This Month
NSW transport bosses paid companies $300m for work they did not win
The NSW auditor-general has urged Treasury to rethink how it handles tenders and bidding costs.
- Samantha Hutchinson
‘A milking cow’: states lash Commonwealth over infrastructure funding
Victoria will get just 1.6 per cent of new priority infrastructure spending over five years, and cuts are expected to cause a $1.6 billion hit to NSW’s budget.
- Gus McCubbing and Samantha Hutchinson
October
NSW scores ratings win from Moody’s
NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey’s debt turnaround plan has been ticked off by analysts from one of the major ratings agencies.
- Samantha Hutchinson
September
- Opinion
- Opinion
Businesses will need crystal ball to avoid NSW tax on restructures
Corporate groups including property developers large and small face increased duty risks in NSW from February 1 next year.
- Matthew Cridland
- Analysis
- Cost of living
The real challenge hiding in a low-key budget
The NSW budget’s promise of better service delivery is setting up a serious challenge for the new state government led by unassuming Chris Minns.
- Samantha Hutchinson
Minns wages policy to be put to test by unions asking 30pc
Budget papers have revealed NSW’s uncapped wages policy could blow out initial estimates of $46 billion as unions prepare to ask for hefty pay rises.
- Samantha Hutchinson
- Exclusive
- Wage growth
NSW uses fund for ‘transformative’ infrastructure for truck stops
A $1.5bn fund set up to build “once in a lifetime, transformative infrastructure” will be spent on regional roads, an aged care facility upgrade, and ambulance bases.
- Samantha Hutchinson
Mookhey cops ratings agency doubts about budget surplus pledge
Ratings agencies have poured doubt on NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey’s pledge to return NSW’s finances to surplus after his first budget revealed almost $8 billion to boost public sector wages and baked in expensive election promises.
- Updated
- Samantha Hutchinson
NSW’s infrastructure focus will create more homes, developers say
Developers have praised the Minns government’s first budget as its housing plan has primarily focused on upgrading infrastructure to make it easier to build.
- Campbell Kwan
- Opinion
- Daniel Mookhey
The secret behind NSW’s tax and spend budget
A population surge of more than half a million into the state will deliver the budget more tax revenue from property owners and employers hiring workers.
- John Kehoe
Rising house prices help deliver extra $14.4b to NSW
Growing home-buying activity has led to the NSW government posting stronger stamp duty and land tax revenue than expected.
- Campbell Kwan
- Analysis
- Analysis
Mookhey uses property developers to solve a social problem
The state budget takes modest steps to deliver more homes in the intransigent Sydney suburbs where people want to live the most, using a tax on construction.
- Aaron Patrick
The winners and losers in the NSW budget
Coal miners, EV drivers and property investors will pay the price for Treasurer Daniel Mookhey’s first stab at budget repair. Public sector workers, first home buyers and regular toll road users will do better.
- Samantha Hutchinson
Mookhey plots NSW’s return to surplus in two years
The state’s treasurer is promising voters “immediate assistance ... with long-term reform” in the Minns government’s first budget.
- Updated
- Samantha Hutchinson
Mental health compo drives $2.5bn hit to NSW Budget
Rising costs and liabilities in the government’s insurance schemes will lengthen the odds of a surplus in coming years.
- Samantha Hutchinson
- Opinion
- Opinion
First big policy test for NSW Labor is budget repair
The Minns government has a major task ahead of it to stabilise NSW’s growing debt and avoid a credit downrating for the second most debt-burdened state.
- Robert Carling
What to expect in the NSW budget
The NSW Labor government has flagged a raft of big-ticket spending items as it prepares to hand down its first budget since 2010.
- Maeve Bannister
- Exclusive
- Credit rating
Mookhey clears runway for AAA credit rating loss from NSW budget
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has signalled the NSW government is prepared to lose its top-tier credit rating, arguing its impact on the cost of debt is falling.
- Samantha Hutchinson
- Opinion
- Energy prices
Time for NSW premier to act has arrived
Tuesday’s budget represents an opportunity for the state’s first Labor government in a decade to define itself as more than a reaction to the Coalition.
- Samantha Hutchinson
Affordable housing mandates would backfire, developers say
As Australia’s largest states gear up to reform their planning systems, there’s a battle under way over how far the changes will go.
- Michael Bleby
