A decade in numbers.
Victoria has been governed by Labor without interruption since 2014. Over that decade, debt, taxes, the public-sector wage bill and major-project costs have all climbed steeply — while services, community safety and economic growth have lagged. This page plots the shifts as continuous, sourced time series. Pick your start year, toggle the layers, and judge for yourself.
Debt and Interest
Net debt has multiplied nearly seven-fold in a decade — from $22bn to $151bn — and the interest bill alone has more than doubled, now eating the biggest share of state revenue in a decade.
$151bnnet debt, 2024-25
The Tax Stack
State tax per Victorian has hit a record — up 57% in eight years — as new levies pile on top of the old ones rather than replacing them.
$6,301state tax per Victorian, 2023-24
The Wages Bill
The public-sector wage bill has nearly doubled in eight years, to $40bn — outgrowing even the workforce it pays for.
$40bnwage bill, 2023-24 — up 81% on 2015-16
The Capital Programme
The Big Build has blown out by $42bn against its own announced budgets — and another $1.7bn was paid to cancel the East West Link and the Commonwealth Games for nothing built at all.
+$42bncost overruns across 6 delivered / in-flight projects
What We're Getting
Record health and housing spending has bought slower ambulances, longer emergency-department waits, and a public housing queue 63% longer than a decade ago.
56,230on the public housing waitlist, 30 June 2025
Public Housing Waitlist
56,230Up 63% since 2014-15
Waitlist has grown 63% in a decade despite the Big Housing Build — now over 56,000 applicants.
Ambulance Code 1 Response Time
27.2Up 23% since 2014-15
Code 1 response times have lengthened from 22 to 27 minutes over the decade.
ED Wait Time (Category 3)
69Down 5% since 2014-15
Share of Category 3 ED patients seen on time has slipped despite record health spending.
Elective Surgery Median Wait
28Down 3% since 2014-15
Median wait for Category 2 elective surgery: 29 days in 2014-15, 28 in 2024-25.
NAPLAN Year 9 Reading
584.6Roughly flat since 2014
Calendar year. Series ends 2022 — ACARA changed the scale in 2023, post-change scores are not comparable. NAPLAN 2020 cancelled (COVID).
Satisfaction with Police Services
73.1Down 6% since 2014-15
Satisfaction with police slid to 73% by 2022-23, down from a 2020-21 peak near 80%.
Crime
Aggravated burglary is up 78% since 2016, family violence is at a decade high, and youth offending is at record levels.
+78%aggravated burglary, 2016 → 2025
Aggravated Burglary
7,580Up 78% since 2016
Up 78% since 2016 — near record highs and well above pre-COVID levels.
Motor Vehicle Theft
32,013Up 34% since 2016
Back at decade-high levels after a brief COVID dip.
Retail Theft
41,547Up 79% since 2016
Up 79% since 2016, with a steep climb from 2022 — now over 41,000 offences a year.
Family Violence Assault
26,246Up 16% since 2016
At a decade high — over 26,000 incidents in 2025, up 16% since 2016.
Youth Alleged Offender Incidents (10-17)
23,886Up 27% since 2016
Youth alleged-offender incidents at decade highs.
Remand (Unsentenced) Prisoners on 30 June
2,586Up 80% since 2014-15
Remand (unsentenced) prisoners up 80% since 2014-15; at the 2021 peak, 44% of all Victorian prisoners were unsentenced.
Population and Economy
For all the spending and borrowing, Victoria's economy delivered the weakest growth per person of the eastern states — and public-sector jobs have grown faster than the private sector that funds them.
+7.4%real output per person over the decade — barely above inflation, the weakest of the eastern states
The Bottom Line
One comparison says it all: Victoria took on the heaviest debt of the eastern states and delivered the weakest growth per person. The most borrowed; the least to show for it.
Most debt,
least growthVictoria added +16 points of debt-to-GSP — the most of the eastern states — for the weakest real growth per person (2014-15 → 2023-24)
Debt Taken On vs Growth Delivered
Each state plotted by what it borrowed (horizontal — the rise in net debt as a share of GSP) against what its economy delivered per person (vertical — real GSP-per-capita growth), 2014-15 to 2023-24. Victoria sits alone in the high-debt, low-growth corner: the steepest rise in debt burden of the three eastern states and the weakest real growth per person. Queensland is the opposite corner.
A descriptive snapshot, not a causal claim — it does not show that debt caused slow growth. Queensland's position is heavily commodity-driven (record coal and gas royalties). Net debt is general-government sector. See methodology.