NSW gets budget reply four months later

Nearly four months after then-treasurer Dominic Perrottet tabled the NSW budget, Opposition Leader Chris Minns is set to make his reply speech.

The circumstances in which Mr Minns will outline his economic vision on Wednesday morning have shifted greatly since Mr Perrottet’s June 22 budget speech.

NSW has changed premier, parts of the state have been locked down for more than 15 weeks, and the budget’s bottom line has been hard hit.

Back in June, before lockdowns, Mr Perrottet announced a 2020/21 state budget deficit of $7.9 billion, with a $500 million surplus by 2024/25.

The enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and months-long stay-at-home orders – particularly in southwest and western Sydney – will be a key focus of Mr Minns’ budget reply speech on Wednesday morning, his first as Labor leader.

He is expected to call for COVID-19 support for businesses to be extended, even as the state opens up.

The state and federal governments have tapered financial support too early, he says.

That support should not depend on vaccination rates, but whether firms have had the opportunity to recover.

Mr Minns will argue that payroll tax relief for businesses should be extended as well.

He will highlight the particular impact felt by western and southwest Sydney, which were coronavirus hotspots and subject to stricter rules than the rest of Sydney.

“No one can make the case that the devastating effects of this outbreak have been felt evenly,” Mr Minns is expected to tell parliament.

“No one in the state has been spared. But the people of west and southwest Sydney have paid the highest price.”

More jobs have been lost in that part of Sydney than elsewhere, and businesses have suffered greater declines in turnover.

Labor is pledging greater public transport infrastructure spending in western Sydney.

Mr Minns is badging his budget reply as a “positive plan” for “inclusive growth”, and he says he’d be happy for the government to steal his ideas.

But he will also launch an attack on Mr Perrottet’s track record as treasurer and the government’s ten years in office.

In his previous role, Mr Perrottet was responsible for selling off billions of dollars worth of public assets, was too slow to get small business grants out the door, and oversaw soaring fines and tolls, Mr Minns will say.

He will also point to growing debt and worsening housing affordability.

The opposition is calling for investment in social housing and schools to help boost the economy, with a motto of “build, build, build”.

They want urgent repair and maintenance work on ageing social housing stock to be fast-tracked.

School building projects could also be brought forward.

The projects could help tradies in western Sydney get back on their feet, Mr Minns says.

The opposition leader says he fears a “kind of long-COVID” for the education system.

“We can’t let it happen,” he will say.

A special small group tuition program for kids whose learning was disrupted in 2020 should be extended, to help them recover from a lengthy lockdown.

Mr Minns was initially slated to deliver his reply on June 24, but he postponed it as COVID-19 case numbers grew ahead of the lockdown.

NSW gets budget reply four months later
Independent Information