Category: NSW News

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.”

The funding of integrity agencies is being put at arm’s length and agencies will receive an additional $228.6 million in new expenditure over 10 years to help them continue to deliver their valuable work.

New arrangements announced today by the NSW Government will safeguard the independence of the state’s five key integrity agencies and ensure they remain adequately resourced to maintain their key role in upholding our democracy.

Building on recommendations of a 2020 Public Accountability Committee Report and a 2022 report published by the Auditor-General, the NSW Government will implement a transparent budget management model for the following agencies:

• Audit Office of New South Wales
• the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)
• the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission
• the New South Wales Electoral Commission
• the New South Wales Ombudsman’s Office.

Under the new model, the agencies have been permanently removed from the Department of Premier and the Cabinet Office financial management processes and excluded from efficiency dividends.

Other permanent measures to ensure agency independence include:

• a specialist integrity agency unit within NSW Treasury to manage representations of agency funding needs and provide agencies with information on their funding outcomes.
• the ability for agencies to review Treasury’s advice to Cabinet on funding bids and provide their own advice directly to Cabinet.
• transparent reporting of Cabinet budget decisions impacting agencies to the relevant supervising committee of the Parliament.

The upcoming 2023-24 Budget will include extra funding:

• $75.6m in additional net expenditure for the NSW Electoral Commission for the 2024 Local Government Elections over 2023-24 and 2024-25.
• $49.4m in new expenditure and $9.8m in new capital expenditure over 10 years for the ICAC to address both immediate and long-term operation and service delivery needs.
• $30.5 million in expenditure over 10 years for the Ombudsman to carry out additional duties prescribed in legislation and meet additional service requirements. 
• $21.1 million in expenditure over 10 years for the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission to meet its growing remit and oversight activities.

NSW Special Minister of State John Graham said:

“$228.6 million in new expenditure to the State’s key integrity agencies will alleviate previous resourcing pressures and allow them to continue their work investigating, exposing, and preventing corruption and maladministration.

“This new model, along with new funding demonstrates the Government’s commitment to supporting our integrity agencies.”

The NSW Government’s first Budget includes planning for the GST ‘no worse off’ guarantee to be made permanent, to ensure every state and territory receives their fair share of revenue.

The guarantee was established after the GST floor was introduced in 2018 to make sure that all states and territories were no worse off and received a guaranteed minimum 70 per cent share of GST revenue.

The ‘no worse off’ guarantee requires the Australian Government to compensate states for shortfalls in their GST revenue share between the old and new distribution arrangements until 2026-27.

NSW is expected to receive around $3.8 billion in ‘no worse off’ payments over the next two financial years (2023-24 and 2024-25).

The end of the GST ‘no worse off’ guarantee would be disastrous for New South Wales. It is the money required to employ more than 8,000 nurses or teachers. The end of the guarantee would risk essential services and require the reintroduction of inefficient taxes.

Given the impact this would have on New South Wales, and the Australian Government’s commitment to essential services, it would not make sense for the no worse off guarantee to end.

Future NSW Budget planning will be made on the assumption of the continuation of the GST ‘no-worse off guarantee’.

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said:

“My focus is on making sure New South Wales gets its fair share of GST revenue. The ‘no worse off’ guarantee helps deliver critical services and infrastructure.

“All states and territories are in agreement that the guarantee should continue.”

The 2023-24 Budget begins the long-term work of rebuilding our social and affordable housing system, through a $224 million Essential Housing Package.

Over the next 12 months, the initial investment will begin to address the historic neglect of new social housing supply and trial innovative solutions to get people off the social housing waitlist.

The face of homelessness continues to change as we work through tackling the state’s housing crisis. We have seen an increase of young people, seniors over the age of 55 and those with no previous history of homelessness unable to get access to housing.

The Essential Housing Package will help strengthen the safety net for those experiencing housing insecurity and provide wrap around support and services for some of our most vulnerable.
 
