Mr PALLAS (Treasurer) — I rise to update the house and give it some good news on the economic and financial management front because those opposite are clearly looking a bit glum today. I have got good news for you. The 2016–17 Quarterly Financial Report No. 1 has been tabled in the Parliament today. The report shows that Victorian finances remain strong and also we have a quarterly surplus of $480 million. That is consistent with us delivering a surplus of $2.9 billion, as we predicted. It underlines the strong economic performance of the state and demonstrates that our AAA credit rating is justified and safe. It is a surplus that reflects the growth in opportunity and confidence that is underpinning this state, instead of just being built on the cruel and indiscriminate cuts and underinvestment of those opposite.

In the first three months of this financial year this government has invested $1.6 billion in infrastructure, with a focus on rail, roads and hospitals. We have invested in things like the level crossing removal program, the Metro Melbourne rail tunnel, the western distributor, the Casey Hospital expansion and the Murray Basin rail project, to name but a few. This demonstrates our commitment to jobs. We have seen 31 000 new jobs in this quarter and a total of 105 000 jobs for the year to September. That is more jobs in one year than those opposite could muster in four slow, pathetic years. They were a government that stopped to think and forgot to start again, and when they finally did they proved themselves incapable of running a lemonade stand. We are leading the nation in jobs growth and we are getting it done.