Category: NSW News

Roads, rail and transport services are critical to life in regional NSW, connecting communities to one another and supporting the movement of goods produced in our regions to national and international markets.

Today, the Minns Government’s first budget has delivered on its commitment to ensure that the roads used by regional communities daily are reliable, and the essential transport infrastructure they rely on is safe and accessible. 

The 2023-24 NSW Budget includes: 

• $1.4 billion for the delivery of a new regional rail fleet to replace the ageing regional fleet. 
• $390 million to establish the Regional Emergency Road Repair Fund to support regional councils in managing existing roads and prioritising works based on the needs of their communities, particularly those damaged by natural disasters. 
• $334 million to establish the Regional Roads Fund to build new roads in rural and regional areas. 
• $333.9 million to replace ageing timber bridges through the Fixing Country Bridges program, providing improvements to regional bus services and supporting councils through the Fixing Local Roads Program. 
• $95.9 million for the Fixing Country Rail program, to deliver improved capacity and reliability to the regional rail network and deliver a highly functional network for moving freight in and out of regional areas. 
• $29.4 million to plan for the transition of fleet to Zero Emission buses, including trials, analysis and development. 
• $20.2 million to continue the Transport Connected Bus Program. 
• $10 million to improve the network of heavy vehicle rest stops across regional NSW. 

No matter where you live in NSW you should have access to safe, reliable transport options. The Minns Labor Government is setting out a long-term plan to repair the budget so we can deliver the essential infrastructure and services families across regional NSW rely on.

We know people are doing it tough and this budget provides responsible support to help with cost-of-living pressures.

In NSW the cost-of-living crisis is worse because of a decade of privatisation.

In 2023-24, the Minns Labor Government will provide more than $8.2 billion in support through more than 130 different measures.

Housing

Affordability and availability are some of the biggest pressures facing the people of NSW.

More than 1000 first home buyers have already saved thousands of dollars, paying no stamp duty under the new First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme. Hundreds more have received a concession.

The Government is providing private rental assistance through programs including Rent Choice, Advance Rent and Bond Loan to help eligible people get into or maintain a rental lease.

And the Pensioner Concession Rebate Scheme provides up to $250 on ordinary council rates and charges for domestic waste management services to eligible pensioners, jointly funded by councils.

Education / Early Childhood

A new program of $500 fee relief per child, will help with the costs of 3-year-olds in long day care at eligible preschools.

The Minns Labor Government is continuing relief of $4220 per child aged 3 to 5 attending community preschools. For kids aged 4 to 5 in long day care, that fee relief is $2110.

Additionally, there is access to fee free formal training in apprenticeships and traineeships and travel and accommodation allowances for apprentices or new trainees who travel more than 120km a day to attend training.

Energy

Bill relief will be extended from 1 July 2024 for families, seniors and households struggling with rising costs.

The Family Energy Rebate and Seniors Energy Rebate will both increase to $250.

The Low-Income Household Rebate and Medical Energy Rebate will rise to $350. And we’ll cover rising costs of equipment under the Life Support Rebate.

This is on top of the National Energy Bill Relief payment introduced in July 2023, where in partnership with the Australian Government, the NSW Government is providing support to:

• 1.6 million eligible households with a $500 electricity rebate automatically applied to bills before 1 July 2024.
• 300,000 eligible businesses with a one-off $650 bill relief payment.

Health

The 2023-24 Budget funds free ambulance services for certain concession holders, with other exemptions including for people who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or child abuse.

New parents will continue receiving a Baby Bundle of essential items, while children receive free dental care at schools with mobile dental clinics.

Additionally, there’s a $250 Pre-IVF Fertility Testing Rebate to help eligible people cover costs.

The Government is providing financial assistance towards travel and accommodation costs when a patient needs to travel long distances for treatment that is not available locally through the Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Assistance Scheme (IPTAAS).

Plus, accessing essential health care will be made easier with free parking at rural and regional hospitals for staff, patients and families.

Tolls

There’s relief on our roads too.

We’re delivering on the promise of a $60 weekly toll cap to begin in January.

