The federal budget will be announced on Tuesday night, and already several major announcements have been made.
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There will be funding to make childcare more accessible, and a significant investment in women's health initiatives.
Victoria will share $3 billion in infrastructure funding over 10 years, and more is set to be announced.
Federal budget 2021-22: Hopes for Ballarat as pandemic recovery gets going
The focus in Ballarat is squarely on housing support, and Ballarat MP Catherine King said she'll be watching for announcements with interest.
"I really want to see some significant reforms across a whole range of areas that are problems for us in Ballarat," she said.
"The first we're experiencing really harshly at the moment is lack of access to affordable housing - we've got first home buyers being squeezed out of the market."
She noted some businesses in smaller towns were already saying they were struggling to find staff amid an affordable housing shortage.
"That's putting a brake on economic recovery, particularly in tourism," she said, adding the problem was worse for people in insecure housing.
"We need to build more houses that are affordable, and support the great work social housing organisations do."
She added the Ballarat Link Road's second stage, duplicating Dyson Drive, and more upgrades for the Ballarat Airport were also priorities.
The federal government's childcare reforms may not benefit as many people as hoped, she added, noting it has become "unaffordable".
Victorian Senator Sarah Henderson said the new policy, which raises the subsidy for families with more than one child in child care, will give a "greater choice" to parents.
"This is a targeted investment that makes child care more affordable, increases workforce participation and boosts the economy," she said in a statement.
The budget will "deliver further investments, including in regional Victoria, to build a stronger and more resilient nation," she said.
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