Labor's 2024-25 budget, which records a $3.6 billion deficit, has promised 30,000 new homes all up through several new housing schemes, including a build-to-rent program for essential workers and the sale of public land to developers.

Treasurer Daniel Moohkey said his "must haves and not nice-to-haves" budget "carefully absorbs" a $11.9 billion hit from a loss in GST revenue, rather than creating "misery" by making cuts to services.

Mr Mookhey said the housing measures were aimed at helping people break into the Sydney housing market as the government shifted it's "focus" to building new homes.

"I don't think we should be slamming the door on home ownership to the next generation," Mr Mookhey said. 

"NSW needs more homes, more homes for renters, more homes for key workers, more homes for people escaping violence at home."

Housing dedicated for domestic violence victim-survivors  & essential workers:

Mr Moohkey said his new social housing measures would deliver 8,400 new social housing homes, 6,200 of which will be new, which the rest being old social homes that will be knocked down and rebuilt.

Half of those homes will be kept for women and children fleeing domestic violence.

More than 34,000 women and children are on the social housing waiting list, forming up 59.5 per cent of applicants.

About 5,000 of the women are assessed as in urgent need, often escaping or at high risk of domestic and family violence.

Additionally, an audit of NSW government owned land has identified 44 sites which will be sold to Housing NSW, Landcom or property developers, to build 21,000 new homes.

Mr Moohkey said Landcom and Housing NSW would get first dibs in the land sales, with private developers able to develop the land and sell it on the private market after that.

The locations of those pieces of land are yet to be announced, but most are in Sydney.

On Sunday the government announced $450 million for an as-yet undefined list of essential workers, through a built-to-rent scheme run by government development agency, Landcom.

A further $200 million will go to NSW Health for essential worker accommodation in regional NSW.

Addressing bulk-billing 'freefall'

The budget's second major feature is a $189 million injection into bulk-billing, which the government said will incentivise GPs to bulk-bill patients.

Mr Moohkey said he was acting on a recent survey which found 48 per cent of adults were cutting back on healthcare appointments due to the cost. 

With bulk-billing rates in "freefall", Mr Moohkey said GP practices that bulk-bill 80 per cent of their patients in metropolitan Sydney – 70% in the rest of the state – can claim a complete tax rebate to for the payroll tax they otherwise would have to pay for the wages of contractor GPs.

Mr Moohkey said GP clinics would also be exempt from paying back taxes they might owe on contractor wages.

Rebekah Hoffman, chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners NSW and ACT, has welcomed the investment.

"This gives GPs across NSW certainty that they can continue to operate and keep their doors open for patients, without fear of being hit with a huge tax bill that will shut them down," she said.

Mr Mookhey defended the lack of cost-of-living measures in the budget, pointing to toll relief measures which are funded to the tune of $560 million over two years, and to the new bulk-billing measures.

Original Story By | Isobel Roe