Jacinta Allan has a strange plan to reduce debt. It involves spending even more |
Jacinta Allan has a strange plan to reduce debt. It involves spending even more
April 30, 2026 — 5:00am
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It is difficult to know precisely when it happened, but somewhere between Kevin Rudd’s reverse ferret of 2007 when he declared “this sort of reckless spending must stop” and the post-fiscal paradigm in which Victoria now finds itself, it became virtuous for governments to keep on shelling out.
We’re not talking necessarily about the kind of vote-buying giveaways we’ve seen lately, with the Allan government chucking in free public transport and cash back on car regos with every set of Ginsu knives, but rather, the perennial business of funding hospitals, schools, police and roads.
This week’s announcement of “a record $1.04 billion to rebuild, repair and resurface roads across Victoria” in next week’s budget is a case in point.
Every year, the government spends a lot on maintaining roads. This financial year it is forecast to spend $976 million. Anyone who drives on them regularly knows that despite this, our roads are terrible. I’d take up the government’s offer for a rego discount on my zippy little Renault if only I could find it. For those who live nearby, it was last seen approaching a gaping pothole on Whitehall Road.
When Premier Jacinta Allan announces a “record roads blitz to target potholes and graffiti” she is not promising a better way of maintaining roads or washing walls. She is promising to spend more money to do more or........