Families across NSW rely every day on schools, hospitals and other essential services – and on the dedicated people who deliver them.
This Budget continues rebuilding the essential services families rely on, while supporting the workers who deliver them every day.
It acts on a simple principle: relief for today and reform for tomorrow – building a state working Australians can afford.
A stronger health system
Health is the largest single commitment in this Budget.
A historic $10.3 billion increase in health funding over four years, delivered with the Australian Government, will grow the workforce, lift hospital capacity and meet rising demand. It delivers:
- 9,000 more health workers
- Capacity for an extra 33,000 emergency department presentations and 2,900 more planned surgeries each year.
The Budget also includes $11.9 billion for health infrastructure including 32 new and upgraded hospitals and more than 2,500 beds, with $400 million for critical maintenance.
Nurses and midwives receive the largest pay rise in more than twenty years, and the largest ever for enrolled nurses, backed by an additional $2.9 billion in this Budget.
Northern Beaches Hospital is now publicly owned, with all 494 beds and more than 1,800 staff transferred to NSW Health.
Mental health support
This Budget keeps frontline mental health and suicide prevention services running and
backs people in crisis. It invests:
- $64.8 million to maintain critical mental health and suicide prevention services statewide, in partnership with the Australian Government.
- $43.3 million for immediate crisis support through Lifeline services.
- $4.3 million for mental health peak bodies and community-managed services.
Better schools and early learning
Every child deserves a world-class education, wherever they live. This Budget invests $9.2 billion statewide over four years for new and upgraded schools, a quarter of it in regional NSW. It also delivers:
- The 3-Year-Old Fee Relief Trial in Long Day Care extended to the end of 2027, worth $42.6 million.
- Co-located public early learning at a further 17 public schools, in addition to the commitment of 100 new public preschools by 2027.
NSW schools now have 71 per cent fewer teacher vacancies than November 2022, with 25,000 teachers made permanent since 2023.
TAFE and skills
This Budget makes an investment of $3.4 billion in skills and TAFE, including $233.0 million in capital for campus upgrades, maintenance and revitalisation.
More than 3,300 TAFE teachers have been made permanent since 2023.
Responsible decisions make these investments possible
This Budget can provide cost-of-living relief and continue investing in essential services because the Government has spent the past three years making responsible and difficult decisions to strengthen the state’s finances.
That work has been done without privatisation and without bringing back an unfair wages cap, while keeping public assets in public hands and maintaining an independent umpire for wages and conditions.
As global uncertainty and higher fuel prices place additional pressure on families and businesses, this Budget provides support now while continuing the work of returning the state’s finances to surplus in 2027-28.
It’s about supporting families today, while securing NSW’s future.
