Mr  Pallas  (Tarneit)  —  I  rise to speak on the State Taxation  Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 and also in  passing  to  make  reference  to the amendments circulated by the Treasurer. To make it clear, Labor opposes this  bill  because at a  time when Victoria is losing jobs we do not support a  cash grab that will cost thousands more jobs.

We will take the government  to the  evidence of  that from  the industry, which actually knows  a little bit about the jobs that it provides and the impact that these taxes will have on it.

Our unemployment rate is well above the national average already. There are more than 50 000 more unemployed people now than when this government came to office. Youth  unemployment is the highest on the mainland, and of course the  Age today has reported that Victoria has become the hardest place on  the mainland to find a job.  The  latest  vacancy count from the Australian Bureau of Statistics puts the chance of an unemployed Victorian landing a job in the state at close to one in  nine.  That  means that  there  are  about  nine  unemployed  Victorians  in competition and scrambling for each job  vacancy as  it occurs. That is not even counting those who have given up looking for work or who are underemployed.

The Premier has spent more  time  fighting  the South Australian Premier than he did fighting for the 500  jobs that  were announced  yesterday as  being lost at Boeing  and  Philip Morris, yet there has been no action and no  acknowledgement that there is a problem. There is also no jobs plan. This dysfunctional minority government, weakly led by the Premier, has no plans to fix the  jobs crisis. The Premier  is  asleep at the  wheel. His government  is  directionless, while jobs bleed out of the Victorian economy. This bill  does nothing more than exacerbate that situation, as the state of the Victorian economy is a direct consequence of this government’s incompetence.

This bill is a jobs killer from a jobs-destroying  government.  The  Premier  of South  Australia  has  made it clear that the Victorian Premier does too little, too late  in his approach to fighting  for industry and for jobs,  and that will cost Victorians dearly.

The  latest action of  this  job-destroying,  delicate  minority  government  of hypocrites is  the dirty deal that it has done with the  member for Frankston to enable it to gouge community, not-for-profit clubs  with massive tax  increases. This is another example of the Treasurer’s addiction to these particular sources of  revenue.  He obsessively keeps coming back to these sources of revenue  over and over again.

The car park  tax  take  has nearly tripled under this government. The Treasurer and staffers are constantly tramping up to level 3 of Parliament House. They are on their way to go to see the member for Frankston to ingratiate themselves with him because they know who  runs this  government. We  can barely  get around the hordes  of Liberal  staffers and ministers making their way up to see the member for Frankston. We know who actually runs this government, and  it is  the member for Frankston.  What  a paltry alteration the member for Frankston has been able to achieve: he has been able to change the word ‘April’ to ‘May’.

That is a pretty sad indictment of somebody who said he was concerned about this legislation and the impact it would have upon jobs in his community. That impact will be real; it is going to happen.

The Treasurer told the  Australian  Financial Review that there were no plans to amend the legislation, but now he has capitulated, at least in part. However,  I have to say that the member for  Frankston has not negotiated particularly well. Nobody on the  opposite side of the chamber  is covered in any  amount of glory. The  Treasurer says,  ‘I am not changing’, and then he  changes. The  member for Frankston  says,  ‘I  am  worried  about  jobs  and  the  impact of  this on  my community’, and  then  he  gets  little  for  it. What a demonstration that this government has no capacity to impact issues that genuinely affect Victoria.

The Premier can clearly battle with the best of them when it comes to the member for Frankston. In this case he swayed like a tree in a high wind.

We know he is Jeeves, the butler to the member for Frankston — and we know  who the  footman  to  the  member  for  Frankston is! That  is  exactly  where  this government has left Victorians.

Having said that we oppose this bill, I move:

  That all the words after ‘That’ be omitted with the view of inserting in their  place the words ‘this bill be withdrawn and redrafted to:

(1)  take into account the  outcome of extensive  public  consultation about the        proposed  amendments to the  Congestion Levy Act  2005  and the Gambling        Regulation Act  2003, as many  are strongly opposed to these provisions; and

(2) retain the remaining  provisions relating to the  proposed amendments to the        Fire  Services  Property Levy Act  2012  and the Valuation  of  Land Act 1960.’.

