Social housing tenants
The biggest budget splash is $5.1 billion on creating 8400 homes for social housing:6200 will be new builds and another 2200 homes in disrepair will be knocked down and rebuilt. $1 billion will be spent to repair 35,500 existing social housing homes. People fleeing domestic violence will be prioritised for the new homes.
People who visit the doctor
The government will take a carrot-and-stick approach to GPs who bulk-bill their patients. Rewarding medical centres that bulk-bill more than 80 per cent of their patients with a payroll tax rebate could see more patients not pay a cent when they visit the doctor.
The NSW Treasurer has unveiled the 2024 State Budget.
Homeless people
Amid rising mortgage costs and increasing rents,homelessness has jumped. The budget will give out $527.6 million to provide emergency housing and homelessness support services. Of that,$260 million will be for safe shelters with crisis accommodation and provide help to move to more permanent housing. Another $250 million will go to those at risk of homelessness.
Essential workers
These workers struggling with rising grocery prices will receive a $1000 cost-of-living adjustment to protect essential workers against any unexpected “substantial” increase in inflation.
Regional health workers
About 500 of these workers and their families will benefit from a $200 million spend on accommodation in the areas where they work in a bid to keep people in the towns and communities where they are employed.
Essential workers in the city
The government will spend $450 million to build essential worker housing for nurses,paramedics,teachers,allied health care workers,police officers and firefighters to rent at a subsidised rate in areas closer to the city,their jobs and services.
Western Sydney commuters
The second stage of the Parramatta Light Rail at a cost of $2 billion. The 12-kilometre stretch of track from Parramatta’s CBD to Sydney Olympic Park comes with 14 new stops. There will also be 8.5 kilometres of new walking and cycling paths.
Renters
The Minns government will fund the NSW Rental Taskforce at a cost of $8.4 million. The taskforce will work with Fair Trading NSW and be led by the NSW rental commissioner,who has the power to crack down on poor quality properties and dodgy landlords.
Firefighters
The government will spend $189.5 million over four years to fill 286 positions at Fire and Rescue NSW. While paramedics have received a pay rise of 25 per cent over four years,NSW firefighters are still waiting on an increase of 20 per cent over three years.
New car buyers
You can thank higher inflation for this one. The state government is set to rake in an extra $32 million in motor vehicle taxes,bringing in a total of $3.1 billion this financial year.
MPs
A wage freeze on politicians’ salaries is set to continue,alongside senior executives within the public service. More broadly,the budget includes the government’s pay offer of a 10.5 per cent wage increase over three years to the public service.
Those who work with children
The cost of getting a Working With Children Check will jump from $80 to $105,bringing in $46 million to government coffers. And it will now go up in the years to come after the government decided to link it to the consumer price index.
Private health insurers
When patients with private health insurance stay in public hospitals,they don’t always get billed correctly. And now the government is cracking down to ensure they pay the gazetted single room rate. It is expected to bring in $490 million over four years.
Consultants
The NSW government will seek to slash the amount of money spent on consultants,with the premier’s department tasked with identifying skills shortages and gaps to bring jobs in-house to the public service.
Fire ants
The government will spend $55 million on trying to eradicate fire ants that have invaded NSW. Meanwhile,beekeepers are set to receive part of a $36 million cash spend to increase their resilience and capacity for them to manage Varroa mite incursions.
Foreigners
Purchasers of NSW property from overseas are currently slugged foreign purchaser duty surcharge of 8 per cent,but that will increase to 9 per cent from 2025. But that’s not all – the foreign owner land surcharge will also increase,expected to raise $188 million over the next four years.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights..