Victorian Treasurer Jaclyn Symes slammed as state set to remain at the lowest credit rating in Australia
The Victorian opposition has delivered a brutal rebuke of Treasurer Jaclyn Symes as the state's credit rating remains the lowest in the country, despite her meeting with credit rating agencies.
Ms Symes made the trip to New York during the week to meet with S & P Global and Moody's as she attempted to plead her case for why Victoria's credit rating shouldn't be downgraded again.
As it stands, Victoria has the worst credit rating out of all of the Australian states, after being dropped twice, initially from AAA to AA+ and then again to AA.
The visit to the United States came after warnings the rating could be downgraded once more, with the state's debt set to reach $194bn by 2028.
After the meetings, the Treasurer described Victoria as a city offering "stability and opportunity" in comparison to a "sense of doom for America" from a geopolitical perspective, comments shadow treasurer James Newbury says were contradicted by the credit agencies' assessment of the state's budget management.
"The credit rating agencies contradicted everything she said. They said there are fundamental issues which we know with the government's mismanagement... so completely contradicted, everything she's said.
"I mean, frankly, the Treasurer can't help but fall over her own feet. She went overseas to beg for our credit rating not to be downgraded. And of course, we don't want it to be downgraded, we want it to be fixed.
"I just think that the entire state and probably the whole country knows this government hasn't got a good track record of making sure that happens. I think we all know with a nearly two hundred billion dollar debt, that's 1.2 million dollars an hour in interest, they're not going to fix it."
Mr Newbury also recalled the Treasurer's awkward moment last month where she asked a room of property developers and investors what their "favourite tax" was.
"I think the fact that they've put us on a credit rating watch tells us why we have the worst credit rating in the country...but this is the same treasurer who only a couple of weeks ago went into a really big event and said, to industry, what's your favourite tax?
"I mean, is this treasurer serious? We have the worst taxes in the country, the most taxes in country, and the Treasurer thinks that the room is sitting there gagging to pick the best one. Well, they all know which, they've all got a favourite that they don't like. In fact, they've probably got a list of what they don t like."
The shadow treasurer said the budget's blowouts under the Victorian Labor government have been "astonishing".
"This government multiple times over multiple years has said before a budget and around budget time, 'we're gonna reduce the size of the public service'. And guess what happens come the next budget? They've spent more money on the public service, not less, more money," he said.
"I mean, to give you a view of some context, the amount between what they promise at budget time to spend and the amount they actually spend, is $14 billion in blowouts on average every year they've been in government
"Just think about that. I mean, it's nearly 15 per cent more than the entire budget they have every year in blowouts. The blowouts are astonishing. So what they put in writing at the start of the year and what they spend 15 per cent above, $14 billion on average in blowouts. You can't believe anything they say."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
39 minutes ago
- Perth Now
EU-Aust free trade deal: a "middle finger to Trump"
There is appetite for the European Union and Australia to signal a "middle finger to Trump" by uniting on a long-awaited free trade deal but some in Brussels are tempering expectations of a quick turnaround. Trade talks kicked off in 2018 but Canberra walked away about 18 months ago over unsatisfactory market access for beef and lamb producers, and a reluctance to give up naming rights on products for geographical origin reasons, including feta, parmesan and prosecco. Fast forward to 2025 and US President Donald Trump's tariff antics have brought both parties back to the negotiating table. There was speculation of a quick conclusion with the Australian Financial Review reporting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had flagged a trip to Australia for late July or early August in anticipation of signing a deal. This echoed the fact she had also been quick to flag an agreement while offering Anthony Albanese her congratulations on becoming prime minister via Twitter in 2022. But multiple EU spokespeople have declined to confirm the travel, telling AAP a Down Under trip is "not on the radar". Despite acknowledging renewed political will, various sources in Brussels are cautioning patience. "There is no rush," according to one inside the EU Commission. "I wouldn't even say the end of the year, I would say more next year." Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a senior fellow with Brussels think-tank Bruegel, estimates it could take at least another six months to resolve outstanding issues on agricultural tariffs and quotas. "The broad contour of the deal is already negotiated," he told AAP. "They know where the skeletons are buried. It takes a political grand bargain to do it." He noted that if the EU makes concessions, it would likely encounter an angry backlash from French and Polish farmers, who also opposed the EU's deal last year with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. However tractor and manure street protests wouldn't be enough to block a deal with Canberra, he said. Amid Washington's shift to extreme trade protectionism, an EU-Australian free trade deal would send a strong message to the Trump administration, Kirkegaard said. "As two of America's traditional allies, if both the EU and Australia find themselves subject to US tariffs, what better way than to do a deal with each other," he said. "So perhaps both countries feel this political signal is kind of a middle finger to Trump as well." Back in Melbourne, Sicilian-born cheesemaker Giorgio Linguanti from That's Amore Cheese faces an anxious wait to find out whether he can continue to market his wares using generic terms like parmesan or mozzarella. Yet he is open to compromise. "We should call it Australian parmesan and Australian feta because Australian milk is the best in the world," he said. Canberra and Brussels announced on Wednesday separate negotiations on a defence pact to boost defence industry, cyber-security and counter-terrorism co-operation. But it would not have military deployment obligations.
Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
How Trump's presence ... and absence haunted the PM
Almost every world leader is haunted by the spectre of Donald Trump's tariff regime and unfortunately, Anthony Albanese is no exception. Despite this week whistling through three countries in six days, Australia's touring prime minister seemingly couldn't escape the presence of his US counterpart, whether it was real or as the proverbial elephant in the room. Everywhere Mr Albanese set foot, the subject of Mr Trump and import taxes - not to mention the eventual cancellation of trade talks between the two men - seeped into every crevice of his itinerary. At home, a face-to-face meeting for the PM with the so-called leader of the free world had been keenly anticipated since it became apparent the unpredictability of his presidency helped propel Labor to a landslide federal election win in May. So, when Mr Albanese revealed he'd been invited to this month's G7 summit in Canada and that Mr Trump was attending, expectations they would finally meet naturally peaked. The discussion would have been their first in-person encounter and no doubt presented a prime opportunity to negotiate a coveted tariff exemption. Mr Albanese's first stop en route to Calgary was in Fiji, where a local marching band welcomed him with a rendition of the Australian anthem. Soon after touching down and with the aim of blending in, he slipped into a teal island shirt and met with Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. "Visiting Fiji so soon after the election is a deliberate decision to reinforce my government's Pacific priorities," he'd insisted upon departing Australia. But in the scheme of things, the audience in Nadi was pretty much a diplomatic warm-up to Mr Albanese's centrepiece meeting. Despite standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr Rabuka, he was asked by journalists almost exclusively about whether Mr Trump posed a threat to AUKUS, Australia's nuclear submarine deal with the US and United Kingdom. The only other issue mentioned was the Iran-Israel conflict, a matter in which the Republican president also holds significant sway. Rinse and repeat as Mr Albanese flew on to Seattle. There, he and Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman unveiled a multi-billion-dollar investment in Australian data centres from the company's state-of-the-art headquarters, comprised of three gleaming glass spheres that house more than 40,000 plants. However the event was quickly overshadowed, with Mr Albanese 20 minutes later rushing to no less confirm his much mooted meeting with The Donald. Mr Trump at this point was dominating the backdrop of Albo's trip too, as millions of protesting Americans raging against the 47th president on his 79th birthday dominated world headlines. The No Kings rallies were staged nationwide including, of course, on the local streets leading to Seattle's iconic Space Needle, which transformed into a sea of colour and noise. In the wake of this drama, Mr Albanese settled into a series of diplomatic talks on the sidelines of the Calgary summit, nestled in the foothills of the formidable Canadian Rockies. Surely such a geographical barrier would offer sanctuary from Australia's domestic obsession with things Trump but not quite. True, Mr Albanese might reasonably have expected some handy insights on dealing with the everywhere American president during the first of these bilateral meetings, with local counterpart Mark Carney. Canada's prime minister had recently came to office vowing to stand up to the US and though Mr Carney had maintained this stance in multiple subsequent meetings with Mr Trump, their discussions had generally been well received. Rather than keep this topic in-house during his own chat with Mr Carney, however, the subject of diplomacy between allies proceeded to spill into the public arena in a way that must have been impossible for Mr Albanese to ignore. Especially when the subject of bilateral trade and then certain trilateral submarine agreements was canvassed during a joint press conference at the summit between Mr Trump and Sir Keir Starmer. "It's a really important deal to both of us," the British PM declared, referring to AUKUS. "We're very long-time partners and allies and friends, and we've become friends in a short period of time," Mr Trump said. "He's slightly more liberal than I am ... but for some reason, we get along." Offering a final word, Mr Starmer added: "We make it work." And so it was that Australia's diplomatic affairs managed to capture international attention even in Mr Albanese's absence. Beyond his talks with Mr Carney, Australia's prime minister meanwhile tried hard to keep things on topic himself but the ghost of Mr Trump refused to stay away. With 24 hours to go until their scheduled sit down, the president suddenly announced his early departure from G7 so he could rush home to handle the escalating tensions in the Middle East. Mr Albanese promptly said this was "understandable" and with another four rounds of talks to go among other diplomatic events on his own agenda, the show would go on regardless of Mr Trump's emergency exit. But even in his absence, the US president remained. Many leaders, including Mr Albanese, found themselves continuing to reference the importance of the agenda which had solely been of Mr Trump's making: free and fair trade. Days after the summit wrapped up, little seemed to have changed either. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also had talks scheduled with Mr Trump the day after he left. However the two men had already previously faced Mr Trump, while Ms Sheinbaum received a phone call from him post his departure. Mr Albanese returned to Australia on Thursday without having spoken to the main man. He might have had another shot at the end of June, as he was considering attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in the Netherlands, but Mr Trump could just as easily make an early exit there too. Australia's exports to the US meanwhile continue to be hit with a baseline 10 per cent tariff and its steel and aluminium products incur a 50 per cent levy.
West Australian
2 hours ago
- West Australian
How Trump's presence ... and absence haunted the PM
Almost every world leader is haunted by the spectre of Donald Trump's tariff regime and unfortunately, Anthony Albanese is no exception. Despite this week whistling through three countries in six days, Australia's touring prime minister seemingly couldn't escape the presence of his US counterpart, whether it was real or as the proverbial elephant in the room. Everywhere Mr Albanese set foot, the subject of Mr Trump and import taxes - not to mention the eventual cancellation of trade talks between the two men - seeped into every crevice of his itinerary. At home, a face-to-face meeting for the PM with the so-called leader of the free world had been keenly anticipated since it became apparent the unpredictability of his presidency helped propel Labor to a landslide federal election win in May. So, when Mr Albanese revealed he'd been invited to this month's G7 summit in Canada and that Mr Trump was attending, expectations they would finally meet naturally peaked. The discussion would have been their first in-person encounter and no doubt presented a prime opportunity to negotiate a coveted tariff exemption. Mr Albanese's first stop en route to Calgary was in Fiji, where a local marching band welcomed him with a rendition of the Australian anthem. Soon after touching down and with the aim of blending in, he slipped into a teal island shirt and met with Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. "Visiting Fiji so soon after the election is a deliberate decision to reinforce my government's Pacific priorities," he'd insisted upon departing Australia. But in the scheme of things, the audience in Nadi was pretty much a diplomatic warm-up to Mr Albanese's centrepiece meeting. Despite standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr Rabuka, he was asked by journalists almost exclusively about whether Mr Trump posed a threat to AUKUS, Australia's nuclear submarine deal with the US and United Kingdom. The only other issue mentioned was the Iran-Israel conflict, a matter in which the Republican president also holds significant sway. Rinse and repeat as Mr Albanese flew on to Seattle. There, he and Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman unveiled a multi-billion-dollar investment in Australian data centres from the company's state-of-the-art headquarters, comprised of three gleaming glass spheres that house more than 40,000 plants. However the event was quickly overshadowed, with Mr Albanese 20 minutes later rushing to no less confirm his much mooted meeting with The Donald. Mr Trump at this point was dominating the backdrop of Albo's trip too, as millions of protesting Americans raging against the 47th president on his 79th birthday dominated world headlines. The No Kings rallies were staged nationwide including, of course, on the local streets leading to Seattle's iconic Space Needle, which transformed into a sea of colour and noise. In the wake of this drama, Mr Albanese settled into a series of diplomatic talks on the sidelines of the Calgary summit, nestled in the foothills of the formidable Canadian Rockies. Surely such a geographical barrier would offer sanctuary from Australia's domestic obsession with things Trump but not quite. True, Mr Albanese might reasonably have expected some handy insights on dealing with the everywhere American president during the first of these bilateral meetings, with local counterpart Mark Carney. Canada's prime minister had recently came to office vowing to stand up to the US and though Mr Carney had maintained this stance in multiple subsequent meetings with Mr Trump, their discussions had generally been well received. Rather than keep this topic in-house during his own chat with Mr Carney, however, the subject of diplomacy between allies proceeded to spill into the public arena in a way that must have been impossible for Mr Albanese to ignore. Especially when the subject of bilateral trade and then certain trilateral submarine agreements was canvassed during a joint press conference at the summit between Mr Trump and Sir Keir Starmer. "It's a really important deal to both of us," the British PM declared, referring to AUKUS. "We're very long-time partners and allies and friends, and we've become friends in a short period of time," Mr Trump said. "He's slightly more liberal than I am ... but for some reason, we get along." Offering a final word, Mr Starmer added: "We make it work." And so it was that Australia's diplomatic affairs managed to capture international attention even in Mr Albanese's absence. Beyond his talks with Mr Carney, Australia's prime minister meanwhile tried hard to keep things on topic himself but the ghost of Mr Trump refused to stay away. With 24 hours to go until their scheduled sit down, the president suddenly announced his early departure from G7 so he could rush home to handle the escalating tensions in the Middle East. Mr Albanese promptly said this was "understandable" and with another four rounds of talks to go among other diplomatic events on his own agenda, the show would go on regardless of Mr Trump's emergency exit. But even in his absence, the US president remained. Many leaders, including Mr Albanese, found themselves continuing to reference the importance of the agenda which had solely been of Mr Trump's making: free and fair trade. Days after the summit wrapped up, little seemed to have changed either. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also had talks scheduled with Mr Trump the day after he left. However the two men had already previously faced Mr Trump, while Ms Sheinbaum received a phone call from him post his departure. Mr Albanese returned to Australia on Thursday without having spoken to the main man. He might have had another shot at the end of June, as he was considering attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in the Netherlands, but Mr Trump could just as easily make an early exit there too. Australia's exports to the US meanwhile continue to be hit with a baseline 10 per cent tariff and its steel and aluminium products incur a 50 per cent levy.