Placing  in  the  same  bill  on  the one hand the job-killing gambling taxation amendment  and the unjust,  gerrymandered  congestion levy  measures  and on the other hand the changes — —

  Mr O’Brien interjected.

  The DEPUTY SPEAKER — Order! The Treasurer will stop interjecting.

  Mr Pallas — Your protection yet again is greatly appreciated, Deputy Speaker.

What we  see  is the botched fire  services  levy and a  Treasurer  who has been dragged kicking and screaming  by Labor’s campaign  to  make amendments to  this tax. What a  joke  this is. We have seen members of  this government get up time and  again and say, ‘There is nothing  wrong  with  our  awesome  fire  services property levy.  It’s  working  well’.  Now  here the government is fixing up its problems, or at least it is making a desperate effort to do so. How sad that its insufferable arrogance has led it to this  point, but government members did not listen to the concerns Labor members put forward time and  again. Even  now they have failed in a substantive way to address  all of the problems created by this unfair charge. The government is trying to hold the Parliament to  ransom  here. It should  be prevented from doing so in order that its legislative program  can truly be  considered  on  its  merits  rather  than as  this  higgledy-piggledy, hodgepodge amalgam of ideas and legislative efforts.

However, there is one thing we know about this government, and that is  that you do not get between it, a bucket of  money and taxpayers pockets, because this is the highest own-source revenue-raising  government  in this state’s history. The revenue-raising measures in the bill involve expanding the congestion  levy area into mostly Labor-held  electorates and increasing  gambling revenue in part  by reducing the  return-to-player  ratio required  of electronic  gaming  machines. These  changes  are unfair to those affected. They amount to gross hypocrisy  on the part of the coalition, and the opposition does not consider that they should be implemented.  If there is  any consistency  in politics  — that  is, if  the pontificating we heard from those opposite while they were in opposition were to be translated into consistency of action in government — then these bills would never  see the light of day. This government is good  at finding other people to blame for the things  it is  actually doing.  This is  a government  addicted to revenue raising that will  not lose any opportunity to consistently touch up the Victorian taxpayer.

I turn now  to the gaming regulation changes, and I  will  put this into a broad context: dirty deals done dirt cheap. Let us consider part 1 — dirty deals. The Premier and Treasurer have done some kind of deal with the member for Frankston, but  Victorians  do not know exactly  what deal has been  made,  to get the bill passed. After having panicked and pulled the bill from the business program when it was first scheduled to be debated, they have somehow  appeased the member for Frankston, but pubs and clubs right across this  state — clubs in particular — are  outraged. They remain outraged  about this government’s  craven attempts to garner more and more revenue.

The dirty backroom deals done with  the member for Frankston will simply provide a minor delay  to the financial pain  that will be inflicted on  local clubs and pubs and  their staff. The Premier  has proven once again that  he is willing to put  his own  job  ahead  of those of  the  thousands  of workers  who  will  be negatively impacted by this.

It is  thousands of jobs in the  hospitality industry done dirt cheap. Part 2 is dirty deals done dirt cheap.

The Community  Clubs  Association  of  Victoria  said  it was  disappointed  the government had not rethought the tax burden on clubs, but it had not.

Mr Shaw interjected.

The  DEPUTY  SPEAKER — Order! The member for Frankston!  If  the  member  for Frankston puts his name on the list, he will be able to speak on the bill. I ask him to desist from interjecting.

  Mr Pallas — We would all seek illumination from the man  who calls the shots in the Napthine government.

As I  have said, the  Community  Clubs Association of  Victoria was disappointed that the government had not rethought the tax burden on clubs.  Clubs  Australia was even more  scathing in its assessment. In a press release dated  28 March it said:

The unprecedented tax grab,  which will cost community  clubs $75 million over  four  years, is essentially a fundraising measure for  the Napthine government  in  an  election  year  — at the  expense  of  clubs,  community  groups  and  charities.

