HELPING FAMILIES IN FOOTSCRAY
The Allan Labor Government’s first Budget is dedicated to helping families in Footscray.
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.
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.
Every Victorian deserves the dignity of a safe and secure home. This Budget funds almost $197 million for frontline homelessness services, including the Caroline Chisholm Society in the western suburbs, to reach and support women and children who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Our Big Housing Build is giving more Victorians the security and stability of a home. More than 9,200 social and affordable houses are already under construction or complete – but we know there is more work to do. This Budget includes almost $197 million for frontline homelessness services to reach and support Victorians who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. A further $19 million will improve response times for repairs and maintenance in social housing.
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. It’ll deliver turn-up-and-go train services for passengers in Footscray, taking them through five new CBD stations with a seamless connection through to the south-east. 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 and completing final testing.
New lanes are already open on the West Gate Freeway, tunnelling is complete and the tunnel fit-out continues as the project tracks towards completion. This Budget delivers $10.2 million for new camera technology to enforce our legislated 24/7 truck bans on roads in the inner west – taking 9 000 trucks off local roads.
We know 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.
Each investment is an investment in the people of Footscray.
Because this is a Budget – and a Government – dedicated to helping families.
Quotes attributable to Member for Footscray Katie Hall
“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.”
“The Metro Tunnel will mean families can hop on a train at Footscray and travel onto five new stations in the CBD. It’ll create a new end-to-end link from the north-west through to the south-east, making it easier for locals to get around.”