The NSW budget has delivered little in the way of new funding to support rapid housing growth in the Hunter.
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Mr Mookhey delivered his second budget on Tuesday, complaining that the latest Commonwealth distribution of GST funds had ripped $11.9 billion out of NSW over the next four years and doomed the state to nine years of deficits.
He announced the state would spend an extra $4 billion to build a new target of 8400 new and replacement social housing dwellings over the next four years, though the government has not yet decided how many of those will be in the Hunter.
The government says the funding will increase the state's pool of social housing by 6200 dwellings, half of which will be allocated to women and children escaping domestic violence.
The total spend on social housing infrastructure amounts to $6.1 billion over the next four years, including $1 billion to repair 33,500 existing public dwellings.
The government vowed to build 30,000 new dwellings, including the new social housing, and has identified 44 surplus government sites across the state which can be used for Homes NSW, Landcom or private sector residential developments.
The Hunter could reasonably expect to receive 10 per cent of new public housing, or about 600 dwellings, which compares with a regional waiting list of more than 5000.
'Not enough'
A spokesperson for Hunter-based community housing provider Home In Place, Martin Kennedy, said the social housing investment was welcome but not nearly enough to address a waiting list of 58,000.
"The use of surplus government land for social housing is a welcome move and one we would like to see replicated in other states," he said.
"While the NSW government's commitments are welcome, they remain below the level required to keep pace with existing demand for social and affordable housing or current and projected population growth."
The budget allocates $520 million for infrastructure to support private housing around train stations, $555 million to speed up the planning system and $200 million for councils which meet their housing targets.
Business Hunter chief executive Bob Hawes said the measures would help respond to "dire circumstances across the region".
"As highlighted in recent housing affordability data, second to Sydney, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie holds the unfortunate title of Australia's least affordable housing destination," he said.
"We are less affordable than every other capital city in Australia."
A recent survey by University of Newcastle's Institute for Regional Futures found housing and health were by far the two most pressing issues facing Hunter people.
The budget papers show the Hunter's population rose from 775,006 in 2021 to 798,963 in 2023, an increase of 23,957, the equivalent of the town of Singleton.
Mining royalties
The budget estimates the NSW mining industry will generate more than $13 billion in state royalties over the next four years, more than half of which will come from the Hunter.
Mr Mookhey told the Newcastle Herald last week that the Hunter deserved more funding than it had received under the previous Coalition government and Labor was committed to supporting the region.
The budget provides little in the way of transformational new road and transport funding to support the Hunter's population growth nor the rapid acceleration in Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Cessnock supply required by the government's new five-year housing targets.
Key Hunter projects did not receive money in this budget, including the Hunter Park development, Newcastle light rail extensions, a long-term solution to dredging Swansea channel, a TAFE manufacturing centre of excellence and the Lower Hunter freight rail bypass.
The government and Newcastle council published a planning strategy for Hunter Park and surrounding suburbs last month after seven years of little progress under the previous government.
The "place strategy" is on public exhibition, and the government says it will publish separate rezoning applications for four high-density, high-priority housing sites inside the strategy area in the next few months.
The strategy estimates the project will require $3 billion over 30 years for infrastructure such as a new indoor arena, swim centre, flood works, parks, light rail and road upgrades.
Committee for the Hunter chief executive Alice Thompson said the government had managed expectations before the budget and the lack of funding for major new projects was not a surprise.
She acknowledged that some key regional projects, such as Hunter Park, an economic transition authority and the Transport Oriented Development housing program, were in the planning phase.
"There is no ready pipeline of transformational infrastructure ahead, and projects prioritised by regional stakeholders for more immediacy like Mandalong Road and Muswellbrook bypass remain in planning," she said.
"It is clear the Minns government is focused on immediate imperatives to deliver, but ad hoc, short-term approaches will never be sufficient to transition a major economy like ours through significant upheaval and come out better on the other side."
She said some of the committee's budget asks again had "fallen through the cracks".
"These include a plan to grow the defence and aerospace industries at Newcastle Airport in the void of the axed Williamtown Special Activation Precinct, development of a metro plan with the cancellation of the Greater Cities Commission, progress on the Lower Hunter Freight Corridor following confirmation of the route and activation and release of the $75 million now stockpiled in the Royalties for Rejuvenation fund."
The budget includes $59.4 million to "continue planning" for the one-kilometre Mandalong Road upgrade at Morisset but allocates only $1.8 million of that money in 2024-25.
Lake Macquarie City Council said in a pre-budget submission that more than $1.2 billion in private investment, including 4500 homes, "relies on this straightforward upgrade proceeding without unnecessary delay".
Road upgrades
The government said last week that it would spend $110 million on road upgrades to clear a path for huge wind turbines to travel via truck from Newcastle to clean energy zones near Dubbo and Armidale.
The funding, plus an $18 million federal contribution, will also help establish a logistics hub at Newcastle port for storing and loading large wind farm components.
The budget reserves $137.5 million in the Restart NSW fund for upgrading Nelson Bay Road, though no money has been allocated to the project in the four years of forward estimates.
The Albanese government announced $137.5 million for the road project in the May federal budget.
The budget includes $7.8 million in funding next financial year for upgrading the Speers Point roundabout intersection and $1 million in 2024-25 for the $14.5 million Thornton rail bridge duplication.
It continues funding for the $2.2 billion joint state and federal M1 Motorway extension to Raymond Terrace, allocating $395 million in 2024-25.
The Singleton bypass has been allocated $191 million in 2024-25, but the $700 million Muswellbrook bypass, another joint state and federal project, will receive only $11.7 million and has no projected completion date.
The Herald reported last year that the federal government had paused the bypass after reviewing projects in the national infrastructure pipeline.
The state budget includes a $392 million allocation of state and federal money over forward estimates for New England Highway corridor improvements, including planning and early works on the Muswellbrook bypass.
More for schools
The budget allocates $22.9 billion towards new and upgraded schools and hospitals across the next four years in NSW, including 14 new Hunter preschools and a handful of previously announced Hunter education projects.
It offers $630,000 to secure a site for a new high school at fast-growing Huntlee with the promise of a January 2028 opening date.
The government is targeting a January 2027 opening date for a new high school at Medowie, a project which has been allocated $5.8 million in the 2024-25 financial year.
The budget assigns $7.7 million for a new fire station at Charlestown with a completion date of 2028 and continues funding for new stations at Dungog, Cessnock and Singleton.
Stage three of the Muswellbrook Hospital development will receive another $15.5 million in the next financial year, and the government has committed another $26 million to the Cessnock Hospital redevelopment, on top of the previous government's allocation of $110 million in 2021.
The government has allocated $22 million to a new mental health centre at Maitland Hospital.
The budget includes a commitment to buy land to protect the Butterfly Cave Aboriginal place in the Hunter.
Hunter Water dividends
The budget shows Hunter Water will return an estimated $374 million in dividends to the NSW government between 2023-24 and 2027-28, but the budget has allocated no money towards minimising the risk of flooding in the Wallsend business district.
City of Newcastle has spent $20 million on flood mitigation works in the suburb but has been pushing the government for another $40 million to complete the work.
Water Minister Rose Jackson said in March that the government was "working through the options" for reducing the flood risk but did not commit to addressing the issue.
The government has not reinstated the Newcastle Mines Grouting Fund, which was scrapped last year despite being seen as an important guarantee against the unknown cost of filling old mining voids under apartment and office building developments.
Swansea MP and Minister for the Hunter Yasmin Catley said the budget included $3 million for dredging, including in Swansea Channel.
"I will ensure that channel continues to be navigable," she said.
Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
