Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the Mornington Peninsula, we live with an administrative identity crisis. The state Labor government's official tourism site lists it as one of Victoria's beautiful 'regions' to visit. But then, when it comes to tax time, we are on par with St Kilda Road. The Allan Labor government treats the peninsula as metro for revenue and as regional for responsibility.

We've got regional buses running every half hour and a diesel powered, single-track train that runs every hour or two, but we get metro-style taxes that arrive with terrifying punctuality. Our businesses pay the metropolitan rate of payroll tax of 4.85 per cent, nearly four times the 1.21 per cent rate that applies to eligible businesses in Geelong. That single difference accounts for an estimated $225 million more in payroll tax paid by the peninsula every year. We also cop the cladding rectification levy and the metropolitan planning levy, neither of which apply to Geelong, due to our metro classification. We have nearly 3,200 short-stay listings on the Mornington Peninsula, compared to roughly 1,500 across Greater Geelong. And, despite shouldering a much larger proportion of Victoria's influxes of tourists, we get taxed more as a result of the government's short-stay levy. We are taxed like a city but funded like an afterthought by the state Labor government, which takes us for granted.

Last week, the Committee for Frankston & Mornington Peninsula released its 2026 benchmarking report comparing our region of the peninsula and Frankston to the comparable region of Geelong and Queenscliffe on the other side of the bay. It showed the scale of imbalance in state government investment. Across the last three state budgets, Geelong received about $4.2 billion in capital investment, compared with just $1.8 billion for the region of Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula. That works out to be $14,400 per person in Geelong, compared with just $5,600 per person on the peninsula. When you look at where that money goes, the contrast is even starker. Geelong receive funding for tourism, regional development, justice and city-shaping infrastructure.

The current by-election in the state seat of Nepean, which falls within my electorate, is a chance to give the Allan government a healthy and loud reminder that they need to pay attention to our region. Every day that I'm not here, I'm out on the streets with our Liberal candidate for Nepean, Anthony Marsh—our mayor, with whom I've worked for years. He will be a passionate and persistent advocate for our area in the state parliament within a future Wilson coalition government.

It's not enough that we pay higher payroll tax and Airbnb tax and contribute billions in tourism, agriculture and hospitality. In the eyes of Jacinta Allan's Labor government, we are an easy target for tax grabs. Now that Labor has run out of money, it's coming after yours. It's time for a fairer classification, a fairer land tax and a government that remembers that the peninsula is part of Victoria—not its ATM.