Letter to the editor – Bleak budget for our region

The Victorian State Budget for 2025-26 was released, and sadly after some initial looks, it is not great news for our region.

Many of the projects we had been advocating for remain without funding, including:

• A public secondary school in Kilmore
• Upgrades to our sporting facilities in areas like Seymour and Violet Town
• Investment into local traffic lights and signage in Broadford
• Upgrades to CFA brigades
• And the need for more train services along the North-East line.

We have also seen huge cuts to our already pathetic roads budget, delays to the Kilmore Bypass project, and a lack of childcare and housing investment locally once again.

On top of that, the Emergency Services Tax is front and centre as an additional cost all of us will have to pay.

To put it simply, this is a budget that completely fails regional Victoria.

Agriculture funding has been cut by $77.6 million – almost 13 per cent – amid a crippling drought in many areas of the state.

Regional development funding has also taken a hit a 17 per cent hit – with Labor slashing it from $296.7 million to $245.6 million.

Once again this is a government that fails to recognise the value of its regional communities – including those who put food on the table.

Despite all of the increased taxes, ignored projects, and cuts to services – Victoria’s debt is still set to blow out to $194 billion by 2028-29.

That will be $28.9 million in interest every single day paid by all Victorians – or $10 billion every year.

I look forward to speaking with many of our local organisations about their funding futures following this budget – and hope they are receiving all the help they need to keep serving our communities.

So to our local community groups – please reach out and keep me posted about how this budget has impacted you.