Public Accounts and Estimates Committee: budget estimates 2011-12 (part 1)

Mr PALLAS (Tarneit) — I wish  to refer to page 116 of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) report on the 2011-12 budget estimates, part 1, which deals with the hearings relating to the  Ports  portfolio. Key matters raised at the  budget estimates hearings  involved both the  feasibility of relocating car imports  and  exports to Geelong,  at  pages 8 to 9  of  the transcript, and the development of the port of  Hastings,  including transport links, at pages 11 to 12 of the transcript. The people of Geelong have had every right to believe that the government had a clear plan to  facilitate  the  development  of the vehicle trade and  its relocation  to Geelong. The people of Geelong were told that  the vehicle trade could generate up to 1000 jobs in the Geelong region  and add $200 million  to the  output of  the economy.  Indeed that  was  the evidence  of the current minister before PAEC, found at page 4.

However, today the government has confirmed  that this  was a cruel hoax. As the opposition has been saying for many months now, simply producing a press release and indicating that you are undertaking a feasibility study does not create  one job. Indeed, poorly handled it can create an enormous amount of concern and hurt in the community.  The Geelong region has received  a kick in the guts  from the Baillieu government, which has  broken  its  promise to deliver 1000 new jobs to the  port  of Geelong by transferring Victoria’s  car  trade  to  the  port  and providing something like $200 million to the local economy.

This is devastating  news for this community, and it has been sneakily delivered under the noise of the state budget in  the hope that Victorians will not notice that  the  Baillieu government has  broken  another promise.  This  is deceptive behaviour that is a consequence of a  rush  of policy blood to the head  by  the minister and has not been properly thought through.

Today we  know what everybody in this industry knew and what the opposition  has been saying for many months: that the relocation will not be able to happen. The minister has finally confirmed in a media release that this is the case.

We knew that it was not going to happen. Nissan, Toyota, Holden and  the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries have all  described  it as ill founded and said that  it could  not proceed.  It  was effectively  just a  crackpot idea  from a government that had  not  thought  the  issue  through.  In effect this has done nothing  to  assist Geelong  with  its  genuine  problems  associated  with port development or indeed long-term job creation.

On 3  February 2011 the Minister for  Ports released  a media  release with  the headline  ‘Coalition’s massive job  boost for the  port  of Geelong’. The  media release went on to say that this was just a feasibility study.

The  opposition has been  warning  that this feasibility  study would ultimately prove that it was not feasible. The  work had already been done some time ago by the  opposition while  it was  in government. It was quite  clear that  the plan could not proceed. But  not  only  that,  the  government  also  put  a  ‘Policy implemented’  stamp on what was nothing more than a feasibility study, which has broken the hearts of the people of Geelong.

The government needs a jobs plan, not half-baked promises  that effectively come to nothing.  The  government needs to  start  scrutinising its ideas  before  it creates public expectations. I will discuss this further in  the  context of the government’s plans for the port of Hastings. The minister has said  he  believes Hastings  should  be  developed  as  a container port within a much shorter time frame than the 20 years the previous government proposed.

We need to start  looking  sensibly at our ports  policy,  and we need  to  look critically at Hastings as against other alternative options, because if the port of Hastings in fact proved to be the  best investment, given the time lines that are  now  being  proposed,  it would constitute  up  to  $15  billion  worth  of investment.  This is a  substantial amount  of money;  in fact  it would  be the largest single infrastructure development in this state.

The government  needs  to  get behind  the  idea of scrutinising  this  proposal against a Bay West proposal. Why? Because effectively the Victorian Freight and Logistics Council, the Property Council of Australia and  the general manager of the  Toll Group all believe that decisions  like  this  need  to  be  thoroughly researched, and they are happy to support governments getting the right outcome. Even the federal minister has said you have to  scrutinise the  proposal for the port of Hastings against  alternative capital investments. If  that is not done, the same tawdry result that has occurred with the port of Geelong will occur.

See Tim’s speech in Hansard here.

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