‘Snap back to reality’: Sloane channels Eminem, promises new metro in budget reply

Kellie Sloane has used her first budget reply speech since taking over as NSW Liberal leader last year to spruik a pro-business agenda based around significant payroll tax cuts, and to promise to a new western Sydney city deal that would include progress on a metro for south-western Sydney.

Speaking after Treasurer Daniel Mookhey handed down Labor’s fourth and final full budget ahead of next year’s state election on Tuesday, Sloane also announced the Coalition would freeze developer contributions for new housing projects until June 30, and push payment from a project’s approval to completion, in a bid to boost the feasibility.

Sloane opened her speech by quoting US rapper Eminem’s 2002 song Lose Yourself – “If you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted/Would you capture it or would you just let it slip?” – to attack the Minns government over what she described as its lack of vision.

Quoting criticism after the budget from Dr Fred Betros, the head of the NSW chapter of the Australian Medical Association who labelled the budget “a disaster for patients”, she accused the government of reducing hospital infrastructure funding compared with previous budgets. She also criticised their handling of the economy by pointing to sluggish economic growth figures Labor says is the result of the war in the Middle East and rising interest rates.

“This budget is a snap back to reality,” Sloane said.

“Our gross state product is growing at less than a per cent slower than Victoria, and slower than our population growth, putting us effectively in a per capita recession. Business confidence is at an all-time low.”

In the lead-up to the speech, the Coalition announced it would walk away from a previously bipartisan agreement over the rollout of the state’s clean energy road map by halting progress on the New England Renewable Energy Zone. It also announced it would lift the payroll tax threshold from $1.2 million to $1.5 million and cut the rate from 5.45 per cent to 4.75 per cent for businesses with a payroll spend below $10 million.

The opposition has not said how it would replace lost revenue from the cut to payroll taxes, though Labor says it believes it would cost about $3 billion over four years.

Lagging in the polls, the Coalition under Sloane has sought to contrast the previous government’s significant infrastructure agenda with Labor, which has shied away from major new rail or road construction in a high-inflation environment in a bid to reduce government debt.

But on Thursday Sloane said the Coalition would seek to sign a new Western Sydney City Deal with the federal government, similar to the one struck between former premier Gladys Berejiklian and prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2018.

The deal, she said, would help deliver new roads, schools and hospitals, as well as “continuing to build the metros by progressing a metro for south-western Sydney”.

Such a deal would require co-operation from the Albanese government, and likely require billions in new funding. The cost of Sydney’s three metro projects has blown out by more than $6 billion due to a combination of disputes with contractors, skyrocketing construction expenses, and design and scope changes.

At the same time, she said the Coalition would guarantee that at least 25 per cent of new infrastructure spending is allocated to regional parts of the state.

“NSW cannot afford to stall,” she said. “We must keep planning and building.”

As the government continues to struggle to meet lofty housing accord targets, Sloane announced the Coalition would freeze the housing contributions levy until June 30 and change payment from a project’s approval to its completion. The policy, which has been called for by the developer lobby and was considered by the government before its budget, would “reduce upfront costs and improving project viability”, she said.

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