Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Deputy Premier John Barilaro have outlined the newly elected Government’s priorities ahead of the first Cabinet meeting today.
“I’m looking forward to delivering great opportunities and quality of life for all citizens across NSW no matter where they live or what their circumstances are,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“A strong economy is fundamental. We need to ensure that NSW continues to be an attractive location to invest, which will in turn enhance capacity to develop new industries and drive jobs growth.
“Jobs are fundamental. We will prioritise higher education and skills to ensure we have a workforce that is able to adapt to the needs of Australia and the world.
“We will also focus on tackling social issues to reduce disadvantage.”
Mr Barilaro said improving the quality of life for people across NSW, particularly in the regions, will be a major focus for the Government.
“We know many of our regional and rural communities are doing it tough. Providing water security and better connecting our communities will be key priorities,” Mr Barilaro said.
“We have an opportunity to unlock enormous economic potential with better connections between the regions and Sydney and, crucially, from region to region.”
The key policy priorities of the NSW Liberals & Nationals Government are:
- A strong economy, quality jobs and job security for workers of today and tomorrow;
- Highest quality education no matter where you live or what your circumstances may be;
- Well-connected communities with quality local environments;
- Making Government work better for you by putting the customer at the centre of everything we do; and,
- Breaking the cycle of intergenerational disadvantage by fixing problems that have been in the too-hard basket for too long.
A strong economy, quality jobs and job security for workers of today and tomorrow: We will build the strongest economy in the region, providing the jobs and investment opportunities that will take NSW to the next level.
By diversifying our economy, we can deliver greater economic growth, and more and better jobs. Continued jobs growth and business investment is the key to the wages growth required to help individuals and families to get ahead. We have the capacity to be a global leader in areas such as fin-tech, med-tech, research and development, robotics and information technology. And we will continue to reduce taxes so businesses can grow and prosper.
Highest quality education no matter where you live or what your circumstances may be: We will prepare the most dynamic, qualified and skilled workforce in the world.
Higher education and skills standards will ensure a flexible workforce, able to adapt to the ever-changing external environment and access lifelong learning opportunities. This will help take NSW to the next level and ensure capacity to develop new industries. We will focus on the quality of life-long learning, whether it’s pre-school, school, vocational education or mature-aged re-training. And we will focus on areas where educational outcomes need improvement.
Well-connected communities with quality local environments: We will deliver the infrastructure that connects communities and improves opportunity and quality of life.
Our ambitious infrastructure pipeline must make all our cities and towns more liveable, whether country or city. Not just transport infrastructure, but social infrastructure like schools, hospitals, sporting and cultural institutions, parks and public space. We will deliver cleaner, greener urban environments and more secure water supplies for the bush. These infrastructure investments will be integrated completely with our regional growth strategy and will connect communities like never before.
Making Government work better for you by putting the customer at the centre of everything we do: We will provide world-class services for every citizen, no matter where they live or what their circumstances may be.
The newly established Customer Service Cluster will use technology and data to better integrate government services and massively improve the quality and level of services available. In the same way we have revolutionised customer service through Service NSW – where citizens can now conduct more than 850 transactions in one place – we will now focus on how people interact with our schools, hospitals and social services so that each of these services are re-designed to work better for each citizen, and improve their lives at an individual level. And we will continue to reduce red tape, simplify processes and deliver measures to help people manage their cost of living.
Break the cycle of intergenerational disadvantage by fixing problems that have been in the too-hard basket for too long: We will focus on social reform in areas that have been longstanding challenges.
With strong fundamentals now in place, we can focus on the most difficult problems that our community faces, including those which have driven intergenerational disadvantage. Already, we have begun work to reduce the rate of suicide, provide permanency for all children in out of home care, ensure social housing tenants have a pathway to independence, tackle indigenous disadvantage, and reduce rates of recidivism and the prison population. We are not here to avoid the toughest problems or simply to mark time – we are here to make a real and lasting difference.