Labor has just handed down its first New South Wales state budget in more than a decade. Here are some of the winners – and some of those who missed out.
Winners
The Star casino
The Minns government will bail out Sydney’s embattled Star casino in a decision that is set to cost the taxpayer nearly half a billion dollars in lost revenue over the next four years.
The government revealed in August it would lower taxes for casinos in NSW by slashing a planned increase to the casino duty that the former Coalition government had announced eight months earlier.
The budget papers released on Tuesday say the Minns government made the decision to ensure The Star’s “ongoing financial viability”.
The government expects its decision to lower casino taxes is expected to cost it $432m in lost revenue over the next four years, with a forecast reduction in annual revenue of between $96m and $121m until 2026-27.
Labor is expecting to collect $1.5bn less in overall gambling revenue than was forecast before the March election. The government says the revised figure is a result of the lower casino tax rates, as well as a reduction in pokies use in both clubs and hotels and a “more subdued outlook” for Sydney’s casinos.
The government says that, in return, The Star promised to protect about 3,000 jobs over the next six years and contribute to the industry transition to cashless gaming.
Public sector workers
Workers employed by the state government will benefit, including teachers, police officers, nurses and firefighters. The government has committed $3.6bn to an “essential services fund” it has created to pay for wage rises of up to 4.5% this year.
Labor went to the election promising to tear up the former Perrottet government’s 2.5% public sector wage rise cap.
Teachers
The government will also fund historic pay rises for the state’s public school teachers after months of tense negotiations with their union.
From October, the starting salary for first-year teachers will go from $75,791 to $85,000 – an increase of more than 12%. Salaries for teachers at the top of the scale will rise from $113,042 to $122,100.
Motorists
Chris Minns went to the election promising to end Sydney’s “toll mania” and Tuesday’s budget includes $561m over two years to cap tolls.
From January motorists will be able to claim back weekly spending above $60 on the state’s toll roads.
Parents of young children
The parents of three-year-old children in NSW have been promised $500 a year off their childcare bills per year, costing the budget $64m over the next two years.
The rebates will not be means tested and will be available to the families of every three-year-old child in a preschool program at a long daycare centre.
The budget also includes $20m to build new public not-for-profit childcare centres, with a focus on western Sydney and regional NSW.
Party animals in Newcastle and Wollongong
Tens of millions of dollars will be made available to the 24-hour economy commissioner to allow the office that has worked to develop nightlife in Sydney in recent years to replicate its work around the state.
The government has allocated $26.8m to be spent this financial year to expand the office to Wollongong, the Central Coast and Newcastle “to build vibrant, safe, and diverse night-time economies in those regions”.
A new body called Sound NSW will also be established and a “Music Scene Plan” developed to support contemporary music. “Festivals need a secure pipeline of creative talent and workers,” said arts minister John Graham as he announced $31.2m to fund these initiatives for one year.
But it’s not all good news for the arts, as the government will not reinstate funding for a range of arts, cultural and innovation programs left unfunded by the former government.
People who already own an EV
While the Minns government has ditched the Coalition’s electric vehicle rebate, it will use some of the money it saves to invest $263m to speed up the delivery of infrastructure such as charging stations around the state.
Losers
Would-be fast rail riders
Announced with a bang but killed off quietly, NSW’s go-it-alone approach to building fast rail between Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong has been shelved entirely, the budget confirms.
Fast rail was a flagship policy that former premier Gladys Berejiklian announced in the lead-up to the 2019 state election.
Guardian Australia first reported the former Coalition government had gone cold on the fast rail plan late last year, despite spending about $100m on studies for the project.
Tuesday’s budget confirmed the new Labor Minns government has identified that the program – which was expected to cost in the tens of billions – “should no longer proceed”.
Renters and people in housing stress
Housing was promoted as the centrepiece of the Minns government’s first budget but it didn’t ultimately include that much to directly boost housing supply.
The budget includes a relatively modest $300m investment into the state-owned development organisation Landcom to build fewer than 5,000 homes over the next 16 years.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said this was “just the start” and that the government’s $2.2bn overall spend on housing in the budget, mostly for infrastructure, would pave the way for more homes to be built in the future.
That $2.2bn package has received a mixed reception from housing advocacy groups.
NSW’s booming property market is forecast to deliver the Minns government billions more in revenue through stamp duty and land taxes over the next four years than it was expecting before the election in March.
People who want to buy an EV
Labor has dumped the Coalition’s electric vehicle rebate, axing a government subsidy of $3,000 that was previously on offer to buyers of new EVs.
The decision was roundly criticised by the Electric Vehicle Council as well as the NSW opposition’s energy spokesperson, James Griffin, who called it “poor environmental policy”.
The coal mining industry
Coal mining companies will pay 2.6% more in royalties to the state government from July next year. It’s the first change to NSW’s royalty rates in 15 years and is expected to earn $2.7bn over four years.
Environmental groups and the Greens have said the government hasn’t gone far enough and should introduce a progressive coal royalty scheme such as the one in Queensland.
Additional reporting by Tamsin Rose, Elias Visontay and Jonathan Barrett
