Victoria’s health system is in crisis and must be fixed. And because we are heading for record debt of $170bn, as interest rates rise, the Liberals and Nationals will shelve Labor’s proposed $34.5bn rail line from Cheltenham to Box Hill. All savings will be redirected to the health system.

This is the choice Victorians face as they head to the polls in November: fix the health crisis now, or build a rail line through some of Melbourne’s south-eastern and eastern suburbs in 13 years. All but the economically illiterate would agree that you simply can’t have both. 

Infrastructure investment – when committed properly – is an important way to boost productivity and ensure our economy can grow steadily. Government, nonetheless, is about priorities. The money of hard-working Victorian taxpayers must never be taken for granted and every cent must deliver bang for buck.

When I received a phone call from Opposition Leader Matt Guy at the start of this year, asking me if I would serve as the Shadow Minister for Transport Infrastructure in his leadership team, I knew I wouldn’t be spending my time at dramatic photo opportunities in a hard hat and high-vis.

This, of course, is what Premier Daniel Andrews does every day. Yet, in my mind, the real work of transport policy was bureaucratic, evidence-based, and dry. I pictured departments full of experts, with a much deeper understanding than mine, writing lengthy recommendations and conducting a comprehensive analysis for the government to follow.

As it turns out, I was dead wrong. Under the current Victorian Labor government, processes that should be above partisanship and short-term politicking are every bit as political as the Premier’s Facebook feed. 

Inevitably, this government’s approach to infrastructure planning – an approach dominated by PR and pork barrelling in marginal seats – has led to enormous waste. Following the latest North East Link blowout (a new road in Melbourne), this waste is now over a whopping $30 billion. 

It would be lovely if governments weren’t subject to significant financial constraints. Perhaps that’s what many of those on the other side of politics believe? The proliferation of Modern Monetary Theory among progressive circles has promulgated the idea that huge debt and budget deficits are a mere inconvenience. As interest rates continue to rise, I’m not quite sure how any of this works. That is, unless one believes there’s a money tree at the bottom of the garden with plump little pixies dancing underneath.

Notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence of the futility of this view among mainstream economists, this worrying trend has reinforced Labor’s long-standing disregard for fiscal prudence. The days of the self-proclaimed ‘economic conservatives’ among Labor’s ranks are officially over. Now, Victoria’s debt is already more than that of New South Wales, Queensland, and Tasmania combined. 

The reality is that the Andrews Labor government’s parlous management of government finances has left us penniless. Interest rates are heading skyward and we’ve lost our AAA credit rating, making borrowing even more expensive. It may not be politic to say so, but the party has to end.

This means that we’re faced with a difficult choice. Labor would have you believe that it’s possible to invest the billions needed to repair our crumbling health system and forge ahead with a $34.5 billion railway line from Cheltenham to Box Hill; a line that experts from the Australian Population Research Institute have described as ‘not needed, not fit for purpose, and a debt bomb’. The only way this is possible is either through crippling tax hikes on Victorians at a time when cost of living concerns rightly dominate, or through savage cuts to public services elsewhere.

The Liberals and Nationals understand the importance of a robust infrastructure pipeline and we are committed to finishing all major projects currently under construction, including the Metro Tunnel, the North East Link, the West Gate Tunnel, and the Melbourne Airport Rail Link. We will also follow the advice of the experts and ensure any new projects go through proper processes before public money is committed, like assessment by Infrastructure Australia – something the current government has failed to do.

But we make no apology for prioritising the urgent task of rebuilding our health system over a project that was drawn up on the back of an envelope by a handful of Labor hacks and consultants five minutes before the last election, and just so happens to run through a string of marginal seats. 

With Victorians dying on hold to triple-0, ambulances ramping in hospital driveways, emergency rooms (or tents!) packed to the rafters with desperate patients, and our elective surgery wait-list longer than ever, now is not the time to embark upon another megaproject that is near certain to blow out and cannibalise all Victorian budgets for decades.

The first step to rebuilding trust between politicians and the voters they serve is to level with the public about what’s within the realm of possibility and what’s not. And frankly, it’s simply not possible to fix the health crisis and build a $34.5 billion rail line from Cheltenham to Box Hill. 

Any political party that tells you otherwise is either fibbing, economically illiterate – or both.

Dr Matthew Bach – Victorian Shadow Minister for Child Protection

 

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