Major NSW infrastructure spending still on ice
NSW gets just $361.9m of new infrastructure funding over eight years, while billions of dollars for projects remain hostage to a snap 90-day review. See how NSW fared in other areas of the federal budget.
NSW
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NSW will get just $361.9 million of new infrastructure funding — spread out over eight years — from Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ second budget, while funding for billions of dollars in projects remains hostage to a snap 90-day review.
Tuesday’s budget also reveals that NSW is set to get $549 million less from the commonwealth this year than was forecast in October.
So-called “payments for specific purposes” and GST-related payments to NSW have both been revised down since the October budget, with NSW now set to get $48.98 billion from the Commonwealth in the year to July.
The Commonwealth expects to deliver $51.3 billion in funding to NSW next financial year, growing to $55 billion in 2026-27.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Last night’s budget committed $1.8 billion in funding over a decade for infrastructure priorities nationwide, committing an extra almost $362 million more for projects in NSW by 2031-2032 financial year.
That money will include cash for safety upgrades on the Bells Line of Road and for Nowra Bypass planning.
The Commonwealth estimates infrastructure funding to NSW to come to $3.8 billion next financial year, with NSW on track to receive more infrastructure spending than other states over the next four years.
More than $1 billion is committed over the next four years to support transport infrastructure in Sydney’s west, and the Hunter Region will get $100 million to “become hydrogen ready”.
Dr Chalmers said a $2 billion “Hydrogen Headstart program,” unveiled last night, will also help NSW, by helping Wollongong “make and export everything from renewable energy to green steel”.
Just over $23 million will be spent cutting development costs, boosting housing supply and improving Western Sydney amenities, before funding runs out next year.
But hundreds of millions have been ripped out from a major water security project near Tamworth with the budget officially cancelling $595 million in funding for the Dungowan Dam.
A snap 90-day review of infrastructure projects, announced before budget night, could take an axe to a raft of other NSW projects in the nation’s $120 billion infrastructure pipeline.
In a statement, Infrastructure Minister Catherine King said the review would ensure “we are investing in projects that are truly nationally significant”.
Despite the review, the government last night identified three major infrastructure projects continuing to receive federal funding: a metro link from St Marys to the Western Sydney Airport (with $5.2 billion in funding), the Coffs Harbour Bypass ($1.8b), and an upgrade of the Great Western Highway upgrade from Katoomba to Lithgow ($2b).
NSW ENERGY RELIEF
Tuesday’s budget will deliver an estimated $481 million in electricity bill relief for households and small businesses in NSW next year.
Around 1.6 million households in NSW are expected to be eligible for a $500 rebate – which will apply to those who receiving income support, pensioners and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders, and Family Tax Benefit recipients.
But a NSW family with average consumption that does not qualify for the discount faces a $380 bill increase next financial year, based on Treasury figures.
Around 1.8 million small businesses in NSW are expected to be eligible for an incentives to be smarter with their energy use including by installing saving devices.
HOUSING
While 320,000 NSW households receiving maximum Commonwealth Rent Assistance rates will get an extra $31 per fortnight to help them cover rent, both federal and state governments will come under pressure to boost housing supply to support an expected influx of migrants to our state.
Based on historical trends, around a third of the 400,000 overseas migrants expected to come into Australia by July are expected to settle in NSW.
Before the budget, Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest called for the commonwealth to put more money into infrastructure to support new developments.
“The massive increase in migration is going to have an impact on the states and their capacity to deliver infrastructure,” he said on Monday.
STATE LEADERS DEMANDS
Before the budget was handed down, Premier Chris Minns declared the priority for “all governments” should be on “addressing cost of living pressures” including on power prices.
“We are working with the Federal Government to deliver cost of living relief,” he said. Mr Minns told The Daily Telegraph that he would be looking to ensure NSW “receives its fair share of funding – on infrastructure, education, and health”.
While awaiting the release of the budget, Liberal Leader Mark Speakman urged the Albanese government not to pursue a surplus “at the expense of essential NSW infrastructure projects”.
“The Federal Labor government must ensure the Budget delivers funding and investment that NSW needs,” he said.
$365M TO HAVE OUR SAY ON VOICE
A referendum on introducing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament to be put to Australians later this year will cost taxpayers almost $365m.
All Australian households will get information pamphlets for both the “yes” and “no” cases, costing $10.6m while another $10.5m will be spent on boosting mental health support for First Nations people during the referendum.
The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) and the Museum of Australian Democracy will get a $12m cash injection for “neutral” education and awareness activities while the NIAA will get an addition $5.5m for consultation, policy and delivery.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney said a Voice to Parliament could make a “practical difference”.
“Later this year, we will have an opportunity to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s First peoples through a Voice to Parliament,” she said. “The Voice will help bring about practical change by providing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a direct line of advice to the Australian parliament and government.
“Listening to grassroots solutions will help Close the Gap and improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
The Commonwealth will also extend existing funding to allow for regional Australians to have their say on the Voice.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government’s pursuit of a Voice was driven by the spirit of creating a more inclusive Australia.
- By Angiria Bharadwaj
DAM SHAME FOR WATER IN BUSH
A bid to boost water security in NSW’s northwest has officially been killed off, with federal Labor continuing the party’s dam-slashing spree by dumping a multimillion-dollar overhaul of the Dungowan Dam.
Budget papers reveal the federal government will axe the long-mooted plans to improve water storage at the Dungowan Dam, near Tamworth, in a bid to save the $595m which was to be spent over seven years on the project.
