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Education will be a centerpiece of tomorrow’s Budget, with students and parents across NSW benefiting from a record investment in 190 new and upgraded schools, 4600 new teachers and psychologists and social workers in every high school.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian joined Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell at Kent Road Public School to announce an unprecedented $18.5 billion Education Budget in 2019-20 alone – an increase of $1.2 billion on the previous year.
The Budget includes an extra $600 million in recurrent spending and $600 million in capital spending in 2019-20.
Ms Berejiklian said the record investment is part of the NSW Government’s plan to have the best education system in Australia, if not the world.
“We are delivering on our promise to provide a quality education to students, no matter where they live or what their circumstances may be,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Mr Perrottet said the funding demonstrated the NSW Government’s commitment to delivering a world class education system for the students of NSW.
“We don’t run surpluses for the sake of it,” Mr Perrottet said. “We run surpluses so we can give young people every opportunity to be their best.
“This record school funding is only possible as a result of strong economic management.”
Ms Mitchell said this Budget recognises the complexity of our education system.
“Not only is this Budget focused on continuing to deliver our record school infrastructure program and hiring new teachers – it also recognises the importance of mental health to student outcomes, as well as the crucial role that quality teachers play in educating our children,” Ms Mitchell said.
In another historic first, the Government will be investing $1.3 billion to clear the maintenance backlog in all public schools left by the former Labor Government by July 2020.
“All students should have the opportunity to work in the best environments possible – and this means ensuring that the 16 years of neglect of our public schools by the former Labor government never happens again,” Ms Mitchell said.
Education Budget highlights:

• $6.7 billion over the next four years to deliver 190 new and upgraded schools
• $88.4 million to hire a full time psychologist and social worker in every government high school
• $120 million over four years to expand before and after school care to make it available to all parents with kids at government primary schools

• $500 million over four years to support non-government schools in building facilities to provide more student places in growing communities
• $20 million over four years for new and existing pre-schools to build renovate or extend their facilities.

The NSW Government is getting on with the job of transforming the Western Sydney road network with over 40 projects worth in total more than $1 billion currently in progress or planning across the region.
Throughout Western Sydney an army of workers are building, widening, extending, and duplicating roads to future proof one of the state’s fastest growing regions.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said currently more than 845,000 journeys to work start and end in Western Sydney and 64 per cent of those are by car.
“Western Sydney is one of the fastest-growing regions in NSW and the NSW Government is building roads to cater for future generations and address the expected increase in congestion,” Mr Perrottet said.
“More than 2 million people are living in Western Sydney with the population expected to grow to 3 million over the next 20 years, which is why the NSW Government is planning now.”
The NSW Budget 2019-20 has secured more than $1 billion in funding for critical road projects across Western Sydney to help the region get ahead of the game including:
•   $631 million for the NSW Government and Federal Government funded road upgrades to support new Western Sydney Airport.
•   $107.4 million on the M4 Smart Motorway between Parramatta and Penrith to increase trip reliability and improve road safety.
“The Budget is not only delivering the roads people need to move around Western Sydney faster but is also creating jobs with more than 2000 people currently working on road projects across the region and will only grow as more work is carried out,” Mr Perrottet said.
Minister for Roads Andrew Constance said much of the work was supporting the new Western Sydney Aerotropolis, which is estimated to provide around 200,000 new jobs alone.
“We have more than 40 projects in planning across Western Sydney, which will feature new and upgraded roads providing safer and more reliable journeys for the thousands of drivers,” Mr Constance said.
“Work is in full swing on the Windsor Bridge replacement project and shovels are in the ground along Mulgoa and Castlereagh road. We’re also seeing great progress on the upgrade between Union Road and Museum Drive.”

The public had its first glimpse of the State’s new Herbarium today, with the NSW Government unveiling concept designs for the building which will house more than 1.4 million plant specimens.
The precinct where the Herbarium will be built at the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan will be known as the Australian Institute of Botanic Science, bringing a world-class science hub to South-West Sydney.
Inspiration for the Herbarium has been drawn from the seed pod of NSW’s floral emblem, the iconic waratah.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the Government had allocated $27 million in the 2019-20 NSW Budget, to allow work to begin on the $60 million project early in 2020.
“The Herbarium houses one of the most important and significant collections of plant specimens in the world, and this purpose-built facility will ensure Australia is at the forefront of conservation and management for generations to come,” he said.
“This is a lot more than just seed funding for this project, we are ensuring the NSW Government delivers a world class facility for Western Sydney.”
Planning and Public Spaces Minister Rob Stokes said the Herbarium, which is being relocated from its current home at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, includes specimens include those collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on Captain Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific in 1770.
“The Australian Institute of Botanic Science will include the new National Herbarium of NSW, to be built next to the award-winning Australian Plantbank,” Mr Stokes said.
“The Australian Botanic Garden in Mount Annan was once a cow paddock, but has gradually been transformed into one of Sydney’s most-loved public spaces.”

The NSW Liberals & Nationals Government is turbocharging the customer experience, with the 100^th Service NSW Centre officially opening in Nyngan today.
Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello joined staff and stakeholders at the Centre to announce the milestone.
“Service NSW has transformed how the customer interacts with Government, by creating a one-stop shop for registrations, licences and cost of living savings,” Mr Dominello said.
“Gone are the bad old days of waiting in long queues and rushing all over town to get things done. The customer is now front and centre of service delivery and we have more to do. Watch this space.
“Today we’ve hit a century, and there are more centres on the way across NSW.”
Hundreds of government services are accessible through Service NSW, including driver’s licences, NSW Seniors Cards and birth certificates.
Customers can also make an appointment with a Cost of Living specialist and potentially save hundreds of dollars. Two Service NSW buses (with two more to come) also service remote areas that don’t have access to a centre.
Since the first centre opened in 2013, Service NSW has assisted more than 174 million customers in store, by phone and online and there have been 4.3 million MyServiceNSW Accounts created. The following table highlights how Service NSW is making life easier for people.

Further information on Service NSW is available at www.service.nsw.gov.au