Latest news with #NSWbudget
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Chris Minns warns of $2bn budget hole if bill curtailing psychological injury claims fails
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has warned a failure to pass his controversial workers compensation legislation would blow a $2bn hole in the state budget as Labor seeks to woo a coalition of conservative crossbenchers to pass the bill. In parliament, the premier said if the changes to curtail psychological injury claims did not go through, an additional $2bn would be required from NSW taxpayers to fund the public service portion of the scheme. He also warned that businesses would see premiums rise by 36% over three years to fund the scheme for the private sector. Sources have told Guardian Australia that there was intensive lobbying of upper house MPs from the Shooters and Fishers party and other right-leaning MPs, including former One Nation MPs Mark Latham and Rod Roberts, Legalise Cannabis MP Jeremy Buckingham and Libertarian MP John Ruddick. The opposition will move on Thursday to send the complex bill to an inquiry. Opposition leader Mark Speakman described it as 'unconscionable' and 'cruel'. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The opposition wants the status quo of 15% impairment to qualify for compensation, instead of the 30% that the government is proposing. He said the opposition had offered amendments that would yield some savings, such as tightening definitions of psychological injury due to bullying, or 'unworkable' claims due to 'excessive work demands', but the Coalition would not budge on the impairment threshold. A 15% impairment means a person struggles with daily tasks and requires reminders about their hygiene needs. Experts have said that a 30% impairment was so high that it would make it virtually impossible for people to ever claim for psychological injury. The high-stakes game will play out on Thursday. The shadow treasurer, Damien Tudehope, warned that the government was seeking to cajole the crossbench with offerings in other policy areas that were important to them. The public had strong views about the ethics of this approach, he said. Two days before the government released its workers compensation legislation, Minns surprised many by indicating support for a bounty scheme proposed by the Shooters party in its conservation hunting bill to control feral animals. The bill would create a new conservation hunting authority and proposes a raft of changes, including enshrining a 'right to hunt' and recognition of hunting as a conservation management tool. Minns has previously denied there was any deal with the Shooters for support of other legislation. Conservation groups and scientists have condemned the hunting proposal as ineffective and a waste of taxpayer dollars. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion As debate on the bill began in the upper house on Wednesday, the scientist-led Biodiversity Council wrote to MPs warning that the legislation, if passed in its current form, would 'undermine invasive species management across the state, leading to poorer outcomes for the environment and agriculture'. Conservationists are concerned the bill will become a vehicle for promoting the interests of recreational hunting and management of invasive species as game rather than driving down feral animal numbers with control programs. The Invasive Species Council and other groups have also expressed concern that the proposed authority bears similarities to the defunct Game Council, which was abolished in 2013, and that hunting interests would dominate the authority's proposed voting structure. 'Recreational hunting is not conservation. It rarely delivers environmental benefits, and in many cases actively obstructs professional control programs,' the council's chief executive, Jack Gough, said. There also appear to be moves afoot to provide an exception for motorists who test positive when using medical marijuana, a policy that both Buckingham and the Greens have pushed. Unions, legal and medical experts have strongly criticised the government's attempts to curtail claims for psychological injury, warning that a 30% threshold would make it virtually impossible for people to make claims. They have urged the government to first focus on prevention and educating employers about handling psychosocial injuries, rather than cutting off compensation. The Unions NSW secretary, Mark Morey, said the result would be simply to cost shift on to the welfare and health systems. Compensation for injured public servants comes out of the Treasury Managed Fund (TMF), which is already under enormous pressure due to natural disaster funding in the last year. The full extent of the fund's deterioration will be revealed in the budget on 24 June.
News.com.au
19-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
NSW government urges support to end housing crisis
The NSW Treasurer has used his first major speech since the Australian federal election to call for help to tackle the 'punishing' housing market. Ahead of the June 24 NSW budget, Daniel Mookhey used his speech at the McKell Institute to address the state's housing concern and how his government could 'eagerly' work with the federal government to get more people into a home. 'We will use the next budget to take the next steps forward in building the homes we need to make sure we can house the people we cannot do without to keep our economy humming,' he said. Mr Mookhey welcomed the re-election of federal Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and said his Help to Buy housing scheme would open new paths to home ownership for working families. Under the scheme, the federal government will spend $6.3bn to help 40,000 low to middle income households buy a property by going guarantor for up to 18 per cent of buyers' home loans. Mr Mookhey flagged the high price of rent, saying the stress is not sustainable for individuals, families and the broader economy. 'Housing is shelter, it is security. It is where people make a home and a life. It is where people find connection. It also makes a big difference to economic mobility,' he said. 'The home you live in determines the job you can reach, the school your child attends, and the support network around you. 'But right now, housing insecurity is acting as a drag on productivity and a barrier to belonging.' He said part of the solution was delivering zoning reforms so more houses could be built near existing infrastructure projects. 'We're continuing that push through our low and mid-rise housing policy – and we are standing firm against efforts by councils and others to delay or dilute supply where demand is strong,' Mr Mookhey said. 'We are tackling this from every angle: the largest investment in social housing since World War II, stronger protections for renters, record increases to homelessness services.' Mr Mookhey called on the federal Albanese government to use its landslide victory to help fund major infrastructure projects in order to boost NSW productivity while ultimately saving in the long term. 'Construction costs are rising, planning delays are slowing delivery, and the construction workers we need to literally build our brighter future are increasingly scarce,' Mr Mookhey said. 'Which means … the time to build is now. To boost investment, we need to get projects built faster.' According to Mr Mookhey, businesses are delaying investing in NSW because of major project delays, which are stopping more private sector investment from unlocking the 'next great era of Australian economic growth'. 'Getting major projects – the projects that drive productivity – getting them done in NSW is taking too long,' Mr Mookhey said. 'The task begs us all to support investment in infrastructure and technology so our workers have the very best tools of trade (and) to encourage regulatory experimentation to boost efficiency and innovation so we have a smart state instead of a slow state.'
