With new spending and an operating surplus, the Victorian treasurer has delivered the goods. But the state’s huge net debt still looms large.
- Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University
The government argues rather than be criticised it should be applauded for a job well done.
There is no doubt the Victorian economy has been slowing. But there is little evidence to show it is following the disastrous path of the early 1990s.
Victoria’s government wants local governments to speed up development and get more homes built. But there are many questions around this goal.
Victoria is in huge debt but the government is keen to keep spending to stave off worsening unemployment.
The NSW government wants GST to be allocated according to population. But doing so ignores different service delivery needs between states.
The thinking behind the state government’s ambitious housing plan is simple - build more homes and they’ll be more affordable.
With a federal election looming within a year, our panel looks at what each state and territory has been handed in the budget - and why it matters.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ firefighter reforms have much to recommend them, but there are still many hurdles to jump before they are peacefully implemented.
The Victorian budget brought with it an increase in privatisation, which follows on from other state budgets, but the evidence for efficiency in this type of system isn’t there.
We reconvened our State of the states experts to respond to the results of the 2016 federal election.
With a popular state Labor government and premier in charge, the economy picking up speed and the state budget in substantial surplus, federal Labor had every reason to see Victoria as its own.
Victoria’s big-spending budget will fund education and services, but infrastructure is the big winner.
Victoria’s Labor government has eschewed an austerity approach in its first budget, in contrast to some of its state counterparts.
As the Abbott government’s Commission of Audit busily scours the globe for answers to our fiscal woes, where in the world will it look? My tip is that it will dwell with the usual suspects: the UK, the…
Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s affirmed Victoria’s AAA credit rating last week and State Treasurer Michael O’Brien milked the announcement for all it was worth. “Victoria,” he said proudly…
In 1983, the Thatcher government in the UK was waging war with local government, which was with some success avoiding the pain of public sector restraint while revelling in the catchphrase “local socialism…
The Napthine government kicked up the political tempo in Victoria yesterday, courtesy of the latest state budget. Delivered confidently by the new Treasurer, Michael O’Brien, the budget has let loose a…
Back in July last year Queensland Premier Campbell Newman was in a very black mood. All was gloom and doom in the Sunshine State, as he warned Queensland was “on the way to being bankrupted” without tough…
We are most of the way through a very long budget season this year, beginning with Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells in May and is not due to end till Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls delivers his first budget…
