This week in State Parliament – 25 February 2016
In an eventful week in State Parliament, Liberal and National MPs forced the government to abandon its attempt to lock taxpayers into paying compensation to a Melbourne port operator for up to fifty years if a second container port is built in Victoria.
Late yesterday, the government finally accepted the Coalition’s compromise proposal to limit any compensation to just the first fifteen years after a port of Melbourne lease deal is signed.
We introduced legislation into the Legislative Council to stop murderers from getting parole if they refuse to reveal where their victim’s body is. We are calling on all MPs to support this legislation so it can be passed by the Parliament and become law.
We exposed the fact that the government is now refusing to stand by its promise not to increase taxes or introduce new taxes, despite Mr Andrews making that promise “to every single Victorian” on the night before the 2014 election.
We highlighted the confusion, delays and poor quality of the bus services the government is using to replace trains cancelled due to its V/Line fiasco, including passengers having to use the GPSs on their phones to help drivers who don’t know where they are going.
We continued to highlight the folly and short-sightedness of the government’s rushed Skyrail decision to use elevated rail tracks running for kilometres through established suburbs in order to replace level crossings.
We condemned the government’s spending of $700,000 a month on advertising to promote its so-called “Back to Work” jobs scheme, while paying out only $169,000 in actual benefits to employers for taking on workers in its first three months of operation.
As well, we called on the government to finally make a decision on how to regulate UberX to allow the dual operation of both Uber and taxis.
We questioned the government over its use of taxpayer funds to try to prevent the Ombudsman from inquiring into the rorting of electorate allowances by Labor MPs to hire Labor campaign organisers
We also demanded the government declare whether it remains committed to its election promise of 100,000 new full time jobs within two years, given after 14 months it is still 72,000 jobs short.