IN an address to the Rural Press Club of Victoria last week, the Victorian Opposition Leader, John Pesutto has warned Victorians to be wary when the State Government discussed tax reform and said, “tax reform under Labor means higher taxes”.

“Victoria’s budget is in the worst position of any state in the Federation,” he said.

“Our debt level is the highest in the country.

“Our taxes per capita are the highest in the country.

“The interest bill on that debt is growing by the day.

“Treasurer Tim Pallas can’t be trusted when he suggests the Allan Labor Government is considering reforms to stamp duty.

He said that it was only a few weeks ago, that the Treasurer rejected repeated calls by the Opposition to reform the tax, claiming a “transition to a yearly land tax … would blow a $30 billion hole in the budget”.

“Furthermore, last month Premier Jacinta Allan ruled out transitioning from stamp duty to land tax, stating the idea “is not before the government through this budget process”.

Mr Pesutto said the Opposition had taken stamp duty reforms to the last two state elections, as the tax distorted the housing market, inflated prices, and disproportionately hurt first home buyers who do not have existing equity.

At a doorstop interview before his main address, Mr Pessuto was flanked by his colleague, Home Ownership and Housing Affordability shadow minister, Evan Mulholland, who said, it was “a cruel hoax on those looking to buy their first home, existing homeowners, and those moving toward retirement.”

“Have a look at their Labor mates in the ACT who have attempted stamp duty reform,” Mr Mullholland said.

“What they’ve ended up with is double taxation where people are having to pay both taxes - stamp duty and land tax.

“We’re interested in real tax reform - that’s why we’ve launched the Tax Reform discussion paper.

“You only have to look at the (stamp duty) thresholds that we’ve consistently called to be increased - they were set about a decade ago.  The threshold for free stamp duty (is) about $600,000 tapering off at a discount to $750,000.

“The average house price is now almost $1 million - no one will be able to get access to those discounts for free stamp duty. A $600,000 home is consigning young Victorians to either a small apartment or a growth area house and land package.”

Mr Pesutto said his side would look at the inefficiencies around stamp duty, affordability getting the cost of living down – “a lot of that depends on stopping the major blowouts on projects”.

“This government is addicted to taxes including stamp duty,” he said.

“(They have) never had a serious look at bracket creep (or) look at the thresholds around that.”

Mr Pesutto said his side would take a positive suite of proposals to the next election which would give Victorians that vision of a brighter future.

“Everything is on the table,” he said.

“Instead of higher taxes, higher interest, and higher debt.

“Everything in our budget is heading south and we need to turn that around.

“Tax reform is a serious process.”

Mr Pesutto said the Opposition was very conscious that if he won government in 2026, it would mean inheriting a budget in a worse state than it is now.

“We have to work with the constraints that Labor’s legacy will impose on all of us as Victorians.”

“Concerning Regional Victoria, it has been neglected,” he said.

“(Turning to health) 41 out of 75 (Victorian) health services have less than 14 days in cash reserves.

“That’s appalling.

“The government has been asked about amalgamations and we’re certain they are going to proceed with them because of the financial mismanagement by the state.

“We’re going to see rural health services suffer by reduced health services.

In his main address, Mr Pesutto said data from the ABS showed that regional Victorians will be forced to endure hospital waits, slower ambulance response times and reduced services.

“Speaking on energy - it’s a big subject,” he said.

“We’re very conscious that the burden of the energy transition, which is happening, is falling more heavily on rural and regional communities.

“Rural and Regional communities are expected to host generation assets … the transmission assets - all of them huge and all have a big impact on these communities.

“We strongly believe the government’s approach of scrapping community consultation is counterproductive (and) is grossly unfair.

“We’re very conscious it has to be respectful of impacts on rural communities.

“We’ve tried to prize out of this government what attempts it has made, for example to look at where undergrounding is possible for things like transmission.

“But because of our parlous state (budget) that hasn’t happened.”

Still on energy, Mr Pesutto said if he won government “We will remove and repeal the gas ban.”

“Industry leaders have made it clear - you’ve got a choice, it’s gas, coal or nuclear.

“Take your pick but you are going to need something that will firm up the system - we certainly see in the short term that gas is that answer.

“We need to stabilise the grid to make sure that people have energy in an affordable and reliable way.”

“With increasing energy demands, with population increasing, that is not going to recede any time soon, the aim has to be to maximise the yield of energy return on the smallest possible piece of land - every square meter.

“We’ve got to try and extract as much energy out of it so that we minimise the footprint - our food security, employment, jobs, investment, all depends on this.”

Mr Pesutto said if you don’t respect communities and just build transmission lines through it, “that’s not going to work because you get years of delay”.

“There is no evidence that the current government has looked at different options,” he said.

“Undergrounding is more expensive - but ultimately, if it avoids the kind of outages that we’ve seen (recently) then it has a benefit too, and that has to be considered in the calculus of completing cost analyses.

“Minimising that footprint on rural and regional communities is what it is all about.”

Segueing to another integral pillar of rural and regional communities, to which Mr Pesutto said a government he led would strongly support, was volunteerism.

“There’s something very beautiful about it,” he said.

“We love volunteerism.

“The ethic of volunteerism is vital to us as a sophisticated, civilized, advanced economy and community.

“CFA, SES, Rotary or Lions - those that are committed to doing good works, we need to support.

“There’s always going to be a limit to what financial support we can provide, but I don’t think it is about that.

 “It’s about being a government that respects volunteerism.”

He said his side of government was acutely aware that more than financial support for volunteer organisations underpins the survival of rural and regional communities.

Mr Pesutto said it was about putting a stop to the “inexorable encroachment” upon volunteering and the ethic that surrounds it.

Mr Pesutto said the Coalition more than two terms of government ago, could see what was going to happen with the CFA and volunteers.

 “We foresaw that CFA volunteerism would be impeded by some of the powers that were vested in the UFU (United Firefighters Union) and all that resulted in that was people walking away from volunteering,” he said.

He said a government he leads would not be a government that dictated volunteer organisations.

“We can support volunteer organisations in other ways - but - ultimately it is something that the community can drive - we don’t want to be in people’s way like that.”