The Australian state with the largest deficit in the country is set to hand down its budget on Tuesday \u2013 just seven months out from an election.<\/p>\n
The ruling Labor government, led by Premier Jacinta Allan, is barely ahead of One Nation or the Coalition in the latest polling.<\/p>\n
But with the state\u2019s daily interest bill forecast to hit $28.8m-per-day by 2029, and $60bn of pandemic-era fixed-rate loans maturing over the coming four years, Ms Allan and Treasurer Jaclyn Symes have an almighty balancing act with an election in November.<\/p>\n
Research from nonpartisan think tank e61 Institute suggests there is little room for big ticket budget pledges.<\/p>\n
\u201cVictoria is not broke, but it is increasingly boxed in,\u201d e61 chief executive Michael Brennan said in a report released Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe finances are weak, with limited room to manoeuvre. This isn\u2019t the moment for the kind of pre-election spend-up we\u2019d normally expect six months out from a poll.\u201d<\/p>\n
The analysis points to a squeeze in the public health system, as hospital costs per-patient have risen from the lowest on the east coast in 2017 to above the national average in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cTreasurer Symes has the unenviable task of maintaining a credible fiscal trajectory, repairing past fiscal damage, and dealing with the health and hospitals juggernaut, all while Victorians face another cost-of-living shock,\u201d Mr Brennan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuccessive Victorian governments have promised fiscal restraint without delivering it. The situation now necessitates a real shift from past fiscal habits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahead of Tuesday\u2019s budget, the government has announced $11.2m for families specifically struggling to put food on the table, and $76m (matched by Canberra) for more trains out the far western suburbs.<\/p>\n
The government has also found $50m for planned surgeries for children, $5m for mental health support in bushfire-affected areas, and $102m to upgrade triple-0 call centre infrastructure.<\/p>\n
There is an extra $256.4m earmarked for hospitals, a $13.7m boost for WorkSafe, and $43.4m for IVF. Fishing-inclined Victorians can look forward to $5m of fish being dropped into waterways.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s investment in film production will also be almost-doubled, with an extra $27m.<\/p>\n
These pre-budget announcements are set against a host of cheap pandemic-era loans set kick onto variable rates in the coming few years, and the state\u2019s debt projected to hit $192.6bn by 2029.<\/p>\n
The Treasurer will also present the budget to parliament about one hour before the Reserve Bank, in all likelihood, hikes interest rates for the third consecutive time.<\/p>\n
While Labor did not run a candidate in the Nepean by-election on Saturday, Liberal Anthony Marsh retained the seat for his party, raking in 38.5 per cent of first preferences, ahead of One Nation\u2019s candidate on 24.7 per cent.<\/p>\n
After One Nation\u2019s preferences were divvied out, the Liberal candidate polled 63.5 per cent, beating a local independent.<\/p>\n
Roy Morgan polling, taken between April 22 and 24, has Victoria heading for a hung parliament.<\/p>\n
The polling puts Labor at 25.5 per cent, One Nation on 24.5 per cent, and the Liberal-National Coalition on 24 per cent.<\/p>\n
Stripping out first preferences for the Greens, independents and minor parties has Labor claiming 44.5 per cent of the vote, and the Coalition and One Nation splitting the rest.<\/p>\n
Modelling of just Labor versus the Coalition is neck-and-neck.<\/p>\n
Read related topics:One Nation<\/a>Pauline Hanson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Australian state with the largest deficit in the country is set to hand down its budget on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5835,22,23,133,5850,21,2060,5842,950,5844,5848,5851,5846,5849,5847,5840,5534,5545,1765,1646,5524,5845,3965,5531,2054,120,1955,5843,5838,5834,5841,5532,5836,5526,5839,5054,5852,5837,2548,2481],"class_list":{"0":"post-4586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-almighty-balancing","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-australian-state","13":"tag-austrlia","14":"tag-blair-jackson","15":"tag-call-centre-infrastructure","16":"tag-david-caird","17":"tag-debt-interest","18":"tag-dire-budget-forecast","19":"tag-election-budget","20":"tag-film-production","21":"tag-forecasts-debt-interest","22":"tag-grim-forecasts-debt","23":"tag-hospital-costs-per-patient","24":"tag-hospitals-juggernaut","25":"tag-interest-bill","26":"tag-interest-rates","27":"tag-jacinta-allan","28":"tag-jaclyn-symes","29":"tag-liberal-anthony-marsh","30":"tag-liberal-party","31":"tag-michael-brennan","32":"tag-newswire-politics","33":"tag-oceania","34":"tag-one-nation","35":"tag-opposition-leader-jess-wilson","36":"tag-pandemic-era-fixed-rate","37":"tag-pandemic-era-loans","38":"tag-pre-budget-announcements","39":"tag-pre-election-spend-up","40":"tag-public-health-system","41":"tag-real-shift","42":"tag-reserve-bank","43":"tag-roy-morgan","44":"tag-ticket-budget-pledges","45":"tag-variable-rates","46":"tag-victorian-government","47":"tag-western-suburbs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}