Stop the budget blame game
Mark Speakman
Leader of the Opposition
Damien Tudehope
Shadow Treasurer
NSW Premier Chris Minns and Treasurer Daniel Mookhey have to take responsibility for the state of the New South Wales Budget, stop blaming everyone else for their budget blowouts and rule out further cuts.
Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said that before the election Chris Minns’ promises to union bosses weren’t going to cost anything – after the election they turned out to cost billions, and Labor chose to cut cost of living supports, funding for schools, palliative care, and infrastructure to pay for their union promises.
“Chris Minns must now rule out any further cuts to our schools, hospitals, infrastructure or services,” Mr Speakman said.
“The Liberals and Nationals Government had to deal with the GST redistribution, a once in a century COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and numerous global headwinds, but we still managed to maintain a strong Budget and the AAA credit rating.”
“Chris Minns keeps agreeing to Canberra’s demands – from housing targets to NDIS – without properly considering the implications, and then he refuses to pick up the phone to Canberra. He failed to do it on immigration, on infrastructure cuts and on GST.”
Shadow Treasurer Damien Tudehope called on the Treasurer to take responsibility for the NSW Budget and stop playing the blame game.
“Daniel Mookhey is addicted to the blame game. He’s blamed WestInvest, the debt servicing arising from natural disasters and COVID-19, and now the GST system for losing NSW’s AAA credit rating,” Mr Tudehope said.
“However, the Treasurer fails to mention the $9.5 billion blow out in unfunded public sector wage rises so far, with more to come as numerous other unions seek significant wage increases.”
“All the factors that led to the lower GST determination were known to the Treasurer – coal royalties, higher land prices and 2021 census data. His optimistic predictions of Budget surpluses were based on pretending not to be aware of these factors,” Mr Tudehope said.
“The Minns Labor Government is more focused on finding excuses than making the right Budget decisions for NSW.”
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