VICTORIAN treasurer, Tim Pallas announced that the State Government would return to surplus within four years when he handed down his eighth budget on Tuesday night.

Mr Pallas is relying heavily on economic growth to achieve this, following what was a big spend in the 2022/23 Victorian Budget, which included $5.7 billion in new funding for regional initiatives, specifically $1bn for regional health infrastructure.

However, despite an assurance that every Victorian would have access to the healthcare they needed, nothing had been itemised yet for south-west Victoria, other than funding for planning of a new aged care facility at Heywood.

The city centric focus on metropolitan roads persisted with $213 million for a 1.6 kilometre stretch of road for an upgrade to the Mickleham Road in Greenvale, while $780m was set aside to be invested throughout Victoria, including $187m on road rehabilitation, drainage renewal and bridge works.

While the government was claiming “record asset expenditure on roads”, the Opposition claimed there had actually been “cuts to the road asset maintenance”.

Despite the treasurer stating the government was backing rural and regional Victorians, the notoriously dangerous truck routes such as the Woolsthorpe-Heywood Road or the Glenelg Highway between Hamilton and Dunkeld were not specifically listed in the budget.  

$181m was assigned for critical maintenance works on freight lines in regional Victoria, and a further $3.5m to continue the Mode Shift Incentive Scheme, a rail freight investment.

There was a $12bn Pandemic Repair Plan announced, $258.3m for a Sick Pay Guarantee scheme, and a $75m investment to transform services for Victorians experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

To boost the housing construction sector, the budget included stronger protections for Victorians using building sector services, with $28m to establish the first Building Monitor to advocate for domestic building consumers and report on emerging issues.

The government committed to implementing all 227 recommendations from the Royal Commission into Family Violence, by expanding critical refuge and crisis accommodation with a $69.1m boost for two refuges, six new crisis accommodation properties, and support for three organisations to bolster crisis accommodation options.

$400m was committed to supporting Aboriginal Victorians across a range of programs from health to education and family services.

Funding has also been provided for a $103.1m package to boost real-life work experience opportunities for students, to preserve Victoria’s Aboriginal heritage as well as for the development of the visitor experience at Lake Condah and the Tae Rak Traps at Budj Bim.

To mitigate the effects of climate change, the budget included an investment of $6 million to help protect the water sector as part of the Water Cycle Adaptation Action Plan.

However, the Opposition was quick to tear the treasurer’s credibility to shreds and stated that at the same time the government has made funding pledges to all sectors of the community, it has ripped up to 40 per cent more revenue from the hip pockets of already struggling Victorians.

A joint release by the Opposition’s Liberal leader Matthw Guy and The Nationals leader, Peter Walsh, stated that there was no funding to fix the mess the government made of the Murray Basin Rail Project, meaning another lost year of gains for primary producers and transporters.

They also cited a $100m cut to Health Protection that would leave breast cancer patients in regional Victoria facing the prospect of losing vital support from specialised McGrath Foundation nurses.

The Opposition was also disappointed that just $11.1m was set aside for new asset initiatives for the Country Fire Authority, despite tax revenue from the Fire Services Property Levy (FSPL) expected to rise to $800 million.

Moreover, they said that at a time when Victorian farmers and farm businesses were weathering growing uncertainty in international markets, the Victorian Government cut $46.3 million from trade and global engagement efforts.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the 2022-23 State Budget was a raw deal for regional Victoria.

“Years of under-investment by Labor has put regional health under severe stress,” he said.

“Victorians deserve a government that focuses on all of Victoria, not just Melbourne.”

Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh said Labor had been in government for 19 of the past 23 years and hospitals, schools and services in regional Victoria would suffer further with the spiralling debt and waste under the city-centric government.

“Regional Victoria is the engine room of the Victorian economy, with our farmers and farm businesses and key industries a crucial contributor to Victoria’s recovery,” Mr Walsh said.

“But instead of providing investments in better services and infrastructure that support the growth of regional Victoria, we’re getting less while Labor taxes us more.

“New predictions that Labor’s big new housing tax will rip $173 million from the pockets of potential buyers is a slap in the face to Victorians who have worked hard to save for their dream home.”

The treasurer projected a surplus of $650m by 2025/26 with three more financial years of reducing deficits - from $7.9 bn, to $3.3bn and then $1.1bn.

The 2022/23 deficit of $7.9bn is $2.6bn higher than was outlined in the December budget update.

In the mid-financial year update, Victoria was forecast to post a $19.5bn deficit for 2021/22, however was $1.9bn lower at $17.6 billion which coincided with an operating cash deficit of $11.8bn.

The government expects spending to fall by 9.7 per cent in 2022/23 as short-term pandemic support initiatives taper off.