The Victorian opposition has labelled the Andrews government's latest budget a "political document", that fails to support those hardest hit by the pandemic, including women and small business.
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Shadow Treasurer Louise Staley's budget reply speech on Thursday took aim at the government's borrowing blitz, intended to fast-track the state's recovery out of the coronavirus crisis.
Tuesday's budget includes about $80 billion in infrastructure spending and almost $49 billion in new stimulus measures, which will cause debt soar to $154.8 billion by 2023/2 - about 28.9 per cent of the size of the state's gross state product.
Ms Staley described the budget as a "focus group-tested political document" favouring "big business and big unions".
She said the government was borrowing to conceal cost blowouts on "pet projects" including the Metro Tunnel and West Gate Tunnel, as well as to fund new ones, including the Suburban Rail Loop, a proposed 90-kilometre rail line that will take up to 25 years to build and cost over $50 billion.
"I don't support the cover of COVID recovery to hide billions of dollars already wasted on cost overruns, redesigns and project mismanagement," Ms Staley said.
"Borrowing money, only to waste it means less is available for recovery. Yet, that is the Labor way, in this budget to the tune of at least $150 billion."
She said throughout the pandemic, female-dominated industries have received less support from the government than male-dominated ones.
"We saw construction, particularly the government's infrastructure projects, able to keep operating through the harshest of the restrictions," she said.
Ms Staley said the budget continues to favour male-dominated industries.
"Construction is 89 per cent male and it gets a whopping $69. billion in additional expenditure," she said.
"By contrast, the female-dominated private sector industries, such as beauty services, fitness, the creative industries, get no specific help. And given their generally small enterprise-size, do not benefit from business tax cuts to any great extent."
Ms Staley said small businesses have also suffered.
Since the pandemic began in March, businesses with fewer than 200 employees in Victoria lost jobs at more than three times the rate of businesses that employ more than 200 people.
Ms Staley said an analysis conducted by accounting firm KPMG found less than $1.1 billion dollars of $49 billion in stimulus measures is directly targeted at the private sector.
She said the government must aim to create 308,000 jobs and have 704,000 small businesses operating by July 1, 2022.
"The government's two-year target of only 200,000 new jobs will leave the state with stubborn unemployment, tragically high youth unemployment and a continuation of the misery and pain," Ms Staley said.
She described Treasurer Tim Pallas as "defeated".
"The treasurer has given up on Victorians. What other conclusion can be drawn from a budget that borrows more than every other state, runs a bigger budget deficit than all the other states combined and concedes the likely loss of the AAA credit rating?"
Mr Pallas and Premier Daniel Andrews were not present as she delivered her speech.
Australian Associated Press
