Are you one of Perrottet’s winners?

Among the big winners from the budget are preschoolers, public servants and punters. Seniors and home buyers lose out.

Home buyers will lose out.

Among the big winners from the budget are preschoolers, public servants and punters. You’re also in luck if you’re buying a new car – so long as you’re willing to go electric.

The losers? Home buyers and seniors miss out.

Winners

Every child aged three to six will get a $100 voucher for swimming lessons and the government will fund two days of free pre-schooling per week next year.

Dumping your gas-guzzler for an electric vehicle means you won’t pay stamp duty on a car under $78,000 and you’ll get a $3000 rebate if you’re among the first 25,000 to buy one for under $68,750. But beware: there’s a 2.5c per km road-user charge coming up for EVs in 2027.

Teachers, nurses and police get a wage increase of up to 2.5 per cent thanks to the state’s sharp rebound from the pandemic. The Berejiklian government had capped public sector wages at 1.5 per cent until 2024, angering unions, especially over low pay for paramedics and hospital workers.

Twelve country race clubs across NSW will share $60m for upgrades to racetracks and additional stabling capacity.

The fun times are back with $100 in Dine & Discover vouchers to spend on Fridays in the CBD and the Cahill Expressway transformed for a week into Sydney’s version of the Manhattan High Line, hosting social events and providing a viewing deck for New Year’s Eve fireworks.

They benefit from the continuation of the cut in the payroll tax rate from 5.45 per cent to 4.85 per cent for another year, together with a permanent rise in the tax threshold to $1.2m. Payroll taxpaying businesses could save about $34,000 a year and about 3500 more businesses will pay no payroll tax.

Women who miscarry or have a stillbirth will be given one week of paid bereavement leave, while mothers who give birth prematurely will receive special paid time off up until the date their child would have been full term under a nation-first policy in the NSW budget.

Losers

Despite touting it in last year’s budget, the government has failed to axe stamp duty in favour of an annual tax. First home buyers get some stamp duty exemptions, but stamp duty hits young homeowners who want to upsize when they have children. On top of surging house prices, it’s not what many had hoped for.

Yes there’s $80m set aside for new walking trails, including a Great Southern Walk in the Illawarra, but precious little in the way of help for tourist businesses in the regions, who had catastrophic losses under Covid-19. The $50m to support regionalism tourism won’t make a dent.

Those to qualify will be eligible for the Regional Seniors Transport Card, which gives $250 a year for fuel, taxi travel, or Train­Link tickets. For most seniors, though, there’s little else on offer.

If you’re not buying an electric car, there’s more pain than profit. Western Sydney residents in particular will be hit by higher tolls, set to rise by at least 4 per cent each year. Revenue from fines is up 35 per cent, because police no longer have to announce the presence of speed cameras.

At the start of the pandemic, women faced greater job losses than men, but since then employment recovery for women has been strong across both full time and part time jobs. By contrast men employed full time has lagged significantly.