Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced that hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent on improvements to the state’s train and metro services ahead of the state budget this week. Some have been critical of this spending, as state debt is due to hit $155 billion by the middle of the year and the government has foreshadowed public sector job cuts.
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00:00A train from Sunshine Station this morning, providing a platform for the Premier to spruik next Tuesday's state budget.
00:10And it will be the biggest transformation.
00:12Including the already announced $4 billion Sunshine Station upgrade, which will eventually link to Melbourne Airport.
00:20And there'll be $727 million more for Metro Tunnel included in the budget that a government press release says will operationalise the $14 billion project.
00:31A big allocation of funding to get train services running through the Metro Tunnel.
00:37Why is it three quarters of a billion dollars, the second biggest announcement in their public transport budget this year, is to turn on a piece of infrastructure that they built and they own?
00:49It will also be just under $100 million for more frequent trains on the Werribee, Sandringham, Craigieburn and Upfield lines, and Gippsland, Bendigo and Seymour services.
01:00While talking up spending on public transport, the Premier was forced to defend reported cuts to state school funding.
01:07I'm not here to make any announcements in terms of education funding for next week's state budget.
01:13We're here to talk about this great strong investment in public transport.
01:17Nine newspapers reporting the government's pushed out Gonski school resource targets, holding back $2.5 billion.
01:25The very fact that the Victorian government dares call itself the education state when it can't deliver funding that is going to be delivered in every other state and territory is deplorable.
01:38We are very committed to having a sector-blind, needs-based education system here in Victoria.
01:44With state debt due to balloon to $155 billion by the middle of this year and public sector job cuts foreshadowed,
01:51next week's budget is expected to deliver more sting than sugar, prompting some frontline service providers to brace for impact.
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