(Treasurer) — I rise to inform the house about the achievements of the Andrews Labor government in securing the financial strength of our state. On 11 March I released the 2015–16 Mid-Year Financial Report. The report reaffirms the Andrews Labor government’s management of Victoria’s financial position. The surplus for the first six months of the current financial year was $1.5 billion. These numbers reaffirm the ratings agencies’ decision to give a solid AAA rating to the state of Victoria. It is a healthy set of numbers, which reflects the strength of the Victorian economy and also the strong financial management that we in government have brought to this state.

But we are certainly getting no help whatsoever from Canberra or Malcolm Turnbull. Our share of commonwealth infrastructure funding has been cut to below 10 per cent. Despite all of this, our net infrastructure investment for the first six months of the financial year was $2.2 billion. That is $201 million more than in the last half of 2014.

National partnership agreements designed to help and educate our kids and provide care for the sick who desperately need it have been ripped up by the federal government. Despite this, we have delivered the largest education budget on record, with additional equity funding for disadvantaged schools.

The perpetrators of these outrages have been too consumed by chaos and dysfunction to even start a conversation about why these cuts were justified. They are unjustifiable. The Leader of the Opposition has been promising to be on the front line campaigning for the Sydney-centric political lords and masters.