Key Highlights

  • Victorian Labor pledged to direct mineral royalties into regional communities.
  • The party estimated $500 million in royalties over four years.
  • The pledge draws on Western Australia’s royalties-for-regions model.
  • The commitment depends on the November election and future implementation decisions.

Victorian Labor has promised to direct every dollar of the state's mineral resource royalties into regional Victoria if it wins the 28 November 2026 election. Premier Ben Carroll announced the pledge on Sunday 11 October, modelling it on Western Australia's long-running "royalties for regions" program. The announcement puts a little-discussed state revenue stream into the campaign spotlight just over three weeks before the writ is issued. It also raises questions the government has not yet answered.

What Carroll has promised

Carroll estimated that Victoria's minerals will generate $500 million over the next four years. He pointed to the recent approval of the Avonbank Mineral Sands Project in the Wimmera, and to Southern Cross Gold's Sunday Creek exploration project, as examples of a growing sector. Under the pledge, Labor says royalty revenue from projects like these would be spent in regional communities rather than being pooled with general revenue.

This is an election commitment, not a law or a budget measure. It would only take effect if Labor is returned and then legislates or budgets for it. The ABC report did not include royalty rates, a list of the minerals covered, or a detailed costing.

Borrowing from Western Australia

The model Carroll has chosen is WA's royalties for regions. That state has used the program for years to direct a share of mining royalties into infrastructure and services outside Perth.

The political logic is clear. Mining happens in regional areas, but royalty revenue usually flows into a state's general budget and is spent wherever the government chooses. A royalties for regions approach links the money to the communities where extraction takes place, many of which bear the disruption of new projects.

There is an important difference in scale. WA is home to some of the world's largest iron ore, gold and lithium operations. Victoria's minerals sector is much smaller by comparison. Carroll's own estimate of $500 million over four years reflects that.

What mineral royalties are, and who collects them

Mineral royalties are a state revenue source, not a federal tax. Companies pay them to a state government for the right to extract minerals that belong to the state. They are separate from Commonwealth taxes such as company tax, which mining businesses pay to the ATO on their profits.

That distinction matters for this pledge. Because the royalties are collected by Victoria, the state can decide how the money is spent without needing Canberra's agreement. A future government could also change that decision.

The pledge, as reported, is about how royalty revenue would be spent, not about what miners pay. The ABC report did not mention any change to royalty rates. On that basis, the promise itself would not change the royalty bills of companies operating in Victoria, although any future change to rates would be a separate decision.