Mr  Pallas (Tarneit) —  Another  matter of public  importance  (MPI) has been brought  to this place by the government in another effort to commend itself for the very  little that it has  done in this state. Labor  welcomes the Standard & Poor’s decision not to  downgrade Victoria’s credit  rating; however, we do  not accept  that it  is as  a result  of this  government’s capacity  to manage  the economy. We certainly will not commend the government for its fiscal management.

It  is  management  that has effectively driven up state debt, increased the tax burden  on ordinary Victorians,  discouraged private investment in our state and eroded  opportunities for ordinary people  to find jobs. In  comparison with the Labor government, members  of the coalition  government have been  attempting to deflect responsibility for its own economic failings by claiming that Labor left it with a structural deficit. That is simply nonsense; absolute poppycock.

Labor  achieved an  operating surplus in every one of 10 budgets that  we handed down between 2001 and 2010-11.

In fact Victoria’s  average  operating  result between 2000 and 2010 was over $1 billion per  annum.  In 2012-13 the  Victorian government recorded  an operating surplus  of $316  million. In  10 years  of government  the only time that Labor returned a  surplus  as small as that  was 2008-09, at the height  of the global financial crisis. Given how smug the Treasurer  is  about a $316 million surplus in  2012-13, can you imagine  how insufferable he would be  if he managed to get near a decade’s worth of average surpluses of $1 billion?

Labor also achieved a AAA credit rating from both Moody’s Investors Service  and Standard & Poor’s when  it was in office. However,  Labor knows there is more to responsible financial management  than simply not  losing the credit  rating you inherited  from your predecessors. That is  why,  in  a  decade  of  AAA  credit ratings,  we  never thought the  achievement of this baseline  of competence was worth dedicating an entire debate to  a  matter  of public importance or patting ourselves on the back for doing our job.

We are told the object of sound  financial policy is to provide a solid platform for jobs  growth and improved services and infrastructure for Victorian families and businesses.  Labor’s  fiscal  management  did  exactly  that.  The  Napthine government’s fiscal management does  not.

Let  us have  a look  at its record on jobs, for example, and what a pathetic  record  it is. It is an indictment of  a government so  obsessed  with  its own importance that you could almost start an arbitrage on  political  incompetence  based on this government’s perceptions of itself. If this government  could be  bought for  what it  is actually worth and sold for what it thinks it is  worth, someone would make a  fortune. There would never be a deficit in this  state  if  its ego was used as  collateral. 

If  the people of Victoria saw the way this government wastes the time of the Parliament on  talking  itself up, putting down the efforts  of  its  predecessor  and  not building a base from which Victoria can properly go ahead, they would be ashamed of this place.

The jobs data  released last week shows the Napthine government’s  fiscal policy is failing in its objectives. Labor  created an average of 60  000 jobs per year for every year that it was in office — 60 000 jobs a year over 11 years. In the Napthine government’s entire  term so far, how many jobs has it managed in three years?

It has managed 73 000 jobs, and  more than 50 000 of  those jobs are part time. I say to government  members: congratulations, pat yourselves on the back, and  bring  forward  another MPI saying how awesome you are!

The  government  is achieving about a third  of  what  the previous government was achieving, and it thinks  it is good for  doing  it. Today 40 000  more  people are unemployed  in Victoria  than  were  unemployed  when  this  government  came  to  office.  The population  is  increasing,  yet  we  have  a pathetic record when it  comes  to employment.

When the coalition came to office Victoria’s unemployment rate was 4.8 per cent. In October it reached 5.9 per cent.

In parts of regional Victoria things are  even  worse. For example, according to the most recent federal data the unemployment rate in Maryborough is over 11 per cent. Perhaps the  most alarming thing, though, is Victoria’s youth unemployment rate. We heard so much from the previous opposition, now  government,  about how everything should be about jobs, jobs and more  jobs.

However,  now that  it has come to government it has been  all  about  self-praise  and self-congratulation for an underwhelming  and underperforming government. The government is  more  obsessed with demeaning the legacy of  those who came before it  than it is with striking  out and providing some credible achievements for the people of Victoria.

At  a time when Victoria leads mainland Australia with a youth unemployment rate of 18.9 per cent — the highest level of youth unemployment in this nation, with the exception of Tasmania — this government thinks it is  appropriate for it to pat itself on  the  back  for its performance in youth unemployment.

Fewer young people are working in Victoria than  at  any  time since 2009. Job opportunities for young people are not just scarce, they are getting more scarce. Victoria has the lowest youth participation rate in Australia. Only 48.7  per  cent  of  our young people are in the labour force, compared with the national average of 52.5 per cent.

