BIG Build projects in the city remained dominant in treasurer Tim Pallas’ 10th State Budget with the Victorian Government expounding on the numerous projects and upgrades across Melbourne including the Metro Tunnel, the West Gate Tunnel, and the North East Link.
However, cognisant of the soaring trajectory of the state’s debt set to cost $25 million in interest every day, Treasurer Pallas said the budget was one of “fiscal discipline”.
“This is a budget for the future,” he said.
“It considers our two big problems; high inflation and workforce shortages and how better to manage them.
“We need to face reality and make clear headed decisions.”
Again, it was the city hospitals that were the winners with $900m set aside for upgrades at the Austin Hospital, a new emergency department at the Northern Hospital and upgrades to the Monash Medical Centre.
Work is continuing on level crossings in Melbourne, while upgrades to every regional rail line are also underway.
The budget was also focussed on the $5.3 billion Big Housing Build designed to get more Victorians into housing with more than 9000 homes already under construction or completed.
The budget will extend the Victorian Homebuyer Fund for a final year with an extra $700m.
Eye-watering debt
THE Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the 2024-25 State Budget was a ‘no frills’ budget and welcomed the fact there were no new taxes on business, from a government that is obviously constrained by the State’s rising debt.
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive, Paul Guerra, said it was pleasing that the government had committed to reigning in spending and that it has a plan to address the State’s debt with a path to achieve an operating surplus.
“It is imperative that Government is disciplined and focused on staying this course because the State’s substantial debt remains of concern,” he said.
However, South West Coast MP, Roma Britnell was far more scathing of the ballooning debt and said the Victorian Government’s State Budget offered nothing to the South West Coast.
“The frustrating thing is that this government’s interest repayments on Victoria’s eye-watering debt is set to reach over $25 million a day,” Ms Britnell said.
“That’s interest payments alone and not delivering a single service or asset for this State.
“It is heartbreaking to think that a day’s equivalent of interest payments could see so many of our south west projects and road repairs completed.”
Ms Britnell said she was disappointed that the overall allocation for state road funding was 16 per cent less than what was allocated to road funding four years ago.
She also took the opportunity to call out the detrimental affects the condition of roads was having on the freight industry in this region.
“I have lost count of the number of times that I have been contacted by transport companies, who recount tales of damage sustained from the treacherous condition of the roads,” Ms Britnell said.
The budget will, however, see $964m put forward to maintain state roads network including extra funding to clean up those that were flood damaged - the Victorian government said would be nearly double the annual spend.
Further north, Lowan MP, Emma Kealy also savagely critiqued the State Budget and said household bills would soar under the government through a substantial increase in property levies and bin taxes, while residents would also face increases to land tax, stamp duty and payroll tax.
“This is a brutal budget that disregards the cost-of-living crisis and will only make it more difficult for hardworking Victorians,” she said.
“We have seen ongoing financial mismanagement and consistent cost blowouts on metropolitan projects by consecutive Labor governments, and local people will pay for those Melbourne project blowouts through increased fees and charges.
“Instead of acknowledging Labor’s critical failures, the treasurer chose to deflect and blame ‘world challenges’ - conveniently ignoring the fact no other Australian state is in the appalling financial position Victoria is.
“This interest that Labor is paying on its huge debt could fund 15 kilometres of road upgrades every single day.”
Fire Services Protection Levy
ONE of the big take-away complaints for regional Victorians was the increase in the Fire Service Property Levy (FSPL), the amount put on properties to help fund Victoria’s fire and emergency services, lifting the amount it collects from $847m to $1.033bn.
For the average farmer it means the FSPL payments on their new financial year rates’ bill will rise from $450 to $600, businesses from $665 to $738, and households from $156 to $191.
For example, for a farmer that owns a $5m farm, they will pay 28.7 cents per $1000 of their property’s capital improved value which equates to $1435, while a similar-sized business in town will pay $3320.
The funding will be used to cover the increase in costs of Fire Rescue Victoria and its United Firefighters Union employees.
