New data has revealed confidence in the state’s property industry has plummeted to its lowest ever level outside the pandemic, prompting warnings the industry could soon come grinding to a halt.
Victoria’s most highly paid public servants have scored huge pay rises of up to 4.5 per cent, with even the lowest-ranked executives boosting their annual salaries by thousands of dollars.
MPs have secured themselves huge $200,000 base annual salaries leaving Victorians to question whether or not now is the time to be boosting the pay of the very people who got the state into this mess.
Victorian members of parliament have secured a 3.5 per cent pay increase — bringing Premier Jacinta Allan’s salary to almost $500,000, while MPs will take home $200,000 for the first time.
Victorian hospitals are being asked to find savings in the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts that are feared will lead to a reduction in frontline services, job losses and bed closures.
Struggling business owners are forking out almost double in taxes compared to what they once paid before Labor came into power, pushing many to the brink of despair.
The cost of dying is set to skyrocket in Victoria as the Allan government draws up plans to slug grieving families with fee hikes of up to 650 per cent to process wills.
Victoria has little left to sell and spending cuts are politically problematic so it’s hardly surprising our government will look anywhere to find a buck — so why not in death?
A woman whose son died from an overdose of illicit drugs at a music festival says the Allan government’s pill testing trial is “a step in the right direction”.
Two MPs booted from Labor’s parliamentary wing are no longer even turning up to parliament – it’s time they shape up, or ship out.
Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/journalists/shannon-deery