The Victorian state election is coming on Saturday November 26 and voting is compulsory for everyone aged 18 and over. Incumbent Labor Premier Daniel Andrews, Liberal Opposition Leader Matthew Guy and Vic Greens leader Samantha Ratnam all want your votes and have been pulling out the big guns on the campaign trail. But what are they actually promising?
We’ve read through all the major Victorian parties’ election promises and policies so you don’t have to and pulled together this handy Vic state election guide with all the answers.
What have Victoria’s major parties promised for the climate and the environment?
Labor
- Reduce Victoria’s carbon emissions by at least 75 per cent by 2035 and reach net zero by 2045.
- Introduce a $10 million investment fund to “support biodiversity projects” led by private groups.
- Subsidise and promote electric vehicles so that by 2030 half of all new cars sold in Victoria are electric.
- Another round of the Power Saving Bonus $250 payments to help with energy bills.
- Vic Labor will start winding back native forest logging from 2024 before it’s banned completely in 2030. But in the meantime, it wants to increase penalties for anyone preventing or disrupting it to up to a year in prison or $21,000 in fines. Victorian Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe said in June she would continue to protest native logging on Aboriginal land and was willing to lose her job over it.
Liberal-National Coalition
- Reduce emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.
- Legislate a controversial “gas guarantee” as a way to reach targets.
- Subsidise electricity supply charges on bills for the first half of 2023, saving each household about $235 in that time.
- Plant more trees “across metropolitan Melbourne” to increase the city’s canopy (which helps reduce temps in summer by creating more shade) from around 15 per cent to 35 per cent by 2050.
- End culling of brumbies and instead “rehome” them.
- To support farmers the Coalition would develop “a $100 million plan to better prepare Victorian soil to adapt to changing environments”.
- Reverse Labor’s 2030 native logging ban and keep it going indefinitely.
Greens
- Reach net zero by 2035.
- End coal mining in Victoria by 2030.
- Offer loans to help households divert from gas.
- Establish a $1-billion “zero extinction fund” to help save threatened species and manage national parks.
- End native logging by 2023.
- Ban duck hunting and greyhound racing.
What have Victoria’s major parties promised for transport?
Labor
A shitload of infrastructure projects are already underway and many more have been planned. Let’s go.
- Dan has won a lot of favour over the years for his level-crossing removal project. This is ongoing and he’s promised 85 will be gone by 2025. The project includes rebuilding or upgrading a bunch of train stations.
- Expand Melbourne’s city loop with the Metro Tunnel project that is already under construction.
- Build the Suburban Rail Loop to connect Melbourne’s outer suburbs. It has been planned and will likely cost around $200 billion, but it literally won’t happen in Dan’s lifetime let alone any of ours as it won’t be up and running until at least 2085, lol.
- Build the North-East freeway link to finally connect all Melbourne’s motorways.
- Build a train to the airport. Finally.
- Build the West Gate tunnel to alleviate traffic congestion.
- Cap V/Line ticket prices so they’re the same as the maximum Myki fare and add more services.
Liberal-National Coalition
- Scrap the Suburban Rail Loop in favour of health projects.
- Cap all transport fares at $2 a day for full-fare holders and $1 for concession.
- Guarantee 25 per cent of all government funding in its first term would go towards transport infrastructure in regional Vic. It’s said it’ll upgrade a whole list of roads and invest $10 billion over the next decade to maintain them.
Greens
- Build bicycle “superhighways” in Melbourne to make cycling safer and faster and therefore encourage more people to give it a go. This is costed at about $2.5 billion.
- Make train and tram services way more frequent. This is costed at about $800 million.
- Make public transport free for everyone under 21, or $1 a day for concessions and $3 a day for adults.
- Kickstart the “clean transport revolution” with 3000 solar-powered buses, manufactured in Vic.
What have Victoria’s major parties promised for social support and justice?
Labor
- Make kindergarten free for all families, starting next year.
- Build more than 12,000 social homes by the end of 2025, costing about $5.3 billion.
- Ban non-disclosure agreements for workplace sexual harassment cases.
Liberal-National Coalition
- “Reduce red taxes and reduce red tape” to address the massive waiting lists for public housing, but it hasn’t really said what that will achieve.
- Offer subsidies for fertility treatments for “Victorian women”. But it’s unclear how “women” will be defined and whether non-binary or trans people would be eligible.
Greens
- Build 100,000 public homes and 100,000 more affordable homes over the next decade.
- Require all future housing developments to reserve 30 per cent of homes for first-home buyers and give them a 20 per cent discount on the market value.
- Establish renters’ rights watchdog with the aim to better protect tenants.
- Legalise the sale and consumption of cannabis.
- Establish an independent animal welfare authority.
- Fund a bunch of culturally-specific refuges for people escaping domestic violence.
- Raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14.
Obviously, this is just a snapshot of the big commitments each party has made that we think are most relevant to young Australians. You can keep track of each party’s election promises via the Parliamentary Budget Office’s independent 2022 election commitment tracker.
How do I actually vote in the Victorian state election?
You can vote in person or via postal vote. If you’re doing it in person, simply head along to a voting centre on the day between 8am and 6pm. You can vote anywhere in Vic, just rock up.
Alternatively, you can vote at an early voting centre between Monday November 14 and Friday November 25. You don’t need a reason to vote early — anyone can.
Happy Victorian election!
