It seems a no-brainer that political parties contesting the upcoming state election should agree to the Regional Cities Victoria call for a dedicated Regional Budget Statement and the restoration of a regional economic development funding program in the first state budget after November’s election. The billion dollar call shows just how tough regional councils have been doing it in recent years as more and more of the pie share seems to have been delivered to the metropolitan area and larger regional centres like Geelong and Ballarat, which also happen to be swinging seats. But even a commitment at this stage of an election campaign is barely worth the how-to-vote paper it is written on. Promises are aplenty across the political spectrum at this time of the cycle yet without the detailed official costings they are like promises written on the wind or running water. While much has been made of the state's nett debt sitting at around $160 billion based on the latest government figures, there is very little detail on exactly how this will be reduced anytime soon. Wage rises alone for public servants are placing enormous pressure on the state coffers with more in the wind and with ongoing conflict in the Ukraine and Middle East pushing price rises across the board, there appears no relief in sight at least in the short time. As the election nears this publication will endeavor to get more detail on what each party's commitments entails but based on recent history much of that only comes to light the week before the ballot, and sometimes after it has closed.
