NSW budget 2019: Winners and losers

Updated

Confused as to how the NSW budget will affect your hip pocket? The ABC has broken down the numbers and cut through the spin to give you a list of who comes out on top and who misses out.

Winner: Builders

A $93 billion infrastructure cash splash should keep NSW's builders busy over the next four years.

More than half of that money will go to transport infrastructure — $32 billion for public transport projects and $23 billion for roads.

There will be several inner-city and regional projects needing hands across NSW.

Key projects include the Parramatta Light Rail, a revamp of 68 train stations, major motorway works and school and hospital upgrades.

Loser: Property investors

Don't be too hopeful the value of your house or apartment will climb any time soon, because the state isn't.

Stamp duty revenue has been written down by $10.6 billion since 2017.

The Government expects revenue to pick up this year — but not because house prices are going up. Instead the forecast is driven by a lift in the number of sales.

The Government predicts price growth for the next few years will largely keep pace with inflation.

Winner: Education

Over the next four years an extra 4,600 public school teachers will be added to the payroll.

NSW will also receive a skills boost with the creation of over 600,000 free TAFE and VET courses.

Workers of all ages will benefit from the $2.3 billion injection, with TAFE NSW receiving more than half of the funding.

The boost includes 70,000 free courses for young job-seekers and 30,000 for mature-aged workers looking to re-enter the workforce.

Western Sydney is also set to receive an $80 million TAFE "Super Campus", alongside eight learning centres and two vocational high schools in Sydney's north and west.

Loser: Mining

There's nothing in the budget for miners, who are on shaky ground with export prices set to drop over the next four years.

A steady increase in export volumes and domestic sales could absorb some of the losses.

The Government expects coal prices to drop on the back of reduced import demand in China, competition from Russian coal and cheaper LNG prices.

It could be a long four years.

Winner: Health

Medical care is about to get a whole lot smoother at your local hospital, with the Government investing $2.8 billion to recruit 8,300 frontline health staff over the next four years, including nurses, midwives, doctors and allied health workers.

A massive 45 per cent of these workers will be located in regional NSW.

Winner: Seniors

Older Australians living outside of Sydney will receive cuts to travel fares, as well as new education opportunities.

A regional seniors transport card will provide $250 per year in fuel, taxis or train tickets for pensioners and the gold Opal card will be capped at $2.50 a day.

Those looking to re-enter the workforce can grab one of 30,000 vocational education spots now on offer for mature-aged workers.

Loser: Public sector workers

There will be around 2,500 job losses, salary-cuts and long service leave reductions as part of a $2.5 billion reform of the public sector.

Senior executives will also lose their bonuses under sweeping new "back office" cuts to the sector.

The Government has spruiked an increase in frontline services, but expects to save over $3 billion with these cuts.

Winner: Children

The services available to NSW's children will be given a cash injection over the next four years.

About $23.5 million will be spent to boost Lifeline and the Kids Helpline and an additional 100 counsellors will be placed in schools, as well as 350 student support officers.

The state is also helping students get a better start to the day by rolling out the School Breakfast 4 Health Program to a further 500 schools.

And to keep kids smiling, $70 million has been assigned to start up 35 free mobile dental clinics to reach 136,000 primary school children in Western Sydney, Mid North Coast and the Central Coast.

Loser: Gamblers

People who love a visit to the local VIP lounge will be stung, with hotel poker machine tax revenue set to soar to $1 billion by 2022-23.

Gambling and betting taxes make up about $2 billion of the Government’s total tax revenue, but that will soon climb to almost $3 billion.

Gambling is increasing in NSW and the number of people feeding slot machines is forecast to get even bigger.

There will, however, be no hip-pocket relief for them.

Winner: Couples trying to conceive

Couples trying to start a family will benefit from a wider range of IVF services being funded over the next four years.

The Government has set aside $42 million to provide women with greater choice around IVF clinics, and will offer a rebate of up to $500 for fertility testing.

In a first for the state, the Government has struck a partnership with the University of NSW and The Royal Hospital for Women to help young cancer patients preserve their fertility

Losers: Businesses paying payroll tax

There's bad news if you own a business in NSW that's obligated to hand over payroll tax — you are now the biggest contributor to the NSW coffers.

As stamp duty slides, the Treasurer has confirmed payroll tax — a tax on wages paid by businesses and employers — will grow by 4.6 per cent a year.

Next year, payroll tax will tip $9.8 billion into the NSW Government's coffers.

Higher than expected employment figures are driving the increase in this much-maligned tax.

Topics: government-and-politics, budget, states-and-territories, nsw

First posted