The Victorian government has postponed its budget by a month, blaming the federal election and stark differences between the two major parties for the delay.
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The budget will now be delivered on May 27 instead of April 30, Treasurer Tim Pallas announced on Friday, a day after the federal election was called for May 18.
"It would be, I think, foolhardy to finalise a budget in any time in advance of a federal election outcome," he told reporters.
"Victorians expect a government that will deliver not a work of fiction but a budget that represents as accurate an assessment of the state of the books and the expectations of revenue that we will receive."
Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien said the approximate date of the federal election had been known for months, and accused Premier Daniel Andrews of trying to shelter federal Labor leader Bill Shorten.
"Victorians will be very cynical about this decision to push back the budget, to cover it up before the federal election," Mr O'Brien told reporters.
"People in Victoria deserve to know what Labor's economic management or mismanagement looks like, they deserve to know it before they vote in the federal election."
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg backed up Mr O'Brien's sentiments.
"Unfortunately for all Victorians, Bill Shorten is proposing $387 billion of higher taxes at this election, costing jobs and hurting the local economy," he told AAP.
But Mr Pallas rebuked suggestions of a cover-up.
"People can concoct whatever theories that they want around this, but I'll tell you that quite specifically the aim here is to give some certainty," he argued.
He said 50 per cent of Victoria's revenue came from federal receipts and it was important to know what they would be, given the priorities of the two major parties are so different.
Victoria's Labor administration was returned in November on an infrastructure platform.
Mr Pallas said Mr Shorten had publicly backed channelling more infrastructure funds into the state after it had long received a smaller share of the funding pie.
But a recent downturn in the property market has led to a dip in state revenues, and public service workers have been offered just a two per cent pay rise.
Mr Pallas said so far unions were "underwhelmed" with the offering, but they would continue to negotiate.
He also said "there'll be no privatisations" in the budget.
Australian Associated Press