You could not get more  scathing than that. This tax grab is from the people who said  they  would not increase taxes  as  their  commitment  to  the  people  of Victoria. We know  what commitments  from this mob amount to: they are not worth the paper they are written on.

The  Age has reported today that clubs are furious with the government  and have warned that jobs will be lost and sporting and community clubs will lose funding. They are predicting that not-for-profit clubs in Victoria will lose $75 million over four years.

The  changes  to be made by  the  government in order to  appease the member for Frankston will not make any substantive difference. They are a failure if  their intention was to assist clubs to deal with the pernicious burden  of this unfair tax. The changes to be made are a failure,  a dramatic failure that demonstrates that the  relationship between this  government and the member  for Frankston is foul and unfair  and  hurts Victorians.  The  changes  made, about  which  Clubs Australia is scathing in its assessment, are  referred to  as ‘a  small stay  of execution for not-for-profit community clubs’. The Clubs Australia press release also says:

  … the Napthine  government  was putting  the  future of the  Victorian  club  industry, along with the jobs of thousands of people, at risk.

When unemployment  in this  state rises,  as it has done inexorably from 4.9 per cent  to 6.4 per cent  under  this government’s watch, who  is to blame? We know exactly who is to blame.

  Mr O’Brien interjected.

Mr Pallas — Here we have  the  genius  Treasurer  saying,  ‘It  wasn’t  4.9’. Seasonally  adjusted,  in  December  2010 it  was  4.9,  you  clown!  That  just demonstrates how little this bloke knows about the economy. Clubs Australia also said:

The  Napthine government’s plan  shows  that they  either  don’t understand or  don’t care about — —

  Mr O’Brien interjected.

  Mr Pallas– Lord Farqhuaad here, going on — —

  The DEPUTY SPEAKER — Order! We will not have name-calling in this chamber.

  Mr Pallas — Clubs Australia said:

The Napthine  government’s  plan shows that  they either don’t  understand  or  don’t care about the financial stress —

that it has already inflicted on many Victorians and that is —

already  suffered  by many clubs  as well as the  important contribution clubs  make to their local communities.

That  seems  to have been lost on  this  government  but  it is not lost on  the communities  and the clubs whose representatives are out there speaking to their local  papers, to those who  go to their clubs and  rely upon the services  that those clubs provide and also to the people whose jobs those clubs provide. Those are jobs lost through a craven, callous cash grab.

Let  us  talk about hypocrisy because this bill is the legislative embodiment of hypocrisy. In 2009, when he was merely the member for Malvern and was developing the  Malvern doctrine, the Treasurer complained about the previous  government’s so-called  ‘addiction to  gambling revenue’. With  pomposity and  self-righteous indignation he explained that he did not believe that  a government ‘could claim to care about problem gambling when its tax take from  gambling  is increasing’. Can members believe  that  that  is what  he  said?  What  has he  done  in  the legislation he has introduced?

Year on year, time  after time, he has  been  cranking up the tax  take, getting into the pockets  of gamblers and putting people out of work. That  is what this Treasurer is good at and what this government specialises in: robbing Victorians of opportunities. It is a sad and callous act.

The Treasurer  went on to say, ‘We  know it is problem gamblers who contribute a disproportionate share of revenue to gambling’ He also said:

  Governments like gambling taxes — and he has demonstrated that —

but when  you see  the amount  of gambling tax revenue that is contributed  by  problem gamblers, that tells you that we really have an  ethical obligation as  legislators  to  take  all reasonable steps to try to minimise the  extent  to  which problem gamblers are encouraged to pursue that destructive behaviour.

The most destructive behaviour  we have seen from members of this government has been their desire to squeeze  more  and more revenue from gamblers, their desire to continue  to plunder  the pockets  of gamblers. The Treasurer went on to  say that the Victorian community does not condone the former government’s insatiable appetite for gambling revenue.  What overblown pomposity  and self-righteousness that is. What a  joke! This bloke must stay awake at  night wondering how he can get away with the hypocrisy of what he has done to the people of Victoria.

