UNDER Labor, Victoria is broke.
In a budget that highlights total financial incompetence, the Andrews Labor is making life harder for regional Victorians, with funding slashed in key areas such as roads, health and agriculture.
On health, there is no plan in this budget to solve regional Victoria’s workforce issues. This will only leave more Victorians on waiting lists, struggling to receive the urgent care and treatment many desperately need.
In fact, Labor has cut a further $1 billion from the health system after cutting $2 billion in last year’s budget, despite the crisis gripping the system.
There is also no funding in this budget for desperately needed hospital infrastructure in Mildura, Shepparton, Bairnsdale, or countless other regional communities.
Our crumbling regional roads will also be left to disintegrate with maintenance funding slashed by 45 per cent since 2020 with $260 million cut in this year alone.
Labor is risking the lives of Victorian motorists by taking money from the Transport Accident Commission to try hide their mountain of debt, leaving life saving road safety initiatives on the cutting room floor.
These savage cuts come despite deaths on Victorian roads being up a shocking 30 per cent on this time last year and following Federal Labor’s slashing of $1.3 billion from Victoria’s roads.
The regional development budget has also been halved from $211.5 million to $106.6 million in this year’s budget with funding slashed a devastating 80 per cent since just 2020.
Funding for agriculture hasn’t escaped the axe either with a 34 per cent funding cut and Daniel Andrews signing the final death warrant for our sustainable native timber industry and communities in the state’s east.
In a brutal State Budget, regional Victorians are being punished for the Government’s own incompetence.
Peter Walsh
Leader of The Nationals
