The Victorian Government handed down its budget for the 2025-26 financial year on Tuesday 20 May.
The budget’s slogan is ‘Focused On What Matters Most’, putting a lot of weight on to cost of living which matters most to Victorians.
Treasurer Jaclyn Symes said it is a responsible budget defined by responsible choices.
“By ending inefficiency, we can invest more in what matters most to Victorian families. That means real cost of living relief, and more investment in frontline services,” she said.
“My first budget demonstrates the commitment to fiscal responsibility I have as Treasurer. That means for the first time since before the pandemic, this budget delivers an operating surplus over the budget and forward estimates and sees relative net debt reducing.
“With a growing economy, higher wages and strong business investment – we’re focused on creating secure jobs and more opportunities for Victorians wherever they live.”
A record of $2.3 billion will be delivered with new and expanded cost-of-living help for working people and their families.
It includes $320 million to make public transport free for Victorians under 18 every day, and for seniors every weekend across the state, $18 million to enable pharmacists to treat more Victorians and more conditions, saving them the money and time of a GP visit.
The government will put $50 million into a new $100 Power, $859 million into continuing Free Kinder, saving families up to $2600 a year per child on fees, and $152 million into increase support for families to pay for camps, sports and excursions.
$15 million has been allocated to deliver more than 65,000 extra Get Active Kids vouchers from 2025‑26, helping even more families with the costs of kids’ sport, $18 million in food relief to support those doing it toughest, and almost $900 million in further new cost of living relief.
At the same time, the State Budget also includes investing even more in the frontline services that matter to Victorians.
An extra $11.1 billion will be spent to make sure Victorians can rely on great healthcare, including opening and operationalising nine new or expanded hospitals.
A Better Roads Blitz will be boosted through $976 million of investment to fix and resurface roads in 2025‑26 alone.
$2.7 billion has been allocated to give Victorian kids a great education, including building new classrooms and supporting the teachers.
The Victorian Government will strengthen the justice system and keep communities safe through $1.6 billion, including $727 million to back in new tough bail laws.
However, the budget also revealed the dark side of Victoria’s financial status.
The level of net debt is also expected to continue to rise over the next four years, from $167.6 billion to $194 billion, hitting a record high.
Monash Business School Department of Economics senior lecturer Dr Isaac Gross said the Victorian budget marked the beginning of a long process towards repaying the state’s record levels of debt.
“The budget currently projects a wafer-thin surplus of $600 million. However, this figure excludes the billions of dollars being spent on infrastructure projects. As a result, debt is still forecast to rise for several more years,” Dr Gross said.
“Bringing these costs under control will be essential to prevent interest payments from consuming an even larger share of the budget.
“Notably, most of the spending associated with the Suburban Rail Loop is not yet included in budget projections. We know this project will add tens of billions of dollars to total costs, and with no confirmed alternative funding sources, a large share of this burden is likely to fall on the Victorian budget in future years. That’s why beginning to pay down debt now remains a critical task.”
