The three-minute budget: Everything you need to know
By Broede Carmody
Here’s your quick guide to the things in this year’s state budget that will affect you most.
Cost of living
- Families with children at Victorian public schools will be given a one-off $400 payment for each child to assist with the cost of school uniforms, camps and sporting activities.
- About 700,000 students will benefit from the program. The School Saving Bonus will set back the budget $278 million.
- An extra 74,000 prep to grade 3 students are also expected to benefit from expanded free vision screening.
What you should know: Families who send their children to Catholic or independent schools are not eligible for the $400 payments unless they have a concession card. Expect there to be fallout, given the cost of living is one of the biggest issues.
Infrastructure
- Airport Rail is now delayed for at least four years. The government has pointed the finger at Melbourne Airport, which is insisting on underground rail.
- Dozens of other transport, school and health projects have been pushed back to manage soaring material and labour costs.
- Public transport operators are also set to receive another year of support payments due to poor post-COVID patronage.
What you should know: The government has started applying the brakes to its Big Build program. The hope is to allow the construction sector to focus on housing, but critics will say the government can’t manage major projects.
Housing
- The government is pouring an additional $700 million into the Victorian Homebuyer Fund and expanding the fund’s eligibility requirements.
- However, this will be a final investment before the fund is superseded by the national scheme. Residential stamp duty is also here to stay.
- Some money was set aside for renters doing it tough. Specifically, an extra $19 million to expedite public housing complaints.
What you should know: First home buyers who were hoping Victoria would follow in NSW’s footsteps and trial a switch to residential land tax will be disappointed. There will also be increased pressure on the federal government to get its first home buyer scheme right.
Health
- The “biggest hospital project in Australia’s history” will be radically redesigned after it was discovered it was no longer possible to build two towers near the new Arden metro station because of electromagnetic interference.
- The current Royal Melbourne and Royal Women’s hospital sites will instead undergo a major development.
- Three new community hospitals at Eltham, Emerald Hill and Torquay, promised in 2019, are now under review.
What you should know: The government is spruiking investments in three big-city hospital projects, including major upgrades to the Northern Hospital in Epping, which is getting a new emergency department, and the Monash and Austin hospitals. However, only a fraction of the money for the $1.6 billion required for the three projects will be delivered in the coming year.
Education
- The government’s Best Start, Best Life changes will be rolled out much slower than first anticipated.
- They will still begin next year, but will now not be completed until 2036. That’s four years after the original 2032 deadline.
- The government has blamed workforce shortages in the early education sector as the key reason for the delay.
What you should know: Victoria now has more breathing room to address workforce challenges, but has potentially just pushed back the bottleneck unless it can train and retain more early childhood educators.
The economy
- Victoria’s net debt will continue to rise, from $135.9 billion to an estimated $187.8 billion by mid-2028.
- But as a proportion of the state economy, net debt is tipped to fall for the first time since 2017. After peaking at 25.2 per cent of the state economy in mid-2027, net debt is expected to edge down to 25.1 per cent the following year.
- The government says there are a record 3.7 million Victorians in jobs, and that unemployment remains close to its lowest rate in 50 years.
What you should know: Treasurer Tim Pallas has trumpeted the expected fall in net debt. But this turnaround is still several years away. Expect the Coalition to continue campaigning hard on Victoria’s debt.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
correction
An earlier version of this story stated that one of the delayed community hospitals was in Emerald when it should have said Emerald Hill.