Childcare, kindergarten and mental health programs kicked down the road in Victorian budget

The losers in the Allan government budget include a multitude of in-­demand social programs, including mental health services, childcare and free kindergarten.

Premier Jacinta Allan's government has put on the backburner a range of in-demand social welfare programs.

The Allan government has hit the brakes on a multitude of in-­demand social programs, including mental health hubs, childcare and free kindergarten.

Among the programs put on the backburner is the Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals initiative, a free mental health service that can be accessed without a GP referral.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said the rollout would take a “longer time” than planned due to workforce shortages.

“To give us the time to ensure we have the people and skills we need, this budget pursues a more gradual approach to the rollout of our Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals,” Mr Pallas said.

“That gives us the opportunity to train and recruit the required workforce.”

The initiative was originally to be delivered over 10 years, but it will now take 15 years.

Mental Health Victoria chief executive Marcelle Mogg said she was “dismayed” to see parts of the budget “missing”.

“Mental Health Locals are a critical part of delivering mental health care differently,” she said.

“We’re still living with a system that is … not the optimal model by a long shot.

“It will be significantly disappointing for the sector. A lot of agencies across the sector have made considerable investments themselves, anticipating that rollout will continue as planned.

“It will hit a lot of people hard.”

Out of the 50 mental health locals promised, only 15 have been delivered so far.

Additionally, even though the timeline will stagnate, liable businesses will continue to pay a Mental Health and Wellbeing Levy.

Operating as a payroll tax levy, the controversial fee raised as much as $874m last year. It forces businesses with national payrolls above $10m to pay a rate of 0.5 per cent and businesses with national payrolls above $100m to pay an additional 0.5 per cent.

For 2024-25, the government has forecast revenue from the levy to reach $1bn. It is expected to grow by an average 5.7 per cent over forward estimates.

Ms Mogg said “greater transparency” was needed to explain how the levy was being applied.

“How is that delivering greater access to care, more support services on the ground where people need them?” she asked.

“We can see it on the numbers in the budget, but we are unclear as to exactly which services and particularly new services are being funded by the levy as opposed to existing resourcing allocation.”

Free childcare services will also slow to a crawl, with a four-year delay announced in the state’s pre-prep program.

The program is described as a new year of schooling of 30 hours a week and is due to start in 2025 – but will be “pushed back a few years” to not be fully implemented until 2036.

Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong will start pre-prep in 2032, while metropolitan Melbourne will have to wait until 2034.

However, the free kinder program for three and four-year-olds will not be subject to any changes.

Victorian Australian Education Union president Meredith Peace said she was “disappointed”, and children could be adversely affected by the stunted rollout.

“All the research shows that two years of early childhood education is vitally important for the social and cognitive development of our children,” Ms Peace said.

“We are very disappointed that the rollout will be slowed down by a number of years.

“We need to see the government invest and unfortunately we haven’t seen that to the level that we need to.”

Due to the cost of delivering school education and early childhood expenses, education expenses are also expected to increase by $793m in 2024-25.