Victorian correspondent Ben Silvester breaks down the 2024 VIC budget and this year's winners and losers.
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00:00We know Victorian families are doing it tough. The cost of living pressures are seeing the cost of
00:05just about everything go up. Hi, Ben Sylvester, Victorian Correspondent for ACM. I've just got
00:11out of budget lock-up and I can tell you exactly what's going on in regional Victoria. So essentially
00:16the government is putting out the fires that it has to, repairing the damage that's been done over
00:21the past couple of years. Starting with health, there's been $11 billion put into the health
00:26system over the next few years, including $8.8 billion for the hospital system. But remember,
00:32the hospital system was tracking towards $3 billion of deficit in this year alone. So this
00:37is basically getting things on an even keel, making sure that places can keep their doors open.
00:42With roads, there's $964 million coming to repair roads over the next year. But you also have to
00:52remember that roads were going so badly last year that they entirely ditched their repair targets
00:58and barely any roads got repaired at all over the previous year. Lastly, with family support,
01:05the Premier and the Treasurer have recognised how tough young families are doing it. So there's a
01:11$400 bonus per child for covering the sorts of things that are essential for any school kid,
01:19things like uniforms, books, other types of equipment. So that should provide a little bit
01:25of relief from family budgets and that's it. Investing in education is the most
01:30important investment we can make and this shows that we are the education state.