Wilson pledges tax relief as union vows to fight public service cuts

Victoria’s payroll tax would be slashed to match NSW and land tax progressively cut under the Coalition’s latest fiscal election pledge unveiled by Opposition Leader Jess Wilson.

But her plan to gut 7000 jobs from the public service through a hiring freeze has been met with fury from the Community and Public Sector Union, which says the move will instead line the pockets of consultants.

Addressing a Liberal Party business forum on Friday before a massive clock counting up the state’s net debt, Wilson said the payroll tax threshold would be lifted from $1 million to $1.1 million next year and to $1.2 million in 2028, were the Coalition to win November’s state election.

She said the proposed changes would lower the tax burden on 23,000 businesses.

Wilson also pledged to gradually remove the Allan government’s 2023 land tax increase by progressively restoring the threshold to $300,000, with the threshold to be raised by $50,000 each year for five years. She said this would lower land tax bills by up to $975 a year for more than 270,000 people.

The Coalition expects the plan would cost $360 million in lost land tax revenue and $670 million from payroll revenue over four years.

“I appreciate these are modest changes. But this commitment is important. It sends a powerful message that if Victorians [elect me], Victoria will be back open for business,” Wilson said in her speech.

The pledges are part of a 10-year fiscal recovery plan that Wilson will take to the November election. It includes the hiring freeze announced on Friday on what she labelled “back-office roles” across the Victorian public service throughout the first term of a Coalition government.

She said the plan would cut 7184 positions – about 2.23 per cent of the state’s public sector workforce – by 2029 and save the budget $22 billion over a decade. It would not affect teachers, police and other frontline workers.

The CPSU warned the plan would backfire on the Liberal Party and accused Wilson of wanting to outsource government jobs to consulting firms. Branch secretary Jiselle Hanna compared her efforts to US President Donald Trump’s ill-fated Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“Frankly, this is the strongest sign that Jess Wilson’s Liberals have no idea how to run the state; or of the essential work public servants do to keep things running,” she said.

“Good luck getting rid of us. We saw how this worked out for [former federal opposition leader Peter] Dutton and DOGE. God forgives, but the CPSU Vic keeps receipts.”

Labor immediately launched a campaign against Wilson’s public sector cuts, claiming the depth of job losses would not be possible without cuts to frontline services. A party spokesperson said Wilson had wrongly assumed public service jobs growth at 3.5 per cent, when it was 1.5 per cent.

“This means the saving promised will never materialise,” the spokesperson said. “The only way Jess could achieve her cuts would be to cut into those fast-growing frontline service cohorts.”

Premier Jacinta Allan accused Wilson of wanting to make “deep and ruthless” cuts across the public sector.

“We will not cut the jobs and the services working people and Victorian families rely on,” she said.

In 2023, then-treasurer Tim Pallas announced plans to cut up to 4000 public service roles to save $2.1 billion as part of COVID-19 debt repair measures.

Questioned about the cuts on Friday, Allan said they were announced by a “former treasurer in a previous government”.

“I’m the premier today,” she said. “As premier, we have delivered this week a budget that’s driving down debt. It’s delivering a surplus, it’s focused on growing the economy.”

Last year, Allan’s government announced about $4 billion worth of savings in the public sector from about 1000 job cuts. They came after the government commissioned the Silver review to find savings across public entities that Treasurer Jaclyn Symes said “had fat to cut”.

On Friday afternoon, Wilson said she would not be distracted by a Labor scare campaign.

“No one is getting sacked,” she said. “Anyone who has a job today in the Victorian public service will have a job under a government I lead.”

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