Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Victorians returned a Daniel Andrews government on the weekend, and they did so because it was clear that what Daniel Andrews says so often—which is, 'I say what I do and I do what I say'—really reached Victorians. They thought about the last four years and what had been delivered by the Andrews government. They couldn't help but see what was being delivered. There it was and there they were: the grade separations on the rail corridors—29 of them delivered in four years. In my electorate, there were the schools being built. Across the electorate we had five new schools built in the last four years. We had refurbs done in our schools.

What else could they see if they thought about the Andrews Labor government? Locally, they could see an $80 million stage 1 rebuild of the Werribee Mercy Hospital. That's what they could see. They could see a new children's hospital going up in Sunshine. That's what Victorians were focused on: a government that got things done.

In contrast, what they saw was not just an opposition not focused on them but they saw an opposition which had failed to hold a federal government to account for starving Victoria of funds across those three portfolios. They starved Victoria in infrastructure. This government starved Victoria in health and they starved Victoria in education across the last six years. I believe the Prime Minister conceded that today. He might want to jump in four months early, but he conceded six months today. That's what Victorians were focused on.

They were focused on the fact that Matthew Guy had not once in that four years stood up to this federal government and demanded what Victoria deserved. Week in, week out they heard this side of the chamber stand at that dispatch box and demand Victoria's fair share of infrastructure spending. Week in, week out the shadow minister for infrastructure, Anthony Albanese, did nothing but bang on about starving Victoria of infrastructure. That's what Victorians heard.

Victorians know what they deserve. They know they have the second-biggest city in the country and the fastest growing. They're living it. They're living it every day. And when they thought back to the last federal government, they thought back to a Labor government that delivered in the western suburbs. It delivered the Regional Rail Link, which was the biggest rail project in Australia's history.

See this speech in context