Baillieu 'spending more than Labor'

THE Baillieu government has delivered a lower surplus and higher spending than at any time under 11 years of Labor, the opposition says.

THE Baillieu government has delivered a lower surplus and higher spending than at any time under 11 years of Labor, according to opposition Treasury spokesman Tim Holding.

Mr Holding used his address in reply to the budget yesterday to excoriate the government after it rubber-stamped a near doubling of debt.

Mr Holding said that, on a series of measures, the Coalition was now spending more, raising more taxes and even collecting more GST revenue than under the Brumby-Bracks governments.

He told parliament Treasurer Kim Wells did not mention jobs or employment once during his budget address. "So judge this Treasurer (Mr Wells) not by what he says, but by what he has done," Mr Holding said.

"If he had introduced his promised debt-reduction strategy and net debt was set to fall, we might believe that he was concerned about state debt instead of bringing down a budget that proposes to more than double it.

"If the Treasurer was truly concerned about the growth in expenditure, we might believe him if he proposed that expenditure would fall.

"The last few weeks have shown that what this Treasurer says and what he does are two different things."

Tuesday's state budget saw a near doubling of net debt to more than $23 billion, with the tax-take rising and spending continuing to climb.

This is despite Mr Wells saying in opposition that he would deal with the three issues. Instead, the government vowed to spend $5.1bn honouring its recurrent election spending promises.

Mr Holding said the government's failure to focus on jobs meant that Mr Wells had failed families while, most importantly, he had failed to deliver a vision.

"This government needs to learn that the negative, lazy approach that it took in opposition is not working in government," he said.

"A small target is not a powerful force for change.

"A focus group is no substitute for a real plan to keep Victoria the nation's engine room for jobs and ideas."