Families across regional NSW are under real pressure. Longer distances, higher energy needs and fewer alternatives mean the cost of mortgages, rent, groceries and fuel is especially felt in the regions.
This Budget acts on a simple principle: relief for today and reform for tomorrow - building a
state working Australians can afford.
Relief for cost-of-living pressures
Relief in this Budget is practical and immediate, and it reaches regional households where
costs bite hardest, on the road and in power bills. It delivers:
- $100 off private vehicle registration, worth $435 million across 4.4 million vehicles, with an $80 cut for motorcycles (excluding caravans and trailers). This is relief that matters most where people rely on cars, utes and longer drives.
- Scrapping toll administration fees from July, saving at least $10 a notice, and ending a charge that cost motorists $60 million last year, in some cases twice the toll itself.
- $557.1 million through the Home Energy Saver program: interest-free loans and discounts to install energy-efficient appliances and cut power bills over time.
- A $1,000 cost-of-living payment for more than 120,000 NSW Government employees, triggered because Sydney CPI growth exceeded 4 per cent between the March quarters of 2025 and 2026.
Healthier regional communities
Health is the largest single commitment in this Budget.
Across NSW, a historic $10.3 billion increase in health funding over four years, delivered with the Australian Government, will recruit 9,000 more health workers and fund around 2,900 more planned surgeries a year.
This sits alongside $11.9 billion for health infrastructure including 32 new and upgraded hospitals and more than 2,500 beds.
Regional NSW shares fully in that program. Of the $11.9 billion statewide, nearly $3.0 billion is invested in regional hospitals and health facilities over the next four years, including the new Shellharbour Hospital, the Eurobodalla Regional Hospital redevelopment, the Bathurst and Cessnock hospital redevelopments, and a new maternity unit at Grafton Base Hospital.
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.
Regional nurses, midwives, teachers and police are among those benefiting from the high wage economy this Government is building.
Better schools, closer to home
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, of which $2.3 billion is for regional NSW.
These new and upgraded schools include:
- Calderwood Public School co-located public early learning
- Cessnock East Public School co-located public early learning
- Chisholm new primary school with co-located public early learning
- Cooranbong new primary school (relocation) with co-located public early learning
- Deniliquin High School rebuild
- Eden Public School co-located public early learning
- Flinders new high school
- Googong West new primary school with co-located public early learning
- Huntlee new primary school with co-located public early learning
- Inverell Public School co-located public early learning
- Maitland Grossmann new high school (relocation)
- Muswellbrook Public School co-located public early learning
- West Dapto new primary school co-located public early learning.
Roads, connectivity and disaster recovery
Reliable roads keep regional communities connected and freight moving. This Budget invests:
- Funding to reconstruct and reopen the Great Western Highway at Victoria Pass as soon as possible, $50.0 million for immediate upgrades to provide a safe detour, and $3.6 million to support local businesses.
- $910.9 million to restore local and state roads and other essential public assets damaged by natural disasters.
- $331.6 million to commence the Pacific Highway upgrade at the Wyong town centre.
- $153.9 million through the Regional Development Trust to back local projects and community priorities across the regions.
Safer regional communities
Domestic and family violence is disproportionately higher in rural and regional areas.
This Budget invests:
- A $184.1 million investment in six frontline domestic and family violence programs, helping thousands more women, children and people impacted by violence access specialist support and stay safe. This is a 50 per cent increase phased in over four years.
- Community workers also receive a 4.75 per cent pay increase under the Fair Work Commission determination.
- $2.2 million to coordinate regional youth crime services and improve community safety across regional NSW.
Investments in emergency services protect communities and keep families and businesses safe.
This Budget provides $470.1 million over 10 years to enhance emergency response and better protect communities by transferring the state's red fleet from councils to the NSW Rural Fire Service.
Stronger regional communities
Regional communities face challenges that are different to those in metropolitan areas. This Budget invests in practical measures to support farmers and strengthen local resilience.
- Delivering drought support to farmers across NSW to meet the current dry conditions and to prepare for future droughts.
- Investing $16.3 million in feral animal control programs targeting feral pigs and supporting priority regional pest management efforts across NSW.
- $10.5 million to upgrade Western NSW airports including the White Cliffs airstrip and Bourke Airport to improve safety and reliability for emergency and general aviation
- Continuing the $10 million Western NSW Workforce Activation package to establish, expand or upgrade early childhood education and care, giving women across western NSW greater opportunities to re-enter the workforce.
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.
