Mr PALLAS (Treasurer) — Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise to update the house on the outstanding performance of the Victorian economy — another great achievement. The annual financial report was tabled this morning and is yet another vindication of this government’s strong financial management. Our surplus for 2016–17 is $2.7 billion, and net debt has dropped to 4 per cent of gross state product. The contrast is stark — we are delivering for Victorians, while those opposite are doing the numbers on their own dodgy leader.

We have created 270 000 jobs since taking office. Of those, 177 000 are full‑time. For comparison, those opposite managed 16 000 full‑time jobs in four long, lost years. In fact we have created more jobs in the last year than the opposition created in their whole term. It is a team effort. We cannot do this alone, and I am grateful to have great colleagues, but we have also been ably, if inadvertently, assisted by the quality of our opposition. If only the Deputy Leader of the Opposition could say the same. The Leader of the Opposition split from him more quickly than Mal Meninga got out of politics!

Mr Clark — On a point of order, Speaker, the Treasurer is ignoring the guidance you gave to ministers earlier that they should confine themselves to ministers statements in accordance with sessional orders. I ask you to bring the Treasurer back to compliance.

The SPEAKER — The Treasurer should come back to making a ministers statement.

Mr PALLAS — Thank you, Speaker. Just yesterday, I can confirm, I was at a real property industry forum called the Housing Industry Association construction outlook breakfast. I can confirm that there were more than seven attendees. In fact there were hundreds. It discussed real issues and no‑one needed to give me $10 000 to turn up. That is how a real government gets involved and behaves, as opposed to those dodgy operators opposite.