Victorian budget 2021: $1.6b education spending blitz on new schools, upgrades

Melbourne’s outer suburbs will see a school building blitz, with 13 new schools built and 52 upgraded. See if your school is getting a facelift.

Melbourne’s outer suburbs will have a school building blitz under a $1.6 billion budget spending spree.

The 13 new schools will be built across the state with all but one to open in 2023.

The new schools include Officer Rix Road Primary School, Holyoake Parade Primary School in Manor Lakes and Lollypop Creek Primary School in Werribee.

Land will also be acquired in Cardinia, Casey, Hume, Melton, Mitchell, Port Phillip and Wyndham for future school sites through a $276.4m investment.

Additional stages of new schools will also be constructed at three recently-opened schools including Cranbourne West Secondary College, Elevation Secondary College and Tarneit Senior College.

The funding will also include $340m to be spent upgrading classrooms, libraries and learning spaces at 52 schools, including 17 in regional Victoria.

Schools including Dandenong North Primary School, Glen Waverley South Primary School and Niddrie Primary School will be upgraded under the boost.

More than a dozen new schools will be built across Melbourne. Picture : NCA NewsWire

To meet enrolment demands by 2024, Drouin Primary School, Glen Eira College and Moorabbin Primary School will be upgraded under a multimillion-dollar blitz.

An additional $188m will go towards essential maintenance to ensure schools are modern and maintained.

Up to 3500 jobs will be created in construction and related industries as a result.

Acting Premier and Education Minister James Merlino said Victoria’s education construction boom was the biggest of its kind nationally.

“By investing in our schools, we’re giving our kids the classrooms they deserve – and importantly, creating thousands of jobs,” Mr Merlino said.

“By investing in our schools, we’re investing in our kids – and our state’s recovery. This budget is quite, literally, building our future.”

$6BN TO BE WIPED FROM THE STATE’S DEFICIT

Victoria is on track to return to a cash surplus by 2023 with almost $6bn to be wiped from the state’s deficit in Thursday’s budget.

But despite what Treasurer Tim Pallas has championed as a “remarkable turnaround” in Victoria’s economic outlook, net debt is still expected to climb to a record high $156bn.

Ahead of unveiling his seventh budget, Mr Pallas said Victoria’s economy was “roaring back to life” and a full operating surplus was now within sight.

“The economy has grown, there are increasing levels of confidence, we’re going to continue that by investing in those areas where the community needs it,” Mr Pallas said.

“We still have some embedded areas of disadvantage in the community that will be intractable, and will require an enormous amount of effort.

“Putting that effort into those areas where disadvantage is ongoing and substantial I think will be important.”

Mental health initiatives are expected to form the centrepiece of this year’s budget with tax increases and significant budget cuts to feature prominently.

Details of a possible new mental health levy, recommended by the mental health royal commission to fund rebuilding the broken system, could also be revealed for the first time. Wage caps and cuts to back office public sector jobs have already been announced, as well as a hike on land tax and stamp duty.

Treasurer Tim Pallas MP. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Mr Pallas defended the tax increases and dismissed criticism from Scott Morrison over the move.

“I don’t think I need advice from the former federal treasurer and now the Prime Minister, about how to affect and manage an economy. We’ve got the runs on the board,” he said. “Victoria is the powerhouse of the nation’s economy. Our land tax and stamp duty still remain competitive with the rest of the nation. Historically we’ve given a lot of assistance to the construction industry … so, yes, we are asking this industry to make a contribution.”

Last year’s budget, delivered in November, was underpinned by an unprecedented $346bn spending spree aimed at kickstarting Victoria from its COVID-induced economic crisis.

But Mr Pallas said it was time to rein in spending, and vowed to cut the state’s public sector costs by $3.6bn. Net debt was projected to triple to $154.8bn, or 28.9 per cent of the size of the state’s economy.

While that figure is now tipped to climb to $156bn, it will fall to 20.3 per cent of the state’s economy — still significantly higher than the government’s 12 per cent target.

The Treasurer said Victoria was also on track to deliver a cash surplus of $1.1bn by 2022-23, after a cash deficit of $2bn next financial year. He said compared to the dire predictions of last year Victoria was now in a “luxurious position”.

“Our economy’s growing, and growing amazingly well,” he said.

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said the budget needed to offer a recovery plan.

“New taxes, new charges is the worst possible solution at the worst possible time,” he said.