Overview: Our plan for NSW

Foreword

Building a better New South Wales

Each Budget is a moment in time. But the real work of governing happens in sequence.

This Budget continues the journey embarked upon in our first: restoring essential services, rebalancing public finances, and laying the foundation for long-term growth.

In Budget one, we reset. We began repairing a State budget that had been left with unfunded programs, soaring debt and broken service delivery. We made hard decisions to restore stability and credibility: ending the wages cap, redirecting resources, and lifting frontline pay so we could rebuild the public services people rely on.

In Budget two, we responded. We faced a $12 billion GST cut as we wrote the papers – the single biggest federal shock to New South Wales’ revenue base in a generation. But we held our course. We kept inflationary pressure down, reduced expense growth, and delivered major investments in housing, health and education.

Now in Budget three, we accelerate. This Budget is about sequencing reforms to maximise growth. It is about coordinating housing, water, energy, transport, manufacturing and technology – the vital systems that empower our people and secure our prosperity.

This Budget invests in the services our people rely on – better hospitals, better schools, and a stronger public sector.

We are providing help with the cost of living – where and when it counts.

We are building the roads, the rail, and the homes that growing communities need.

And we are modernising our economy – and making sure that people have the skills and education to thrive in it.

And all this means, that at a time of global churn – at a time when stability is prized and predictability commands a premium – New South Wales is one of the best places not just to live, but to invest.

That’s the opportunity that underpins our strategy.

This Budget sends a clear message.

We are ready to partner with those who want to invest in the future of New South Wales – and the future of our people.

We are thinking long term.

We are planning for the long term.

And we are building a better New South Wales for everyone.