Motions – Budget 2025-26

A few hours of debt at $1.2 million an hour would fund the state government’s share of $5 million towards the development of the Shepparton sports and events centre. It is astounding that my community has been waiting for this for decades for this run-down stadium that was built back in 1972, yet not funded from the state government share. When you think about the astounding interest on the state’s debt and what we could be doing with that money, there are many other run-down sporting facilities across my electorate calling out for investment. It is appalling. Just to give you an example of what we are having to deal with at the Shepparton Sports Stadium: noncompliance with disability access standards, noncompliance with basketball major tournament requirements, noncompliance with major sporting codes such as netball and badminton, insufficient parking. This lack of investment means that we are missing out on major sporting events and has a significant loss of economic benefit to the region.

Shepparton is the fifth-largest regional city in the state with significant growth and acts as a major population service centre for the wider Goulburn Valley region, covering a population of approximately 250,000 people. We need investment into our region. GV Health is the only regional hospital in the state that does not have an integrated cancer centre with radiotherapy. Patients have to travel long distances, and families have to fund the costs of travel and accommodation to support their loved ones during the most challenging of times.

This government has lost complete control of its spending and complete control of its debt, and it is Victorians who are paying the price. The government just keeps adding more taxes and expecting families’ previous budgets to stretch further, putting households under extreme financial pressure. We are seeing billions in cost blowouts – money that should be spent on housing, hospitals, roads, schools and much-needed infrastructure in our communities. We are seeing citycentric spending, ignoring the needs of regional communities. Twenty-five per cent of Victorians live in regional and rural Victoria, yet only around 13 per cent of the budget is spent in the regions. Regional development funding has been cut by $51.1 million, and agricultural funding has been cut by $77.6 million. We are not getting funding for critical infrastructure and services.

I have been calling for a bus review for my electorate. You would think that this is a small ask, yet this has been denied for my community. Infrastructure Victoria put Shepparton first on their list of towns in need of a bus review. It has been 16 years since we have had a review, and during that time we have seen significant growth, including new housing developments which will have no connection to bus transport services. The Greater Shepparton City Council have it as a priority project. We have small surrounding towns with limited or no bus services. People need to access public transport, and bus services play a critical role in getting people to where they need to go. It is astounding that this government are turning their back on this much-needed service. It is having such a detrimental impact on my communities. The bus companies are also frustrated, because they can see the critical need and demand, and they deserve to have the opportunity to expand their businesses.

Then we look at the extraordinary waste of $600 million it cost to cancel the Commonwealth Games – $600 million of hardworking taxpayers money, just gone – which could have gone towards important community projects, many of which I have mentioned. This is public money getting thrown away due to the financial mismanagement of this government. The economic opportunity that would have been invested into the regions is also now lost. It was an embarrassing debacle, not only for our state but nationally and internationally. You do not have a significant announcement like the Commonwealth Games and then cancel and pay for another country to host it.

The short-stay tax is having a significant impact on regional tourism and visitation. Regional Victoria depends on tourism and major events, which make a significant financial contribution. Our state is being forced to pay the highest taxes in the nation, with less money to spend where we need it most. Victorians have been hit with more than 63 new or increased taxes, with the recent addition of the emergency services tax. The people of Victoria have had enough of the relentless ongoing taxes. We have seen the outcry on the emergency services tax, where we had a convoy of farmers on their tractors – some of my local farmers – and the CFA bringing their fire trucks to Spring Street. It is disgusting that hardworking farmers and our amazing CFA volunteers have to go to that level to have their voices heard, pleading for the government to listen to what they are doing to families and regional communities. This tax is ripping millions out of regional communities that are already struggling. Shepparton district landholders are expected to contribute over $4.7 million more under the new levy compared to the previous system, placing a heavier burden on local households and businesses. The local council has projected that approximately 50 per cent more revenue will now be collected from ratepayers.

My office has been inundated, with many people struggling to pay their bills and to put food on the table. My hope from this previous budget was that we could help those doing it tough, but that has not happened, and things just keep getting harder. Cost-of-living and financial stress have got to a level that is overwhelming, and the level of hardship continues to grow. How does this government expect people to manage with increased power bills, rental increases, increased grocery bills and increased taxes? What we are seeing are many people who have not struggled in the past struggling now.

I had a mother just this last week say to me that she is not able to pay her children’s sporting fees and in fact her budget is now in deficit. She is basically minus $17 a week when it comes to paying her bills and meeting her expenses. Another woman, a part-time single working mother who I met with recently, said that her rent had gone up and she could no longer meet the cost. She was distressed and clearly not able to find more affordable or available housing. We are seeing a growing number of working families joining for the first time the queues of hungry Victorians relying on food donations. Food relief agencies are stretched to the limits, constantly putting calls out for more support.

When it comes to housing, the budget has failed to address housing in regional Victoria. We are going backwards fast in my electorate when it comes to housing, and those reaching out for housing support have significantly increased in number. We are in a housing crisis. In my electorate we have over 2000 people on the waiting list for public housing, with half of those classified as priority applicants. We have one of the highest rates of homelessness across the state. It is a daily struggle for people trying to find housing. There is a significant shortage of rental properties. If you do find an available rental property, there are probably 50 other people in line, and then you have to be able to afford it. We have people living in cars, sleeping rough or couch surfing. This government is turning its back on housing in regional Victoria and, as I said, we are in a housing crisis.