The cap will take cost-of-living pressure off more than 700,000 motorists. This is on top of the ongoing Toll Rebate Scheme and the M5 South-West Cashback Scheme.

There is also some relief for the freight industry that keep our state moving.

We’re reducing the truck multiplier by 33% on the M5 East and the M8, providing relief and encouraging more trucks to use the motorway network.

Recreation

Responsible cost-of-living decisions will see the government roll out a new means-tested $50 Active and Creative Kids voucher in February 2024.

While there’s a $50 voucher per child aged 3 to 6 not yet enrolled in school to start swimming lessons.

Eligible seniors, pensioners and veterans will receive discounted or concessional National Park passes.

A foundation for a better and more secure future for NSW

This Budget begins a new era of responsible long-term investment to support NSW families with cost-of-living pressures and to rebuild our essential services.

We are a government with a clear focus – managing our finances responsibly so we can provide support when you need it most and improve the essential services that we all rely on, now and into the future.

The Minns Labor Government has delivered a budget to build more high-quality homes, and to ensure consumers are protected in a tough cost-of-living environment.

A down-payment of $24 million will establish the NSW Building Commission and let it hit the ground running.

An initial team of more than 400 dedicated staff will work with Commissioner David Chandler to drive dodgy builders out of the market and ensure buyers get the quality homes they deserve.

The NSW Government recognises the pressing need for more homes – to ease pressure in the housing market and keep young people in NSW.

The Minns Government is committed to ensuring the tens of thousands of new homes that NSW needs are quality homes.

The creation of a standalone Building Commission won’t just deliver better quality homes, it will also let NSW Fair Trading focus on its core business – protecting consumers.

It will do this by:

• Working with the NSW Rental Commissioner to better protect the rights of renters and modernise the system to make it fairer.
• Delivering an additional $1 million in funding for renters’ advocacy organisations.
• Making sure products are safe and holding businesses that break the law accountable.
• Working to resolve strata disputes before they end up in expensive legal battles.

The Minns Budget lays the foundations for a better consumer protections system.

We’ve made the careful decisions needed to reprioritise spending and resources so we can invest in and regulators people in NSW need.

The Minns Labor Government is investing more than $5.3 billion this year to ensure the NSW Police Portfolio has the strength and support it needs to keep communities safe.

The Minns Labor Government’s first Budget begins a new era of responsible investment in essential services.

For the NSW Police Force, this means ensuring they have the resources they need to prevent crime and remain a world-class policing organisation.

The 2023-24 Budget sets a strong foundation for a better and more secure force by making sustainable investments in staff and infrastructure.

Police officer turnover more than doubled during the last term of the former government from 513 separations in 2017-18 to 1,286 in 2021-22.

This Government is committed to the long-term plan of rebuilding our Police Force over the next four years. The Budget commits $4 million in 2023-24 to fund an additional 20 police recruits who will hit the beat in Western Sydney after attesting at the end of this year.

We know this region includes some of Sydney’s fastest growing areas, so this investment will help not only the people who live there, but the officers who work hard to serve the community.

New investment of $103 million in capital expenditure over four years will support the upgrade of police facilities and infrastructure across the state, including:

• $27 million for critical police operational radio communicating capabilities across the south, southwest and far west of New South Wales.
• $23 million uplift in minor capital works to ensure that police officers have appropriate infrastructure, facilities, technology and equipment to respond to crime and keep the community safe.
• $8 million for the construction of a new police wharf at Balmain to help ensure the NSW Police Force not only has the equipment but infrastructure it needs to keep our communities and waterways safe.
• $3 million to upgrade police facilities at Helensburgh.
• $8 million for repairs and refurbishments, including at Glebe Police Station and Nepean Police Area Command.
• $2 million to support the crucial role of the NSW Police Marine Command through the upgrade of the Nemesis vessel that is used in extended offshore operations, including search and rescue and targeting narcotic importation.

Further, organised crime has no place on our streets and this Government is cracking down, with $15.4 million to create the Criminal Assets Confiscation Team, which will target, investigate and seize the ill-gotten wealth of crime kingpins, seriously disrupting their criminal activity.

