NSW Budget: Treasurer Dominic Perrottet delivers a pre-election budget full of electoral bribes

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet delivers a pre-election sweetener of electoral bribes despite a big hit from Sydney’s property market slump.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has delivered a pre-election budget full of electoral bribes including a $100 “Creative Kids” voucher to add to a $100 “Sports Active” voucher he introduced last year, to pay for kids’ music and drama classes.

The Treasurer has delivered four surpluses and as revealed by The Australian this week, siphoned away $3 billion for a “New Generations Fund” or Future Fund, which will be used to retire debt.

Half the interest earned from the Future Fund will be used for a $30 million a year Community Development Fund for communities to bid for projects — at an average $300,000 per electorate the Treasurer denies is a “pork barrel”.

On top of that, the 49 per cent stake in the West Connex Motorway that the government is not selling will be placed in the New Generations Fund, insuring future toll road revenue will be used on retiring debt, the budget papers reveal.

There’s a prize for every player on the cost of living front — from caravan registration fee and parking fine cuts to car registration cuts for people paying tolls, to a $150 hamper for new Mums and bubs.

Mr Perrottet has also announced 100 more police, 100 extra DOCS caseworkers and 880 more teachers over four years, to go on top of 1000 more nurses and midwives and 750 paramedics and call staff.

He announced a $740 million upgrade for Liverpool Hospital, and $700 million for a new “Mental Health Infrastructure Program”.

There is also 4800 new community pre-school places in fast growing areas like Camden, Parramatta, Blacktown and the Hills. And from 2019, in an “Australian first”, the government says every three-year-old in NSW will now have access to preschool thanks to a $200 million.

There is also $500 million for air conditioning in schools.

To fund some of the measures, the Treasurer is making some big public service cuts — increasing the efficiency dividend in departments from 2 per cent to 3 per cent, saving $1.6 billion over four years.

The budget has been hit hard by a downturn in the Sydney property market, with transfer duty revenues down $1 billion — or 11 per cent — in 2017-18 and $5.5 billion lower revenues predicted over the three years to 2020-21.

The government is upping its infrastructure investment to a record $87.2 billion over four years — up from a typical $70 billion as the Sydney Metro rail project and West Connex Motorway are built.

Of that $87 billion, $51 billion of the spending is in transport, $7 billion on hospitals and $6.8 billion in schools — as huge promised transport projects are built.

Mr Perrottet announced a $3.9 billion surplus in 2017-18, a $1.425 billion surplus in 2018-19 and a $1.5 billion surplus in 2019-20.

A surplus of $1.412 billion is anticipated for 2020-21 and $1.855 billion for 2021-22.

Net debt goes from negative $9.8 billion in 2017-18 to $28.6 billion in 2021-22. But a possible $5 billion-plus from the partial sale of West Connex has not been factored in.

Mr Perrottet claimed he was delivering a budget for the “people of our great state”.

“We are a government that puts people first. And this budget does too.”

On the new Creative Kids payment, Mr Perrottet said: “We want NSW kids to be active — and creative as well,” Mr Perrottet says in his budget speech.

“So today I announce a new initiative. Creative Kids. A $100 voucher for every school child — to participate in extra-curricular activities - like music, drama, art, coding and second language classes.”

The transport funding announced includes $3 billion set aside for a Western Metro new underground line from the city to Parramatta;$556 million over four years in planning and reconstruction funds for the Western Harbour Tunnel and Northern Beaches Link, $100 million planning money for the Western Sydney Airport North-South link, $1.2 billion for the F6 first stage and $5.7 billion over four years for the Sydney Metro and South West. There is also $2.1 billion over four years for the Parramatta Light Rail project.

On top of its controversial $2 billion stadiums build - for which $729 million has been allocated for the Allianz Stadium rebuild and $1.2 billion set aside for the refurbishment of ANZ Stadium and the new Parramatta Stadium - Mr Perrottet announced $200 million for local sporting facilities.

There was also $90 million set aside for terrorism high-risk offenders to “fund frontline officers, surveillance, compliance checking, intelligence gathering and other activities of the Terrorism High Risk Offenders Unit.”

On the New Generations Fund and Community Development Fund, the Treasurer said: “Today we launch the NSW Generations Fund. A future fund like no other in the world.

“It will harness the unprecedented strength of our balance sheet - to offset debt and insure against the $17 billion fiscal gap forecast by 2056.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet.

“To seed the fund, we will make an initial investment of $3 billion.

“The returns will grow over time, strengthening our state’s ability to meet future commitments.

“But in a world first, up to half of the investment returns will enable the new My Community Dividend program.

“Where communities will decide how that money is spent to make their neighbourhoods healthier, happier and better places to live.

“Any citizen can submit an idea in their area.

“And everyone over 16 can vote for their favourite project.”

In a press conference in the budget lockup this morning, the Treasurer defended the fact the Kids’ rebates were not means tested, saying: “The heavy lifters in NSW are middle Australia.”

“It’s not my money, it’s taxpayer money.”

On the future fund, the treasurer said that he wished another state government set one up “10 or 20 years ago”.

Mr Perrottet denied the budget was full of bribes, saying the government had promised at the 2015 state election to distribute the sale proceeds from the government’s electricity “poles and wires sell off” to “every community” in the state.

The government is leaving the $4.2 billion proceeds from the Snowy Hydro sale for forthcoming announcements in regional NSW.