Victorians react to the 2025 state budget

Sydney Morning Herald

20-05-2025

The budget has $162 million for bus services, including new connections in Thornhill Park, Mt Atkinson and Cairnlea in the west. However, it doesn't go far enough for Santaram, who wants a system-wide overhaul with 10-15-minute frequencies.
'There's no equitable access to public transport,' he said.
'If you go to the outer suburbs, there are people walking up to five kilometres just to catch a bus. They just end up using their car.'
Santaram is also frustrated at the government's continual support for the Suburban Rail Loop, the state's most expensive infrastructure project, which will serve the eastern suburbs long before the western suburbs are connected.
'Residents are feeling totally ignored and neglected – all the taxes they are paying, stamp duty and so on, they're all being spent on suburban rail,' he said.
There is also disappointment that the electrification of train lines to Melton and Tarneit is once again missing from the budget. However, the state government says the $4 billion Sunshine station upgrade will eventually lead to the Melton upgrade.
Extra peak services on the Werribee line would be welcome, he said, but it wouldn't make a huge difference, with car parks and trains already full from early morning.
The family
Fitzroy mother of two Hanh Cao says Tuesday's state budget is a mixed bag for her and her two sons, Michael and Francis.
As a single mother in rented housing, Cao said rent was the biggest financial issue in her household and there was not much in the budget to help out there.
She had not yet claimed this year's $400 School Saving Bonus, with language barriers and a lack of social support making it hard for the Vietnamese migrant to claim government entitlements and benefits.
But a clear standout in Tuesday's budget was the boost to the government's camps, sports and excursions fund, which will provide $264 a year for Cao's son Michael for the rest of his primary schooling and $400 a year for son Francis when he starts high school next year.
The extra 65,000 'get active kids vouchers', available next year and worth $200 each, will also go down well with the boys, Cao said.
She also likes the sound of the free maths camps, funded in the coming years as part of a $37 million boost to maths and education.
'They would love it,' she said.
The cancer survivor
Melissa Le Mesurier knows the ins and outs of Victoria's health system.
Her 28-year-old son has been receiving treatment for cystic fibrosis from the state's public hospitals since he was a baby. And in 2017, Le Mesurier was diagnosed with bladder cancer and underwent 12-months of treatment at a private hospital. The 62-year-old now receives annual checks to ensure she's cancer-free.
Le Mesurier, who is a patient advocate with a number of not-for-profit health organisations, welcomed the additional $11.1 billion in funding for the state's public health system.
She's particularly excited about the opening of Footscray Hospital, which is not too far from her home in Essendon in Melbourne's north.
She also applauded the expansion of the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department, which is set to handle more than 600,000 calls every year by 2028. She used the service last year after reacting adversely to an antibiotic and found it very reassuring.
But Le Mesurier would have liked more funding for health prevention and cancer research.
She also has mixed feelings about the expansion of the community pharmacy program, which will allow pharmacists to provide treatments for allergies, nausea and high blood pressure without the need for a doctor's prescription.
'I know some patients appreciate the convenience, but if I had gone to the chemist repeatedly when I had bladder cancer it could have been mistaken for UTIs,' she said. 'I think there is a danger.'
The small business owner
Nigel Davies remembers the 1990s recession and thinks Victoria is headed for another one.
Davies is the managing director of Lonergan & Raven, Melbourne's oldest independently owned funeral home. He and his wife are also involved in an education business, which employs 18 casuals.
He accused the government of 'increasing taxes on everything that moves. And that's going to hit employment'.
Davies said many of his suppliers – for everything from chemicals to stationery to latex gloves – were no longer operating in Victoria or had planned to move their factories or depots out of the state.
'It's just cheaper to operate interstate,' he said.
'I can see the writing on the wall. Tough decisions are going to be forced at some point.'
The home owners
For someone with a 'huge pile of house debt', Brunswick home owner Rachel Williamson said Tuesday's Reserve Bank interest rate cut was a relief.
The 39-year-old and her partner Alexander Liddington-Cox, who are sole traders working in the media, bought in 2022. They said it took them a long time to save, and were only able to buy with the support of their parents and through forced savings due to the pandemic.
The Reserve Bank announced a drop to interest rates on Tuesday, from 4.1 per cent to 3.85 per cent, amounting to $100 a month off the average $600,000 mortgage.
'This is the second interest rate cut we have ever experienced, it's quite a nice feeling, actually.'
But Williamson said she was disappointed in the budget's allocation to social housing.
'People without homes are in real crisis right now,' she said. 'It's a real hidden problem that isn't going to be hiding for much longer.'
She said the temporary land transfer duty concession for off-the plan properties was likely a good move for helping people get into the market, but only 'if they are well built'.