$12 million will also enhance the capacity of our DNA testing program and make sure police continue to have the resources to identify offenders and solve serious crimes.
The NSW Police Force serves our community day in, day out, from proactive policing and keeping our roads safe, to addressing domestic violence and targeting organised crime.

These are sustainable, careful but strong measures to ensure the NSW community is protected; we know a strong, well-supported and well-resourced police force is critical to achieving that.

The 2023-24 Budget begins the long-term work of rebuilding our social and affordable housing system.

Housing affordability and availability is the biggest single pressure facing the people of NSW, with mortgage payments or rent the largest expense for most households.

Addressing the chronic shortage of housing across NSW requires a long-term plan. The NSW Government has today taken important steps which will support First Home Buyers, renters and victim survivors of domestic violence. The 2023-24 Budget includes:

Social and affordable housing and homelessness:

The NSW Government will establish Homes NSW to deliver better outcomes for public and social housing tenants, deliver more affordable and social housing and reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness in NSW.

The 2023-24 Budget will also begin addressing housing supply and provide critical support programs to our most vulnerable people through a $224 million Essential Housing Package. The package includes:

• $70 million debt financing to accelerate the delivery of social, affordable and private homes primarily in regional NSW.
• $35.3 million to continue to provide housing services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families through Services Our Waylaunch.
• $35 million to support critical maintenance for social housing.
• $20 million reserved in Restart NSW for dedicated mental health housing.
• $15 million to establish a NSW Housing Fund for urgent priority housing and homelessness measures to confront the housing crisis.
• $11.3 million to extend the Together Home program.
• $11 million urgent funding injection to Temporary Accommodation in 2023-24 to support rising homelessness.
• $10.5 million urgent funding injection to the Community Housing Leasing Program.
• $10 million Modular Housing Trial to deliver faster quality social housing.
• $5.9 million urgent funding for 2023-24 to allow specialist homelessness services to address increasing demand.

Boosting housing supply:

• $300 million reinvested in Landcomlaunch to accelerate the construction of thousands of new dwellings, with 30% for affordable housing.
• $400 million reserved in Restart NSW for the new Housing Infrastructure Fund, to deliver infrastructure that will unlock housing across the state.
• $1.5 billion for housing related infrastructure through the Housing and Productivity Contribution.
• $60 million supporting new “Build to Rent” trials in the South Coast and Northern Rivers.

Planning reforms:

• $24 million to establish a NSW Building Commissioner to support high quality housing and protect home buyers from sub-standard buildings.
• $9.1 million to assess housing supply opportunities across government-owned sites, including for the delivery of new social housing.
• $5.6 million for an artificial intelligence pilot to deliver planning system efficiencies.
• Overhaul and simplify the planning system by redirecting resources from the Greater Cities Commissionlaunch and Western Parkland City Authority.launch

Today is another step in the right direction to rebuild our housing system. That means more money to build social and affordable homes as well as funding for vital homelessness services that some of the most vulnerable people of NSW need.

The Minns Labor Government is delivering on its election commitments to fix essential services by delivering the biggest pay rises to NSW essential workers in decades.

Since being elected, the Government has worked closely with public sector unions to negotiate better industrial instruments for staff and, ultimately, better services for the people of NSW.

So far, 41 industrial instruments have locked in pay increases for more than 190,000 public sector workers, including health workers, rural fire service and child protection officers, with more still to come.

This is part of the Government’s efforts to restore essential services and address critical staff shortages across the public sector.

These industrial instruments will now mean better pay which will help retain and develop existing staff while attracting new talent to make sure we can keep the State’s essential services like schools, hospitals, and national parks running smoothly for the people of NSW.

In June 2023, the NSW Government took the first steps towards recognising the valuable work of our essential workers with the largest pay rise in more than a decade by providing a 4.5 per cent pay increase to public sector employees in 2023-24.

This pay increase for more than 400,000 public sector employees was just the beginning of a longterm plan to support wage growth and rebuild essential services.

The 2023-24 NSW Budget builds on these efforts with a range of measures locked in, including:

• Removal of the previous government’s wages cap from 1 September 2023.
• A $3.6 billion Essential Services Fund to support a new bargaining framework.
• Investing more than $2.5 billion to recruit and retain health workers.
• Securing a historic pay rise for the state’s nearly 100,000 teachers.

