Premier Ben Carroll and Opposition leader Jess Wilson faced off against each other with direct pitches to business about how to repair plunging confidence in Victoria, as the key industry lobby group once again ranked the state the worst place in Australia for enterprise.
The Labor and Liberal leaders outlined competing agendas on Tuesday at an election campaign hosted by the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, where Carroll declared himself to be a fiscal conservative who wants more public-private partnerships and Wilson accused the government of cooking the books.
Both said they wanted to put business at the centre of Victoria’s economic growth. The speeches came just hours before the Business Council of Australia’s latest Regulation Rumble report, which ranked Victoria last overall for the third year in a row, citing payroll tax rates and thresholds for business, high land tax and stamp duty rates, and onerous regulation.
Victoria fell back further from last year, slipping from 4th to 8th for planning, making it even harder to catch up to other states.
South Australia remained at the top, setting the benchmark for the most competitive payroll tax settings and licensing requirements. Tasmania strengthened its second position with the best planning jurisdiction. NSW, Queensland and Western Australia were unchanged in fifth, sixth and seventh positions overall.
“Victoria has won an unwelcome trifecta of being the worst in the country for the third consecutive year,” Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black said. “This should be a wake-up call for a state that has historically been one of Australia’s economic powerhouses.”
Carroll told the state Chamber of Commerce and Industry event he was open to commissioning an independent fiscal review of the state’s finances within 30 days if Labor is re-elected on November 28.
The May budget tipped cumulative cash deficits of $30 billion over the next four years and for net debt to rise to $199.3 billion. Treasurer Colin Brooks told The Australian Financial Review the pre-election budget update would show lower levels of debt over the four-year forward estimates period, but provided no details.
“I am fiscally conservative. It’s part of who I am. It’s shaped the decisions I’ve made as premier and the new direction I’m leading,” Carroll said.
Wilson, who is also shadow treasurer, did not commit to the independent fiscal review but said if elected a Coalition government would release a budget update within its first 100 days.
“We’re quite convinced … that should we be successful in 32 days’ time, when we open the books here in Victoria we might find a few surprises,” Wilson said.
“I don’t expect we’re going to see what the budget papers say given that we discovered a secret tax only a few weeks ago.”
The opposition leader has come under pressure from economists and Labor over her pledge to return the budget to a cash surplus within six years while promising tax cuts and billions of dollars in election spending commitments.
The Coalition’s central savings pledge is a public sector hiring freeze that the Parliamentary Budget Office has said will save $22 billion over a decade.
Asked if the Liberals would need to make massive cuts to services to deliver on their promise, Wilson said she would release her costings “in the usual way at the usual time” – which is on the eve of election day, and after more than 60 per cent of ballots are expected to have been cast already through early voting.
Wilson said a Coalition government would “take urgent action on licensing requirements and regulation” and simplify the process for the hospitality industry – a key area of concern for the BCA.
Victoria and Tasmania were singled out in the BCA report as having too much red tape. For example, a cafe business starting in Victoria faced 34 licenses, approvals or processes before a single cup of coffee could be poured, it said.
Metrics Victoria most needed to improve included land tax, stamp duty and planning efficiency. Other problems areas were the rate and threshold of payroll taxes, licensing and regulatory requirements for starting a business, and process certainty for planning proponents.
In response to the report, Brooks said Labor had already announced cuts to land tax and reviews to other property taxes.
“We have a new premier going in a new direction on the economy – we’ve made billions in commonsense savings, stopped unnecessary government spending, and we will cut red tape and cut land tax,” Brooks said.
Black noted Victoria also had the country’s highest unemployment rate for 19 of the last 24 months, high taxes and unnecessary regulation, making it harder for businesses to invest, grow and create jobs.