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The Victorian government’s funding is critical to helping disadvantaged students catch up. But the government needs to take several extra steps to ensure their funding has its desired effect.
The search for a coronavirus vaccine and repairing the ailing aged-care sector are among the main health spends in the 2020 budget. But the biggest item was a $4.3bn pledge to subsidise many more drugs.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has provisionally brought forward the lifting of lockdown after announcing 127,000 Melburnians can return to work this week amid ‘safe and steady’ lifting of restrictions.
Hospitals in regional Victoria can now begin ramping up their elective surgeries again, with metropolitan Melbourne soon to follow. But six months of partial shutdown has left a significant backlog.
Overall, Victoria’s roadmap is good. It identifies the right goal, provides explicit criteria for when restrictions might be lifted, and involves mostly appropriate restrictions.
The government should have a plan for how to help disadvantaged students catch up from learning lost during the pandemic, and how to better support students with mental health issues.
Victoria’s closure of child-care services may be necessary, but it will put pressures on parents and likely drive down women’s workforce participation.