Regional Victoria needs urgent cash injection
Regional Victoria badly needs stimulus cash in next month’s state budget, writes The Weekly Times reporter Alex Sinnott.
VICTORIA’S champagne days of the 1980s were the time of “Jollynomics” on Spring Street.
State Treasurer Rob Jolly could afford to spend big as the Australian economy bounced back from the early 1980s recession.
The National Tennis Centre (now Rod Laver Arena) was opened for the Bicentennial; a short walk away and Southbank was being transformed from a industrial-commercial mish-mash into a cosmopolitan boulevard.
Groundbreaking initiatives such as the Transport Accident Commission, VicHealth and WorkCare were bankrolled by the State Government.
But Jollynomics could not last.
The popularity of the treasurer plummeted after a number of financial blunders, culminating in the State Bank’s loss of more than $1.4bn following the failure of Tricontinental, the bank’s merchant banking arm.
After almost eight years, Mr Jolly’s fiscal fortunes came to a shuddering halt with his resignation in April 1990.
Incumbent Treasurer Tim Pallas is now feeling what is like to have the fizz flatten on the fiscal champagne.
The Werribee MP has been treasurer for six years and the first five have been pretty smooth sailing.
Billions spent on removing level crossings across Melbourne.
Billions more spent on the Melbourne Metro Rail Project to provide a north-south subway through the inner city.
When Mr Pallas points to regional funding, inevitably the direction of the dollars have been towards what some regional mayors call the GeeBees — Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo.
A gleaming WorkSafe building pierces Geelong’s skyline; the $630m Bendigo Hospital comes with swish conference facilities and retail outlets.
But beyond the GeeBees, regional Victoria is looking to next month’s state budget for much-needed stimulus in the coronavirus age.
One way to move rural industries out of recession, is transport.
As The Weekly Times reports today, the Government abandoned its promise to complete the full upgrade and standardise the Murray Basin Rail network.
A summary of the revised business case shows Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan has dumped the original promise to fully standardise the network, including the Ballarat, Manangatang and Sea Lake lines.
In passenger rail, the Federal Government has stumped up for the Shepparton and Warrnambool lines but a state contribution would not go astray.
In fire management, a few more dollars thrown the CFA’s way may provide a goodwill gesture.
CFA volunteers are forced to drive the oldest tanker fleet in the nation.
Only $7m is allocated annually to tankers statewide but the need is estimated at closer to $30m a year.
And post-lockdown regional Victoria’s main streets have been struggling as customers close their wallets.
● Alex Sinnott is a reporter with The Weekly Times
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