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TAKE ACTION
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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ABOUT US
Cost of Living
Under Labor, Victoria’s debt has blown out to the highest in the country. At the same time, the cost of living is putting real pressure on families. People are paying more for rent, insurance, power, and the basics, while the state’s finances keep going backwards.
Our Policies
Taxes and Charges
What we will do:
- Land tax:
- Payroll tax:
- Stamp duty on insurance:
- Housing costs:
Labor’s land tax hikes are a big reason your rent has gone up. Landlords did not wear those increases; they passed them on to tenants. The tax is now bringing in about $6.5 billion a year. We will not make false promises to scrap it overnight. We will wind back the increases Labor piled onto rental properties and small property owners, and we will tell you exactly what that costs.
Payroll tax is a tax on employing people. Once a business grows past the threshold, every extra job costs more. It raises around $12.5 billion a year and acts as a handbrake on small and medium businesses that want to expand and take on staff. We will lift the threshold so more small employers are taken out of the net completely, making it easier for them to hire and grow.
Crime is rising and insurance premiums are already climbing because of it. On top of that, Labor still charges a 10% stamp duty on home, contents, and car insurance, while phasing out the same tax for business. Victorians are being taxed extra for protecting their own property against a crime problem the state has failed to control. We will abolish that duty.
Government fees, taxes, and charges now make up a big slice of the price of a new home. We will review every one of them, free up under-used government land, put a hard time limit on building approvals, and let people rent out a spare room or granny flat without the state taking a cut or telling them who can live there. South Australia already allows this. Victoria should too.
We will not pretend every tax can just disappear. We will cut the ones that hit families and small employers hardest, protect the services people rely on, and be honest about the numbers.
Housing
Victoria has a serious housing problem. Rents have risen sharply in recent years, vacancies have remained tight, and the cost of delivering new homes has been pushed higher by government fees, taxes, charges, and slow approvals.
A major driver of this pressure has been rapid population growth, overwhelmingly fuelled by net overseas migration. In recent years Victoria has absorbed tens of thousands of additional people annually through net overseas migration, with almost every new arrival entering the housing market. When supply cannot keep up, rents rise and existing residents are squeezed.
What we will do:
- Review every government fee, tax, and charge that adds to the cost of a new home, and cut those that no longer justify themselves.
- Release under-used government land for housing.
- Put a legal clock on planning and building approvals so applications cannot sit unanswered indefinitely.
- Free up granny flats and the rental of spare rooms so more of the existing housing stock is available.
- Require genuine community consultation before high-rise development is imposed on established suburbs.
- Provide incentives for private and community-sector organisations to deliver more low-cost housing.
- Raise the foreign purchaser duty on residential property so Victorian buyers are not continually outbid by overseas demand.
More homes, faster approvals, lower government-imposed costs, and a fairer go for Victorian buyers and renters.