MR PALLAS (Werribee—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (13:05): It is with great pride that I share with the house that business and growth in Victoria are making an inspiring resurgence—just like we knew that it would—and our strategies are bearing fruit. There are plenty of loud voices, including some of those opposite, that were willing to write off Victoria. But Victoria’s resilience and our strong economic fundamentals have seen us attract new investment, putting us well and truly on the road to recovery. Off the back of the Andrews Labor government’s jobs-boosting budget, the Victorian business confidence index increased by 11 points to 22 points—ahead of all other states.

The air of optimism across our great state is palpable, with the best and the brightest companies from around the world taking notice. They know that we have got a good thing going on here in Victoria, and they want to be part of it. Within a period of five days this past week I have had the great opportunity to announce that two major international companies have chosen Victoria as their base to expand their businesses and to create local jobs. On Friday I announced that San Diego-based Illumina, a world-leading biotech company, has committed to a $60 million Illumina-University of Melbourne genomics hub in Parkville, creating around 150 highly skilled full-time jobs. And just yesterday I had the great opportunity to announce that Amazon Web Services, the Seattle-based world leader in cloud technology, has chosen Victoria as its home to develop an Asia-Pacific cloud infrastructure region, creating at least 90 jobs, further boosting Victoria’s already thriving tech sector. So as we made clear in our jobs plan, we are investing in Victoria to ensure that our great state remains the jobs and tech hub of our nation.