Nearly $40 billion of Victorian taxpayers’ money went into the state’s COVID response — and a new Auditor-General report says there is still no clear, whole-of-government picture of the final cost.

The Department of Treasury and Finance stopped publishing consolidated figures after 2021–22, even though spending continued. Among the losses already confirmed: more than $770 million in unused protective equipment has been written off, and at least $72.5 million in grants paid to ineligible recipients has been written off as unrecoverable.
A separate IBAC investigation found senior officials covered up roughly $257 million paid to ineligible businesses.