What we already know about this year’s NSW budget

When the Minns government hands down its third state budget on June 24, it’s likely to follow the fiscal restraint of the first two.

That’s not least because the government failed to push through its controversial workers’ compensation reforms this month, which Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has claimed would save the state billions of dollars.

At his budget preview speech last month, Mookhey said his first budget had been about resetting priorities, his second about dealing with NSW’s losses in the GST carve-up, while his third would bring “the pieces together”.

When Mookhey provides the full breakdown of the state’s finances on Tuesday, the focus is expected to be firmly on housing and essential services, and the treasurer has already spotlighted the housing crisis and his desire to remove obstructions to the “need to build, build, build”.

Here’s everything we already know about what’s in the 2025 NSW budget (list will be updated daily):

Transport

The new Sydney Fish Market building, which is due to open later this year.Credit: Edwina Pickles

• A ferry wharf on Blackwattle Bay is among $70 million in proposed transport upgrades announced on Monday, giving commuters easy access to the new Sydney Fish Market due to open this year. First flagged in January, the wharf is expected to give up to 6 million visitors a year the option of arriving at the $836 million market via the harbour. On the $30 million wharf’s completion, the market will have a ferry service to Barangaroo. The nearby Wentworth Park light rail stop will also receive a $40 million upgrade to facilitate a sharp rise in fish market visitors. New features are expected to include lifts, ramps, platform upgrades, improved lighting, signage, landscaping and CCTV.
• The NSW Labor government will commit $452 million to increase the number of commuter services and accelerate the rollout of new buses. As part of the new funding, $56 million will be spent on 50 new articulated – or “bendy” – buses to address capacity shortages on some of the busiest routes in Sydney.
• $150 million of this funding will go towards providing more regular school bus services in fast-growing outer suburbs of Sydney and regional locations, with $26 million spent on new buses on these routes.
• NSW Labor will match the federal government’s $250 million to widen the 3.4 kilometre western section of Mona Vale Road, with construction to begin in 2028.
• A joint investment with the federal government will be used to plan and develop critical road upgrades in north-west Sydney, including an additional $49 million for the Richmond road corridor, $30 million towards the connection of Townson and Burdekin roads in Schofields and $27 million to upgrade Garfield Road West in Marsden Park.
• The NSW government alone has committed $10 million to plan road infrastructure around the future Rouse Hill Hospital, $3.5 million to plan for a new rail overpass at Rooty Hill, and $1.5 million to upgrade a congestion pinch point at Flushcombe and Bungarribee roads in Blacktown.
• Direct services between Parramatta and the Sydney CBD through the Ryde area will be reinstated, and new commuter and weekend services to regional areas will be established.
• The government will spend $50 million on road upgrades across the western Sydney airport development region, including traffic signals at Elizabeth Drive and Luddenham Road, and a turning lane at Mamre Road and Kerrs Road.
• $39 million, including $12.5 million from the federal government, will be used to plan three key routes on Devonshire Road, Devonshire Link Road and Bradfield Metro Link Road.
• Incident response teams will be boosted with $29.6 million to deploy rapidly to accidents and traffic delays on key routes to and from the airport, and across the south-west Sydney road network.
• The Thornton Bridge duplication project in the Hunter Valley will receive an additional $35 million to help access to Thornton Road, an essential flood-free route during natural disasters.
• More than 1000 new road signs will be put up across Sydney directing to the Aerotropolis and Western Sydney Airport, at a cost of $30 million.

Health

Professor David Brown at the Westmead Hospital pathology lab, which the government will spend $492 million to replace.Credit: Nick Moir

• The government will invest $23 million to reduce the number of planned surgeries waiting longer than clinically recommended, enabling an estimated 3500 additional surgeries to be completed over the next year.
• $492 million will be used to build a state-of-the-art pathology service in western Sydney, including an upgraded high-security lab for dangerous infectious diseases to replace the one Westmead Hospital built half a century ago.
• An $83 million boost for maternity care includes $44.8 million to increase access to continued care after birth, including funding 53 additional full-time midwives in regional NSW, as well as $26.8 million to maintain seven permanent and five mobile family care services and the Macksville residential unit.
• As part of this package, $5.7 million will support free vaccination to protect pregnant women and their babies against whooping cough, flu and RSV, while funding will also enhance maternity care training for clinicians and information for patients, with $250,000 used to fund virtual paediatrician support at GPs across the state.
• As many as 7500 additional people will receive access to dental care through a $37.5 million expansion of the Mobile Dental Van program, including free dental education, care and hygiene products for regional communities, Aboriginal people, disadvantaged children and communities with a high risk of dental disease.
• The government will invest $20.7 million to improve access to therapies for rare blood cancers, eye conditions and high-risk neuroblastoma.
• The Kookaburra Centre, the first facility of its kind to provide urgent care for children with chronic and complex health conditions, will be built at Westmead Children’s Hospital under a $40.1 million investment.
• The Royal Flying Doctor Service will receive an additional $15 million to support the transport of clinicians and patients to and from remote areas.
• An additional $700 million will go towards the construction of the planned new Bankstown Hospital, first promised in 2019, bringing the total investment under the Minns and former Coalition governments to $2 billion.

