Victorian opposition pledges to ditch stamp duty for first-home buyers
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Stamp duty will be scrapped for first-home buyers who purchase any property valued up to $1 million if the Victorian Liberals and Nationals are elected at next year's state election. Opposition Leader Brad Battin and Shadow Treasurer James Newbury announced the "bold and visionary plan" as part of its budget reply. The tax-exemption would be applied to more than 17,000 first-home purchases in its first full year, according to estimations by the Parliamentary Budget Office. Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin and Shadow Treasurer James Newbury. (Getty images) Battin said described the policy, which forms the centrepiece of the opposition's budget reply, a "common-sense reform" that would deliver "the circuit-breaker Victoria desperately needs". "Labor's war on property and addiction to tax has destroyed confidence in the economy," he said. "We need a plan to grow, not just tax and spend." Newbury added the proposal focused on "giving aspirational first home buyers the final leg up they need" "This policy is about rewarding aspiration. It's about giving young Victorians a fair go," he said. "For too many young Victorians, the first home dream has become a nightmare. "This policy is about backing in renters that have been stuck in the rental market not by their own choice, but by a tax system that is stacked against them."' On a $750,000 home, Victorians pay an average of $40,000 in up-front stamp duty. In October 2024, the Allan Government announced a 12-month stamp duty concession for off-the-plan apartments, units and townhouses. That tax cut is available for homes of any value and is not limited to first-home buyers. The concession is tipped to save home-buyers an average of $25,000 in its first full year, according to Allan. Victoria
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The court has ordered the former leader to pay $2.3 million in legal costs and Mrs Deeming has said she is preparing to file a bankruptcy notice against him. In 2016, Labor MP Steve Herbert resigned as a minister after his taxpayer-funded driver to chauffeured his two dogs, Patch and Ted, between his homes in Melbourne and central Victoria. Turmoil continues in a state Liberal Party over allegations of a drunken taxpayer-funded car rort as an MP demands an explanation from her colleague. The controversy involves tennis ace turned Victorian Liberal deputy Sam Groth, who used a colleague's chauffeur-driven vehicle to take him and his wife home from the Australian Open in January 2024. Mr Groth hosted a political fundraiser with Nationals MP Jade Benham earlier in the day before entering a party zone at the tennis where he was accused of getting "smashed", The Herald Sun reports. Then-opposition upper house leader Georgie Crozier lent him her car for the trip home and said Victorians "deserve a lot better". "I'm incredibly disappointed," Ms Crozier told reporters on Friday afternoon. "I think that Sam needs to explain his actions. I can't." Mr Groth was shadow minister for tourism, sport and events at the time, and the car was used for a trip from Melbourne Park to Rye on the Mornington Peninsula, a distance of about 100km. In a statement, the Nepean MP said he has nothing to hide and attended the 2024 Australian Open in both an official capacity and personal capacity. "I was at the event to meet various stakeholders and attend meetings before being part of a fundraising initiative," he said. "The accusations around intoxication are wrong. "Everything was and is above board." In 2025, Mr Groth spent more than $300 on accommodation when he attended a March Formula One Glamour on the Grid event and almost $1000 on an Adelaide trip when he met with "key stakeholders" which coincided with the LIV Golf tournament, according to travel allowance claims. Liberal leader Brad Battin stood by Mr Groth and said he was confident rules had been followed. "Going to the events does pass the pub test," Mr Battin said. Under Victoria's ministerial code of conduct, public resources must not be used for or political party purposes or "improper personal or private advantage or benefit for themselves or any other person". It comes as the Victorian Liberals grapple with the aftermath of a high-profile defamation showdown between MP Moira Deeming and former Leader John Pesutto, who the Federal Court found had defamed the first term MP. The court has ordered the former leader to pay $2.3 million in legal costs and Mrs Deeming has said she is preparing to file a bankruptcy notice against him. In 2016, Labor MP Steve Herbert resigned as a minister after his taxpayer-funded driver to chauffeured his two dogs, Patch and Ted, between his homes in Melbourne and central Victoria. Turmoil continues in a state Liberal Party over allegations of a drunken taxpayer-funded car rort as an MP demands an explanation from her colleague. The controversy involves tennis ace turned Victorian Liberal deputy Sam Groth, who used a colleague's chauffeur-driven vehicle to take him and his wife home from the Australian Open in January 2024. Mr Groth hosted a political fundraiser with Nationals MP Jade Benham earlier in the day before entering a party zone at the tennis where he was accused of getting "smashed", The Herald Sun reports. Then-opposition upper house leader Georgie Crozier lent him her car for the trip home and said Victorians "deserve a lot better". "I'm incredibly disappointed," Ms Crozier told reporters on Friday afternoon. "I think that Sam needs to explain his actions. I can't." Mr Groth was shadow minister for tourism, sport and events at the time, and the car was used for a trip from Melbourne Park to Rye on the Mornington Peninsula, a distance of about 100km. In a statement, the Nepean MP said he has nothing to hide and attended the 2024 Australian Open in both an official capacity and personal capacity. "I was at the event to meet various stakeholders and attend meetings before being part of a fundraising initiative," he said. "The accusations around intoxication are wrong. "Everything was and is above board." In 2025, Mr Groth spent more than $300 on accommodation when he attended a March Formula One Glamour on the Grid event and almost $1000 on an Adelaide trip when he met with "key stakeholders" which coincided with the LIV Golf tournament, according to travel allowance claims. Liberal leader Brad Battin stood by Mr Groth and said he was confident rules had been followed. "Going to the events does pass the pub test," Mr Battin said. Under Victoria's ministerial code of conduct, public resources must not be used for or political party purposes or "improper personal or private advantage or benefit for themselves or any other person". It comes as the Victorian Liberals grapple with the aftermath of a high-profile defamation showdown between MP Moira Deeming and former Leader John Pesutto, who the Federal Court found had defamed the first term MP. The court has ordered the former leader to pay $2.3 million in legal costs and Mrs Deeming has said she is preparing to file a bankruptcy notice against him. In 2016, Labor MP Steve Herbert resigned as a minister after his taxpayer-funded driver to chauffeured his two dogs, Patch and Ted, between his homes in Melbourne and central Victoria.
