The Allan Labor Government’s first Budget is dedicated to helping families in the Northern Metropolitan Region. 

Whether it’s helping with the cost of living, making sure our kids can be their best, record funding for our healthcare system or continuing to invest in more of the services families rely on – the Victorian Budget 2024/25 invests in our community. 

With the current cost of living, covering supplies and extracurricular activities can be hard on families doing it tough. Uniforms, camps and excursions – it all adds up.  

That’s why we are providing a one-off School Saving Bonus to help cover the costs. This $400 bonus will help make sure our kids have everything they need for the school day, supporting families with children at government schools and families at our non-government schools who need it most.  

Dedicated to helping cover the cost of learning essentials and the extracurriculars that make school fun – we’ll work with schools to make it available for the start of the 2025 school year. 

We’re also tripling our free Glasses for Kids program – making sure even more young Victorians can be their best in the classroom, and beyond. Having already helped 34,000 kids across our state – this investment will help 74,000 more, providing free vision screening and prescription glasses for students who need it. 

And because we know that learning isn’t limited to the classroom, we’re investing $6 million to extend our Get Active Kids vouchers – providing up to $200 to help eligible families with the cost of sporting club registration, uniforms and equipment. 

We're also continuing our Local Sports Infrastructure Fund – backing local communities and local clubs with funding to improve their facilities, from ovals to pavilions, change rooms to scoreboards. 

This Budget also invests in our next sporting superstars, with $100,000 to the Koorie Academy Basketball to support the Deadly Little Dribblers. 

With this Budget, we’re investing more than $1.8 billion to continue building the Education State – and building a better future for Victoria’s children. 

We want young Victorians to have what they need to succeed in the classroom. It's why this Budget invests in upgrading schools across our state, including Fitzroy Primary School and Carlton North Primary School. These upgrades will ensure the world-class spaces kids and their hardworking teachers deserve. 

But we’re not just building classrooms, we’re improving what happens inside them too. From extra help for teachers, to supporting more kids to finish their education – this year’s Budget provides targeted investment where it matters most. 

Last year, our Free Kinder program saved around 140,000 families up to $2,500 in fees, helping with the cost of living and ensuring cost was not a barrier to participation. This year’s Budget continues this investment with an additional $129 million to continue delivering Free Kinder and the statewide rollout of Three‑Year‑Old Kinder. 

An extra $19 million will deliver new Building Blocks grants – enabling kinders to renovate and upgrade early learning facilities. From expanding classrooms to funding native gardens, upgrading technology or transforming outdoor play spaces, these projects are an investment in our youngest learners. 

When it comes to healthcare, we know for far too long women's health issues have been overlooked and underdiagnosed. This Budget also invests $18.3 million to improve women's health and wellbeing, with support for 12 women's health organisations to provide preventative programs through community outreach and education. 

We understand how important our frontline healthcare services are for patients and their families. Since we came to government, Victoria’s public hospitals now employ over 5,000 more doctors, and over 13,000 more nurses. During the pandemic, when our health system was stretched like never before, we acted decisively – providing record funding to bolster our health system. 

Since the pandemic, the cost of running our health system has continued to increase – but every cent is worth it to keep Victorians healthy. That’s why we’re making the biggest multi-year investment in our health system in Victoria’s history. It’ll mean our hospitals have the long-term certainty they need over the coming years. 

We’re also investing $31 million to treat Victorians with eating disorders, establishing a new in-home intensive early engagement and treatment program and 10 dedicated early intervention professionals in the communities that need them most. Funding will also support bed-based treatment at Melbourne Health, Austin Health and Monash Health. 

The Metro Tunnel will transform the way we move around our city and state. Opening next year, it will be the biggest, most transformational public transport project since the City Loop, more than 40 years ago. This year’s Budget invests more than $233 million, getting passengers ready for Day One. This includes continuing to recruit and train drivers, timetabling and signaling work, completing final testing.  

We’re also continuing our hard work to build and upgrade roads across our city and suburbs. This Budget will deliver $1.3 million in safety upgrades for Nicholson Street between Albion Street, Brunswick and Bell Street, Coburg. 

Community legal services do an incredible job, making sure Victorians can access the legal support they need. It’s why we’re supporting this important work with $28.8 million for community legal centres and specialist legal services. 

This includes funding for the Fitzroy Legal Service and the Inner Melbourne Community Legal Centre’s Health Justice Partnership with the Royal Women’s Hospital, which helps build capacity of health professionals to identify signs of family violence. 

Our Big Housing Build is giving more Victorians the security and stability of a home. More than 9,200 houses are already under construction or complete – but we know there is more work to do. A further $19 million will improve response times for repairs and maintenance in social housing. 

This Budget also includes almost $197 million for frontline homelessness services to continue reaching and supporting Victorians who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Across the Northern Metropolitan Region, Better Health and Housing, Audrey Rainsford Housing First, Richmond Youth Hubs and Pride in Place provide targeted support to those who need it most.  

And as the cost-of-living rises, we’re also delivering an extra $1.1 million in grants for community service providers that support people living in high-rise public housing tower communities. 

Each investment is an investment in the people of Melbourne’s Northern Suburbs. 

Because this is a Budget – and a Government – dedicated to helping families.  

Quotes attributable to Member for Northern-Metropolitan Region Sheena Watt 

“This Budget will make a real difference to families. Our $400 School Saving Bonus will help cover the costs of kids’ uniforms and activities – giving families one less thing to worry about.” 

“Our big housing build will provide more homes for more Victorians making a real difference for the people who need it most .”