Just recently I heard from Celia Adams, the CEO of Beyond Housing, Shepparton, at a homeless forum that was held with a number of local stakeholders during Homelessness Week. We discussed the significant housing and rental stress in the Shepparton electorate. Celia said it is distressful for her staff to inform clients that their only option today is to be provided a tent or blankets. It is hard to fathom that that is actually happening in our country. We have to do so much better. Housing has to be a priority, and everyone deserves to have a roof over their head and a place to call home.

Labor has introduced more than 30 new or increased property taxes. We are paying the highest property taxes in the nation, which is leading to higher property prices and higher rents and is driving critical investment in new supplies interstate. The unexpected land tax has had a significant impact and has been completely detrimental to the rental market. Property owners who have planned for their future are now finding themselves in a position where they must either pass on the cost to the tenant of the rental property or sell the property. This has had a significant impact on the rental market at a time when we have people finding it hard to find a home. We need more rental properties, not a declining number. We must focus on supply that includes regional Victoria. Victorians are struggling to pay Labor’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes on time. Many tax bills are now more than 12 months overdue. This should be no surprise when so many Victorians are under extreme financial pressure. The headlines of ‘Tax to the max’ are very accurate.

When it comes to crime – and it is good to have the Minister for Police at the table – our police are under-resourced and underfunded. I recently met with the superintendent of the Shepparton police station, and he said that the station does not have enough police on the ground and that 75 per cent of police time is taken up with family violence, not allowing the police to get to other crime matters. He has urgently called for a dedicated family violence response team, which would require six extra police and two extra sergeants. I have asked the Minister for Police, who is at the table, to assist my local police station, who deserve to have the resources and funding they need so that they can do their job and protect the community to the capacity that they need to. A total of 2346 family violence order breaches were recorded to the year ending December 2024, equating to one breach every nearly 3 hours, which represents one of the highest breach rates in Victoria. These figures speak for themselves. I urge the minister to address this critical matter by supporting my police and providing the resources that they need to serve the community and to keep our community safe.

We have had a 20 per cent increase in crime and an increase in the incidence of burglary, car theft and retail theft, and we know that crime is escalating across the state. People are feeling unsafe. They are feeling unsafe in their homes. Businesses are experiencing ongoing break-ins, with many perpetrators reoffending. Just today I had the owner of Talisman, a menswear store in Mooroopna, send me some footage of some burglars trying to break into his business, banging bikes against his window and trying to smash the door.

This is not the first time. He has had many attempts and many break-ins to his business. It is very frustrating when we see reoffending, and it just goes to show that there is so much more we need to be doing to really help support, because what will happen is businesses will close. They will get sick of being broken into; they will get sick of having to replace windows. Their insurances will go up.

There has been more than $50 million cut from the police budget, and youth crime prevention funding in Victoria has dropped substantially. In the 2024–25 financial year only $12.9 million was allocated to such programs, a dramatic 40 per cent reduction compared to the previous year. This decline has directly affected multiple organisations, including the Youth Junction. Without renewed or increased funding, the Youth Junction will be forced to shut down key programs, reducing critical support for at-risk youth. Blake Edwards, the CEO of Youth Junction, emphasised that their programs are highly effective: 87 per cent of participants do not reoffend, and they operate at a remarkably low cost of $11 per day. It is astounding that funding is being cut at a time when youth crime is at an all-time high. It is astounding when you see the recent rollout of $13 million on 45 machete bins, which will not address the rising crime at a time when police stations are in such desperate need of funding support, as I have mentioned. The community are confused at that cost when people across the chamber are calling out, and we would like to know the full costing breakdown of that. It is astounding.

I have just got a few more minutes, and I cannot go without discussing roads. When it comes to roads, where do we start? We still have significant roads that need repairs in my electorate. My office is inundated with complaints about the unsafe and appalling condition of our roads. Whilst the government spruiks that it is investing in our roads, it is clearly not going far enough. We still have many crumbling and unsafe roads filled with potholes. There is still a lot of catch-up and more investment needed in my region. Twenty-five per cent of the state’s trucks are registered in the Greater Shepparton region, and this enormous amount of transport movement needs safe and fit-for-purpose roads and infrastructure. We have local trucking companies having to pay thousands of dollars per week on repairs to their damaged vehicles caused by the appalling condition of the roads, and many drivers are experiencing damage to their cars. Victorians do not feel safe driving on our roads, and this government needs to prioritise roads and invest more money into roads and road safety.

Finally, moving into business in Victoria, in 2024 more than 129,000 businesses closed in Victoria, an average of 350 businesses a day. Victoria’s growth rate of new businesses was the lowest in the nation. Victoria has the reputation of being the most expensive state to do business. Surely this government has to acknowledge these alarming figures and see the damage being done to the state by losing so many businesses.

In my last minute I want to just acknowledge a couple of really hardworking people in our community that are particularly helping people that are doing it tough. Azem from People Supporting People and his amazing volunteers every single day help provide food and food relief for people, particularly people sleeping rough. He has a shower and a toilet behind his restaurant, and he is an incredible person who works tirelessly to help those that do not have anyone else in their lives to do that. On a Saturday morning often I get out the front of the barbecue at Kmart with Azem just to see the people coming to him, often homeless people getting their sausage, and also seeing the connection that he has with those people. Often it is those connections that can make the biggest difference – trying to get conversations in regard to getting them back on Centrelink, getting them back on Medicare, getting their birth certificates. These types of people are just quiet achievers that do incredible work and that make a significant difference, and the Labor government could learn a lot from people like Azem. Victoria is doing it really tough and regional Victorians are doing it really tough, and this government are letting Victorians down.