Wednesday, 18 March 2026

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (17:19): Today I rise to make a statement on the 2025–26 Budget Update, which was tabled in December last year, and particularly to use it as an opportunity to talk about the state of the Victorian economy. As both the budget update and also some of the economic statistics that have been released since the budget update demonstrate, there is a really positive outlook for the Victorian economy. Victoria’s economy is growing. Our unemployment rate is low, business investment is up, wages growth is strong, and it all means that Victoria is on a path of strength. We do know that there are global factors weighing on economic circumstances right around the globe; we know that in the face of economic headwinds being driven by conflict around the globe the underlying strength and resilience of the Victorian economy is going to become increasingly important. We know that households are facing increased costs from the interest rate rise that we saw yesterday. Clearly the effects of increased petrol prices are being felt right across the community. We know that households are feeling these effects. When we head into periods of economic uncertainty caused by external events, we have got to make sure that our economic settings and our economic performance are coming from a place of strength, and this Victorian economy is exactly in that position.

The economic and fiscal overview in chapter 1 of the budget update tabled in December last year shows that Victoria is leading the nation when it comes to the strength of the jobs market and growth in business investment. The Victorian economy is 12.7 per cent larger than before the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant recovery from that health and economic crisis which impacted on economies across the globe. In per-capita terms over that same period, our economy is 4.1 per cent larger – economic growth here in Victoria. Our approach to fiscal management, our five-step fiscal strategy, is working; the budget update shows that the government has achieved or is forecast to achieve each of those steps – more jobs for Victorians, higher wages and stronger business investment.

The latest figures from the ABS, released last week, show that the unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, in January in Victoria was 4.2 per cent, a figure that is far below the 6.7 per cent unemployment rate that the Liberals presided over when they were last in government and below the 20-year unemployment rate average here in Victoria of 5.5 per cent. Employment in Victoria is being boosted by record-high participation rates in share of working age and the record highs in the share of working-age Victorians in employment in 2024–25. A lot of that is being supported by the policies of the Labor government. Free TAFE, as one example – celebrating its seventh anniversary – is giving Victorians the qualifications and the skills that they need to take advantage of business investment in this state and to take advantage of the job opportunities in this state, and that is because of deliberate decisions that this Labor government has taken to invest in TAFE and invest in skills, and those investments in skills and TAFE are leading to Victorians being in work and participating in the labour market in record numbers. It is not just in Melbourne. Regional Victoria has the strongest employment growth in the nation. The jobs that the Victorian economy has created are here in Melbourne and in the regions, the strongest regional jobs growth in the nation.

I have mentioned the fact that 2024–25 saw real wages grow. One of the reasons that we are seeing such a strong performance of the Victorian economy is because businesses are investing. Investment in Victorian business has grown by 15 per cent in the last three years compared with 10 per cent for the rest of Australia. The economy is growing. Victoria is in a good economic position. There are some headwinds in the global economy which are obviously creating uncertainty. Households are facing interest rate rises and petrol increases, but the fundamentals we are seeing for Victoria are that business investment is up and unemployment is low.