Ever since the pandemic reached our shores, we’ve acted quickly to protect our people and our economy.
We stood by the Victorian community with support of more than $44 billion – to respond to the pandemic and keep workers in jobs and businesses afloat.
We provided rent relief, so Victorians kept a roof over their head, we supported people to test and isolate and relieved stress on businesses with direct financial support.
It built the foundations for Victoria’s remarkable economic recovery.
Victorians are once again able to do the things they love. Restaurants and cafes are busy. Shops and theatres are bustling.
Businesses are hiring, with 280,000 jobs created across the state since September 2020. In regional Victoria, the unemployment rate is the lowest in the nation.
But across our nation – and around the world – the pandemic put unprecedented pressure on health systems.
From a sharp increase of critical COVID patients, disrupted care resulting in longer hospital recovery times and people delaying seeing their GP, the last few years have really knocked our health system around.
Now – just like we’ve done before – we’ll ease the pandemic pressure points on our hospitals and our healthcare workers, to make sure every family can get the care they need, close to home.
That’s what the Victorian Budget 2022/23 is about. A Pandemic Repair Plan for more staff, better hospitals and first-class care.
We’re backing our healthcare workers with training and the extra pair of helping hands they need – with the funding to train and hire up to 7,000 new healthcare workers across the sector, to help relieve pressure on the system and improve care for all Victorians.
We will help Victorians catch-up on care and get more elective surgeries done, sooner.
And more people will get the care they need in the comfort of their own home, as we continue the Better at Home Program.
So that every Victorian has the confidence that an ambulance will arrive in their hour of need, we’re making record investments in our Triple Zero services and hiring more paramedics.
This Budget also delivers for regional Victorians, who deserve the same level of care as people in Melbourne.
We’re upgrading regional hospitals and healthcare facilities in every corner of our state, with the largest ever investment in the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund.
We're also getting on with delivering the schools, roads and public transport services Victorians rely on.
With this Budget, we’re building 13 new schools and upgrading a further 65 schools, because a good education is a good foundation for life.
We’re upgrading 36 special schools, which means we will have upgraded every special school in our state since coming to Government. We understand that students with special needs are entitled to exactly the same opportunities as every other Victorian student.
We're investing in roads and rail, preparing for day one of the Metro Tunnel and getting on with removing dangerous and congested level crossings – because Victorians want to get home sooner and safer.
At its heart, this is a Budget that looks after the health and wellbeing of every single Victorian.
This is a Labor Budget that invests in the hospitals and healthcare our state needs and the Victorian workers we need to deliver it.
It’s a Budget that delivers more staff, better hospitals and first-class care.
This is a Budget that is putting patients first.
Tim Pallas
Treasurer of Victoria
Reviewed 02 May 2022