Minns Labor Government Budget 2025-2026 - Higher Bills, No Vision, No Relief
Mark Speakman
NSW Leader of the Opposition
Dugald Saunders
NSW Nationals Leader
Damien Tudehope
Shadow Treasurer
The Minns Labor Government’s 2025-26 Budget is long on self-congratulation but short on relief for the families, workers, home buyers, renters and communities who are struggling to make ends meet across New South Wales.
This year’s Budget confirms what many households already know - their bills are going up, their pay packets are being stretched, and the Government is not keeping up with the rising cost of living.
Stamp duty, payroll tax and land tax revenues are forecast to soar. Motor vehicle charges are up. The public infrastructure pipeline is drying up.
In exchange, households receive re-announcements, slogans, and government guarantees for developers.
The Minns Labor Government's headline housing policy is a $1 billion developer guarantee scheme that sees the Government purchase unsold apartments – without delivering any structural reform to lower the cost of housing or remove the barriers facing families trying to enter the housing market.
The 5,000 homes that the Government is proposing to underwrite with this initiative is just 1.3% of their housing target and is a concession that their taxes and charges are killing feasibility in the building sector.
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said after two years in office, Labor’s Budget reads like a collection of band-aids.
“There is no cost-of-living plan. There is no tax reform. There is no visionary infrastructure like we saw under the Coalition. Families are paying more, but they are not getting more," Mr Speakman said.
NSW Nationals Leader Dugald Saunders said it’s been a third brutal blow to the bush, especially for flood-impacted communities on the North coast, Mid-North and Hunter regions.
“Communities like Taree and Kempsey are literally on their knees right now pleading for help. It’s at the point where business owners and farmers are rallying in the streets, yet there was nothing set aside for the $75,000 category D grants they were promised by the Premier three weeks ago,” Mr Saunders said.
“It’s never been clearer than it is today how much the Minns Government disregards the regions, with no money to go towards the youth crime crisis, not a single new or upgraded school outside the city, and our primary industries left at risk after years of neglect in biosecurity funding.”
Shadow Treasurer Damien Tudehope said this budget makes life harder for working families.
“Tax collections are up, toll relief is ending, the infrastructure pipeline is drying up—while the Government signs blank cheques for developers.
“People are stretched thin, and Labor’s answer is to give them less for more. It’s a cash grab dressed up as a plan,” Mr Tudehope said.
The facts are:
Capital expenditure, an investment in the future, is falling from 2.8% of GSP to 2.0% over four years.
Transfer duty revenue is forecast to grow 22% in just four years.
Payroll tax revenue and land tax revenue are each forecast to rise 24% in four years.
Motor vehicle taxes are forecast to rise 26% in four years.
Interest on government debt is rising at7.4% per year.
There is no extension to toll relief for commuters.
There is no new tangible cost of living relief.
For a Budget claiming to deliver for NSW, the fine print tells a very different story.
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