Victorian budget: the local impacts

ON Tuesday, May 7, the Victorian Budget was delivered.

For Murrindindi Shire, the only location-specific funding was provided for an upgrade at Eildon Primary School, with all other listings for the shire being statewide actions.

Forests

Funding has been provided to manage over 1.8 million hectares of state forest where timber harvesting will no longer occur due to the transition out of native timber harvesting.

This includes $116 million in funding for the restoration of forests post timber harvesting, the collection and storage of tree seeds to restore forests, maintaining forest roads to ensure emergency services can access and control bushfires, targeted on-ground biodiversity actions to support healthy forests including…..

Fire Services Levy

Under the Victorian Budget, the fire services levy will increase from $847 million in total to $1.433 billion in total. The levy was introduced in 2013 by the government in response to the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.

In their last annual report, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) was pretty much at break-even, while Fire Rescue Victoria ran at a loss of $170.3 million, up from a $132.5 million loss in the previous financial year.

According to the budget papers, Service Delivery page 91, “From July 1, the Fire Services Property Levy will collect revenue in line with

Firefighting

Funding is provided to transition 54 short-term Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) firefighter roles to full-time roles, to prepare and respond to bushfires on public land.

The budget will provide $18.6 million to deliver 15 replacement pumpers for CFA and $15.4 million for five Fire Rescue Victoria pumper platforms.

When contacted about whether any of the new pumpers would be given to brigades in Murrindindi Shire, a CFA spokesperson said….

Waste Levy

It will cost Victorian families more to put the bins out, with the waste levy set to more than double from $64.55 to $169.79 per tonne, as of July 1, 2025.

Agriculture

The $496.6 million allocated in the budget for agriculture is almost 30 per cent lower than the $687.3 million allocated in 2022-23.

Natural disasters

Victoria has been hit hard by devastating floods, storms and fires over the past year, which for many communities adds to the toll of successive years of disasters.

The budget provides $302 million for the continued…

Schools

The only local funding specific to Murrindindi was in the form of a $4.8 million allocation for upgrades at Eildon Primary School.

There is also a $21.1 million investment to expand the School Breakfast Clubs Program to every government school for the first time.

This will be put in place for….

Duck hunting

The state government promised that they would ensure recreational duck and quail hunting can continue, and are making an investment of $11.6 million, including support for…

Regional tourism

$33 million has been allocated for the marketing of Victoria as a leading tourism and events destination.

$3.3 million has been allocated to support Victoria’s regional tourism boards and visitor economy partnerships, to grow….