Victoria has had just two Treasurers in 11 years – both have played central roles in bankrupting the state.
It is my opinion that neither the incumbent Treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, nor her predecessor the hapless Tim Pallas, possess the slightest ability to occupy the role, amply evidenced by their complicity in sending the state broke.
The fiscal quagmire that is the Victorian economy can only worsen despite the drivel that will be delivered by the novice State Treasurer in her first Budget speech.
Consider this – Victoria now spends $10 billion a year servicing the state’s debt mountain and the much vaunted public transport infrastructure. It is entirely possible Victorian taxpayers will be paying $1 billion every month in interest before the next election – due in November 2026. The Rating Agencies have Victoria on permanent watch.
In its 11th year – this manifestly incompetent outfit has failed to deliver: a rail link to Melbourne airport, a respectable rail service between Melbourne and Sydney (the busiest air route on the globe), the removal of all road/rail crossings (promised a decade ago), and a not yet operative Metro Rail Service linking southern suburbs to the north via the city.
These are just the public transport failures. In housing, health (particularly mental health), education, justice, the environment, and the arts – Labor’s mega government agencies have failed and failed miserably.
Victorian net debt is projected to reach $187.3 billion by mid-2028 – according to the 2024-25 Budget Update.
This represents a dramatic increase from the $133.2 billion in June 2024 and an average annual growth rate of almost 9 per cent in net debt.
As a result of having run persistently larger cash deficits over the past decade than any other state or territory, Victoria has run up the highest level of general government sector net debt of any state or territory, relative to the size of its economy.
Taxation on those Victorians still attempting to earn a living in the state has hit all-time highs. Look no further than the obscene level of land tax now levied – and the iniquitous emergency services levy now charged against property owners in rural and regional areas. A protest against the latter will attract thousands on Budget Day.
The moral degradation of Labor’s reign lies in its innate deception.
Labor claims to want to ease of the cost of living for all Victorians, but taxes the productive ones to pay for the vast numbers of unproductive ones.
The government lies through its teeth and offers the young and the elderly ‘free’ public transport as a distraction to the fact the state is utterly broke.
Nothing is free when it comes to a government service – we know, the government knows it – but idiotically believes punters will buy the deception and look the other way.
For a study on the anatomy of failure in public administration look no further than Labor’s eleven years in office.
As the state teeters on a knife edge voters can be sure of one thing. It will get a lot worse before it gets better.
