NSW election: leaders head-to-head in splashing poll cash

Gladys Berejiklian has made more than $6 billion worth of promises in recurrent spending so far in her election campaign.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: AAP

The NSW election campaign is turning into a spendathon, with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian making more than $6 billion worth of promises in recurrent spending so far as she seeks to buy her way to a third term of ­Coalition government.

Labor has matched most of Ms Berejiklian’s promises, including $2.8bn for 5000 extra nurses pledged at the weekend.

With five weeks to go before the March 23 poll, Ms Berejiklian announced at the weekend that the Active Kids rebate for children to pay for sports club fees would be increased from $100 to $200 a child per annum, meaning NSW parents of two children will be able to receive $600 a year for Creative and Active kids vouchers, no matter how much they earn.

Having raised the Active Kids entitlement at a likely cost of $300 million over four years, Ms Berejiklian’s office yesterday ruled out also increasing the ­Creative Kids voucher.

So far, over the next four years, Ms Berejiklian has promised $2.8bn for more nurses, $2bn for more than 4000 new teachers, $580m

for 1500 more police and $300m for urban and national parks.

The Premier has also promised more than $2bn worth of capital spending, including $480m for roads; $1.1bn yesterday for the ­upgrading of St George and Ryde hospitals, $25m for a stadium in ­Orange and $300m for a new hospital at Rouse Hill, in Sydney’s northwest.

Ms Berejiklian has come under fire from the opposition over ­profligate spending in her time in ­office amid claims by Opposition Leader Michael Daley that the government may be spending $70bn on infrastructure, helped by the sale of assets including half the electricity “poles and wires”, but there had been $14bn worth of blowouts. Opposition Treasury spokesman Ryan Park compared Ms Bere­jiklian’s spending spree to when she promised tens of millions for the Wagga Wagga by-election during last year’s campaign in the seat, where she lost heavily despite the promises. “This government has consistently over-promised and under­delivered,” Mr Park said.

“They are spending recklessly because they are desperate, but as we saw with Wagga, even large amounts of money doesn’t buy you any love. Clearly, the Premier has not learned that lesson.”

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet would not detail yesterday how the government was paying for its promises but said the state would continue to deliver surpluses. Those surpluses were estimated at an average $1.3bn a year in the 2018-19 mid-year review.

“All of our policies and election commitments are fully costed and will not wipe out our surpluses ­because, unlike the Labor Party, we have managed the state’s ­finances well and put the budget in a strong position to allow us to deliver these programs,” he said.

“All of our election commitments will be released by the ­Parliamentary Budget Office.

“The Labor Party and Opposition Leader Michael Daley are out there every day misleading the public with their pie-in-the-sky costings. Labor are hiding the true cost of their policies, and in numerous press releases avoid mentioning the cost of their policies entirely.

“Doubling the Active Kids program now means a child is eligible for two $100 Active Kids vouchers totalling $200 a calendar year with the aim of more kids playing sport all year round.’’

Labor has failed to confirm whether it will match the promises on extra teachers or the Active Kids Rebate. But it has made its own big spending promises, ­including a M4 cashback, free TAFE courses for some critical trades, several hospital upgrades and a $1bn solar panels scheme.