{"id":36615,"date":"2026-06-23T03:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T03:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/36615\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T03:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T03:39:13","slug":"nsw-budget-delivers-cost-of-living-relief-despite-deficit-more-than-double-forecast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/36615\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW budget delivers cost-of-living relief despite deficit more than double forecast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cost-of-living relief will be delivered to New South Wales households through a cheaper toll cap, frozen public transport costs and cuts to vehicle registration for one year as the treasurer flags a return to budget surplus is still a year away.<\/p>\n

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has delivered his fourth state budget, which posts a $2.3 billion deficit, more than double what was predicted at the half yearly update.<\/p>\n

In a press conference on Tuesday morning, Mr Mookhey said “if lots of things go right”, he predicts the budget will return to a surplus of $1.1 billion next financial year.<\/p>\n

Against a backdrop of higher fuel prices and global uncertainty, Labor will allocate $561.4 million over 12 months to cap road tolls at $50 a week, freeze Opal card fares and take up to $100 off private vehicle registrations.<\/p>\n

\"Commuters<\/p>\n

Opal card price fees are among the big items in the treasurer’s state budget. (ABC News: Berge Breiland)<\/p>\n

Administration fees on toll notices will also be removed, meaning drivers will not be slugged to receive toll bills in the mail if their e-tag does not work.<\/p>\n

Drivers can already claim back any tolls beyond $60 a week, but Mr Mookhey said a 12-month cap of $50, starting from July, will deliver targeted cost-of-living relief.<\/p>\n

“This is how we attack the cost-of-living crisis from every angle,” Mr Mookhey will tell NSW parliament today.<\/p>\n

“This is our answer to those saying state governments cannot help during a cost-of-living crisis.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Motorists will feel the most relief after toll fee changes, (ABC News: Taryn Southcombe)<\/p>\n

But the treasurer admitted government revenue collected from tolls will continue to rise in coming years, as new tolled roads such as the new Western Harbour Tunnel come online.<\/p>\n

The budget also boasts what Mr Mookhey said was the biggest ever spend on domestic violence prevention, through a 50 per cent uplift to six existing crisis response programs, totalling $184.1 million over the four years to 2029-30.<\/p>\n

The programs include a Men’s Behaviour Change program and the Safer Pathway program to coordinate support for victim survivors.<\/p>\n

The NSW Police Force’s budget will also be bolstered in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, including $94.3 million for an Armed Response Command comprising of 250 police officers with long arm capability and a fleet of high performance rapid-response vehicles.<\/p>\n

Victims of the Bondi terror attack and the Jewish community are also a feature of this budget, with funding committed to Jewish organisations and enhancements to the existing victim support scheme.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Australian-first specialist armed response command will be tasked with protecting public safety. (ABC News: Abubakr Sajid)<\/p>\n

A total of $6.5 billion has also been allocated over 10 years for new electric buses, with the intention that some elements of the buses are built here.<\/p>\n

It means government expenses are projected to grow year on year, largely due to rising employee wages, with the state budgeting an extra $2.9 billion for large pay increases for nurses and midwives awarded by the Industrial Relations Commission earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Employee expenses were 40 per cent of the budget’s total spend, but Mr Mookhey has stressed they are growing at a slower rate than under the previous government.<\/p>\n

The Labor government had flagged this budget was not a traditional pre-election cash splash, citing uncertainty surrounding the war in the Middle East as the main reason for spending caution.<\/p>\n

It said NSW had the lowest spending growth of any Australian government since 2023.<\/p>\n

Among the spending priorities announced ahead of budget day, are $10.3 billion over the four years to grow the health workforce and expand hospital capacity, and $631.9 million over five years for Thriving Kids, the program which will transition children with autism or other developmental delays off the NDIS.<\/p>\n

Mr Mookhey is set to use his budget speech to Parliament on Tuesday to claim his state is the only one where private investment is the leading source of economic growth.<\/p>\n

The budget said growing private sector investment in AI data centres and renewable energy projects were responsible for growth in the economy, offsetting a decline in household consumption due to the impact of higher interest rates on families with mortgages.<\/p>\n

“Powering up with renewable energy is not merely an environmental cause,” Mr Mookhey will tell parliament.<\/p>\n

“It is an economic strategy.”<\/p>\n

“To campaign against renewable energy is to campaign against investment.”<\/p>\n

Mr Mookhey also spruiked the state’s investment fund OneFund set up in 2024, which has delivered $5.3 billion in increased revenue back into government coffers.<\/p>\n

The outlook for homeowners is sedate in the near term, with treasury modelling predicting Sydney house prices will dip in the 2026-27 financial year, but start to rise again in the back half of 2027.<\/p>\n

But approvals and commencements of new homes are increasing, and mellowing house price growth is expected to help more first home buyers enter the market.<\/p>\n

The dampened housing market means the government will collect $5.3 billion less in stamp duty and $3 billion less land tax than it had expected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cost-of-living relief will be delivered to New South Wales households through a cheaper toll cap, frozen public transport…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,2814,30997,13309,5224,30534,30996,10071,30998,30999,1103,31000,18840,31002,31001],"class_list":["post-36615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-bondi-terror-attack","tag-budget-takeaways","tag-jewish-australians","tag-nsw-budget","tag-nsw-budget-2026","tag-nsw-budget-2026-27","tag-nsw-health","tag-nsw-hospitals","tag-nsw-nurses","tag-nsw-premier-chris-minns","tag-nsw-transport","tag-sydney-trains","tag-treasure-daniel-mookhey","tag-winners-and-losers-nsw-budget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}