Victorian budget
Bailout backing was offered to Zoos Victoria a year before job cuts
The Allan government offered to provide bailout guarantees for Zoos Victoria, 12 months before the organisation announced plans to axe an estimated 70 roles.
- Bianca Hall
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- Exclusive
- AFL 2026
Caulfield told to seal Dees deal on racecourse relocation
A month after Melbourne sacked its chief executive, its plan to move to Caulfield appears to be back on track, with a key state government minister intervening in the negotiations.
- Bridget McArthur and Kieran Rooney
Victorians enjoyed a free ride for two months. That ends on Monday
After two months, public transport is going to cost us money again. But some are making the case to make it free forever.
- Bridget McArthur
Victoria’s secret lotto licence extension to be probed by auditor-general
The investigation will focus on whether the secretive process was good value for taxpayers and a competitive process.
- Kieran Rooney
Political war erupts over holes dotting Coalition’s path to cash surplus
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson used her budget reply speech to accuse the government of a “desperate and deluded scare campaign”, amid doubts over how she would reach her 2032 target.
- Daniella White and Kieran Rooney
- Exclusive
- Business investment
$20m fund to turbocharge future industries binned without awarding any grants
The state government quietly discontinued the investment fund – targeted at priority sectors including the circular economy – in last week’s budget.
- Kieran Rooney
Labor promised ‘our finances will stay strong’. What went wrong?
This week’s Victorian budget revealed a debt bill heading rapidly towards $200 billion. It was a far cry from the fiscal strategy the government once boasted about.
- Patrick Hatch and Daniella White
Wilson to slash public service in $22 billion budget repair plan
In her first substantive reply to this week’s state budget, Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has vowed to shrink Victoria’s swollen bureaucracy.
- Chip Le Grand
- Exclusive
- Jaclyn Symes
The key assumption in the Victorian budget that has economists worried
Treasurer Jaclyn Symes insists the budget and the assumptions underpinning it are conservative, despite Treasury’s recent history of overly optimistic forecasts.
- Daniella White, Patrick Hatch and Kieran Rooney
- Exclusive
- Corruption
Budget squeeze forces integrity agencies to shelve investigations
IBAC chief Alison Byrne and Ombudsman Marlo Baragwanath say their agencies are not getting enough money from the government to balance their books – or do their jobs.
- Chip Le Grand