of 5.4 per cent and is leading the nation.

Mr M. O’Brien interjected.

The SPEAKER — Order! The member for Malvern had been quiet, but now he is not.

MrPALLAS — This follows the recent release of course of the ANZ Stateometer, which shows we were the only state in the nation that was growing above trend and accelerating on economic growth. We are leading the nation in overall job creation, and over the past 12 months we were the only state to record growth in full-time jobs. These are the dividends you get when you invest in the Victorian economy and in Victorian infrastructure, and that is despite the headwinds from Canberra.

I have often lamented that Malcolm Turnbull never actually does anything. He is the Seinfeld Prime Minister — about nothing, doing nothing and he peaked in the 1990s. But if he was left with the choice of doing nothing when it comes to causing harm to major infrastructure in this state — —

Honourable members interjecting.

The SPEAKER — Order! The house will come to order. The Leader of the Opposition will cooperate with the manager of opposition business when the manager of opposition business wants to make a point of order. The manager of opposition business, in silence.

Mr Clark — On a point of order, Speaker, I draw your attention to sessional order 5, which provides for the minister to advise the house about matters rather than to debate issues. If the minister has nothing further to say about his own achievements and his own portfolio, he should simply sit down.

Honourable members interjecting.

The SPEAKER — Order! The Leader of the House is equally entitled to silence when making a point of order.

Ms Allan — On a point of order, Speaker, I ask that you rule the point of order out of order. The Treasurer is quite clearly entitled within his remit as Treasurer to canvass issues relating to the Victorian economy and how decisions by the federal government clearly intersect with issues and policy matters for the Victorian economy. Those matters should be allowed to be canvassed during the Treasurer’s contribution.

The SPEAKER — Order! The Chair does not uphold the point of order.

Mr PALLAS — This is a critically important piece of infrastructure — Melbourne Metro — and we are not signing up to a project that would build a station with a benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of between 0.1 and 0.4. So Malcolm Turnbull did the nation a service when he put down Peter Costello’s first best adviser and made it clear that she was not speaking for the government. It is important that this state gets on and delivers the vital infrastructure for this nation. Contrast that with a federal Liberal government that is inconsistent, incoherent and also indecisive and innumerate, and I am quickly reaching the conclusion that the Liberals must be allergic to positive BCRs.