The Opposition has criticised the Minns Government’s Budget, saying it leaves behind hard working families struggling under Labor’s cost of living crisis and instead rewards Labor’s union mates for their support during the election.

The Budget relies on increased taxes and cuts to programs to offset the Government’s union wage deals.
 
“Since coming to office the Government has broken a string of promises,” Mr Speakman said.
 
“The Budget doesn’t account for major expenditure items such as the cost of extending the Eraring power station and assumes employee expenses won’t increase by more than 4.1% per year. This severely undermines the credibility of forward projections and forecasts.”
 
“This Government’s first priority is rewarding their union mates for their support during the election campaign. Chris Minns lacks vision, and ultimately families and households across NSW will pay the price.” 
 
Leader of the Nationals Dugald Saunders said the Budget failed regional NSW. 
 
“Chris Minns and his Government has again demonstrated that they don’t understand regional NSW. This Budget does little to help communities as they continue to recover from the impacts of drought and natural disasters,” Mr Saunders said.
 
“Vital cost of living programs that regional communities rely on have been cut, meaning more pressure on household budgets.”
 
Shadow Treasurer Damien Tudehope said the Budget forecasts, including a return to surplus next year, are entirely dodgy because the ultimate cost of the Minns Government pay deal with unions remains unknown. 
 
“The Budget today revealed that the wages bill (including superannuation) will exceed $55 billion in 2027. There is no prospect of the Government’s $3.6 billion being enough to cover union wage demands for the next four years.”
 
“Wages are the largest expenditure item in the Budget. We have seen a $17.6 billion tax hike – a massive $5.5 billion in 2023-24 alone – and cost of living measures cut to pay for this deal with the unions. Further unfunded wage increases will wipe out any prospect of achieving a surplus and risk the state’s Triple A credit rating.”
 
Shadow Minister for Finance Eleni Petinos said that over the coming days the Opposition will scrutinise the Budget and ensure that any secret cuts or creative accounting practices are brought to light.
 
“The Treasurer has boasted about $13 billion in savings, including $1.4 billion from the Education Department. We want to ensure that these cuts won’t impact frontline services and adversely affect people across NSW,” Ms Petinos said.
 
“In the midst of Labor’s cost of living crisis, rising inflation and high interest rates, the Government’s ongoing focus should be on providing support to families and households – not cutting essential cost of living programs as evidenced in today’s Budget.”
 
The Opposition will continue to hold Labor to account and ensure that families and households across NSW are put first.

Today’s announcement of the Essential Housing Package will fail to deliver more homes as the Minns Labor Government turns its back on new housing delivery.
 
“The Minns Government has already turned its back on new homes in regional communities, cancelling the much-needed Argyll Estate redevelopment in Coffs Harbour that was to deliver close to 500 homes, without any alternative on the table,” Shadow Minister for Housing Scott Farlow said.
 
“It’s strange that the Government would put $70 million towards accelerating the delivery of social and affordable homes, primarily in regional New South Wales, when just last week they cancelled much needed projects in regional NSW like the Argyll Estate redevelopment.”
 
“The Argyll Estate cancellation was ideological – the Government didn’t want private sector development on the site which was going to fund the social re-development. The outcome is that the Government’s ideology will deliver fewer private dwellings and fewer social and affordable homes. The Future Directions Policy introduced by the Coalition Government delivered more social, affordable and private homes, improved the social housing stock and was sustainably funded.”
 
“The question that Labor needs to answer is how they are going to fund their additional social housing commitments if they take the private sector out of the equation. Put simply, the money needs to come from somewhere.”
 
“In last year’s Coalition Budget, $300 million was allocated for capital maintenance works on over 15,800 State-owned social housing properties, extending the life of social homes and ensuring tenants have safe accommodation.”
 
“The Government needs to make clear whether their funding package today is in addition to that amount or just a re-allocation of existing commitments.”
 
