Ballarat voters face two state ballot measures in November: what each question means for local services

Victorian voters, including roughly 110,000 enrolled in the Ballarat council area, are being asked to consider two proposed ballot measures ahead of the November 2026 state election cycle. The measures, flagged through the Victorian Electoral Commission's community consultation process, deal with how infrastructure funding is allocated between regional and metropolitan Victoria, and whether a new statutory minimum for regional health capital spending should be embedded in legislation. Neither question is yet formally gazetted, but the VEC has confirmed both are at the draft scrutiny stage, meaning Ballarat residents could see them on a ballot paper before the end of the year.

The timing matters. Ballarat Health Services is currently operating under a state capital works allocation of approximately $47 million over four years, a figure drawn from the 2025-26 Victorian State Budget. Health advocates in the region have pointed out that Ballarat, as Victoria's third-largest population centre, receives a proportionally smaller capital share than comparable cities in New South Wales such as Orange or Wagga Wagga, which have benefited from the NSW Regional Health Infrastructure Fund. That cross-border comparison has sharpened local attention on how the ballot measures might shift the formula.

What each question would actually change

The first proposed measure asks whether a legislated floor of 20 per cent of the state's annual health capital budget should be directed to regional and rural facilities outside metropolitan Melbourne. Under current arrangements, regional allocation is set through the annual budget process, with no statutory minimum. Policy analysts note that a legislated floor would constrain future treasurers from reducing regional health investment below that threshold, regardless of fiscal pressures. For Ballarat Health Services, the hospital network covering Ballarat Base Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Centre, a 20 per cent floor applied to the 2025-26 health capital envelope of roughly $2.1 billion would translate to around $420 million statewide for regional facilities, compared to the $340 million currently distributed under existing arrangements.

The second measure concerns regional rail. It proposes that any major timetable or frequency reduction affecting V/Line services operating beyond 100 kilometres from Flinders Street Station be subject to a mandatory community impact assessment before implementation. Ballarat sits 111 kilometres from Melbourne by rail, placing it squarely within the scope of this provision. The Ballarat line carries an average of 1.8 million passenger journeys per year, according to the Public Transport Victoria annual report for 2024-25, making it one of the busiest regional corridors in the state. A mandatory assessment process would give Ballarat commuters formal standing to contest proposed service cuts, something that was not available when V/Line reduced peak services on the corridor during the 2021 network review.

How Ballarat compares to other regional cities

Geelong and Bendigo offer a useful comparison. Geelong, which is classified as a major regional city under the Victorian Regional Partnerships framework, has secured a dedicated station upgrade commitment of $71 million through the Geelong Fast Rail project. Bendigo's health precinct received $135 million in state capital funding in the 2024-25 budget for its major redevelopment. Ballarat's per-capita capital allocation across both health and transport sits below both cities when measured against 2021 census population figures, a gap that local government and the City of Ballarat's 2023 advocacy submission to the Regional Cities Victoria taskforce identified directly. The ballot measures, if passed, would not automatically close that gap, but they would establish a structural baseline that applies equally across all regional centres.

The VEC's community information sessions for the Ballarat district are scheduled for late August, with the first session at the Ballarat Civic Hall on 27 August 2026. Residents can submit written commentary on the draft measures through the VEC online portal until 15 August. The formal ballot wording is expected to be finalised by the Electoral Commissioner and tabled in the Legislative Assembly by 30 September. If both chambers pass the enabling legislation, the measures will appear on the November ballot. A simple majority of votes cast statewide is required for each measure to pass, with no regional weighting applied to the count.