These are  not  just statistics concocted for the purposes of a political point. This is  a  human tragedy  slowly  unfolding  within this  state.  These figures represent young people  who ultimately will  constitute the aspiration  and hope for the  future.  Their future is being effectively diminished and demeaned by a government that  thinks it  has  done  a  good  job  on  jobs,  even though  its achievement is about a third of that of the last term of the previous government and is substantially worse than its achievements over its 10 full budgeted years in government.  It  represents a great lost opportunity for this state, yet this government thinks it should waste the Parliament’s time congratulating itself.

As I said, the Napthine government has cut the opportunities for young people in government-supported apprenticeships in Victoria by over 12 000 and has cut $1.2 billion from our vocational education system.

If  you are  a young  person who  thinks  it  would  be  worthwhile  getting  an education, the Napthine government  has a  way to keep you from getting a higher education, and that has a direct impact upon the productive  performance  of the state.  If  you  are a young person  who  wants  a  job, it is notable that  the Napthine  government has managed  to  pride itself on  having  the highest youth unemployment in mainland Australia.

If you are a young person who maybe wants to get access to a first home owner  grant, you  will find  that your opportunities for  participation in  that  market  have been  profoundly  reduced as a  direct consequence of this government’s actions.

When the  pre-election budget update was  released in 2010,  Victoria’s net debt under Labor stood at $8 billion. When the coalition released its first financial document from government, the 2011-12 budget update, it promised that debt would peak at $15.8 billion this financial year.

Today it is over $19.8  billion, and it is forecast  to rise even further,  even without the enormous cost of the east-west  link should this government go ahead and sign contracts without allowing the people of  Victoria to  have a  say. The people of  Victoria will remember the  dishonesty of this government  before the last election in denying any plans for an east-west link and now encumbering the economy  and community  with  tolls, availability charges  and  debt.

This is  a debt-tripling government  that thinks it  is smart to put  in place arrangements that the  community has  no say  in. This  is a government that has  effectively turned its back on the people of Victoria.

The Napthine government is  determined  to  squeeze  every  last cent out of the people  of Victoria to prop up its surplus. Public agencies that were created to deliver essential services to Victoria are  now victims of routine shakedowns by this Treasurer. Since coming to office the coalition has taken $340  million  in dividends from the Victorian WorkCover Authority.

WorkCover was  established to  ensure that  people would be able to work and  do business  while minimising  the  risk  of catastrophic  injury  that could  ruin careers and lives. It was not created as a cash cow for lazy treasurers  looking for  revenue sources.  The  former  government  knew  this  and  reinvested  the accumulated  surplus from WorkCover in six successive  premium  reductions. 

All told, the Napthine government has ripped $2.5 billion in dividends from publicly owned  corporations  since it came  to  office. In  2012-13  alone the coalition received $1.17 billion in dividends. This is five times  as much in dividends — in raids on cash cows that have a public  utility to serve — as in Labor’s last year of government. Without these dividends the  government would have a deficit of some $700 million.

The  reality is  that this government would have run a $700 million  deficit but for the fact of its obscene willingness to raid dividends from corporations at a level  of 500 per cent more than the previous Labor government. When it comes to fiscal incompetence you would have to go  a fair way to beat this mob. With debt and unemployment up, this  is  a government that has  no idea but likes  to  pat itself on the back for its few ideas, no matter how contorted or wrong they are. These kinds of revenue grabs are a hallmark of the Napthine government’s fiscal management, and  the government stands accused for that. But there is  no  such thing as free  money.

Every time the government  does this it costs Victorians through  higher  water bills, higher WorkCover premiums, higher vehicle registration fees and deteriorating services.

A few weeks after Labor came  to  office  in 1999 we sat down with  Moody’s  and Standard  &  Poor’s. We showed  them our election  commitments  and the detailed costings that underpinned  them. We explained  how  we intended to  deliver them without driving up debt or increasing taxation. Because we had been so thorough, both agencies decided that Victoria’s AAA credit rating would remain stable.

The same is simply not true of the  coalition  government.  Its costings were shoddy and only released at the 11th hour before the election to avoid even superficial scrutiny.  The  result of this  slipshod  work has seriously  cost the Victorian taxpayer.

The  Public  Accounts and Estimates  Committee inquiry into  the  2013-14 budget estimates concluded that the government’s election commitments have blown out by $872 million,  so it cannot talk to us about  financial management.  By its  own admission, its capital commitments have blown out by 36 per cent.

I do  not  intend  to  go  through  all  the  deficiencies  of this government’s proposals,  but it is clear that this is a government more intent on praise than on action.