Even before this new tax,  gambling revenue under this  government had increased by 15 per cent since 2010.

Local community  not-for-profit clubs are losing  out because of the action this government  has  taken. The fact that the  government  is  taxing  as  no  other government before  has taxed, that its  revenue is higher  from  own-sourced tax revenue  than   it  has  been   from  any  other  government,  demonstrates  the government’s desire simply to plunder the pockets of Victorians.

Not-for-profit community sporting clubs in my community are being  devastated by this tax. People  at the Hoppers Club have told me that  this deal done with the member for Frankston will not fix  their problems and that it will not come even close  to  fixing  their problems.  They  were  hoping for  something  much more substantial, and this will do nothing for  them. They are terminating about five equivalent full-time positions in management, and they are reducing their  hours of operation.  That is a demonstration that  this tax is at least in part having an impact  upon  those clubs.  They  are also terminating  sponsorship  of local sporting clubs and refusing requests for donations — and they get many of those every week.

People at the Hoppers Club tell me  that  the yearly impact of this tax on  them will be $171 477 in extra tax.

They  tell  me  that this has serious implications on their cash flow, resulting in, among other things, $100  000 being  cut from  their annual  wages budget, a hold on all community sponsorships and donations, reduced members services and a 100  per  cent increase in  membership  fees. More recent  announcements  of the ability to  extend  gaming entitlement payments by six months on an opt-in basis does little to ease the  burden. A  further and  major financial  impost is  the introduction of voluntary  precommitment  in  August  2015,  which  will require approximately $170 000 in set-up fees plus annual monitoring fees.

  Mr O’Brien interjected.

  Mr Pallas — We do not support  this bill. If I have  not made myself clear to the Treasurer or those on the other side, we do not support this bill.

This is what the Hoppers Club had to say:

 In closing, this extra tax, in my humble opinion, is just  another kick in the  guts to clubs and  comes off the back of a number of  major reforms which have  hurt the club sector to a stage where  its  viability is seriously threatened.  Further, gaming as a product is under serious threat and it is questionable as  to its viability going forward.

  I am personally saddened that our club, a club with a proud 40-year history of  serving its community, now finds itself in such an unenviable position that it  has to cut  jobs, reduce services  to  members and discontinue  with  valuable  support to the community.

They are not the only ones in my community. The Werribee Tigers football club is the biggest  football club  in the  fastest growing area in the state. The  club estimates that this new tax will cost it $264 000 a year, which  will affect its community sport sponsorship activities.

One of  the  more  important community  activities  this club undertakes  is  to support   multicultural  sporting  programs,  including  the   Wyndham  Sporting Opportunities  Project. This  project  encourages young  people from  culturally diverse backgrounds to get involved  in  sport,  and  the  club  works with both primary  and  secondary  schools  to  encourage  participation  in   sport   and involvement  at a local level. The club is  now worried that it will not be able to continue to fund programs like this.

Both the Hoppers Club and Werribee Tigers say that the return-to-player ratio is an  absolute furphy, impossible to implement and in no way capable of  providing compensation  for the  additional tax. There they are — writ large — some real examples of  clubs. These types of  clubs exist throughout all  our communities, and they will be losing funds and losing staff as a consequence of the tax.

That is not all. Let us turn now to the gerrymandered congestion levy.

Last  year the  coalition  government expanded the  congestion  levy to all  car parks, not  just  long-stay car  parks,  expanding the area  into  Docklands and increasing  the  rate from $950 to $1300.  Now  the  government  is  going  even further, expanding the congestion levy area far beyond its  original intentions, brazenly gerrymandering the area  to  exclude  the  Liberal-held  electorate  of Prahran but happily slugging a group of people who had the temerity to vote  for Labor at the last election. This is legislation by rank hypocrisy. The affection this  government   has  for  increasing  the  congestion  levy  is  astonishing, considering its total opposition to it when the legislation was first introduced by the previous Labor government.

