Saturday 14 November 2026Labor and the Coalition set out competing commitments two weeks before voters go to the polls on 28 November.
Featured image: Photo by Elekhh (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative image of Parliament House in Melbourne.
Key facts
- The Victorian state election will be held on 28 November 2026.
- The Coalition says it would repeal the Treaty laws within 100 days and scrap the Gellung Warl body.
- A United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples criticised the plan, and the Greens support keeping Treaty.
- Labor promised to make the 28.7 per cent cap on the farmland emergency services levy permanent.
- The Coalition says it will release its full costings on 27 November.
Treaty in the spotlight
Victoria votes on 28 November, and this week’s campaign has centred on the Coalition’s plan to scrap Treaty. Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said a Coalition government would repeal the Treaty laws within 100 days and abolish the Gellung Warl body, returning Indigenous affairs to a department reporting to a minister. She said the change would deliver budget savings. One Nation also supports scrapping Treaty, and the Greens support keeping it, the ABC reported.
After a two-week visit to Australia, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert Barume, criticised the plan, saying fundamental rights should not be made contingent on electoral outcomes. The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that scrapping Treaty would return about $948 million over a decade.
Farmers and the regions
Labor promised to make permanent the 28.7 per cent cap on the farmland emergency services levy, with Agriculture Minister Michaela Settle saying the rate was staying there. The Coalition and One Nation would scrap the levy altogether. The Coalition pledged $50.1 million to duplicate Beechworth Road in Wodonga and promised 25 per cent of new infrastructure spending for regional Victoria. Labor pledged $19.5 million for mental health hubs in Ballarat and Ararat.
Preferences, advertising and costings
Labor and the Greens clashed over preferences, with each accusing the other of helping the Liberals and One Nation. Estimates by the group Populares, reported by the ABC, put Labor’s online advertising spend at about $3.1 million since August, against just over $500,000 for the Liberals. The parties did not respond to the ABC’s request for comment on the figures.
Economist Saul Eslake criticised the timing of the Coalition’s costings, saying Victoria requires a pre-election financial update. Ms Wilson said the Opposition had announced more than $24 billion in savings.
What happens next
The Coalition will release its full costings on 27 November, and voters go to the polls on 28 November. Almost 20 smaller parties, as well as One Nation and the Greens, are contesting the election alongside Labor and the Coalition.
