As expected, cost-of-living measures dominated today’s state budget. Priorities included health, education, transport and housing, and ‘law and order’ issues. Climate action and environment were not headline items this year - but transport was. And transport is a climate issue.
With the budget back in surplus this year and debt forecast to drop in the next few years, Victoria is moving beyond the years of post-pandemic austerity. The government needs to be planning to do more to protect and revitalise the environment and speed up the energy transition in the next budget - the last one before the state election.
Transport
Transport is the second largest and fastest growing source of greenhouse emissions in the state. Fast, frequent and connected transport is what gets people out of cars and onto public transport, so the $5bn announced on transport is a win for the environment. And we also finally saw buses in the headlines as the low-cost high-impact transport solution.
For the majority of Melbournians who aren't in the inner suburbs, increased train services won’t get them where they need to go. What they need is a bus network that helps them get across their community to connect to school, the shops, essential services and train stations.
“The people of the West are growing more impatient for a fast, direct and connected bus network. This budget takes some useful steps to implementing the grid network envisioned in the 2021 Bus Reform Plan. Some estates, where residents have been campaigning hard, will get long-awaited new services. This would allow them to move through their neighbourhoods with ease, connecting with friends, family and all the vital services they rely on, and avoiding the huge cost of multiple cars in a household”, said Friends of the Earth (FoE) Sustainable Cities Campaigner Elyse Cunningham.
FoE has been working with the Mt Atkinson community for three years to get buses connected, in a new estate where residents like Pawan Kaur had to walk kilometres to their closest bus stop.
Pawan Kaur, Mt Atkinson resident, bus advocate and mother of two, said “We’re very happy to have this new bus announced. It will make a huge difference for us. Whenever it comes onboard, it will mean my children have more independence and can get to see their friends or go to after school activities when I can’t drive.”
Energy
The recent federal election was about the cost of living, but it was also about energy choices. The community said no to coal, gas and nuclear. This is a state government that is moving on the energy transition. That is to be welcomed and will be rewarded at the ballot box. But we have to be moving faster and prioritising the most economically vulnerable households in the state as the energy transition happens. Coal fired power stations are unreliable - driving up costs, and gas infrastructure continues to be a dangerous, expensive and outdated technology for industry and our homes. The state government needs to do as much as it can in its remaining year and a half to equitably accelerate the transition.
Actions must be consistent across government. So it is deeply disappointing to see that the Financial Statement reaffirmed Labor’s commitment to ‘fast track’ new fossil gas projects in Victoria.
This budget didn’t have much to say to build on the energy transition announcements of the last few years, but we were glad to see an increased investment in home electrification through increased subsidies for installing heat pumps and solar hot water systems, and the addition of ceiling insulation in the Victorian Energy Upgrades Program. We renew our call for home energy upgrade subsidies to be means tested to ensure that households that need the most help to upgrade are not held back from improving the efficiency of their homes and remain locked into paying unaffordably high energy bills.
Climate adaptation, forests and biodiversity
We were disappointed to see very little investment in climate adaptation, forests and parks in this budget. The government continues to encourage recreation in nature, but has not committed to funding for parks management to manage increases in recreational users. The Parks system is already under funded, and there have been staff losses across DEECA and Parks Victoria. Additional recreation pressure - likely as a result of the Great Outdoors Taskforce process - means public land managers need additional funding.
Climate adaptation is a cost-of-living issue, and by failing to invest anything substantial for climate adaptation, the government is leaving frontline communities in the lurch. Funding urban greening, retrofitting housing for those most at risk, creating resilient food systems and investing in energy efficient homes for example, will reduce the cost of living to Victorians. Investing in climate adaptation now will also reduce costs to the government in the future. A $1 investment in climate adaptation or disaster risk reduction has been estimated to save between $2 and $11 in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction costs. This budget fails to keep Victorians safe in the face of increasing climate impacts.
We’re hoping that the release of the upcoming report into the Parliamentary Inquiry into Climate Resilience and climate adaptation strategies will tell us more about how the Victorian government plans to support communities adapting to climate change in the coming years.
While there was a small amount of funding flagged for bushfire recovery, there remains a major issue whereby the state government refuses to investigate the ecological impacts of fuel reduction burning operations, or assess whether these practices actually reduce fire threats and impacts.
First Nations
Friends of the Earth acknowledges the solid budget allocation towards supporting First Nations communities and aspirations, including the Treaty process. In this pivotal time in Victoria’s history, with Treaty negotiations underway, it is essential that there be cross party support for the process. We welcome the commitments from the Allan government.
First Nations communities must be supported if they are able to properly care for Country. We welcome the $8.4 million to continue joint land management of the Barmah National Park in partnership with the Yorta Yorta people.