Senate debates

Monday, 26 November 2018

Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers

Victorian State Election

3:07 pm

Photo of Jane HumeJane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

What extraordinary irony we have on display today from the Labor Party. There were four questions here about the Victorian state election. Four questions! There were four questions about quotes, about interviews, about articles. Not one question today was about the economy. Not one question was about health, education, hospitals, schools, drought relief, trade, tax reform, welfare reform. You accused us of not listening, and yet did you hear yourselves today? Did you hear yourselves banging on about the inconsequential? Clearly Labor senators were penned and counted in the Senate lobby and given a series of questions with no objective other than to unnecessarily poke the bear. You regurgitated the same self-indulgent, ignorant, combative and entirely unconstructive drivel.

Of course, the irony of the last weekend was that Daniel Andrews won an election on the basis that he is building things in Victoria, but he is building things with $75 billion worth of infrastructure investment from this coalition government. Daniel Andrews was lauding the fact that 350,000 jobs had been created in Victoria under his watch. Well, 1.2 million jobs have been created under the watch of this coalition government. Daniel Andrews has ridden on our coat-tails. Daniel Andrews was lauding his strong economy in Victoria—a strong economy that is riding on the coat-tails of 3.4 per cent economic growth that was delivered by this coalition government. Five free trade agreements have supported it. Three AAA credit ratings have been reaffirmed. Daniel Andrews's strong economy is the federal government's strong economy.

Daniel Andrews has been riding on strong housing prices, but just wait until the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Shorten, gets his hands on those housing prices. Just wait until Mr Shorten gets an opportunity to introduce negative gearing changes and capital gains tax changes. Let's see how pleased the Victorian voters are when they watch the prices of their properties plummet. Let's see how pleased the Victorian voters are—already being the highest taxing state in the land—when there are $200 billion worth of new taxes introduced by the opposition leader, Mr Shorten. Let's see how happy Victorian voters are when they see debt set to double as a percentage of GSP. They have already announced that.

This is, yes, an emphatic victory for Victorian Labor, but you will be a profound disappointment. Yes, this is a test of character. A test of character is grace in defeat. I pay tribute to my colleagues and my friends that are no longer members of the Victorian state parliament. I won't mention them by name. There are many of them. I will mention Robert Clark, who, as the member for Box Hill, had a career of over 30 years in state parliament and has served his party extraordinarily well. I am very proud of the candidates that we ran at this state election and very proud of the work that they put in.

What I would like to say today is that not only is there grace in defeat but also that the best test of character is humility in victory—and you have not shown that today. The call from Victoria, the call from the electorate, was to listen. Your behaviour today proves that you are unable to listen to them, to stop talking about yourselves and to get on with the job. We will listen; we will act. I want to tell Labor today: don't get too comfortable and don't get too smug. The message to Mr Shorten should be to remind him that he remains profoundly unpopular, and that endless lies in campaigning will only take you so far. My message to Victorian Labor and to those opposite me in the chamber, with your unctuous smiles today, is: don't measure for the curtains just yet; this race is no way near won.

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