‘Grinch’ Daniel Andrews’ economic warning

Daniel Andrews has had “five years of being Santa Claus”, but an economic downturn could pose a problem, Michael O’Brien says.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: AAP

Daniel Andrews and his Treasurer Tim Pallas “have had five years of being Santa Claus”, but an economic downturn has them at risk of “turning into the Grinch”, according to Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien.

Mr O’Brien’s comments come amid warnings from economists of a possible recession, and a downturn in the property market which has already forced the Andrews government to account for a reduction in stamp duty revenue in its budget.

“Daniel Andrews and Tim Pallas have had five years of being Santa Claus, and now it sounds like they’re turning into the Grinch. Economic reality has slowly crept up on them,” Mr O’Brien said.

“You can’t keep wasting money the way that Andrews and Labor have done without consequences.”

Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien. Picture: Getty Images

Mr O’Brien highlighted comments from Mr Pallas earlier this week that Victorian public servants were unlikely to be offered more than a two per cent pay rises in forthcoming EBA negotiations.

“Now we’re seeing that police officers are being told, ‘don’t expect to get a pay rise that keeps pace with the cost of living because Labor can’t manage the budget’,” Mr O’Brien said.

“These things were all foreseeable. No property boom lasts forever, but Daniel Andrews has been throwing the money around.

“He’s been having huge cost blowouts when it comes to infrastructure, and now some of the consequences of that are that simply we’re not going to have the money there to pay public servants and people like teachers and nurses and police the pay rises that they should be entitled to.”

Mr Andrews laughed off Mr O’Brien’s “Grinch” comments.

“Really? I don’t have any comment to make on those sort of zingers, just quietly. It’s generous of me, I think, to call that a zinger,” he said.

“What I’d say to you is the national accounts yesterday confirm that Victoria is the strongest growing economy in the nation, and yes, there are some challenges for our government and for our state when we think about property revenues coming off, but we will honour each and every one of the commitments that we made to the Victorian community last year.

“That’s our way. That’s the way we’ve governed for these last four years and that’s how we’ll continue.”

Mr Andrews said there was “no point in denying” that both the volume of property market transactions and the price points meant there would be less stamp duty revenue.

“We’ve been clear about that, but that’s why we’ve always had a buffer in terms of the promises we make, the surpluses that we run, and the budget rules that we follow,” he said.

“Our promises, all of them, are fully funded, and in the budget the funding of those will be reflective of the financial statement that we produced just before Victorians voted.”