Council
22 May, 2025
MP brands budget a “resounding rebuff”
MEMBER for South West Coast Roma Britnell has condemned the Victorian Labor Government for a State Budget which she said has precious little to offer Terang and surrounding areas.
“It has been a resounding rebuff for Terang from the Victorian Labor Government,” Ms Britnell said.
Over the last few months Ms Britnell in Parliament has highlighted the needs of south west Victoria to the State Government.
She insisted the budget would need to deliver for regional Victorians, prioritising “good healthcare services, a solid investment to rebuild our roads and other regional needs that she called for”.
While the Allan Labor Government has boasted a $9.3billion boost for existing hospitals, Ms Britnell said the community-identified need for greater funding for the Terang Hospital and aged care and retirement beds has been overlooked.
“Despite this being a massive need for the Terang community, this has been completely ignored in the budget,” she said.
Ms Britnell previously called for the Allan Labor Government to work with the Terang Aged Care Future committee to create positive solutions to fix the need for more aged care services in Terang.
“Prior to the budget, I brought to the attention of the Allan Labor Government the desperate need for an investment in aged care services in Terang,” she said.
“This is a glaring omission from the budget.”
Ms Britnell said she also felt voters were deceived through the announcement the government would fix regional roads, which they said was an increase on their record investment that they made last year.
She said roads around the Terang region are potholed and crumbling, and Labor won’t fix them because they are “prioritising pouring concrete into Melbourne and ignoring the regions”.
“Nobody believes the government’s claim that a large investment has been poured into regional roads,” Ms Britnell said.
“All can see from driving on them, that roads have gone from shocking to disgraceful and that the previous and proposed budget funding is insufficient.
“Who does the government think they are fooling?”
Ms Britnell said she was “disappointed but not surprised” to see neither the aged care facility nor roads have been included in the budget for Terang and surrounding areas.
“The State Budget represents the culmination of over decade of financial mismanagement under a Labor Government,” she said.
“It’s a budget that shows Labor is taxing more, spending more yet delivering less.
“Families will be hit on all fronts with cost-of-living increases continuing to soar.”
Ms Britnell said more than 60 new taxes had been introduced since the Labor Government came to power in 2014.
She said property-based taxes are rising – the new Emergency Services and Volunteer Fund was a massive increase, particularly for primary producers – and Victorian families were having to spend more to cover the basics of life.
In addition, Victoria’s net debt has increased to a projected $194 billion by 2028.
“The frustrating thing is that this governments’ interest repayments on Victoria’s eyewatering debt is set to reach over $29 million a day,” Ms Britnell said.
“That’s interest payments alone and not delivering a single service or asset for this state.
“It is heartbreaking to think that just four days of interest payments could see a new aged care facility build in Terang.
“This is a government whose only financial plan is to reach into the pockets of hard-working Victorians, and in turn, Terang and surrounding areas simply cannot rely on Labor to provide the vital health, roads or aged care services they need.”
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