The FSPL hike is just one of the many tax hikes the Victorian Government has imposed to deal with a debt that has blown out to $135.8bn this financial year and is still expected to reach $187bn by 2028.
However, the Budget will provide $18.6m to deliver 15 world class replacement pumpers for CFA and $15.4m for five Fire Rescue Victoria pumper platforms.
This is an investment in new fire services vehicles to more than $100m since 2018 - with 29 new ultra heavy tankers, 48 heavy tankers and two light tankers for the CFA, and 22 new trucks and support vehicles currently on the way for FRV.
VICSES will also receive almost $7m including funding to deliver volunteer training and encourage more Victorians to join their local unit and give back to their community.
Rural and regional communities
FOR rural and regional communities, and farmers, acknowledging the increase in input costs and rising inflation, the budget offered a $13.7m boost in partnership with the Commonwealth Government to the Rural Financial Counselling Service, which provides free and confidential financial advice for thousands of Victorian farmers and producers every year.
The budget also delivered more support for farmers and communities to save water and become more drought-resilient, with a $59.8m package to develop sustainable irrigation practices - as well as supporting them to prepare for future droughts in partnership with the Commonwealth Government through a combined investment of $20.4m in the Future Drought Fund.
To maintain Victoria’s global reputation for quality food and fibre, there was also an investment announcement in biosecurity with $15.8m to better identify and respond to biosecurity emergencies quickly, and $4m to implement new nationally agreed food safety standards.
There was also an investment into pest animal control of $2.74m, which includes the continuation of the Fox Bounty Program.
Ms Britnell again expressed frustration that the budget didn’t allocate any money for a residential rehabilitation facility in the south west, referring to The Lookout, (A Warrnambool based Residential Alcohol and Other Drug Rehabilitation Centre).
“With no residential rehabilitation facility west of Geelong, the people of Western Victoria are again forced to abandon their communities, support networks and treatment teams in order to access the life changing treatment provided by residential rehabilitation programs,” she said.
“It frustrates me that with all the community support, and lobbying from myself and from WRAD, that the government can continue to ignore this vital commitment.
“In fact, they have even ignored their own MP’s, as despite Labors Western Victorian MP, Jacinta Ermacora going on the record as saying she backs the service, her word has proved fruitless in the end for our region.”
Indigenous communities
THE Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) acknowledged the Victorian Government’s decision to prioritise families in the 2024-25 State Budget.
However, VACCHO stated that despite some positives, the budget fell short of providing the concrete commitment needed to support Aboriginal organisations who champion Aboriginal culture to keep families strong.
While VACCHO appreciated the challenges of delivering a budget amid a fiscally challenging climate, they said the budget lacked the comprehensive range of support Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) required to address the social, emotional, physical, and cultural health and wellbeing of Aboriginal families, and Communities.
The treasurer said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were particularly vulnerable to homelessness and allocated more than $15m to give more First Nations Victorians access to safe and secure housing.
For families
A ONCE-off $400 School Saving Bonus has been made available for every government school student, and those eligible at non-government schools.
For vulnerable children, $21.1m has also been set aside in the Victorian Budget 2024/25 to expand the School Breakfast Clubs Program to every government school - for the first time.
The expansion will see 150 additional extra schools invited to join the program at the beginning of next year - expected to support up to 200,000 students - before rolling out to remaining schools from June 2025.
The budget also provides other relief, like the free Glasses for Kids program - which is being tripled - and delivering more Get Active Kids vouchers.
This comes on top of our cost-of-living support for families across the state - with almost $5 million in food relief, including support for food hubs in regional Victoria.
This budget also invested $211m for women’s safety, to hold perpetrators to account and help victim-survivors, with $30m to support refuges and emergency accommodation for families escaping violence.
An additional $38m will deliver specialist support, including case management for women and children, while $6.8m will provide financial counselling services to help victim-survivors. This budget also continued the investment in Respectful Relationships in schools – helping young people form healthy relationships.
