Coalition promises to halve Victoria's elective surgery waitlist if elected

The Coalition has promised to halve Victoria's waitlist for elective surgery if victorious in the upcoming state election.

The state's elective surgery waitlist has continued to climb over the past year, with about 68,730 Victorian patients across urgent and non-urgent categories still waiting for a procedure in June.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said her party would establish a program giving public patients the choice to undergo their surgery at a private hospital at no cost.

"The program will deliver an extra 25,000 surgeries a year," Ms Wilson said.

"For those people who are languishing on the elective surgery waitlist at the moment, putting their life on hold, I know they are looking for a government that is prioritising their needs."

The policy mirrors a similar program introduced by the Queensland government, which resulted in a small drop in surgery waiting lists, according to ABC analysis.

Ms Wilson said the $1.27 billion program would be wholly funded by winding up government investment fund Breakthrough Victoria.

"Victorians deserve a government that isn't playing venture capitalist but is instead delivering the health services that Victorians desperately need."

Breakthrough Victoria, currently valued at $600 million, recorded losses of $5.7 million in the 2025 financial year, and losses of $3 million in 2024.

The Breakthrough Victoria fund has already undergone consolidation after being merged with startup agency LaunchVic earlier this year.

The announcement has been backed by the private hospital sector, which would sign four-year contracts under the deal to treat public patients, with spare capacity.

Australian Private Hospitals Association chief executive Brett Heffernan said both the official and unofficial waiting times for surgeries were becoming a major problem.

"There's also an unofficial list and that is a multitude of patients, probably more than the official list, who are waiting for consultations with specialists to get onto the list in the first place."

Mr Heffernan called the proposed program a "win-win" for patients and said the use of private hospitals had improved wait times in Queensland.

"They saw about 8,000 people in 18 months drop from their waiting lists, which may not sound dramatic, but it is because … when people come off the waiting lists, more people go onto the waiting list," he said.

The Carroll government has backed its own record on surgeries, saying Victorian public hospitals had delivered a record 218,000 planned surgeries over the past year.

The government said 100 per cent of the most urgent patients, dubbed category 1, were treated within 30 days.

The government previously announced a $50.1 million investment towards 4,000 additional planned surgeries for children in the 2026/27 budget.

Labor to wind back land tax changes

The Carroll government has promised to reverse course on land tax if re-elected, scrapping changes it made to the threshold in 2023.

Under the changes, the threshold for paying land tax was lowered from a site value of $300,000 to $50,000, meaning 250,000 more Victorians were subject to the tax.

The government said the proposed changes would be implemented progressively over the course of several years, with the threshold increasing by $25,000 a year.

The changes will cost $230 million over five years, which the government says it will pay for by consolidating the government car fleet and delaying level crossing removals.

"Lower land tax, more cost-of-living relief, and a responsible way to pay for it," Premier Ben Carroll said.

"Im a new premier and this is my new direction."

The announcement mirrors Coalition and One Nation policies, with both parties committing to also reversing the 2023 land tax changes.