Winners and losers of Victoria's budget

Winner: Motorists

With petrol prices soaring as a result of the Middle East conflict, the state government is offering 20 per cent off car registration this year.

A light vehicle registration costs up to $930.70 annually, meaning each Victorian can get at least $186 back in their pocket.

Eligible vehicle owners can apply for the rebate through Service Victoria from June 1 and will have up until July 31 to claim.

The government says the cut to government fees and charges represents around $750 million in foregone revenue.

Winner: Public transport users

The government will invest almost $100 million to expand bus hours and weekend services, deliver new and upgraded routes in growing suburbs, and boost services connecting to universities.

In the west, a new bus network will be introduced for Melton South, with two new routes. A separate bus connection will also be added to Woodgrove Shopping Centre and a more direct link between Laverton and Aircraft railway stations.

A new route will connect Drysdale and Ocean Grove in regional Victoria. Additional trips between Castlemaine and Harcourt will also be added, along with more services from Cowes and Inverloch to Dandenong.

The government has previously announced public transport will be free across the state until May 31. Tickets will then be half-price until the end of the year.

Loser: State's debt

The state's debt is forecast to grow to $175.6 billion in 2026-27, up from $165.3 billion this year.

The interest the state pays on that will be $8.9 billion for 2026-27, growing to $11.8 billion in 2029-30.

For 2026-27, that figure equates to $24.4 million in interest repayments per day or $1 million every hour.

Neutral: Public service

The government's ongoing plan to find savings in the public service is continuing, with savings of $607.5 million over four years.

The government says this includes back-of-house efficiencies, such as shared service reforms and centralisation of IT services.

However, there is a drive for recruitment for police and corrections staff.

Winner: Health

Nearly $4 billion will go towards health, including $1.6 billion for hospital staff, medicines and resources.

There's $284 million to open and operate hospitals and wards, including one new community hospital.

Hospital infrastructure and equipment upgrades will see a $145 million boost, and $299 million will go towards supporting new families, including maternity services in Melbourne's west and IVF support.

Winner: Disability health supports

About $2.5 billion will be provided for disability supports which includes $2.4 billion over five years, with the Commonwealth, to fund Victoria's commitments under the National Agreement on Foundational Support.

It includes $20 million to support in-home and aged care.

Winner: Child care

The government is expanding its Free Kinder program, investing almost $500 million to deliver 22 kindergartens at school sites, five early learning centres and grants for 27 new and expanded kinders.

Labor says 570,000 children have benefited from Free Kinder since 2023, with the program delivering up to $5,200 in savings per child.

There's also $3.6 million for bilingual kinders through the Early Childhood Language Program. It supports 197 kindergartens to teach 21 languages, including Auslan, Cantonese, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian and Japanese.

Winner: Schools

A total of $1.6 billion will go towards new schools, school upgrades and maintenance and $2.2 billion to support children with disabilities in schools.

Four new schools will be built in Melton, Port Phillip, Casey and Wyndham, costing $420 million.

$222.2 million will be invested in restoring the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) in the 2026-27 budget.

It follows a series of blunders with VCE exams, including students being able to access exam questions online ahead of time in 2024, and errors in the mathematics exam in 2022 and the maths and chemistry exams in 2023.

The government says the funding responds directly to an independent review last year which found the authority lacked a sustainable budget.

The allocated funding is said to address this as well as upgrade technology so operations are more reliable, according to the government.

Neutral: Social housing

The government will invest $860 million in the Social Housing Growth Fund to help deliver more than 7,000 social homes.

The government says it builds on the more than 12,000 social and affordable homes already built or underway.

More than 56,000 households are on a housing waiting list in Victoria, with even those deemed a priority facing average delays of 17 months, according to the most recent publicly available data.

Loser: Small businesses

There's nothing major in the state budget in the way of relief for small businesses, who are battling all the same economic pressures as households.

The budget papers confirm the business sector will this year contribute about $9.6 billion in payroll tax, nearly a quarter of the state's overall tax take.

Winner: Off-the-plan homebuyers

Victorians looking to purchase property under $620,000 will save under an extension of the off-the-plan stamp duty concession.

The government says the concession has saved buyers an average of $30,000.

It will be extended for six months, for contracts signed before April 21 next year.

Winner: Police

The budget allocates $137.7 million towards more resourcing for police.

This includes $62 million to recruit up to 200 reservists for administrative duties in order to free up frontline officers and $18.3 million for 3,000 mobile devices for specialist police.

Money will also go towards almost tripling the number of Tobacco Licensing Victoria inspectors in a bid to crack down on the illicit tobacco trade.

This is on top of $44 million to deliver an additional 50 protective services officers.

Winner: Justice system spending

The government has vowed to "completely review and rewrite" Victoria's sentencing laws with a $3 million investment in the latest budget.

The Sentencing Act, which hasn't been reviewed since 1991, essentially sets out the purpose of sentencing and the factors a court should take into account when deciding a sentence.

The Sentencing Advisory Council will look at whether the act still meets community expectations, how sentencing can better support victims and how the act can better "reflect and promote" the expectations of the current day.

Neutral: Taxpayers

No new taxes have been introduced, but revenue collected by the government will continue to grow. Tax revenue is forecast to be $43.2 billion in 2026-27 and reach more than $50 billion by 2029-30.

The government will collect $12.5 billion in payroll tax and $10 billion in stamp duty as well as $7.7 billion in land taxes.

Gambling taxes are forecast to bring in $2.9 billion in 2026-27 then grow by an average of 0.4 per cent per year over the forward estimates. The state government says the gambling harm minimisation measures are helping to slow the growth.

Neutral: Family violence services

The government will invest $100 million for family violence prevention and response activities, ending funding uncertainty for organisations in the sector.

The money will go towards refuges, crisis accommodation and trauma-informed counselling recovery programs for children and young people.

The Central Information Point, which provides information about perpetrators so practitioners can assess risks, will receive $23 million of that, and funding will also go towards Sexual Assault Services Victoria to respond appropriately to victim survivors.

Industry experts say the budget doesn't address the rising rates of family and gender-based violence in Victoria.

Government data from 2024-25 showed family violence survivors waited on average 18 months for housing assistance.