A further $9.2m will also go towards the growth and capability of the family violence workforce in assessing and managing family violence risk and wellbeing issues for children and young people.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat Education slammed the budget’s government schools support package calling it blatantly unfair for excluding Catholic school.
The Victorian Government has excluded the vast majority of Catholic school families from the $400 School Savings Bonus announced in the State Budget.
Executive director, Tom Sexton said it was deeply disappointing that 87 per cent of families across its 63 Catholic schools with 18,500 (1 in 5) students missing out on the much-needed support, while 100 per cent of government school families would benefit from the program.
“Our Catholic school families are feeling cost-of-living pressures too, yet only those who are healthcare card holders (around 13 per cent) are eligible for the program.
“Like government schools the vast majority of our Catholic school families are in the low and middle-income brackets.”
Building and construction
MASTER Builders Victoria (MBV) said Tuesday’s Victorian State Budget delivered a ‘mixed bag’ for the Victorian building and construction industry.
MBV chief executive, Michaela Lihou said while the organisation understands the Government’s need to rein in the budget and decrease spending, it was disappointed that more specific measures to tackle some of the industry’s current challenges had not been considered for funding.
“Obviously we’re keen to continue working with the Government on the ongoing challenges for our industry and the broader Victorian community, but had hoped for more specific measures in this budget to support the stabilisation and forward growth of an industry facing ambitious building targets set by both the State and Federal governments,” she said.
“We do welcome the additional funding provided to support a program of rapid reform to strengthen the powers of the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) to deliver a building regulator that Victorians can trust, and we look forward to working with the VBA to ensure they are a pragmatic and transparent regulator.
“Additionally, we also welcome the announcement of reform delivery to support the use of modern methods of construction and the development and delivery of a new legislative model, which we have long advocated for.
“And the $11.4 million announced to continue support for apprentices, trainees, and their employers to meet Victoria’s workforce priorities, including through Apprenticeships Victoria and the Apprenticeship Support Officer program is a great step on the right direction.”
Tourism
THE Victorian Government copped a lambasting from the Opposition over its cuts to the tourism sector funding as Victoria continues to lag behind interstate rivals.
They said, despite the tourism sector’s key position in supporting local jobs and economic activity, the 2024-25 State Budget revealed significant cuts to tourism related funding, including:
• A $286m cut to Tourism and Major Events funding.
• A $17m cut to the Destination Victoria program.
• A total of $393.9m cut to the Visitor Economy initiatives, including for industry support, regional tourism, events and infrastructure.
The Opposition said the cuts come as recent visitor survey data from Tourism Research Australia confirmed Victorian international tourism spending is at 73 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, compared to 96 per cent in New South Wales and 94 per cent in Queensland.
Tourism, Sport and Events shadow minister, Sam Groth, said, “Labor’s financial mismanagement has completely hamstrung our ability to sell Victoria to the world”.
“It’s clear that this government and the Minister for Tourism have no idea how destination marketing works,” he said.
“If they engaged with anyone in the sector, they would know that major events are only a small piece of the puzzle for attracting visitors to the State.
“It’s already clear that global visitors are not choosing Victoria as their preferred Australian destination and with these cuts we will only fall further behind New South Wales and Queensland.”
Regional health services
THERE was still nothing for the emergency department at Western District Health Service’s (WDHS) Hamilton campus despite this budget allocating an investment of $8.8bn to kickstart reforms in the way hospitals are funded in the future.
“We welcome the increase in health funding in the State Budget, however, like all health services, we will need to continue to exercise strong financial stewardship to navigate the ongoing challenges in healthcare delivery,” WDHS chief executive Rowena Clift said.
“WDHS is currently in the ‘detailed design’ phase of the Hamilton Base Hospital Emergency Department / ICU redevelopment, so we were not expecting a funding announcement in Tuesday’s budget.
“We expect to submit the draft ED / ICU ‘detailed design’ to the Department of Health later in the year, for review and feedback”.