Winners
Teachers: Labor has funded an agreement with the NSW Teachers Federation to substantially increase wages, raising starting salaries from $75,791 to $85,000 and top-end wages from $113,042 to $122,100 from October 9. Education Minister Prue Car says she has found $1.4 billion in savings to help pay for the pay hikes.
Other public servants: The government has ended the Coalition's 2.5 per cent state public sector wage cap and negotiated new pay deals for teachers and health staff. It has set aside $3.6 billion to fund pay rises for nurses, paramedics, teachers, prison officers, police and childcare workers and to help with recruitment. It will spend $572 million to offer permanent jobs to 1112 nurses and midwives hired during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Motorists: The budget tips an extra $390 million into a program aimed at helping regional councils repair damaged roads and $334 million into another fund for new road upgrades. Drivers who use toll roads regularly will benefit from a new $60 weekly fee cap.
Parents of toddlers: Parents with three-year-olds in long daycare will get $500 per child every year in fee relief. The government also plans to establish 100 new pre-schools on the grounds of public schools at a cost of $769 million.
Farmers: The government says it will invest an additional $298.5 million towards biosecurity and agricultural programs, including $80 million to stop the march of red imported fire ants, $77 million to fight varroa mite outbreaks and a $13 million feral pig control program.
Koalas: The budget allocates $80 million for a new Great Koala National Park on the Mid North Coast.
Losers
Parents: The government has cut back the state's Active Kids and Creative Kids voucher schemes. Eligibility for both programs will be tightened to only Family Tax Benefit Part A recipients and the value of the vouchers will halve from $100 to $50.
Coal exporters: Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has increased the royalties mining companies pay the government by about 30 per cent in a move he estimates will raise $2.7 billion over four years.
Electric vehicle buyers: The budget scraps a $3000 state government subsidy and stamp duty exemptions for anyone buying a new electric car but allocates $260 million for new charging infrastructure.
The arts: Mookhey says the previous government left more than a dozen cultural and innovation programs unfunded beyond this year, and Labor will not reinstate them, "saving" about $190 million.
Senior travellers: The government has scrapped the $250 pre-paid regional seniors travel card.
