In a bid to highlight her role as treasurer, Jaclyn Symes has announced the state budget for the Allan administration for the financial year 2026/27.
This has been presented as a living cost saving budget within the context of a second surplus in a row.
As the election draws closer in the coming months, the focus of the budget is primarily geared towards household aid, healthcare services and community security, while offering nothing much for businesses or efforts aimed at bringing the rising debt of the state to a halt.
Key highlights from the budget include an operating surplus of around $1 billion for the financial year 2026/27 against the backdrop of $700 million surplus in the previous financial year.
The net debt level as percentage of gross domestic product will be expected to fall below its current level after four years.
The winners
Commuters and families are the obvious winners. The budget allocates $432 million to keep public transport free until the end of May 2026.
There will be reduced fares on trains, trams and buses that cost only half their actual price from June to December.
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Hospitals and health workers get a boost of funds.
An increase of $1.6 billion in funds seeks to guarantee public hospitals funding, while an additional $109 million will provide 45,000 specialist pediatric appointments and conduct 4,000 planned surgeries.
Education is allocated $5.5 billion across the forward estimates.
More than $500 million has been pledged to establish between 22 kindergartens on school campuses.
A total of three new schools are earmarked for 2028, with 31 existing schools getting upgrades worth more than $295 million.
Social Housing stands out too. An $860 million investment in the Social Housing Growth Fund will provide more than 7,000 new homes for social housing for those who need it most.
Community Safety is allocated $1 billion for policing, courts, and emergency services.
The Country Fire Authority is allocated $100 million over ten years to equip firefighters, while the government plans to enlist police reservists for administrative work and release frontline officers.
The losers
The public service, meanwhile, remains shouldering the burden of the government’s plan to fix its finances.
With savings resulting from the Helen Silver efficiency exercise having reached $4 billion over the period of the budget and forward estimates, meaning job losses, programs being axed and less bureaucracy in departmental operations.
For their part, businesses have plenty of justification to be feeling a little shortchanged.
While the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the emphasis on cost of living measures in last year’s budget, they said the government had to ensure that it focused on boosting the private economy.
This year’s budget provides only fairly limited assistance to businesses, with no respite from the land taxes levied on commercial and investment properties that make Victoria the most highly taxed state in the nation.
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Last year’s projections predicted net debt would hit $194 billion by 2028/29 and daily interest payments would be close to $29 million.
The 2026/27 figures may revise those numbers, but the underlying trend has not been reversed.
Transport supporters seeking some guidance in relation to the Suburban Rail Loop project can only be let down once more.
This year’s budget is undeniably tailored for electoral purposes.
It will be for voters to decide whether such a budget amounts to true structural reform or just a pre election gimmick.
