Ten-fold increase in NSW relief spending after horror run of natural disasters
NSW faces unprecedented spending pressures as a result of worsening natural disasters, its budget hit with a 10-fold increase to relief and recovery payments since the deadly Black Summer bushfires ravaged the state six years ago.
In partnership with the Commonwealth, the NSW government has spent $9.5 billion on disaster relief and recovery across the state in the period following the devastating summer fires of 2019.
This represents a 10-fold increase compared with the previous six years. Before 2019, expenditure averaged $154 million a year. After Black Summer, that has risen to $1.6 billion annually.
The significant increase will be outlined in NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey's third budget on Tuesday, which despite spending pressures will report a stabilisation of the state's debt, delivering a gross debt improvement of $9.4 billion.
The $188.2 billion of gross debt projected in the 2023 pre-election budget update is set to be $178.8 billion by June 2026, cutting the government's interest payments by $400 million in 2025-26.
Mookhey will deliver his budget on the back of two years of the state's slowest economic growth in three decades, elevated interest rates and cost-of-living pressures.
Mookhey insists he is 'optimistic' about the state's finances and says NSW was able to spend more on improving educational outcomes, as well as investing in hospitals and preventive care to ease the burden on the under-pressure public health system.
Housing will be a key feature of the budget, but the government will also announce establishment of a new Investment Delivery Authority, modelled on the Housing Delivery Authority and designed to accelerate approvals for major projects across all industries, including advanced technologies and energy.
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