Budget lets down regions

OPINION

BY LOUISE STALEY

SHADOW TREASURER, MEMBER FOR RIPON

THE 2021/22 Victorian budget is a huge disappointment for regional communities. Once again, families and small businesses will pay more tax and get very little in return from the Andrews Labor Government.

The Government’s overspending has terrible consequences. The Federal Government increased its payments to Victoria in its budget by more than $6 billion. However, the Andrews Labor Government is still asking Victorians to pay a further $5.8 billion in new and increased taxes.

Cost blowouts on major projects and overspending on public sector jobs continue to be an enormous drain on the Victorian budget, and everyday Victorians are expected to pay for the Government’s mistakes.

While major projects in Melbourne suffer multi-billion-dollar cost blowouts, many regional projects are also in trouble. The Andrews Labor Government has bungled the Murray Basin Rail Project. We are now paying $227 million more for a vastly descoped and downgraded project. The Ballarat Line upgrade has blown out by $114 million. The Regional Rail Revival projects, which are 90 per cent funded by the Federal Government, have been mismanaged. There has been an $84 million blowout on the Bendigo-Echuca Line alone.

The Andrew’s Government’s mismanagement and overspending have put Victoria in a precarious position. Victoria’s eyewatering $156 billion debt is the largest in the country. The Andrews Labor Government lost the state’s AAA credit rating because this debt leaves the state with no buffer should another financial, health, environmental or natural disaster strike.

Victorians are paying the country’s highest taxes and deserve excellent services; instead, we have declining education outcomes, a health crisis, crumbling rural roads, and a child protection catastrophe.

Regional Victoria was hit hard by the Government’s COVID lockdowns and border closures. For lease signs line the main streets of regional towns, and the Government has admitted that unemployment will remain above the national average for the four-year forward estimates. We need a clear plan to recover from the impacts of the pandemic by securing and creating local jobs. The Liberal Nationals