The Yan Yean electorate will miss out on critical funding for infrastructure in the area, including funding for stage two of the Yan Yean Road upgrade, as the State Government raises taxes and cuts back support.
According to the 2024/25 State Budget released last Tuesday, residents of the Yan Yean electorate will need to wait an additional two years before the Whittlesea Community Hospital is completed, with funding also unavailable for the Wollert Rail extension, Wallan Diamond, Camerons Lane Interchange, new Whittlesea police station, and Beveridge Intermodal Freight Terminal.
The fire services levy will also soar from $847 million to $1.433 billion, with the waste levy set to more than double from $64.55 to $169.79 per tonne as of July 1, 2025.
Member for Northern Victorian Wendy Lovell said that the new budget was disappointing.
“The budget is a huge disappointment for families in the Yan Yean electorate who will pay more tax while services are reduced and miss out on critical area infrastructure as Labor continues to chase votes by pork barrelling projects in Melbourne city,” she said.
The new budget will see $207 million cut from the public health sector, $79 million cut from early childhood sector supports and regulation, and $19 million cut from road asset management – which is already 16 per cent lower than spending in 2020.
Ms Lovell said that the financial mismanagement and cost blowouts meant Victoria’s debt will rise to its highest ever, reaching $188 billion by 2028, and that in the same year, the state’s interest bill on its debt will reach $26 million dollars every single day, totalling over $9 billion annually.
“Labor can’t manage money. They have run up a massive debt and will spend more each year on interest payments than they will on education, or on families,” she said.
“Less than one per cent of the estimated $216 billion cost of the Suburban Rail Loop could deliver all the major projects that Yan Yean residents were hoping for, but the Labor Government has let down the region once again.”