Education

The public school small group tutoring program will receive an additional $27 million in 2025.Credit: Louie Douvis

• Four new schools with a promised 140 new classrooms accommodating 2500 students headline a $9 billion commitment to school infrastructure over the coming four years.
• The government will increase its spend to more than $17,000 per public school student for this calendar year, to bring its total 2025 investment to $13.1 billion, including funding carried over from the 2024-25 budget.
• This year’s small group tutoring program will be boosted to $80 million, a $27 million increase on last year, to help lift literacy and numeracy outcomes for as many as 60,000 public school students.
• University teaching students will be supported to gain classroom experience as tutors under the program, in which students in groups of two to five can now receive up to 15 weeks of tutoring.
• $3.4 billion will be invested in TAFE and skills funding, as part of the plan to tackle the housing crisis, including an additional $40.2 million over two years towards an additional 23,000 fee-free construction apprenticeships, and $13.8 million to support 4800 workers into residential construction jobs.
• As part of the package, $121 million will be used to repair and modernise TAFE campuses statewide, $78 million will go towards shifting eligible teachers from casual to permanent roles, and $100 million will be used to relocate the TAFE NSW Bankstown campus to allow for the building of the new hospital.
• Thornton Public School in Maitland will receive 16 new classrooms, a new library, new bathrooms and a covered outdoor learning area under a multimillion-dollar upgrade.

Jobs and economy

More than $27 million will be used to help fund the future economic development of coal mining regions, initially focusing on the Hunter and Central West.Credit: Janie Barrett

• The government has pledged $17.7 million to create an Investment Delivery Authority, alongside nearly $80 million in innovation funding as part of the budget.
• The Building Commission NSW will receive $145.1 million so the dedicated building regulator can continue to police the sector, allowing it to digitise penalty infringement notices, and support joint taskforces with Fair Trading, ASIC, ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) and the NSW State Coroner.
• An additional $27.3 million over four years will be used to help fund the Future Jobs and Investment Authority, to guide the economic development of four coal mining regions in NSW, initially focusing on the Hunter and Central West.

Environment and energy

The NSW government will invest $100 million in improving the state’s biosecurity response system.Credit: Belinda Soole

• The state’s biosecurity systems will receive a further $100 million to develop an improved detection, protection and response model.
• $41.2 million will be invested in research and development in NSW’s primary industries, including digital infrastructure to promote research in AI-assisted farming, and a graduate program for young scientists in the agriculture industry.
• The government will spend $115.5 million on a new logistics precinct at the site of the former BHP steelworks in Newcastle, to support the delivery of renewable energy across the state, including storage for wind turbines and transformers.
• $21.5 million will be allocated to continue crucial re-nourishment works at Stockton Beach, in the Hunter region. The state government has already delivered 130,000 cubic metres of sand to the beach.

Housing and public spaces

$30.4 million will be invested in expanding crisis housing and homelessness services in the face of statewide housing shortages.Credit: Louise Kennerley

• The NSW government will indefinitely extend a 50 per cent reduction in assessed land value that lowers tax bills for eligible build-to-rent housing developments, previously set to end in 2039, as part of efforts to build 377,000 homes under the National Housing Accord.
• Under new “works-in-kind” agreements, meant to improve the feasibility of greenfield sites, developers will be able to dedicate land for public purposes or deliver infrastructure projects, rather than paying a housing and productivity contribution throughout the approval process.
• Penrith Beach, aka “Pondi”, will return for two more summers thanks to a $5.2 million investment, while $4 million will go towards improvements to Sydney International Regatta Centre and Penrith Whitewater Stadium.
• The government will also expand free vehicle access to national parks in NSW to all Commonwealth Veteran Card holders.
• A $59.8 million refurbishment of Pyrmont Bridge will conserve the heritage-listed entry point to the Sydney CBD.
• The Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan and Botanic Garden Mount Tomah will be renewed at a cost of $9 million.
• $10 million will be spent on maintaining infrastructure at Sydney Olympic Park’s sporting and recreation precinct.
• The UNESCO-listed Parramatta Park will undergo a $1 million renewal across the 85-hectare site.
• $12.4 million will go towards maintaining and upgrading fire trails to provide safe access for firefighters to battle bushfires.
• The maintenance of public halls, sports facilities, walking trails and bridges and crown land will benefit from an additional $7.1 million.
• Crown land contaminated by agriculture, mining and other industries will be remediated and restored for use under an additional $6 million.
• The erosion-affected seawall shoreline at Warrawong Parklands at Lake Illawarra will be stabilised at a cost of $5 million.
• A new homelessness package will have $20 million allocated to expand crisis and transitional housing, and an additional $10.4 million over four years for support services through the Rev Bill Crews Foundation.

