MPs brawl on cuts, spending

By Noel Murphy
A WAR of words has broken out between MPs Ian Trezise and Andrew Katos over their work performance in State Parliament.
Geelong Labor MP Ian Trezise slammed Mr Katos over cuts to TAFE funding and firefighting and public service jobs, saying he needed to show some backbone and better defend Geelong’s interests.
“The Gordon’s lost $14 million, the CFA and the MFB are losing $44 million and 4200 public service jobs are to be cut, some from Geelong, and Andrew Katos is missing in action,’’ Mr Trezise said.
“These are all major issues for Geelong. I’ve been going through Hansard and his speeches on the floor of parliament this year and not once has he mentioned the cuts to Geelong’s Gordon TAFE or any of these.’
“He and the other Liberal members in Geelong should be banging on these doors of Ted Baillieu and their ministers but instead they’re deafening in their silence.’’
But the Liberal South Barwon MP lashed back, comparing his own 71 speeches in parliament to Mr Trezise’s 33.
He accused Mr Trezise of misrepresenting the firefighting budget and ignoring a $500 million TAFE budget blowout under Labor.
“The CFA budget spiked last year when we spent an additional $66 million to implement the Black Saturday Royal Commission recommendations,’’ Katos said.
“This year’s operational CFA budget is still higher than at any time under Labor.’’
Mr Katos said uncapped TAFE spending was unstainable.
The state could also not afford a public service growing at 5.3 per cent a year against a population increasing at two per cent.
Mr Katos said budget revenue had been growing at 6.9 per cent a year while expenditure was climbing by 7.3 per cent.
“Clearly, that’s not sustainable,’’ he said.
noel.murphy@geelongindependent.com.au