Yesterday
Indebted Victoria faces nurse, paramedic strikes over wages
Treasurer Tim Pallas has vowed to stick to his 3 per cent wages policy as he seeks to head off industrial action by nurses and paramedics, and negotiate new pay deals with firefighters and police.
- Updated
- Patrick Durkin
This Month
Energy funding chopped under weight of Victoria’s debt
Experts say this week’s state budget shows the Victorian government has prioritised major transport projects over the energy transition.
- Gus McCubbing
This tree symbolises how Victoria became a financial basket case
After 300 years of withstanding the elements, the River Red Gum in Bulleen forced the North East Link to be redesigned as the cost of the project blows out by billions of dollars.
- Patrick Durkin
Behind the PM’s $3b ‘bailout’ of Victoria’s most expensive road
Experts blame a $10 billion blowout for the North East Link on CFMEU disruptions, a failed tender process and crazy design decisions to pander to community groups.
- Patrick Durkin, David Marin-Guzman and Gus McCubbing
Pallas vows to prove rating agencies wrong
Treasurer Tim Pallas has fended off warnings Victoria could face a third credit rating downgrade since 2020.
- Gus McCubbing and Patrick Durkin
Schools sweat on election funding promises as Victorian debt rises
Melbourne’s Hampton Primary School fears the Victorian government won’t follow through on a promise made on eve of the 2022 election.
- Gus McCubbing
- Updated
- Victorian budget
Ratings warning over Victoria’s $188b debt
Rating agencies have put the Victorian government on notice after it revealed state debt would climb to $188 billion, with a daily interest bill of $26 million.
- Updated
- Gus McCubbing and Patrick Durkin
Rising government spending is hurting the RBA’s inflation fight
The Australian economy is still operating at an unsustainably strong level despite a string of weak economic growth figures, due in part to public sector spending.
- Michael Read
- Opinion
- Interest rates
Why data-driven Bullock has her eye on the budget
RBA governor Michele Bullock says it’s too early to declare victory over inflation as she avoids the markets’ frenzied guessing game on interest rates.
- Jennifer Hewett
- Opinion
- Victorian budget
Labor dodges difficult debt decisions
Treasurer Tim Pallas has not delivered the “horror budget” he prepared the ground for, nor a clear path back from the state’s crippling debt levels.
- Patrick Durkin
Size of Victorian government to be cut for first time in 15 years
Tight control over salaries and operating expenses will result in reduced average expenditure of 2.2 per cent over forward estimates.
- Tom Burton
Victorian budget winners and losers
There are no new taxes or levies for the first time in several years – although the state’s waste and fire levies are increasing – but the budget avoids many tough decisions save for a slowdown in infrastructure spending.
- Patrick Durkin
Victoria open to tax breaks to boost home building
Premier Jacinta Allan says her Labor government is open to pulling every lever available to boost housing supply, after developers called for taxation tweaks to boost investment.
- Gus McCubbing
Allan flags budget handouts amid debt, inflation warnings
Premier Jacinta Allan vowed her government would not “put our heads in the sand” over a 20 per cent cost blowout in Victoria’s $80 billion project pipeline when the budget is handed down on Tuesday.
- Patrick Durkin
Housing focus as Pallas warns of horror Victorian budget
Economists warn that Victoria has no choice but to cut spending in next week’s budget, after slugging businesses and property investors last year.
- Gus McCubbing
April
Four key Melbourne suburbs haven’t built a major project in five years
Developers are warning that overhauling planning powers alone won’t be enough to fix the state’s chronic housing crisis.
- Gus McCubbing
Rents rise 11pc in Victoria as investors flee: NAB
Victorian property investment declined last year while advertised rents increased by 11 per cent, according to new data from NAB.
- Gus McCubbing
March
- Opinion
- GST
Why the GST fiasco won’t be fixed
Fights about the distribution of GST revenue aren’t just about the money – they also reflect the political death of major tax reform. It’s a policy fiasco.
- Jennifer Hewett
No plans to wind up embattled $2b VC fund: Pallas
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has hit back at calls to wind up the state’s venture capital fund, saying there isn’t enough private money to support start-ups.
- Updated
- Gus McCubbing
Suburban Rail Loop to cost another $16b, Victorian budget office finds
Victoria’s Parliamentary Budget Office has projected that building and operating the first two phases of the Suburban Rail Loop will cost $216.7 billion.
- Gus McCubbing