The now Attorney-General and Minister for Finance, the member for Box Hill, told the Parliament on 20 October 2005 that the coalition opposed the Congestion Levy Bill 2005 because it was:

  … purely and simply a grab  for extra  revenue, dressed up with a fabricated  claim that it will ease inner city congestion.

According to the now Attorney-General, the  coalition was apparently  opposed to the  idea  of  imposing  a  substantial  compliance  burden on not only car park operators and the owners of large city buildings but on everybody who owns a car parking space  within the area to which this levy applies. He  also said on that day:

It is going to be yet another  tax  on motorists on top of the increases  in  registration  charges  and drivers licences,  and on top  of  the ever-present  misuse of speeding fines as a revenue raising device.

What  an  amazing  Damascus-like  version  this  government  went  through!  The hypocrisy is dripping off members from the other side of the chamber.

On 25 October 2005 he directed a question without notice to the then Treasurer:

  … will the Treasurer guarantee that there will be no future extension of his  tax to residential parking and  no  extension  of  this tax beyond its current  boundaries?

What a  load  of codswallop! We are  forced to listen to the  hypocrisy of those opposite as they garner revenue from any source, as they turn over any stone, in order to line their pockets by taking it from the pockets of Victorians.

On 16 November 2005 the now Deputy Premier called the congestion levy ‘thievery’ and  complained  about the  $40  million that  the  levy  would raise.  However, following the changes his government made in the last  budget  and budget update the levy is set to be $123 million next year — more than triple the  amount. If that  is  not thievery, what is it? It is insufferable arrogance and  hypocrisy, and every Victorian will know it.

This tax will hurt councils. Moreland City Council, which supports the idea of a congestion levy in  principle,  noted that it had no consultation with the State Revenue Office until it was  notified by the Municipal  Association of Victoria. The council is concerned about the impact on traders and user groups, especially when there was  little notice  and of  course no  negotiation or benefits to the local area. Moreland  council even supports the  idea  of a levy as  a  means to encourage sustainable transport —  Moreland wants to get on board — but it has been poorly  applied. The council estimates that it will be worse off under  the new scheme, as the levy and the  subsequent charge  on businesses  would have to increase 887 per cent from $83 to $736, if the council were to pass on the cost. If that is not job destroying, I do not know what is. The new charge means it is not  financially viable  for  Moreland council  to  retain  its off-street  paid parking meters  and  will require  changes  to the council’s  parking management policy and the Brunswick integrated transport strategy.

In my  last 2 minutes I will turn to the  fire service property levy measures. I lament the insufferable arrogance displayed by the Treasurer who insisted for so long  that the  fire service property levy was a brilliantly handled gift to the people of Victoria He  has finally been forced to turn around and fix up, albeit in  a  botched  fashion, a problem  of  his  own making. It  was  the  height of arrogance  for him  to have  claimed in his announcement of the change  that the government was pleased to be able to deliver  this tax  relief for Victorians — tax relief from what? Their own tax! — when he was the one who made the problem in the  first place.  This is  the deranged tactic of a bully seeking  gratitude from  a  group  of  people  for  having  the  compassion  to  only  charge  this eye-wateringly exorbitant levy for one year rather than into perpetuity.

The amendments to the Fire Services Property Levy Act 2012 and the Valuation  of Land Act  1960 are long overdue.  Not  one of the problems  with this scheme has been solved.

The Treasurer’s amendments  are finally an acknowledgement of the classification of residential use investment  properties as commercial rather than residential. The practical result of what  was a manifold increase in the amount of the  fire services  levy  due  was  deeply  unfair.  The  opposition raised  these  issues countless times with the Treasurer, and of course we were accused of standing up for the asset rich. What a joke! This government fails to acknowledge that it is the  principal  inflictor  of  the  pain  Victorians  are  feeling.  This  is  a job-destroying government and a job-destroying bill.