Mr PALLAS (Treasurer) — My grievance today concerns the outrageous duplicity of those opposite when it comes to the question of economic growth in this state. In particular I take umbrage on behalf of the more than 3 million Victorians who are now gainfully employed. If you listened to the echo chamber that is those opposite — not that they listen to much other than their own bloviating rhetoric — you would think that Victoria was on the brink of a total economic calamity. In fact we are regaining our position as the economic powerhouse of the nation, free from the quagmire of inertia that was the nihilistic legacy of the job destroyers opposite.

It is irrefutable; it is an irrefutable fact that Victoria has flourished economically since Labor took office, and it is thanks to Labor that Victoria is once again the engine room of economic and jobs growth in this nation. Let us take a look at the facts; let us look at how Victoria has performed since we took office. If you go back to November 2014 — a relevant date, the date that we were freed from the economic inertia and the shackles on our economy imposed by those opposite, despite their inflated assessment of their ability — and look at the facts, you can see that the Victorian economy has been freed from a great deadweight.

The unemployment rate sat at 6.6 per cent in November 2014, well above the national average at the time of 6.3 per cent. A 6.6 per cent unemployment rate represented the culmination of four years of total and abject failure by those opposite whilst in government. The unemployment rate, on average, had continued to increase unabated since December 2010. Things got so bad in Victoria that at one stage, in July 2014, our unemployment rate sat at 6.9 per cent. The unemployment rate in Victoria was above the national average for 36 of the 48 months of the tenure of those opposite when they were in power. Where are we now? Unemployment in August 2016 is now at 5.7 per cent, considerably lower than under those opposite. Since Labor was elected, total employment has increased by more than 147 000 people and full‑time employment, against decades of trend, has now started to substantially increase; indeed it has increased by more than 111 000 people.

Those opposite spent 20 months wailing about the economic performance of the state as if facts did not really matter. In particular they were crying wolf about the government’s 100 000 jobs target in its first two years. Remember the breathless indignation from those opposite that it could not be done, that when you talk about stretch targets, you are really just ceding ground for the fact that you will not be able to meet it. We in this government get out of bed every morning, unlike those who snoozed for four years, and we extend ourselves. In so doing we have a massive improvement in the Victorian economy — transparent, obvious and the facts speak for themselves.

Yet the truth has often been an inconvenient foe for the opposition. Facts and reality have rarely ever been allowed to pervade the bubble in which those opposite choose to live and which they seek to impose upon the Victorian people, a collective delusion of those on the opposite side of the chamber that ultimately undermined the opportunities of this state.

We made a promise that we would create 100 000 jobs in our first two years of government and we are staying true to our word. We have achieved that objective. We have delivered responsibly for the Victorian people, and we have done it with a very clear and stated objective in return for the faith that the people of Victoria placed in this government. We take our responsibilities seriously and we get on and deliver them.

But it would be unfair if I simply looked at Victoria’s jobs figures in isolation. We should look at the broader economy — the thing that those opposite like to think they have some specific capacity to manage. If you look at any of the data for the four years that they were in government, they turned Victoria into a backwater. It would be remiss of this chamber not to recognise the massive resilience in the Victorian economy and the return to form of the economic powerhouse of the nation. Indeed it would be remiss of us not to grieve for those opposite.

We should not look at the broader economy and just think that this is something that happened by happenstance; it requires a consistent and continuing effort. Indeed it would be remiss of us not to grieve for those opposite who are too dishonest, too blinkered and too unimaginative to recognise and appreciate what constitutes real achievement — real achievement backed up by real data and real people getting the benefits of the consistent, diligent and continuing work of a government committed to putting people first.

In many ways Victoria under the opposition when it was last in government was like the Australian soccer team of the 1990s: underperforming and lacking the requisite leadership and courage to make the decisions needed for success. But of course the Australian soccer team’s fortunes have changed — —

Mr Wynne — They have.

Mr PALLAS — They have changed; we are going to do well. This Labor government, under the leadership of the Premier, has had the courage and drive, and the numbers show it. Yesterday’s ANZ Stateometer shows that Victoria is the only state in the federation in which economic growth is above trend and accelerating.

The CommSec State of the States clearly states that Victoria is the fastest growing economy in the nation, with economic growth of 3.6 per cent in the last year. Consumer confidence is the highest in the nation. You would be hard‑pressed to think that this is the same place that those opposite managed for four years. Our economy has dramatically improved. Building approvals were up 9.8 per cent in June 2016 and up 28.5 per cent over the year, with dwelling approvals up 25.4 per cent over the year.

So that is the story of achievement. Those opposite will delude themselves if they do not recognise that change has been both dramatic and profound, and it is changing the wellbeing, welfare and, overall, the circumstances of Victorians, particularly those most in need of a government committed to working on their behalf and in their interests.

