Buses and rebates for region as opposition slams record debt

Extra bus services connecting Cowes and Inverloch to Dandenong headline outgoing State Bass MP Jordan Crugnale's pitch on what Tuesday's 2026-27 Victorian Budget delivers for the region.

The Bass Coast services fall within a near-$100 million statewide bus package and will coordinate with the upcoming Yarram-Leongatha-Melbourne uplift funded in last year's Budget.

Specific service numbers, timetable changes and start dates for the Bass Coast routes have not yet been released.

Ms Crugnale won Bass in 2022 by just 202 votes, making it Victoria's most marginal seat. She announced last October she would not recontest at the November 28 state election.

She said buses had been one of the top three priorities raised across every age group in her electorate since 2018.

"I am thrilled to see a significant package to better service our suburbs, towns and regional areas with better suited timetabling and frequency that meets how we move around to get to work, study, recreation, events and appointments," Ms Crugnale said.

A one-off 20 per cent rego rebate for light vehicles will deliver up to $186 for a driver with one car or $372 for households with two. Claims open through Service Victoria from June 1 to July 31.

Free public transport continues through May before half-price fares run from June 1 to the end of December.

A $1.04 billion roads blitz with 70 per cent of funding earmarked for regional Victoria is set to fill 200,000 potholes statewide.

The Budget continues funding for high intensity outside school hours care at Bass Coast Specialist School in Wonthaggi, and the free Cowes Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub also continues to operate.

The release re-stated April's $65 million Wonthaggi Hospital stage 2A allocation as the first tranche of the long-promised $290 million expansion committed before the 2022 election. The allocation covers a new pharmacy, pathology, medical imaging suite and mortuary.

The CFA gets $100 million over 10 years for new tankers and pumpers on top of $40 million already allocated. Police receive $62 million for 200 reservists to free up frontline officers.

Foster, kinship and permanent carer allowances will rise by about $400 a year at the lowest level and up to $1,700 at the highest.

But State Nationals leader and Gippsland South MP Danny O'Brien said Labor was again ignoring regional Victoria in a joint statement with State Liberal leader Jess Wilson.

"The Allan Labor Government's cuts to regional development and agriculture show that Labor continues to ignore the needs of regional Victorians," Mr O'Brien said.

"At the same time, Victorians are hit with a $6.87 billion bill for the emergency services tax — double what they used to pay under the Fire Services Property Levy.

"This is a bad Labor government which should tell the truth: every unfunded promise today is a tax hike or a service cut tomorrow."

The Budget confirms a $7.7 billion cash deficit for 2026-27 with net debt set to reach $199.3 billion by 2029-30 and annual interest repayments hitting $11.8 billion — more than $32 million a day.

Treasurer Jaclyn Symes claimed Victoria's first operating surplus in seven years at $1 billion but the budget papers forecast more than $30 billion in cash deficits over the next four years.

Ms Wilson said the Budget failed the basic test.

"It spends big, plans little, and leaves the next generation to pick up the bill," Ms Wilson said.

"You can't run a household like this, and you certainly can't run a state. The enormous and growing interest bill is making life harder for every Victorian — we cannot continue on this path."

The Liberals and Nationals have made the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund a key target ahead of November's poll. The fund replaced the Fire Services Property Levy from July 1 last year.