General News
26 March, 2025
What to do with GST windfall?
Will Victoria’s $3.7b ‘‘gift’ be applied to debt cut or pork barrelling, asks Chris Earl KA-CHING, ka-ching, ka-ching - was that the jackpot going off last week when the Victorian Government was told it would receive an extra $3.7 billion...
Will Victoria’s $3.7b ‘‘gift’ be applied todebt cut or pork barrelling, asks Chris Earl
KA-CHING, ka-ching, ka-ching - was that the jackpot going off last week when the Victorian Government was told it would receive an extra $3.7 billion next financial year?
A state whose finances have been under pressure, perhaps even haemorrhaging, since this week five years ago when the first COVID measures were introduced by then-Premier Daniel Andrews.
Bailouts, payouts and project blowouts have seen the state’s daily interest bill balloon, indeed explode, to more than $25 million a day. State debt beyond $20 billion, only a few billion dollars behind what will be the new federal payout in GST.
“This (increase) is largely driven by its lower capacity to raise mining revenue relative to the main mining states and its higher relative state population growth,” said the Commonwealth Grants Commission. “Victoria’s assessed GST needs also increased substantially because of the change in the method for assessing COVID-19 health and business support expenses.”
Now-Premier Jacinta Allan and her new Treasurer Jaclyn Symes have been conditioning voters to the prospect of public service cuts and tightening of the belt when they bring down the State Budget.
So what now after a massive windfall that ups Victoria’s share of the GST cake, just over a year from the next state election?
How to carve up that $3.7 billion dollars? The prudent would not want any part of the GST jackpot to go straight into consolidated revenue for distribution that the cynical may perceive as attempted pork-barrelling of an electorate that has already unleashed backlash on the Government.
Come up with a responsible formula! Use half to reduce state debt, and therefore the daily interest bill. It may only make a small dent but every little bit will help. Of the remaining $1.85 billion, that can be allocated to getting the state of country roads back to a standard that is safe and reliable.
It has been well documented that country roads have been starved of vital cash for basic maintenance let alone any upgrades.
I can hear the cries now drifting over the Keilor hills and making their way into Loddon if the Government saw sense and opted for the country road cash boost.
There’s a quick retort ready to fire back. Melbourne, you’re already getting highway and rail upgrades using taxpayer money coughed up by Spring Street and Canberra; don’t be so selfish or foolish and acknowledge that good country roads and highways are an imperative to shift your produce from bush to big smoke. Victoria has been complaining for years that it does not get a fair share of the GST pie.
Well now that has changed. Days out from calling an election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has attempted to soothe the economic pain for Victorians, all Victorians unlike his recent transport funding announcement. As the money gets closer to the people, let’s hope the State Government will take a leaf out of Mr Albanese’s GST book and hear the cries.