Economists have warned Victorian Labor’s big-spending budget – which will push net debt to a record $194 billion despite a revenue surge helped by property taxes rising to comprise nearly half the government’s total take – shows a lack of fiscal restraint that will only worsen as the state heads into an election year.

Treasurer Jaclyn Symes has banked on falling inflation and rising wages, against a backdrop of global economic volatility, to deliver an operating surplus of $600 million this financial year, the first since the pandemic.