NSW budget 2023 as it happened: Rising property prices, wages growth fuels $17 billion boost to state

Thanks so much for your company today as we watched the first Labor budget unveiled in over a decade.

If you’re just joining us and a bit overwhelmed by it all (the budget is hundreds of pages, after all), let me commend to you reporter Millie Muroi’s five-minute summary: everything you need to know about the state budget.

Are you a winner or a loser? Laura Banks has summarised the impacts here.

And if TikTok’s more your style, we’ve got you covered too:

The day is over, but the Herald’s work in covering the impacts and implementation of this budget has just begun. Stay with us.

Here’s the view of the Herald on today’s budget:

Labor’s first budget in 12 years delivers on election promises but stops short of providing the NSW public with a clearer picture of the Minns government’s long-term agenda.

It is a budget that allows the government to give a pay rise to public sector workers, claws back some infrastructure spending excesses, and extends modest cost of living assistance without adding to the inflation problem.

But it does not radically cut expenditure beyond scrapping some Coalition’s pet projects and funds. Despite the tough talk before the budget of savage cuts and hard decisions, there is very little pain for voters. On balance, it is responsible but lacks bravery.

Read our full editorial here.

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman has accused the government of abandoning families to deliver pay rises for Labor’s “union mates”.

In response to the state government’s first budget today, the Coalition sharpened its attack on the government’s “unfunded” pay rises, questioning how the $3.6 billion in wage increases would be offset.

Speakman said the budget offered little in cost of living relief for families, while Nationals leader Dugald Saunders claimed the government had taken a razor to funding for regional and rural NSW, underlining cuts to the seniors travel card.

“The government has let the genie out of the bottle and has no productivity or savings to pay for this. We all want better salaries and wages for frontline workers but the government promised this wouldn’t cost the taxpayer anything,” Speakman said.

“This is a government that is delivering for union mates at the expense of families.”

Saunders said: “Unfortunately for regional NSW, it once again shows that NSW stands for Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong.”

NSW Labor’s first budget since 2010 is on brand for the Minns government. Just like its small-target approach taken in the election campaign, this budget is largely risk-averse, unsurprising and gifted with fortunate timing.

Rising revenues – thanks to soaring housing prices and a strong labour market – have helped Labor position itself to deliver a modest surplus next financial year while, at the same time, keeping its election promises.

There are no big cash splashes. Rather, the government has made cuts and trims to programs, including the popular family-friendly vouchers such as Active Kids and Back to School.

This could have been a risky move during a cost-of-living crisis except, as luck would have it, the former government had not forward funded those programs anyway. Labor has prioritised and redirected spending, as you would expect a new government to do, and makes the point that it is keeping cash aside for a rainy day. Labor was elected to be safe and its first budget reflects that.

Read all our expert analysis here.

We spoke to people across NSW for their reaction to the budget, in key areas of healthcare, transport, housing affordability, employment, family life and education. Here’s what they thought of today’s announcements.

The government was awake to the severity of the housing crisis in NSW before the election. Since coming to office, it has only strengthened expectations of what it might do to fix the chronic supply shortage that has sent house prices and rents skyrocketing.

Indeed, the word “crisis” was stamped all over the budget papers and Treasurer Daniel Mookhey’s speech. But when it comes to putting money on the table for housing, Labor’s first budget is bigger on rhetoric than investment.

Read the full analysis here.