A $1.5 billion hospital funding lifeline has left a gaping hole in the Victorian budget, with the treasurer not ruling out taxes or cuts to other areas to fill it. or signup to continue reading Premier Jacinta Allan has vowed to find an extra $1.
5 billion for cash-strapped hospitals after telling them to tighten their belts to return to pre-COVID spending levels. The push for hospitals to stop running in the red and speculation of forced mergers led to services such as Western Health and Northern Health imposing hiring freezes. The top-up funding for this financial year will be accounted for in December's mid-year budget update.
Treasurer Tim Pallas said he and the premier remained committed to preserving the government's fiscal targets. "We do have some (contingencies) capacity but it will require continuing effort to keep within our targets," he told reporters at state parliament on Wednesday. The May state budget forecast a return to surplus of $1.
1 billion in 2025/26 and net debt to hit $187.8 billion by mid-2028. Mr Pallas wants to protect the surplus and not slap the $1.
5 billion on the state's credit card, leaving tax changes and spending cuts as some of the only other available levers he can pull. Asked if new taxes on business were no longer an option, the treasurer said he would "never say never". "I'm not ruling anything in or out at the moment because essentially the number one priority for the government is to maintain its fiscal aggregates, to maintain the thing.