But let us take a moment to really analyse what happened when the opposition was in government. If you believed the howls of protestation that we hear from those opposite, you would think that they were the job‑creating kings of the nation. That is the level of delusion that surrounds them, and it is the level of disgrace that they inflicted upon the Victorian people. In fact their job creation guru, the member for Malvern, loved nothing more than to talk up the opposition’s so‑called job achievements in government. The only problem was that the achievements were largely fictional, with less than 17 000 full‑time jobs created in their entire term in government. This is a figure dwarfed by our numbers of jobs produced in a fraction of the time. Ours is economic growth, and ours is economic growth that has a real benefit for real people.

The story gets even worse if you look at regional Victoria — only 5500 jobs in four years. Again it is a figure dwarfed by a performance. It must be crushing and grievous, in fact, for those opposite to have numerical proof — pure, unambiguous numerical proof — every month of just how poorly they perform in comparison to the outstanding job that this government is doing. You can only imagine the mental gymnastics that they must be going through, thinking, ‘How can we best present ourselves as great economic managers?’. Well, the only demonstration of economic management that really matters is how you impact upon people’s lives and welfare, and this government has made a very considerable and outstanding effort to do so.

To the confused member for Malvern it was evidence that his government’s infrastructure program was creating jobs and had the strongest results in Australia, as he crowed in one media release. It takes serious hubris to call adding people to the unemployment queue the strongest jobs result in Australia. Perhaps he thought he was creating jobs in the Commonwealth Employment Service.

The Victorian unemployment rate was above the national average in 19 of his 21 months as Treasurer. It takes even greater arrogance to take up every opportunity to talk down the Victorian economy and to claim that Labor had failed to deliver on its promises. As we all know, those opposite have spent countless hours shouting from the rooftops to the few who would even bother listening about our 100 000 jobs target. They said it could not be done. Well, how silly must they feel at the moment. It is true, though. I previously said that it was a stretch target. But is it not amazing what happens when a government extends itself and when its members get out of bed in the morning and actually do not see themselves as having been born to rule, unlike those opposite, who view their greatest gift to public life as being able to sit in government and to not have to worry about the welfare of the constituency that put them there.

So what did the member for Malvern say about the 112 000 full‑time jobs that we created since we came to government? He said absolutely nothing, despite being very confident in saying that this was a clearly broken promise of jobs, a promise on which we actually delivered. The member for Malvern is often found to have his foot in his mouth. I suppose that is probably why the opposition leader wisely keeps him away from the dispatch box in question time, most of the time.

But in a final act of desperation the opposition has now pivoted around to claim that the Back to Work scheme was rorted. It is saying that it was a total failure and that there is widespread evidence of rorting. Well, those of us who sit on this side of the chamber might well recognise that either jobs have been created or they have not. We might also recognise that the safeguards built into the system were safeguards insisted upon by those opposite. So if there is any so‑called failure, it is there. And let me be clear, we believe that the system has worked exactly as it was designed to — to give those in certain circumstances who need help from government and help from a benign and caring government to find work. We have actually done this.

I suppose the one compelling thing that we should look at is the policy interventions that those opposite put in place to try and create a responsible and effective government. Maybe we should look at infrastructure spending. The member for Malvern and those opposite barely drew breath to talk about the astounding infrastructure program they were creating. These were just nothing but castles in the air — mere zephyrs of infrastructure. They delivered on average a capital spend of $4.9 billion over the course of their government, yet in the 2016–17 budget alone the average capital spend is $7.4 billion for this year and the years going forward.

The 2016–17 budget has delivered the biggest regional infrastructure spend on the record, because Labor’s infrastructure spend is about much more than just a single road; it is about building up communities. In recent budgets of course we delivered $1.46 billion for the western distributor. That means jobs — jobs for communities with a road that is both rationally and appropriately built. We fully funded Melbourne Metro, and we put forward $2.9 billion over the forward estimates to make sure that that is delivered. Once again, ours is a government building rational infrastructure. It is the right infrastructure, properly justified and coherently explained to the community, and ultimately in the process of being genuinely delivered.

There is $588 million for the Mernda rail extension and $516 million for the Ballarat rail upgrade, and $1 billion was invested in schools in Victoria. These are all investments that generate jobs. They also benefit every Victorian. Not only do they generate jobs in construction, but they ensure that what Victorians get is an effective provision of infrastructure. So when we look at people in regional Victoria, we know that they are not mugs, yet those opposite treat them as mugs, and they have treated them that way for so long now that they have failed to recognise the emerging and evident awareness of how Victorians have been sold out, particularly by the National Party. So while there will always be more to do, Victorians can be assured that they have a government that will not rest until it has achieved exactly what it said it would — a vibrant, growing Victoria.