The New South Wales Coalition budget on June 21 locks in a wage cut for public sector workers, brings in a new land tax and further entrenches the privatisation of transport.
Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey criticised the government for locking in an effective wage cut of 2.5% for essential workers. 鈥淭his means the average public sector worker at hospitals, schools, emergency services and other critical areas, will experience a real wage cut of $2142,鈥 he said.
The government鈥檚 longstanding 2.5% public sector wage cap was lifted to 3% for the coming financial year and 3.5% in 2023鈥24, but inflation is currently running at more than 5% and forecast to exceed 7% next year.
鈥淭his impacts every worker as the wage cap in聽NSW聽suppresses wages across the entire economy,鈥 Morey said.
On housing policy, in addition to other measures, the government has announced an initial, and limited, land tax in place of the traditional stamp duty on new home purchases.
鈥淯nder the new, watered-down property tax plan, first home buyers will have the option of paying the upfront cost of stamp duty or a small, annual property tax payment of $400, plus 0.3% of the land value of the property,鈥 the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association (CPSA) explained on June 22.
鈥淚t鈥檚 still going to cost $664 million though over the two-year 鈥榯rial鈥 period. This money could have been better spent, on building social housing for example, for which there is nothing meaningful in this year鈥檚 budget,鈥 CPSA said.
鈥淒espite increasing wait-lists, little was announced to ease social housing pressures, with only $37 million committed to provide 120 new social housing dwellings for rough sleepers as part of the Together Home program.
鈥淭here was also a $300 million contribution to maintaining existing social housing properties, but community housing advocates were hoping for much more," CPSA noted.
鈥淩eplacing stamp duty with a land tax can work for people with plenty of money coming in. But for people on low incomes, it is unaffordable. That includes many pensioners.鈥
The budget further entrenches the privatisation of transport, including massive public subsidies to corporate owners of tollways and public transport networks.
Ross Gittins commented in the June 21 Sydney Morning Herald that Sydney鈥檚 鈥渕aze of private tollways, most with a licence to whack up the tolls quarterly or annually by a minimum of 4% a year鈥 was a way of keeping official debt down by shifting the cost onto the motorists of present and future decades.
鈥淭his ill-considered mess has proved so costly to people in outer-suburban electorates that the latest 鈥榬eform鈥 is for taxpayers to subsidise the worst-affected motorists 鈥 and thereby the excessive profits granted to the tollway companies.鈥
NSW Greens spokesperson Jenny Leong said that this was not the 鈥渨omen鈥檚聽budget鈥 the treasurer claimed it was.
鈥淭his聽budget聽actively ignores the calls of frontline services for desperately needed, ongoing funding,鈥 Leong said.
鈥淭his government knows that 1 in 3 calls to the聽NSW聽Sexual Violence Helpline go unanswered and that Women鈥檚 Health Centres are struggling to get by. Instead of acting, they have opted for small offerings and meaningless announceables. A spend of $100 million over 4 years is insulting."
Nature Conservation Council spokesperson Chris Gambian said the budget will 鈥渋ncentivise habitat destruction, which is now happening at a record rates鈥.
鈥淗abitat loss from land clearing and logging is the biggest threat to koalas and other many other native species," Gambian said. "If the聽government聽is聽serious about聽tackling the聽biodiversity crisis, it must reform its broken land clearing laws."