Government hands down Victorian Budget for 2020/21

Victoria will try and spend its way out of the economic crisis driven by COVID-19.

Treasurer Tim Pallas handed down his sixth budget for the Andrews Government on Tuesday.

He outlined a horror year economically, Victoria’s economy shrinking by four per cent this financial year and unemployment peaking at 8.25 per cent in the current quarter.

The budget includes $140 billion worth of capital spending, either already underway or starting in the current financial year.

But the government’s plan is to create 400,000 new jobs by 2024, with debt also peaking at $155 billion that year.

The state budget includes some temporary stamp duty relief as the treasurer tries to kick start the residential property market.

From Wednesday, until June 30 next year, there will be stamp duty discounts on homes priced up to one million dollars – 50 per cent for newly built or off the plan purchases, 25 per cent for existing homes.

Unsurprisingly, no surplus is forecast over the next four years.