The five-minute budget: Everything you need to know

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has delivered a sober and steady budget that won’t make much of a splash for families struggling with the cost of living, but focuses on delivering homes and improving the state’s economic position.

It’s a non-election year budget, and it shows: the treasurer has prioritised fiscal responsibility over handouts.

Daniel Mookhey delivered the kind of budget a government can in a non-election year.Credit: Michael Howard

The budget is on track to return to a modest $1.1 billion surplus in 2027-28, the first time the state returns to the black since 2018-19. Gross debt will fall by $9.4 billion from the projected levels in the 2023 pre-election budget update.

Expense growth is projected to average 2.4 per cent annually, down from 6.2 per cent in the five years before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here’s your five-minute guide to the budget:

Out-of-home care

The government will spend $1.2 billion to support children in out-of-home care in one of the biggest funding packages for vulnerable children in the state’s history.

The money will go towards recruiting 200 new caseworkers and recruiting more foster carers. Out-of-home housing will get a major upgrade to ensure no children are left in unsuitable emergency accommodation.

The allowance paid to foster carers will also rise by 20 per cent, the first rise in 20 years. This will cost the government $143.9 million.

Housing

The NSW government will become a guarantor for developers looking for financing for new mid- and low-rise housing projects, especially in transport-oriented development areas, guaranteeing pre-sales for up to $1 billion of housing projects.

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey and Finance Minister Courtney Houssos answer questions about the budget on Tuesday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

It allows developers that the government determines to be credible and capable to rely less on off-the-plan sales to finance new builds.

Construction must begin within six months of the agreement, and if the new homes go unsold the developer can call on the guarantee and sell it back to the government for a reduced rate. These homes would then become either build-to-rent, affordable or social homes.

Developers will also be able to avoid paying their developer contributions if they instead build public infrastructure directly. They also benefit from a permanent 50 per cent discount to land tax on build-to-rent developments.

The Building Commission received $145.1 million in funding to continue its work reforming the building industry to reduce defects.

Transport

The state government is desperate for the $836 million Sydney Fish Market to be a success, and they’re spending big on transport upgrades to get people visiting the spot. A ferry wharf at Blackwattle Bay to connect tourists to the fish market will be built for $30 million. The nearby Wentworth Park light rail stop will get a $40 million upgrade with new lifts, ramps, improved lighting and CCTV.

One of the big cash splashes is $452 million to boost commuter services and roll out new buses. That includes $56 million for 50 new “bendy” buses for some of Sydney’s most congested suburbs including Ryde, Epping and Lane Cove.

There’s $1 billion set aside to upgrade Fifteenth Avenue between Liverpool and the new airport, jointly funded with the federal government. There’s also a $52.2 million road upgrade package.

Health

The health budget included $12.4 billion to build and upgrade health infrastructure over four years, with $3.3 billion in 2023-26. There’s $105.7 million to increase access to care during pregnancy in the first five years of life, including 53 new midwife positions to expand midwifery group practices and improve continuity of care.

On the mental healthcare budget, there is $15.4 million in 2025-26 to boost the community mental health workforce (including psychologists, social workers and occupational therapists), to support young people with severe and complex mental illness and provide regional communities with mental health support.

Moruya, Wagga Wagga and Port Macquarie hospitals will each get a new helicopter base to improve ambulance and paramedic response times with an additional $158.8 million on top of $126.6 million already invested.

Rouse Hill Hospital will get birthing services, with an additional $90 million on top of $120 million announced by the federal government, and there’s an additional $700 million for the New Bankstown Hospital, bringing the total investment to $2 billion, the largest investment in a new hospital in NSW.

Education

School infrastructure may be in the news for all the wrong reasons, but the government is spending big to build four new schools as part of a $9 billion spend over four years.

A new public primary school is slated for Emerald Hills, near Leppington, where the school-aged population growth has eclipsed projections. Another new primary school is earmarked for Grantham Farm in the north-west, however, families will need to wait until 2028 for both schools to open.

A new primary school will be built at West Dapto and a high school is earmarked for Wilton.

Plans for a new Chatswood public school have been scrapped, despite new housing planned for the area and Chatswood and Cammeraygal high schools bursting at the seams.

Business and innovation

The treasurer is hoping to attract to NSW with the new Investment Delivery Authority, which will fast-track private investment projects valued at more than $1 billion. Think data centres and renewable energy projects.

Tech Central gets a $38.5 million injection, and there is funding to encourage women in tech and housing industry innovation through an $80 million “Innovation Blueprint”.

With Lucy Carrol and Kate Aubusson

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