Andrews’ errors bite Victorians

While the Victorian opposition continues to look inward, citizens in the state caring for loved ones with dementia, disabilities and mental health issues are dreading cuts in the Andrews government’s budget next week to desperately needed respite programs. And students in the state are struggling with reading in the wake of overblown lockdowns during the pandemic, new education research shows.

As Rachel Baxendale reports, Villa Maria Catholic Homes – Victoria’s largest provider of respite support for unpaid carers – is making a last-ditch plea for ongoing funding. The 2019-20 state budget included $42m in funding for respite programs provided by non-profit organisations. But the funding expires on June 30, with no commitment for it to continue. Treasurer Tim Pallas has foreshadowed a “very difficult” budget, confirming it will include public service job cuts.

The state also faces serious education problems in the aftermath of Covid-19, when the Andrews government imposed some of the longest lockdowns and curfews in the world outside of China. Tests of 5500 year 4 students from 281 schools across Australia, in the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study found twice as many children floundered at the lowest level of reading compared with the previous test in 2016, before the pandemic. Victorian children were among the worst affected. In reading, the average score of 540 points in 2021 fell slightly below the 2016 result of 544 points across the nation. The decline was sharpest in Victoria, where it fell by 14 points as students had to learn at home for longer. Average scores fell 10 points in Western Australia and 11 points in the Northern Territory, and rose nine points in the ACT.

Amid soaring debt from heavy borrowing during the pandemic, Mr Andrews began lobbying the Albanese government last month for extra funding. His appeal fell on deaf ears in the federal budget, however, with Mr Andrews expecting extra funding in future from Canberra for the 2026 Commonwealth Games. The cost of key infrastructure projects also has blown out, including the West Gate Tunnel project, the Metro rail tunnel and the Suburban Rail Loop, which could cost as much as $200bn. In March, Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance ­secretary David Martine ordered government department heads to cut their budgets by 10 per cent.

Some continue to prosper, however. Mr Andrews’ political consultant, veteran ALP strategist John Armitage, has pocketed ­almost $360,000 in taxpayer-funded payments to conduct research on Mr Andrews’ level-crossing removal project. And since 2019, the number of Victorian bureaucrats on salaries of $250,000 or more has increased by 56 per cent, those on $350,000+ are up 142 per cent, the number on $450,000+ has doubled, and those on more than $500,000 has tripled.