Today marks one year since the appointment of Premier Jacinta Allan as leader of the Victorian Labor Government, however there is little to celebrate.
For the past year, Victorians have been subjected to higher taxes, skyrocketing debt and multiple failures across transport, infrastructure, health, energy, events, housing and the CFMEU debacle.
Key shortcomings under Premier Allan's watch include:
- Financial mismanagement, including more than $40 billion in major project cost blowouts and a crippling debt situation, which is projected to reach $187.8 billion by 2027-28, with daily interest payment to hit almost $26 million – or more than $1 million every hour.
- A surge in youth crime, including the number of home invasions, from one in every three days in 2015, to 3.4 per day this year. In addition, Premier Allan weakened bail laws of March this year.
- A deepening crisis for Victoria's health system, including an increase of ambulance ramping, 245 people who have died due to hospital errors, fraud within Ambulance Victoria, health cuts and mergers across the state.
- An estimated cost blow out on the Suburban Rail Loop East of up to $6.9 billion, with a projected overall cost of $216 billion, and analysis from the independent Parliamentary Budget Office showing that the project's cost outweighs the benefits.
- Over 25,000 homes short of their own housing target over the past 12 months, despite promising 80,000 new homes a year, only 55,653 have been built.
- Labor's rotten Big Build which sees bikies and organised criminals continue to operate on worksites and the Premier refusing the Liberals and Nationals' call for a Royal Commission to investigate this serious issue.
- Introducing a Bill, which gives the government the power to ban any gas connection, including appliances, via regulation, avoiding all oversight and transparency in doing so.
- Failing to fix roads and potholes by spending just 18 per cent of the previous year's budget on the preventative roads' maintenance program, dropping from $201.4 million to just $37.6 million across the state, despite Victoria's roads deteriorating at a significant rate.
- Introducing a 7.5 per cent Holiday and Tourism Tax, significantly impacting families and regional Victorian towns.
- Spending about 10 per cent of the Infrastructure Bill in regional Victoria, despite regional Victorians making up 25 per cent of the population.
The now Premier was Minister for Commonwealth Games delivery when the Labor Government cancelled the 2026 Commonwealth Games costing Victorians at least $600 million - including $380 million in cancellation fees – which is helping to pay Glasgow to host the event. The Premier still refuses to appear before the Parliament's Select Committee into the scandal.
Leader of the Opposition, John Pesutto, said: "Victorians are suffering as a result of the leadership of Premier Jacinta Allan and the Labor Party and the fact that they have their priorities all wrong.
"The state is at record levels of debt, our health system is crumbling, our roads are full of potholes, we have a housing crisis, a youth crime crisis, and yet Premier Allan just wants to concentrate on her pet project of the Suburban Rail Loop.
Leader of the Nationals, Peter Walsh, said: "In the past year, Premier Allan has done nothing to alleviate the issues that Victorians are facing and in fact, has made them worse, with regional roads in particular crumbling.
"Labor cannot manage money, and all Victorians are paying the price."
