NSW Election 2019: Quick guide to who is promising what
From cost of living to education and infrastructure — this is the definitive list of all the election pledges made by the major parties so you can make up your mind about who to vote for.
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New South Wales goes to the polls at 8am today. Each candidate has pounded the pavement selling to voters why they are the best person to lead Australia’s greatest state.
From cost of living to education and infrastructure — this is the definitive list of all the election pledges made by the major parties so you can make up your mind about who to vote for before you cast your vote.
INFRASTRUCTURE
LIBS/NATS
- $6.4 billion for the Metro West
- $2 billion investment in the North South Rail Line
- $1.9 billion for the construction and refurbishment of three stadiums
- 3 light rail projects
- $8.3 billion for Sydney Metro Northwest,
- $5.7 billion for Sydney Metro City and Southwest
- 5 new motorways, including $16.8 billion for WestConnex
- A second Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek
- Opal Park and Ride to be expanded to 10 more train stations
- $955 million to upgrade Central Station
- $1.2 billion to ease congestion
- $960 million to upgrade Princes Hwy
LABOR
- 8 billion for Metro West
- $3 billion to upgrade existing rail network
- $1.1 billion to ease congestion
- $1 billion to build and upgrade water infrastructure
- $1 billion for upgrading train stations s
- $113 million to reinstate M4 cashback scheme
- Rule out further privatisations of public transport
- $900 million to boost investment in rural and regional roads
- Provide refunds to rail commuters for avoidable delays of 30 minutes or more
- Will make SCG Trust borrow funds to complete refurbishment of Allianz Stadium
LIBS/NATS
- Cap weekly public transport costs at $50 across the Opal network
- Double the number of Active Kids vouchers, allowing families to access two separate $100 vouchers for each child
- Invest $120 million to expand before and after school care for all public primary school students
- Interest-free loans for up to 300,000 households to install solar energy and battery storage systems
- 10 new Service NSW centres and four one-stop Service NSW buses
- Give all residents over 60 a Senior Savers card for discounts on groceries, travel
- Give seniors living in regional and rural NSW a $250 travel card
- 100,000 extra free TAFE and VET courses over the next four years
- $173 million to provide subsidised taxi fares for residents unable to use public transport due to disability
- 40 hip pocket measures available through Service NSW including free vehicle registration, energy rebates
LABOR
- Reinstate M4 cashback scheme costed at $113 million
- Demand Greater Sydney Commission rewrite “unfair” housing supply targets
- Give 500,000 households rebates for solar panels
- 600,000 free TAFE places over the next 10 years
- Re-regulating the electricity network to reduce power bills
- Free public transport for school kids
- Provide refunds to rail commuters for avoidable delays of 30 minutes or more
- Reduce the airport access fee to $5 and eliminate it for airport workers
- Scrap the $58 birth certificate fee
- Provide free glasses for disadvantaged school kids
EDUCATION
LIBS/NATS
Early childhood:
- Continue subsidised preschool education for 3 and 4-year-olds
- Extra $42.1m to improve preschool infrastructure
School:
- $1.2b to wipe the school maintenance backlog
- 4600 extra teachers
- Continue $6b plan to build and upgrade 170 schools
- $1.2m for ‘mindfulness’ workshops at 400 primary schools
- Educational giraffe Healthy Harold program modernised with $2m funding boost
- $88m for a school counsellor or psychologist and student support officer at every public high school
TAFE:
- New $80m campus in Western Sydney to train people in key trades
- 700,000 free TAFE and VET courses over four years including 30,000 for mature aged workers
LABOR
Early childhood:
- Double subsidies for 3 and 4-year-olds in long day care
- $292m boost to ‘Little Kids Big Futures’ fund to improve preschool access for disadvantaged kids
- $18m trial program to identify learning difficulties and other health issues
School:
- Airconditioners in every public school
- Extra 50 new schools with preschool or daycare to save parents from “double drop off”
- Replace 1000 demountable classrooms with buildings
- $5000 a year for public P & Cs community engagement
- Free eye testing in school for 52,000 primary students
TAFE:
- Extra 600,000 free TAFE places over 10 years
- Spend 70 per cent of vocational education budget on public TAFE
ENERGY
LIBS/NATS
Retirees:
- 130,000 self-funded retirees will be able to claim $200 a year to help with their power bills. The rebates will be available to customers who hold a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card through Service NSW centres and online from 1 July 2019.
Solar:
- Up to 300,000 households across NSW could save hundreds of dollars on their power bills by installing solar panels funded via a low interest loan.
- To be eligible for the scheme, applicants will need to be owner-occupiers of a house with an annual household income of up to $180,000.
- Loans of up to $9,000 per battery system and up to $14,000 per solar-battery system will be available.
- It is estimated that a family with a $500 quarterly electricity bill could save up to $285 a year on their bills while repaying the no interest loans.
- These savings could increase to more than $2,000 a year when the loan is fully repaid. Households with quarterly energy bills of $625 could save up to $457 a year while repaying the no-interest loans, and up to $2,200 a year when the loan is fully repaid.
- Households with quarterly energy bills of $875 could save up to $640 a year while repaying the loans, and up to $2,390 when the loan is repaid.
Coal:
- Supports a balanced mix of electricity generation in the NSW grid, which opens the door to potential new coal fired power stations being built.
Coal seam gas:
- Supports coal seam gas mining as long as it occurs outside certain exclusion zones and get the tick of approval from the Independent Planning Commission.
Carbon emissions:
- Targeting net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
LABOR
Solar:
- Labor will support 500,000 households to install roof top solar and help reduce their electricity bills over the next 10 years.
- Under Labor’s Solar Homes policy, owner occupied households in NSW with a combined income of $180,000 or less would be eligible for a rebate, to be capped at $2,200 per household.
- On average, households with a 4 kilowatt solar system could expect to save $600 a year off the average yearly household electricity bill of $1800, according to the Smart Energy Council.
- Labor will deliver a total of 7 gigawatts of new, renewable energy — enough energy to power more than 3 million homes in the state (as many homes as NSW has today) — by 2030, ensuring NSW has secure, clean and affordable energy.
- This package includes the creation of a new State Owned Corporation to deliver a further 1 gigawatt of renewable energy generation and storage over the next decade.
Michael Daley’s Labor Government, if elected in March, will introduce NSW’s first renewable energy target. It will require NSW to generate: At least 50 per cent of our state’s energy from renewable sources by 2030; and move to as close to as possible 100 per cent energy from renewable sources by 2050.
Coal: Doesn’t see a future for new coal-fired power stations in NSW.
Coal seam gas: Labor wants a statewide moratorium on CSG, underpinned by a range of permanent ‘no go’ areas where CSG should never be permitted, including core water catchments.
Carbon emissions: Targeting net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
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