The package includes crucial funding to extend access to temporary accommodation to create a better place for people in crisis, along with funding to specialist homelessness services that provide certainty and stability for the people who need it most.

After more than a decade of inaction and neglect from the former government we are committed to rebuilding our housing system. As a start, we’re delivering more homes across our state and improving specialist homelessness services.

New $224 million Essential Housing Package to support social housing and homelessness services will include:

• $70.0 million financing facility to accelerate the delivery of social and affordable homes, primarily in regional New South Wales, by funding initial land and site works.
• $35.3 million for housing services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and families through Services Our Way.
• $35.0 million to support critical maintenance for social housing.
• $20.0 million reserved in Restart NSW for dedicated mental health housing.
• $15 million towards a NSW Housing Fund for priority housing and homelessness measures.
• $11.3 million urgent funding to continue the Together Home program in 2023-24.
• $11 million emergency funding for Temporary Accommodation in 2023-24 to support vulnerable people.
• $10.5 million additional funding to the Community Housing Leasing program.
• $10.0 million for a Modular Housing Trial to deliver faster quality social housing.
• $5.9 million urgent funding to Specialist Homelessness Services to respond to increasing demand.

NSW Premier, Chris Minns said:

“Everyone deserves access to safe and secure shelter. This package will be a boost to social and affordable housing and will help break cycles of homelessness.

“This is an important first step as we better support people in some of the most vulnerable situations.

“We have a housing crisis in New South Wales, and we are working across the government to address the challenges.”

NSW Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Rose Jackson said:

“Today is another step in the right direction as we rebuild our housing system.

“We know there is more work to do but our focus is on directing more money to build social and affordable homes and ensuring everyone in NSW has a safe place to call home.”

Almost three-quarters of a million motorists will qualify for toll relief under the Minns Labor Government’s $60 toll cap, confirmed to begin on January 1.

Focused on easing the cost-of-living crisis for families, NSW Budget 2023-24 allocates $561 million over two years to the toll cap.

An election promise delivered, the toll cap will benefit an estimated 720,000 toll account owners, with motorists able to claim back spend above $60 a week via a quarterly refund from Service NSW.

A motorist in Silverwater will receive an average $475 back in 2024, while in Glendenning toll account owners will be able to claim an average of $540 cash back, $440 in Blacktown, $504 in Rosehill, $446 in Quakers Hill, $286 in Holsworthy and $199 in Gosford, according to Transport for NSW forecasts.

Kellyville and its surrounding suburbs are where most drivers by number will benefit, with 13,240 toll accounts to claim an average $399 a year each – or almost $5.3 million across the postcode in 2024.

The toll cap is expected to be accessed by 14 times as many motorists as was anticipated when announced by Labor prior to the election. At that time, an estimated 51,000 motorists were forecast to benefit under a $151 million plan.

The toll cap design will deliver most relief to suburbs in Sydney’s west that have been hit hardest by the former government’s policies that made Sydney the most tolled city in the world.

The NSW Government will also proceed with toll rebates for heavy vehicles using the M5 East and M8 tunnels, with implementation on track for January 1.

Trucks will receive a rebate for a third of their trip travelled on the M5 East and M8, costing $54 million over the two-year trial.

The NSW Government is currently undertaking an independent review of toll roads, led by Professor Allan Fels AO and Dr David Cousins AM who will report back with recommendations to make the system safer, fairer and more efficient.

Minister for Roads John Graham said:

“More motorists are going to access the $60 toll cap scheme than originally anticipated and I am very pleased to say more than 700,000 motorway users are now going to benefit.

“Motorists, particularly in western Sydney where access to public transport alternatives have been more limited than in other parts of the city, have been crying out for relief from the ever-rising burden of tolls on the family budget. 

“We know people are doing it tough and ‘toll mania’ is one of the most unpopular legacies of the former government.

“The Minns Labor Government’s $60 toll cap is part of ending an era in which government placed more emphasis on growing toll revenue than on helping people get around Sydney without breaking the bank.”