Labor’s 2026-27 budget shows state has recorded $700m surplus this financial year, first of its kind since before the Covid-19 pandemic

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Victoria is back in black for the first time since the start of the pandemic, with Tuesday’s state budget to deliver an operating surplus and forecasting another next financial year.

The 2026-27 budget, to be handed down on Tuesday afternoon, will show the state recorded a $700m surplus in 2025-26, largely in line with December’s pre-budget update of $710m and an improvement on the $611m forecast last May.

Exclusive: State government commits to strengthening laws as Higgins labels Albanese government’s response to women’s safety issues ‘disheartening’

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The Victorian government will strengthen laws regarding the use of victim-survivors’ confidential communications after a push by advocates including Brittany Higgins, who described her experience of having counselling records subpoenaed as a “violation”.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Higgins was also critical of the federal government’s lack of action following a sweeping review into the justice system’s responses to sexual violence, saying it had “completely fallen off the agenda”.