Budget boon for families | theage.com.au
VIC government today announced a 17% reduction in stamp duty first time buyers plus other incentives.
The budget includes stamp duty cuts for first home buyers and a boost to maternity and child health services.
- $1.43 billion in tax cuts
- Big bonuses for first-home buyers
- Extra $179.2 million for maternity, child health
- Budget surplus of $828 million
- $702.9 million for hospitals overhaul
Stamp duty cuts for first home buyers, a push to move people from Melbourne's outer suburbs to Victoria's regions and cash boosts for new mothers are the major planks of the 2008 Victorian budget, the first for Treasurer John Lenders.
First home buyers will get a stamp duty cut of about 17% - about $2460 on the median first home - on top of existing home buyers' government assistance.
And an additional $3000 bonus will be available for first home buyers buying a new home in regional Victoria.
Mr Lenders said the target money would boost regional growth and ease pressure on Melbourne's outer suburbs.
But the stamp duty cuts come in the context of a $931 million, or 30% boost, to stamp duty revenues flowing into government coffers last year.
The cuts announced by the Government will cost $422 million, about half of the extra money the Government made
The Government has committed an extra $179.2 million for maternity and child health, including $30.5 for maternity health building projects such as an expansion of Werribee Mercy Hospital, Frankston Hospital maternity services and the special care nursery at Casey Hospital.
The Government will post an operating surplus of $828 million for 2008-09, well above its new surplus target of one per cent of GSP, about $378 million on current figures.
There is also $815.6 million for refurbishing schools and building new ones in the outer suburbs, $702.9 million for hospitals to treat an extra 16,000 elective surgery patients, an extra 33,500 outpatient appointments, and an extra 60,000 patients in emergency departments.
But transport has only modest and ''unglamorous'', in the Treasurer's words, promises in this year's budget, as the Government considers its response to the Eddington report into Melbourne's east-west travel needs.
John Lenders said massive population growth in Melbourne, about 1200 people a week, presented the Government with a ''nice problem to have''.
He said three factors were driving a spike in population, people living longer, people moving to Victoria, and the biggest baby boom in a generation.
''Victoria's population is booming, with 73,737 births recorded last year - the highest since 1971,'' Mr Lenders said.
''Our Government's eight years of investment in liveability - in key services and infrastructure - have made Victoria a great place to live, work and raise a family.
''People are voting with their feet. Our population boom is creating new opportunities and new challenges.
''The 2008-09 State Budget is an action plan to maximise the opportunities and address the challenges of a growing population, while building on our investments in services and infrastructure for Victorian families.''
