Victoria’s main parties have given voters just over 48 hours to cost their policies before polls close on Election Day.
Labor’s financial statements, released on Thursday, revealed the party forecast a budget surplus of $1 billion for the 2025/26 financial year, $135 million more than projected in the pre-election budget update.
However, the coalition’s budget impact statement predicts, as part of its plan, that the state will return to a modest $2.1 billion surplus by 2024/25, a full fiscal year ahead of Labor. .
Labor’s election pledges are funded without introducing new taxes, with the party intending to fund 81 pledges by drawing on $2.6 billion in “production contingencies” and $1 billion in “net offsets”.
In total, Labor’s election initiatives total $8.24 billion, including $1.6 billion for jobs, $4 billion for health, $2 billion for transport, $934 million for l education and $275 million for equity.
The coalition has also pledged to fund its 94 pledges with financial implications by tapping into emergency money instead of new taxes.
Shadow Treasurer David Davis did not initially provide a total cost for the coalition’s election commitments, as quantified by the Independent Parliamentary Budget Office.
A Liberal spokesperson later confirmed they would cost around $28 billion, but pointed out that the budget would be around $10 billion “better” in net terms under their plan.
The document says the Liberal-National would take $10.2 billion from Victoria’s Future Fund to help pay off the state’s growing debt faster, saving $775 million in interest payments compared to forecast estimates.
Melbourne’s sewage services would also be leased for 50 years to secure a windfall of $6.66 billion over the next four years, a policy the coalition adopted in the 2018 election.
More than 1.6 million Victorians – or 37% of those registered in the state – voted in advance or by post.
Prime Minister Daniel Andrews broke with the tradition of voting early, posting a photo of himself voting alongside his wife Catherine and two of his children.
“Like so many other Victorians there are a few things happening on Saturday so we voted early and on our way to somewhere else,” he tweeted on Thursday night.
