One state’s priorities have been questioned after an inquiry into funding revealed its authorities has prioritised horse and greyhound racing over a worsening housing disaster.
On Friday, Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas was grilled in regards to the state’s new funds by the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee.
The Inquiry into the 2023-24 funds is held every year to scrutinise the federal government’s annual spending to advertise the accountability and transparency of the general public sector.
Amid a deteriorating price of residing disaster, committee member Ellen Sandell questioned why the federal government was giving 4 instances extra funding to the racing business than it’s to homelessness initiatives.
“Housing is a huge crisis that we’re facing at the moment, but the budget allocates only $112 million for new initiatives around housing and homelessness,” Ms Sandell mentioned.
“It allocates four times that much to racing.
“So we’re looking at $112 million for new housing programs, yet $442 million for racing, so is supporting the horse and greyhound racing industry really more important than the people who are living in their cars and on the streets right now?”
The Treasurer mentioned the federal government had constantly been placing “substantial amounts of funding” into homelessness and housing points over “some time”.
“This budget invests $275.9 million in addressing homelessness in the state of Victoria. We’re putting $141 million into installing air conditioners into Victoria’s high rise public housing towers,” Mr Pallas mentioned.
“There’s $40.5 million to continue programs that support people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
“The continuing effort that we’ve put in place in this area is really a demonstration of the values and the priorities of this government.”
Ms Sandell additionally questioned if the funds may introduce a “rent freeze” to permit wage development to fulfill the rising price of residing.
“There’s nothing new in this budget; there’s nothing around renting and there’s nothing specifically to assist renters,” she mentioned.
“Will the government commit to a rent freeze so that we can wait for wages growth to catch up with rents?”
“It is a matter that the government takes very seriously,” Mr Pallas mentioned.
“We don’t have enough supply of housing into the market and we have an ever increasing demand, particularly now that we’ve seen our borders open and numbers start to move.
“We’ve said that everything’s on the table and we mean it.”
The Treasurer additionally addressed job cuts within the public sector, however mentioned shedding 3000-4000 workers shouldn’t have a detrimental impact on frontline employees.
“Do you expect, if we’re cutting a lot of back office staff, that frontline workers will be expected to do more back office functions?” Ms Sandell requested.
“I wouldn’t have thought so,” the Treasurer mentioned.
“There’s always scope within those functions to look for better ways of working and efficiencies.
“In the Victorian Public Sector, we anticipate that job numbers will actually grow by 2000 because it’s in the public sector that you have a principal focus on service delivery. Not exclusively, but principally.
“The public service works in a complex and challenging environment, and quite frankly, it’s done an amazing job throughout the pandemic.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
