Mr PALLAS (Treasurer) — I rise to discuss the crisis that is enveloping the Victorian Liberal Party. In moral, political and financial terms the people who now fill the opposition benches are nothing short of feckless pygmies who are morally compromised. This crisis confronts them on a number of fronts. Firstly, they are financially incompetent, and they have now beggared themselves after failing to beggar the state of Victoria in four moribund years. Secondly, they are morally bankrupt and only too willing to meet organised crime figures and lie to Victorians in their desperate fundraising efforts. Finally, they are running short on any substantive policy ideas to the point that they are now discussing their ideas for horticultural policy with the Calabrian Mafia!

In reports in the Herald Sun online on 6 August it was detailed that the Victorian Liberal Party is experiencing severe financial difficulties. The great money managers themselves face severe financial problems. They are expected to run a cash deficit of $1.8 million for the previous financial year …

We know of course that the Leader of the Opposition has a great penchant for eating lobster and of course having lobster with mobsters. For a party that has constantly trumped their economic and financial management capabilities, they can barely keep their own house in order. We know, for example, that the National Australia Bank has knocked back the Victorian branch of the Liberal Party when they sought to increase the mortgage on their own building, and they now face the embarrassing prospect of selling their own building so they can keep the lights on. Those opposite are seemingly fixated on surpluses as a gold standard of financial management, but when it comes to their own organisation they are, from their own presentation to their administrative committee, months away from financial collapse if reports are to be believed …

So when it comes to the Liberal Party and their own finances, you have seen more rigorous accounting by footy clubs. They are borrowing against their share portfolio while running up millions of dollars in debt in this financial year. They are, in short, an absolute shambles.

But this is not even the high point of the fiscal bungling. When they were in government we know that they saw unemployment skyrocket from 4.8 per cent to 6.7 per cent when they left office. Well over 60 000 more Victorians were left unemployed by the time the opposition had finished their reign of ineptitude. Gross state product (GSP) growth had languished below population growth for their last two years in government, dropping to a ridiculous low of 0.8 per cent. They saw debt nearly double in their four short years in government — four short years that seemed to last an eternity to those people in this state who depended upon competent government.

Under the Andrews Labor government more than a quarter of a million more Victorians are now gainfully employed. Business confidence and, might I say, business conditions have markedly improved under this government. Our GSP growth and our state final demand are once again the envy of the nation. Our consumer sentiment is the highest in the nation, and our building approvals remain strong. These numbers really tell another story, and an important one at that. It is a story about a government that is focused on only one thing, and that thing is constantly striving to improve the lives of the Victorian people. From record spends in health and education to the biggest infrastructure investment that this state has seen and to the biggest investment in Victoria Police that this state has ever seen, we are a government that is not wasting a single day.

So do not let anyone tell you that those opposite are superior economic managers, because the facts do not lie. They bungled the state’s finances and led a government that was as lazy as it was dodgy. They claim to be a party of government, but they cannot even come to an agreement with their own fundraising body and are instead resorting to litigation to release funds. Their time in government was marked by cruel cuts to education and health. Ambulance wait times blew out — we know that. They decimated the public service in pursuit of a puritanical free market ideology, and in the process they gutted Victoria’s valuable resource — our people.

When presented with the opportunity to lay down a positive marker for Victoria’s future, being Fishermans Bend, the Leader of the Opposition’s eyes lit up with dollar signs. He could not help but take up the opportunity. His decision to rezone the largest urban renewal area in Australia in the blink of an eye was nothing more than an exercise in filling the pockets of his mates at the expense of ordinary Victorians. Then again, this type of decision‑making was hardly surprising given the rezoning of land at Ventnor.

It should not really come as a surprise that for whatever reason he decided to take a meeting with a man who the ABC has described as the alleged head of Melbourne’s Mafia. Tony Madafferi is a man who was known to the Victorian Liberal Party, and he should have been of acute interest to the Leader of the Opposition’s office after the 2013 imbroglio involving another fundraiser thrown by the same people. As the Deputy Premier noted in his remarks today, Tony’s brother, Frank, was granted a visa by the Howard government and was later arrested and jailed for drug trafficking. It is entirely possible that the opposition under the leadership of the member for Bulleen is more hostile to honest, hardworking Victorians than they are to known criminal figures who happen to be known Liberal Party donors.

Let us not forget that, as reported extensively by the media, the Leader of the Opposition has apparently been warned before about his close association with members of the underworld. You would think that one warning would be sufficient to send a shiver up the spine of anyone, but I guess that only holds true if you actually have a spine and the principles to go with it. The simple truth is this: if you commit the same mistake more than once, it can no longer be considered a mistake. It is a conscious decision, and it is a pattern of behaviour.

The fundamental point here is that transcripts made a liar of the Leader of the Opposition on the very same day the story broke. On a number of details he sought to deceive the Victorian people and to minimise his liability for what he had done, but he committed the sin of being deeply disingenuous. Nobody believes that you meet with the Mafia to simply have an even‑tempered discussion about horticultural policy or about the Melbourne fruit and vegetable markets.

Whether it is Fishermans Bend, whether it is Ventnor or whether it is his penchant for eating lobster and drinking Grange, finally we know that the Leader of the Opposition and his Liberal Party are happy to play fast and loose with organised crime figures when there might be some cash on the table for them. The Leader of the Opposition stands up in this house and screams about tackling crime, but when it comes to cash being involved he will meet with mobsters. In short, his convictions and his posturing are all disposable to him.