Victorian Upper House Opposition Leader David Davis says the Andrews government’s budget does not provide the necessary targetted spending to kickstart the state’s economy, arguing many of the projects will take decades to complete.

“What the state government needs to do – it obviously does need to spend more at the moment – but it’s got to do it in a targeted way that’s aimed at jobs and kickstarting the economy. That means shovel ready projects,” he said.

“A lot of projects that they have got in the budget are things that are going to take decades to complete – long periods of time to wind up and get moving and that’s not going to provide the stimulus that is provided now.

We need to continue opening up. I mean, sectors like the arts and our entertainment industry. Victoria’s got great theatres and restaurants; we need the maximum opening up of these to drive the economy to get things moving again.”