Winners
Teachers: Labor has funded an agreement with the NSW Teachers Federation to substantially increase wages, raising starting salaries from $75,791 to $85,000 and top-end wages from $113,042 to $122,100 from October 9. Education Minister Prue Car says she has found $1.4 billion in savings to help pay for the pay hikes.
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Other public servants: The government has ended the Coalition's 2.5 per cent state public sector wage cap and negotiated new pay deals for teachers and health staff. It has set aside $3.6 billion to fund pay rises for nurses, paramedics, teachers, prison officers, police and childcare workers and to help with recruitment. It will spend $572 million to offer permanent jobs to 1112 nurses and midwives hired during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Motorists: The budget tips an extra $390 million into a program aimed at helping regional councils repair damaged roads and $334 million into another fund for new road upgrades. Drivers who use toll roads regularly will benefit from a new $60 weekly fee cap.
Parents of toddlers: Parents with three-year-olds in long daycare will get $500 per child every year in fee relief. The government also plans to establish 100 new pre-schools on the grounds of public schools at a cost of $769 million.
Farmers: The government says it will invest an additional $298.5 million towards biosecurity and agricultural programs, including $80 million to stop the march of red imported fire ants, $77 million to fight varroa mite outbreaks and a $13 million feral pig control program.
Koalas: The budget allocates $80 million for a new Great Koala National Park on the Mid North Coast.
Losers
Parents: The government has cut back the state's Active Kids and Creative Kids voucher schemes. Eligibility for both programs will be tightened to only Family Tax Benefit Part A recipients and the value of the vouchers will halve from $100 to $50.
Coal exporters: Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has increased the royalties mining companies pay the government by about 30 per cent in a move he estimates will raise $2.7 billion over four years.
Electric vehicle buyers: The budget scraps a $3000 state government subsidy and stamp duty exemptions for anyone buying a new electric car but allocates $260 million for new charging infrastructure.
The arts: Mookhey says the previous government left more than a dozen cultural and innovation programs unfunded beyond this year, and Labor will not reinstate them, "saving" about $190 million.
Senior travellers: The government has scrapped the $250 pre-paid regional seniors travel card.
Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
