General News
25 May, 2023
Central Goldfields to benefit under Victoria’s “most difficult” budget
The Victorian Government has handed down its budget for the coming financial year, with the Central Goldfields Shire to benefit from several key projects and broader state-wide programs. Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas handed down what he called his...
The Victorian Government has handed down its budget for the coming financial year, with the Central Goldfields Shire to benefit from several key projects and broader state-wide programs.
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas handed down what he called his most difficult budget on Tuesday, which includes less big winners than past years as the government look to address the state’s debt.
The 2023/24 budget is the first since Labor were re-elected in November last year, meaning some of the projects and initiatives included look familiar as they were election promises.
Mr Pallas described the budget as “the most difficult budget that I’ve had to frame”, but said it would mean future generations would not have to pay for COVID spending.
“This is the start of a new era, the post-COVID era for the state and its finances,” he said.
“While our kids will of course have memories of the trauma that was the COVID years, they won’t necessarily have to be paying for that trauma for the rest of their lives.
“These measures are temporary, they are targeted and above all they are responsible.”
While the budget looks to tackle debt more than significant projects, the Central Goldfields has fared well and in line with previous budgets in terms of funding and project delivery.
The budget includes $1 million in sporting upgrades for Maryborough, with $550,000 for new female friendly change facilities at Princes Park and $450,000 for new netball court and lighting upgrades for the Royal Park Football Netball Club.
In a significant boost, the government will invest $921 million to deliver 35 new government-owned and operated early learning centres by 2027, including in Maryborough.
In the coming financial year, the government will also provide $100,000 to the Maryborough Community House to continue providing care, support and services to help residents in need.
Member for Ripon Martha Haylett said while the budget focused on addressing debt, it also delivered on election promises, particularly in the Central Goldfields.
“The most exciting thing is that we’re delivering on every promise we made last year,” she said.
“This is quite a different budget compared to years gone by — there was a lot of spending to ensure people didn’t lose their jobs and we stayed afloat during the depths of COVID.
“This budget is really in two parts — the first is delivering on election promises and secondly it’s outlining a comprehensive plan to pay back all that emergency COVID borrowing because we don’t want future generations to have to pay for what we went through.”
Other local projects to receive funding include $1.6 million for biosolids handling facility enhancements in Dunolly, as well as $800,000 to relocate the Laanecoorie boat ramp to a safer location.
The 2023/24 budget also includes an additional $15 million for the $100 million redevelopment of the Maryborough Hospital, to cover the growing cost of materials for the project.
Ms Haylett said a number of state-wide initiatives would also benefit local residents.
“The budget overall for regional and rural Victoria delivers $5 billion worth of investment which is a huge amount of money,” she said.
“There’s a new $10 million Tiny Towns fund which will be a grant scheme that provides small, $50,000 grants for communities of 5000 residents or less and there will definitely be opportunities for residents in the Central Goldfields to apply for that.
“We’ve also funded another round of the Power Saving Bonus to ease cost of living expenses and things like free vehicle registration for apprentices.”
Local families will benefit from the budget’s inclusion of free kinder for three and four-year-old children and new women’s health clinics at the Ballarat and Bendigo Base Hospitals.
The Ballarat Base Hospital will also receive a new PET scanner meaning that patients waiting for a cancer, cardiovascular disease or neurological disease test can get answers sooner.
Central Goldfields Shire CEO Lucy Roffey said council was overwhelmingly pleased with the budget’s support.
“An investment of $12.1 million was announced to help councils create new apprenticeships and traineeships, and enable a tailored Fair Jobs Code to operate for local government — supporting councils to fill skills shortages and better serve their communities — given the issues small rural councils particularly face in attracting and retaining staff, and the current shortages nationally, this is a welcome initiative,” she said.
“There is funding for two World Heritage bids, including the Goldfields bid that we are part of with 13 other councils. We don’t have confirmation on how much is allocated to each bid, but we are pleased to see that the progression of the bid will be funded.”
Ms Roffey did say that council was disappointed the Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund had been discontinued, as a number of local projects would have benefitted from the fund.
“This fund’s purpose was to invest in infrastructure in regional Victoria that stimulate the economy and community development. For example the activation of Maryborough Railway Station has been funded from this initiative,” she said.
“We have other projects in our priority projects list that would have benefited from the continuation of this fund and we hope the government are considering a replacement for this program in future budgets.”