Closing the Gap

The $202.4 million of funding for Closing the Gap initiatives has been designed in partnership with the NSW Coalition of Aboriginal Peak Organisations for the first time.Credit: Rhett Wyman

• An additional $202.4 million over the next four years will go towards delivering 14 Closing the Gap initiatives, with funding designed in partnership for the first time with the NSW Coalition of Aboriginal Peak Organisations, which will receive $18.4 million over three years to support its involvement.
• As part of the package, $20 million will fund First Nations-led programs to support adults and children leaving custody and reduce the likelihood of reoffending, while $13.4 million will support the NSW Aboriginal Legal Service and the Department of Communities and Justice to reduce the over-representation of Indigenous children in the justice system.
• $23.1 million will help continue the work of community-led suicide prevention programs through Aboriginal community health organisations.
• The “Aboriginal Families First 2000 Days program” will provide Aboriginal mothers and families with culturally appropriate continuous care from pregnancy to starting school with $21.9 million additional funding, while 10 language centres will receive $23.8 million to support the teaching of Aboriginal languages.
• Aboriginal organisations and local land councils will be allocated $17.9 million to acquire and make the most of land, including rezoning.
• $31.5 million will be dedicated to assisting Aboriginal people’s access and decisions about data about themselves across state government portfolios.
• $6.2 million to will support First Nations families to build relationships with schools and community organisations to improve academic and wellbeing outcomes, while $12.1 million will fund employment programs in regional communities to support work on country and sustainable resource management.

Law and order

Sydney’s Downing Centre will be upgraded with additional courtrooms and facilities for virtual hearings.Credit: Wolter Peeters

• $125.8 million will be spent on critical cyber upgrades, technology and specialist equipment for the NSW Police Force, included $24.6 million for the Cyber Security Enhancement Program; $50 million to support the Critical Network Program, including improving contact centre technology for 000, the Police Assistance Line and Crime Stoppers; and $45.2 million to upgrade and modernise a secure payroll platform to support more than 21,000 staff.
• A new maritime protection and counter-terrorism vessel will replace the current 20-year-old Nemesis vessel at a cost of $46.3 million as part of offshore efforts to combat crime and illegal drug importation.
• Survivors of violent crime and their family members can access an additional $227 million of counselling and assistance over five years through the Victims Support Service, including help with funeral and medical expenses, as well as a new $49.4 million hub to support them to participate in legal proceedings.
• Five new courtrooms will be created as part of a $34.5 million upgrade of Sydney Downing Centre and John Maddison Tower, which includes audiovisual facilities for more virtual hearings.
• The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions will receive $48.3 million to fund extra solicitors.
• $12.8 million will support 15 staff to help reduce trauma for child victims and witnesses in sexual offence proceedings.
• An additional $100.5 million will be spent to address rising demand in the correctional system, including from record numbers of alleged offenders held on remand after changes to domestic violence bail laws.
• $9.3 million will be used to implement monitoring of offenders under Serious Domestic Abuse Prevention Orders.
• $2.3 million will go towards ensuring eligible victims know about their right to sign up to registers to receive information about an offender.
• $11.2 million will be invested in long-term reform of family and domestic violence response systems, including early intervention and a $2 million standalone Aboriginal domestic, family and sexual violence plan.

Emergency services

Ageing Fire and Rescue NSW trucks will be replaced under $17 million of funding over two years.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

• $42.2 million will be invested to recruit 52 firefighters to staff the new Badgerys Creek Fire Station in south-west Sydney, set to become the region’s largest.
• An additional $17 million over two years will deliver at least 15 new firetrucks to replace ageing Fire and Rescue NSW vehicles.
• Rural Fire Service aviation funding for fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters will be increased to $34.4 million over four years as competition for resources increases, as fire seasons extend around the world.
• The landline and mobile-phone emergency alert system for floods and bushfires will receive an additional $6.4 million.

Culture and entertainment

$100 million will be put towards the search for a second Sydney film studio to join Moore Park’s Disney studios.Credit: Nick Moir

• A $100 million capital fund is being established to begin the search for the location of a second Sydney film studio, to join Disney Studios at Moore Park.
• The NSW screen and digital games sector will receive a further $280 million through existing rebate programs and the Made in NSW fund, a five-year support program for the production of films and TV dramas.
• An overhaul of the regulatory framework for screen and games production will reduce the administrative burden on councils and productions, including tripling the time filming can occur on private land without a development approval.

Integrity agencies

The ICAC is one of several integrity agencies that will receive funding in the state budget.Credit:

• The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) will get a $42 million boost to migrate from an on-site information technology system to the cloud, improving performance and security of sensitive information.
• In preparation for the 2027 state election, the NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC) will receive $108 million in new funding to plan and deliver the poll.
• A $102 million investment in the NSWEC will also allow it to transition temporary staff roles to ongoing positions to stabilise the workforce across election events and strengthen integrity functions.
• The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission will receive $13 million for additional resources amid a growing number of law enforcement-related complaints.

Join us for live coverage as we bring you every detail of the NSW budget when it is handed down at noon on Tuesday, June 24.

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