Jacob Mildren opinion: Albury and Wodonga are increasingly becoming two distinct cities

A separation is emerging, you can see it appearing more clearly each time Dan Andrews' Victorian government makes a decision.

It's as if he wants to re-create our border divide, reminiscent of COVID times (just without the long lines of cars at the border). Though, these decisions could potentially cause worse consequences than our physical COVID divide seemed to.

The effects of these decisions creep up on us, yet they will impact us for generations to come.

Being on the Border, people have a choice about which side to live, do business, and spend their money.

If one side is cheaper, gives you more choice, and you can trust the goal posts will not be shifted on you at the last moment, why would you not pick that side? Especially when you can enjoy both sides, just cheaper, with choice, and certainty.

That's what its like being on the NSW-Victorian border right now, being here, in Albury-Wodonga.

Victoria is now the highest taxing state in all of Australia. We have the highest stamp duty of any state when you buy a home. You are also slugged if you choose to rent your home out, with new landlord taxes and increased land tax stacked on top.

Taxes on housing discourage investment, they make the housing shortage in Victoria even worse because people do not want to build here. The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chief Executive Paul Guerra said property owners were "being treated as an ATM for the Victorian government".

Why would you choose to build or buy a home in Wodonga, when you could do the exact same thing across the river in Albury, considerably cheaper?

Victorian businesses do not escape Dan's debt and deficit disaster either. They are being hit with increased pay roll taxes and a COVID-19 debt levy. Why would you set up shop in Wodonga when you could offer exactly the same service in Albury, but cheaper?

If you were an outside investor looking to bring your business to our region, why would you do so, when popping over the Border is cheaper right from the start?

An unthinkable nail in the Victorian tax coffin is the new, so-called, "tourist tax". Dan Andrews now wants to put a tax on every night's accommodation in a Victorian hotel, motel, and Airbnb. Of course this cost will be passed on to consumers, creating a clear choice for holiday makers wanting to visit our beautiful part of the world.

Why stay in Wodonga when you can stay a stones throw away in Albury for less? Unfortunately for us on the Wodonga side, this means visitors are more likely to eat out, shop, and spend in Albury, because they are simply already there.

The tourist tax brings the number of new and increased taxes since Dan Andrews and Labor came to government in 2014 to 50. You do not see that across the river in NSW.

What seemed like a surprise decision for many people, was Dan Andrews' recent announcement that gas will be banned in new home builds from January 2024. If you're tossing up between building in Wodonga or Albury, and one side of the border is more expensive, and you do not have the option of installing gas - even if you may never choose to - which side would you choose? The side that is cheaper and gives you choice, of course - that's not Victoria.

What's more, snap decisions like these, with no consultation, undermine the confidence of investing in Victoria. Would the investment in Wodonga's renewable hydrogen plant still go ahead if the gas ban was announced earlier? Ten per cent of household gas in our region will be fuelled by this renewable hydrogen plant, bringing a new industry, new jobs, and new potential to Wodonga. Mars Petcare have recently announced a major upgrade of their Wodonga facility, also heavily reliant on gas. Would this decision still have been made if the ban was known earlier?

Goal post shifting at the last minute by Dan Andrews appears to be standard operating procedure, we saw it with the Commonwealth Games, too. There is no way it puts confidence into Victorian communities or potential investors. Right now, NSW seems like a safer option.

As a proud Victorian and someone who will correct people if they say I'm from Albury (because I'm not - I'm from Wodonga, and we should be proud of it), we must call out this difference, before it becomes entrenched, before we see a two-speed economy emerge and we are irretrievably worse off.

Thursday's Bush Summit, in Wodonga, is the best opportunity yet to ask these important questions.

Deputy Premier, Jacinta Allen, Dan Andrews' likely successor, will be in attendance, along with business representatives from across the country.

How will Deputy Premier Allen possibly justify investing or moving to Victoria, when just across the river, it is cheaper, there is more choice, and more certainty?