Victorian Assistant Treasurer Danny Pearson fronted multicultural media on Tuesday 24 November, the day the Victorian government brought down an historic budget to redress the overwhelming consequences of the second wave and the world’s longest lockdown.

“We’re all Keynesians now,” responded Assistant Treasurer Danny Pearson when asked by Neos Kosmos if economist John Maynard Keynes was back in vogue.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas earlier on the day Tweeted, “After a year of turmoil, this Budget is the triumph of hope over fear.”

His homage to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 inauguration speech cannot be missed by economic historians. It was Roosevelt’s immortal statement, ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself’ that launched the first great Keynesian economic revolution, the New Deal, that lifted America and the world out of the Great Depression.

Treasury estimates that over 200,000 Victorian jobs have vanished during the first round of coronavirus restrictions, with an additional 73,000 lost during the second wave and the Victorian government’s three-month lockdown. It is estimated that one out of four small businesses will not reopen.

The unemployment rate is expected to peak over 8 per cent by the end of 2020 and is forecast to remain above 5 per cent for at least four years.

Mr Pearson underscored the gap between the “outcry that the Liberal Party produced at the time of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008” when it was critical of the debt taken by the Rudd government “which is infinitesimally smaller than the debt that’s been taken on by the Commonwealth government this year.”

READ MORE: Australia’s Budget Review: Hey big spender… the trillionaire!

He underscored Victoria’s excellent economic rating that he says facilitates an expenditure estimated at over $22 billion over four years.

“It’s a very deep profile that accommodates this, and it is far greater than what we’ve taken on across the forward estimates, however the size of the budget deficit will decrease by 75 per cent.
The Assistant Treasurer stressed that “monetary policy, as in previous recessions” was not an option anymore.

“Monetary policy as a way to stimulate the economy, is not available to us now because the interest rates are so low, we absolutely have to make the necessary investments to support the economy.

“We’re following the advice of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia who’s told governments they need to invest and make these investments to support the economy” Mr Pearson said.

“We are pump-priming the economy because we must and we are following the advice of the Reserve Bank governor.

“Over the course of time with a growing economy, with people working and paying taxes” any large company would use the size of both the deficit as well as the debt.

The Victorian government’s significant investment in infrastructure will have a “major productivity dividend” said the Assistant Treasurer.

“We’re talking about serious infrastructure projects that can increase the productivity and increase the efficiency of the state economy and that will in itself mean will have greater taxation receipts and the economy will grow accordingly.

“We are investing in infrastructure that works, and that presents a greater than a one-for-one value in the dollar,” Mr Pearson added.

He went on to say that the budget reflects the “vital support all our community needs to get to the other side of the pandemic.”

READ MORE: Experts’ Opinions: Budget 2020 and the Greek community of Australia

The Assistant Treasurer outlined budget measures that include a focus on job creation; “We’re spending $619 million to provide more job opportunities for Victoria.

“There is a focus on getting more women to work because we know women have been disproportionately impacted by the recession.”

He also stressed that $1 billion will be available for TAFE and training to “make sure that our workforce have the skills that it needs”.

Along with a raft of new budget measures like the $3 billion funding boost to state schools the Andrews’ government will spend an historic “$6 billion on housing which will see the creation of 12,000 new units and apartments estimated to create over 10,000 jobs.”

Health is another big-ticket item. “We will be spending significantly in health and we’ll have one of the biggest health capital projects pipeline in the history of the state, as well as providing funding for mental health and we’ll start implementing the preliminary findings of the Royal Commission.

Infrastructure, an area that the Andrews government knows well, will be seeing a major boost.

“We’re investing in capital infrastructure like a suburban rail loop and fast rail to Geelong.” He also said that the government will work with the Commonwealth to provide to get international students back into the country as soon as we can.

Mr Pearson calls it “a budget of our times”.

“These investments are so significant, so profound, so far reaching. that many multicultural communities will benefit right across the board.”

The Assistant Treasurer underscored “better housing, better public transport, better healthcare” and the “$5,000,000 pilot work around insecure work.”

“We want to make sure that people have got the opportunity to be able to have sick leave if their sick so they’re not compelled to work.”

Victoria’s economy lays dormant due to the extended lockdown as the other states ‘rebound.’ The Andrews’ government budget aims at revitalising the ecomomy and it seems at dramatically changing it for many years to come.