Victoria’s budget will include a $250 payment for every household that seeks out a better power deal, along with measures to ease cost of living pressures and billions of dollars for health services, the premier, Daniel Andrews, has revealed.
From 1 July until June 2023, households that log on to the government’s Energy Compare website will get a $250 one-off payment, with the government committing $250m for the scheme in Tuesday’s budget.
On Monday, Andrews said the budget will include further “practical, commonsense initiatives” to deal with cost of living pressures, including an expected interest rate rise and soaring fuel and food costs thanks to inflation.
But the centrepiece of the budget will be a “massive investment in health and hospitals to repair the damage that [the] pandemic has done”, he said.
“Tomorrow’s comprehensive pandemic repair plan will be all about more nurses, more ambos, better care and catching up on care that could not be delivered because of Covid,” Andrews said.
He said the budget will address issues such as elective surgery delays and deferred GP care, which experts say is leading to increased emergency department presentations.
According to government figures released on Saturday, there are 89,611 Victorians on the waitlist for elective surgery, including about 2,700 of the most urgent category one patients.
Andrews again called on whichever side wins the federal election on 21 May to continue to pay for half of the cost of running state hospitals.
“No matter who [wins] the federal election, I will always argue, together with my first minister colleagues and we are very united on this, that health is core business and we need as a nation to fund this properly,” he said.
The commonwealth has for years contributed 45% of hospital funding, as well as placing a funding cap when growth is above 6.5%. It lifted this to 50% during the pandemic but that arrangement is to end in September.
Andrews said this decision would cost the nation about $5bn, including $1.5bn in Victoria.
“That’s equivalent to the amount of money we’re spending on the biggest reform and boost to elective surgery that our state has ever seen,” he said.
Announcing the $250 payments for those who log on to the Energy Compare website, Andrews said seven out of 10 households could go on to save an average of $330 each year by switching providers.
“Between the average savings and the bonus, [that’s] almost $600 in your pocket that otherwise wouldn’t be there,” he said.
“There’s a lot of talk about cost of living, but this is a practical action to make the energy market work for working people.”
He said this would help mitigate the impact of “big energy companies, who often trade off the fact that people are too busy … [and] don’t shop around”.
The new announcement is similar to the $250 power saving bonus, included in the 2020/21 budget, which encouraged pensioners and concession card holders to seek a better power deal. There was also a $50 bonus introduced in the 2018/19 budget for every Victorian household that used the Energy Compare website.
Andrews said households that have previously claimed those payments will also be eligible for this new one.
While the premier would not speak to the state’s fiscal situation before the budget, he defended the debt bill, which according to the December budget update will hit $104.5bn, or 21.1% of gross state product by June this year.
“We used the state budget to protect and safeguard household budgets. We make no apology for that,” he said.
He said the state would grow rather than cut its way back towards a balanced budget with investments in hospitals, schools, TAFE, road and rail projects.
