Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak out against the discrimination by the Liberal government against Victoria, which is still being massively short-changed on infrastructure dollars. Melbourne is the fastest-growing city in Australia. Victoria has around 25 per cent of the population and is the fastest-growing state. In the last two years, Victoria contributed 42.9 per cent of the total jobs growth in Australia. Yet, under the Liberals, Victoria is only receiving 9.7 per cent of funding. Under Labor, Victoria received $201 per head; under the Liberals it's fallen to $105 per head, and it's trending downwards to sink to $46 by 2021.

What of the other states? Per head, Tasmania manages to get twice Victoria's amount. I don't know if the Deputy Prime Minister would need a map of Tassie to find his way there, but he certainly has absolutely no clue where Victoria is—none. Queensland receives more than triple, and New South Wales is almost quadruple. New South Wales is home to the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Treasurer. They get 45 per cent. The Prime Minister for Sydney has short-changed Victorians by more than $7½ billion. Sydneysiders enjoy buckets of federal cash propping up their government, and we're being robbed blind. It's about time Victorian Liberal MPs stood up and called this out. A few crumbs off the federal table are not enough, and Puffing Billy is not a form of public transport. Maybe we need the Turnbull-Chesters government.