The Victorian government has handed down its election-year budget, with a centrepiece $12bn blitz on the state’s health system.
Titled “putting patients first”, the budget outlines the Andrews government’s plan for repairing the state’s overburdened health sector and clearing deferred care that has built up over the pandemic.
Here is a breakdown of key announcements in the budget, announced by the treasurer, Tim Pallas, on Tuesday.
Health
The government has responded to the state’s health crisis with an injection of $12bn in new funding, including hiring up to 7,000 new healthcare workers, bolstering the paramedic service and improving infrastructure. The government will inject $4.2bn into the state’s pandemic response, including $1.1bn on free rapid antigen tests for schools, Victorians with a disability and other vulnerable cohorts, and $522m to help hospitals treat Covid. There’s a further $248m for personal protective equipment and $258m to boost vaccination rates and expand the booster program.
The government has previously announced a $1.5bn investment to help clear the state’s backlog of deferred elective surgery procedures. The latest figures, released on Saturday, revealed more than 89,000 Victorians were on the waitlist.
Victoria will also recruit 2,000 foreign healthcare workers to help fill critical workforce shortages, with a $564.8m investment in the next financial year. And to address ambulance ramping and lengthy wait times, the government will spend $333m on almost 400 new staff for the triple zero call service and a further $124m on an additional 90 paramedics.
The “better at home” program, which helps more Victorians receive healthcare in their homes, will be extended with a $698m funding boost.
To continue delivering the recommendations of the royal commission into Victoria’s mental health system, the state government is setting aside $1.3bn for reforms. And it will spend $218m to establish 82 new facility beds across the state and $196m to replace and expand the mental health facility at Goulburn Valley Health in Shepparton.
Education
The Andrews government will build 13 new schools across the state as part of a $1.8bn spend on school infrastructure. The commitment includes $560m to upgrade a further 65 schools, including 35 for students with special needs.
The state will also invest $779m to recruit about 1,900 new teachers, to give the sector more time to prepare and focus on lesson planning.
A previously announced, a $277.5m package will streamline the state’s two secondary school certificates – the Victoria Certificate of Education and the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning – from next year to help improve access to careers in trades.
Early childhood is not a big ticket item but the budget includes $131m to continue four-year-old kindergarten and $15m for delivering kinder kits to kids starting three-year-old kindergarten in 2023 and 2024.
Police
The state’s police union had urged the government to invest in recruiting an additional 1,500 additional police officers for the beat within four years, warning that lengthy ambulance response times could be mirrored in the service.
The budget’s investment of $342m to recruit 502 extra police officers and 50 protective services officers over two years falls short of the union’s plea.
Commonwealth Games
Victoria is set to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, across four regional hubs in Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and Gippsland. The government has outlined a $2.6bn spend for the games, but provided no breakdown on those investments in the budget papers. The government is undertaking further scoping of potential competition sites.
While the opening ceremony will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Games will be a decentralised event showcasing regional Victoria. The government estimates it will generate $3bn for the state’s economy.
Cost of living
As unveiled on Monday, every Victorian household will be eligible to receive a one-off $250 payment to help ease financial pressure from energy bills. To be eligible for the rebate from 1 July, households must compare their energy deals on the government’s independent price comparison website to search for the cheapest energy deal.
The government estimates seven out of ten households will save an average of $330 a year in bills by using the comparison site. The bonus will cost the state $250m.
Transport
The budget sets aside $383m for new transport infrastructure under Victoria’s “big build”, with funding for level crossing removals, train timetable service upgrades and train station upgrades.
A $780 million package will deliver road maintenance works across metropolitan and regional Victoria – an issue that has been one of the Coalition’s attack lines against the government.
The Andrews government previously announced $158m to make train stations and tram stops more accessible.
Victoria’s regional rail network – V Line – will receive a $248m investment to improve reliability and efficiency.
A further $24m will provide maintenance works for the West Gate Bridge.
Social housing
The government will invest $1bn in low-interest loans and government guarantees for the community housing sector, which the government estimates will deliver 6,000 new social and affordable houses.
Environment
The budget pledges $215m to environment initiatives, including $57m to improve efficiency of the state’s water supply and $10m for Great Ocean Road reform to protect the region from erosion.
