Family First’s Jane Foreman says Premier Jacinta Allan is gutting Victoria’s rate cap to buy union loyalty — proof Labor looks after its mates while families foot the bill, and proof Victoria needs Family First in the Legislative Council.
Bombshell reporting in the Herald Sun yesterday reveals Local Government Minister Paul Hamer has been quietly canvassing cabinet colleagues for a carve-out that would let councils pass staff wage rises straight on to ratepayers, gutting the intent of Victoria’s landmark rate-cap protections. Senior government sources say the push is being driven by Premier Jacinta Allan’s urgent need to lock in support from Australian Services Union (ASU)-aligned MPs and union leadership, seen as critical to her survival should a leadership challenge materialise.
The rate cap, introduced by the Andrews government in 2016, has pegged annual council rate rises to the Consumer Price Index and delivered real relief to Victorian households — it was reduced again to 2.75 per cent for 2026-27 only last December. Staffing costs make up 40 to 50 per cent of council operating budgets, so a wage carve-out would hand councils a green light to pass union pay deals directly on to ratepayers, unwinding a decade of protection almost overnight.
“This is about her leadership, not your rates,” said Mrs Foreman. “Jacinta Allan is preparing to gut the one policy from the Andrews years that Victorians actually trust, just to lock in union votes and save her own skin.”
The ASU has campaigned publicly against the rate cap for years, and Family First is not surprised the Premier is finally listening —because her leadership now depends on it. It is understood the proposed changes could be put to cabinet as early as Monday, with the government to sell any wage carve-out as a “pro-worker” reform rather than admit it is a political trade-off paid for by ratepayers.
“Handing councils a blank cheque to pass union pay deals straight on to ratepayers isn’t reform, it’s a payoff,” said Mrs Foreman. “Every carve-out, every levy and every cover-up comes back to the same thing: Labor looks after its mates first and sends Victorian families the bill.”
It is a pattern Family First has called out time after time. Victorian councils are already collecting the government’s new Emergency Services Volunteer Levy on its behalf, absorbing a glass recycling bin mandate warned to cost each area between $5 million and $8 million upfront, and watching a Big Build riddled with bikie-linked contractors. Now families are being asked to pay again, this time so the Premier can shore up her own job.
“From the Big Build to the rate cap, this government will always put its union mates first,” said Mrs Foreman. “Family First will always put your family first — with a Legislative Council that demands transparency, protects ratepayers, and holds Labor to account.”
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