Victorian budget: treasurer keeps eye on election in balancing act between spending and reining in debt

The treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, said ‘budgets are all about balance’ and that Labor had chosen ‘the priorities of Victoria’ at the budget lockup in Melbourne on Tuesday. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Eighteen months out from a state election, Victoria’s new treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, has handed down a budget that feels more like a campaign launch than a serious plan to repair the state’s battered finances.

There’s an understanding among Labor MPs that winning a fourth consecutive term in 2026 won’t be easy. This budget appears designed to give the government a long runway toward that goal.