Shadow Minister for Homelessness Natasha Maclaren-Jones welcomed the news that the Labor Government endorsed the successful Services Our Way and Together Home packages that were established by the Coalition in Government and have been delivering for vulnerable communities.
 
“In Government the Coalition invested more than $9 billion in social housing and increased the social housing portfolio by 10% over a decade with 154,000 properties, making it bigger than both Victoria and Queensland combined, while reducing the waiting list by 30,000 since we came into office,” Ms Maclaren-Jones concluded.

Minns Labor Government has ditched the former Coalition Government’s popular Electric Vehicle rebate that was helping make the transition to electric vehicles more affordable.
 
“This announcement is poor environmental policy and another example of NSW Labor just not getting it when it comes to cost of living pressures”, said Shadow Minister for Energy James Griffin.
 
Mr Griffin joined the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia in slamming the decision by the Minns Government to remove the EV rebate.
 
“Just like the Minns Labor Government’s decision to axe the stamp duty exemption hurt home ownership, this decision will make purchasing an EV difficult for people across NSW,” said Mr Griffin. “In fact, NSW Labor didn’t flag this cut during the election – they were saying one thing on the clean energy future before the election and got rid of this program after.”
 
The Electric Vehicle rebate helped families across New South Wales afford EVs and in turn saved them money on fuel costs and helped improve our air quality.
 
“This program was helping households to get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle, with new quarterly data released by the Federated Chamber of Automotive Industries showing that our state led the EV uptake in three out of four quarters of last year – a total of 10,798 EVs were sold in the state in 2022, leading the country in terms of absolute sales.”
 
“The Chris Minns’ decision to remove the rebate could seriously impact our position as the number one state and send NSW numbers into reverse gear while the rest of the world is heading in the other direction.”
 
“This policy is shortsighted and does nothing to help ease the cost of living pressures being felt around by households across NSW,” said Mr Griffin.
 
“I share concerns of the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia when it comes to this announcement. The CEO of the Electric Vehicle Council has called this a ‘betrayal’ and he is spot on. Premier Minns and Treasurer Mookhey have done a big U-turn when it comes to an EV future for NSW.”

The Minns Government will invest $260 million in the 2023-24 NSW Budget to increase electric vehicle uptake in NSW and help us achieve our Net Zero emissions targets.

The funding will underpin the rollout of a new NSW EV Strategy which will be developed in partnership with industry stakeholders, to boost investment in critical EV infrastructure.

The Government will prioritise investment in infrastructure for drivers in regional NSW, renters and people who live in apartments, and people who don’t have access to home charging so they can still take advantage of the cost savings from owning an EV. It will fund projects such as fast chargers on commuter routes, more kerbside chargers near apartment blocks, and upgraded grid capacity and charging hubs to support fleets.

This will ensure NSW is ready for EV ownership on a massive scale.

As part of the Minns Government’s reform package, rebates for EV purchases and exemptions for stamp duties will cease on 1 January 2024. However, transitional arrangements will ensure those who have purchased or placed a deposit on an eligible EV, and are awaiting delivery of the vehicle, will still be eligible, regardless of whether the vehicle has been delivered by that date.

These incentives are being phased out because they risk driving up the cost of EVs, resulting in increased profits to manufacturers.

A Road User Charge will commence as planned from 1 July 2027 (or, if earlier, when battery EVs make up 30 per cent of new light vehicle registrations) and will apply to all zero and low emissions vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, registered for the first time or transferred from 1 January 2024.

Minister for Energy and Climate Change Penny Sharpe said:

“Increasing the number of electric vehicles on our roads is an essential step to NSW getting to Net Zero emissions.

“To facilitate EV uptake, the NSW Government will increase funding to essential infrastructure.

“Whether it is in apartment buildings, commuter car parks or kerbside, we are committed to making sure the infrastructure is in place to get electric vehicle drivers from A to B.”

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said:

“It’s important the scarce taxpayer dollars we have to transition to electric vehicles are being well spent.

“The benefits of government spending shouldn’t be concentrated in the hands of the few, we must ensure it’s spread across the whole state.

“Savings gained from cutting these costly exemptions and rebates will be reinvested, where it is needed, to deliver a more equitable and efficient EV roll out.”