NSW Labor looks to future in budget reply

NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley has delivered his first budget reply, telling the parliament Labor is focused on sustainable economy.

NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley has detailed plans to free up land and create jobs in western Sydney and called for a radical shake-up of state-commonwealth tax arrangements.

Mr Foley used his maiden budget response to position Labor as a party looking to the future with a pledge to embrace the "sharing economy".

NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian delivered record infrastructure spending promises and back-to-back surpluses in her Tuesday budget but Mr Foley says her plan is "built on sand".

He has highlighted the state's reliance on surging stamp duty receipts, and looming federal cuts to the health and education sectors as areas of particular concern.

"Forty per cent of the NSW budget is made up from commonwealth payments and as Tony Abbott's cuts have proved, this imbalance has devastating consequences," the Labor leader told NSW Parliament on Thursday.

"The solution is a new pact with the commonwealth on tax revenue.

"A fair share of the tax paid by the citizens of NSW should be returned to fund the schools, hospitals and other infrastructure we use.

"This must be an ironclad agreement so that no commonwealth government can refuse to meet its obligations to health and education."

The state's alternative premier also unveiled a plan for thousands of existing public housing dwellings to be transferred to the not-for-profit community housing sector.

"Over time all of the state's public housing should be transferred to not-for-profit community housing associations," Mr Foley said.

Central to his budget reply was a call for more jobs for the growing number of families in western Sydney.

"Creating several hundred thousand new jobs in western Sydney over the next 25 years is perhaps the single most important thing we can do to help our state's productivity and sustainability," Mr Foley said.

He said the planned airport at Badgery's Creek could be the number-one jobs generator in the region but the state needed to push for a rail link in its talks with the federal government.

Bankstown Airport's future also needed consideration, he said.

"It is easy to imagine Bankstown as the next Macquarie Park or Norwest Business Park, full of tens of thousands of high-wage jobs - providing employment opportunities for local people," he said.

There was also a promise to do more to embrace Uber and the sharing economy.

"The sharing economy is creating jobs, driving innovation, increasing productivity and reducing waste," Mr Foley said.

"It continues to change our state, but the state has not kept pace with this change."


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Source: AAP


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