According to the budget papers, “the business case did not provide sufficient support for construction of the project”, with the demise of the scheme set to help the government save $872.5m as part of a raft of water-related projects it’ll knife across the nation.
It’s not the only NSW dam project to hit the skids in the budget, with a proposal to raise the wall of Wyangala Dam, near the town of Cowra in the state’s central west, also deferred a second time, after previously being pushed back in Labor’s October budget.
The papers say a final decision on funding to raise the Wyangala wall – which would have cost $19.1m from 2026-2027 – would be made “once planning work is complete”.
It sets the stage for Labor to dump the Wyangala project, after it and the Dungowan project were previously deferred in the first Albanese budget in October last year.
The Morrison government committed $433m to the Dungowan project in the March 2022 budget.
The decision to scrap Dungowan is in line with a decision by state Labor not to go ahead with the dam.
That decision will save the Minns government $44.9 million.
The bad news for major water projects in NSW comes a month after Labor’s state counterparts confirmed it would scrap a proposal to raise the Warragamba Dam wall, a promise it took to the state election earlier this year.
The death of the Warragamba Dam proposal comes after federal Labor, in their inaugural budget in October last year, didn’t stump up any funding for the project, despite then-NSW premier Dominic Perrottet hoping for Commonwealth help in paying for the estimated $1.6bn project.
Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek said her government was investing $197.1m in projects “that provide safe, reliable and secure water for regional and remote communities”.
The future of a number of projects in NSW has been put at risk by a hastily convened infrastructure review
Opposition regional transport and roads spokesman Sam Farraway said two-thirds of the projects under review by the federal government were in the regions and voiced concerns over them being axed.
“As shadow regional transport Minister and a Nationals MP, I’ll be watching closely what projects are under review and what essentially have been put on the chopping block,” Mr Farraway said.
“It appears the regions will be on the chopping block in this federal budget.”
- By Lachlan Leeming
NSW TO HAVE 578K ARRIVALS by 2027
NSW is expected to have 578,000 more people by 2027, according to Treasury projections, putting pressure on Sydney’s available housing.
The population of the state is expected to jump up by over 100,000 people every year until that point.
Figures released by the Treasury Centre for Population predict while much of the population growth is due to increased migration, less people will choose to move away from NSW than they have in previous years. In 2021-22 around 43,500 people left the state, while in 2027 only 23,600 people are expected to have moved away.
The numbers of families moving out of the state are slim in comparison to those choosing NSW as their home.
Nationally, Australia is expecting over 1.5 million migrants by 2027. Around 400,000 of those entered the country in the 2022-23 financial year. Treasury estimates that number will later decrease to around 260,000 people a year.
TERRORIST WATCH TO CAST $130M
Monitoring convicted terrorists and ISIS brides who are back in the community will cost taxpayers $178,000 a day, as ASIO warns lone-wolf attackers remain a threat.
Budget papers reveal $130m has been allocated over two years to track high-risk terror offenders after they have been released at the end of their sentences.
That bill includes monitoring of Australian women who were married to ISIS fighters but have recently returned to Australia from refugee camps in Syria.
The overall terror threat has been reduced from probable to possible but the budget papers warn teenagers are at risk of radicalisation.
“Australia remains a potential terrorist target, with the most likely form of attack conducted by a ‘lone actor’ or small cells on the periphery of established groups,” budget papers signed off by Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said.
“The reach of extremist content online means that individuals are radicalising very quickly.”
The overall ASIO budget will increase by $12.2m to $532.1m.
- By Stephen Drill
WORLDPRICE BILL REVEALED
Taxpayers paid a $900,000 bill for Sydney’s WorldPride parade across the Harbour Bridge earlier this year.
The figures, released by the federal government on Tuesday, make no mention of any continued investment into the parade in the next four years.
The Mardi Gras parade, held on March 5, returned to its home on Oxford St for the first time since Covid-19 meant it had to be moved to the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Anthony Albanese took personal interest in the Mardi Gras parade and become the first sitting Prime Minister to participate.
Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe also made headlines when she lay in front of a float during the parade, before being escorted away by police.
SYDNEY HARBOUR SET FOR $45M INVESTMENT
Over $45m will be injected into the preservation of Sydney Harbour over two years to continue the repair of heritage-listed infrastructure and improve public safety at North Head Sanctuary and Cockatoo Island.
The federal government said it would consider future funding for infrastructure improvements through a new body, titled The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, when longer-term delivery plans are known.
$11.5M TO HELP FLY FLAGE FOR AUSTRALIA DAY
The government has invested millions of dollars into Australia Day activities, programs and events.
Hidden within the federal budget papers was $11.5m in funding to support the operations of the National Australia Day Council.
The funding also includes a $10m grants program which will be used to deliver community events for the next Australia Day on January 26, 2024.
DIESEL CHARGES ADD TO TRUCKIES’ HEAVY LOAD
NSW truckies have lost out in the federal budget and will have to pay more to keep their trucks on the roads.
The government will increase the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge rate by 6 per cent per year for the next three years. The charge is currently at 27.2c per litre of diesel. This will bring the new rate to 32.4c per litre.
The increase in the road user charge is designed to contribute to road maintenance and repairs.
BOOST FOR AIRPORT AT BADGERYS
The booming region of Western Sydney has received an undisclosed cash injection for the new airport at Badgerys Creek.
The federal government funding will go towards the construction of Western Sydney Airport’s border security and law enforcement facilities and departments, alongside $18.5m for wider border agencies across the country.
Construction on the Nancy-Bird Walton Airport is set to be completed in 2026.
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