11 March 2017 – NSW Parliament Wrap Up

The Government certainly made the most of the third sitting week of 2017, with a long list of ministers making an even longer list of announcements.

Tuesday shaped up to be the biggest day of the week, with two major reforms coming as welcome news to both insurers and their customers. Since late 2015, the Government has been consulting extensively about the fire and emergency services levy and green slip reform packages, both of which are expected to result in lower premiums. Now that’s good policy!

Here's how the week panned out...

New regional tourism and environment funding
On Monday, the NSW Government revealed it has set aside $300 million from its $20 billion Rebuilding NSW fund for investment in environmental and tourism related infrastructure projects. The new Regional Growth - Environment and Tourism fund, launched by Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW John Barilaro and Tourism Minister Adam Marshall, will support projects that promote the state’s food and wine regions—who said governments don’t know how to have fun?—as well as other environmental and heritage assets.

Grants for Indigenous cultural events
On another funding note, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Sarah Mitchell unveiled a new $200,000 grants program for organisations that promote Aboriginal history and culture. Grant money will be available to non-profits planning on hosting events during NAIDOC week in July. Applications for funding are open now.

Fire and emergency services levy
First up, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet introduced legislation to implement a new fire and emergency services levy, which will come into effect from July 1 this year. The levy, which has been on the Government’s agenda since late 2015, will shift the funding onus for the state’s emergency services off insurers and on to residential, commercial and industrial land owners. While that may sound drastic to some, it is a proven model that works well in other states.

Previously, emergency services were funded by a levy on insurers, who passed these costs on to home owners with home and contents insurance by way of higher premiums. The problem with this model was that not all home owners take out this type of insurance—the high premiums have in fact resulted in NSW becoming the most underinsured state in Australia—meaning not everyone was sharing the burden.

With the introduction of the property-based levy, insurers can reduce premiums, a process that will be enforced by former head of the ACCC Professor Allan Fells in his new capacity as NSW Emergency Services Levy Insurance Monitor. Given premiums are expected to fall by more than what the levy will cost, it is expected that this reform will actually benefit most land owners in NSW. More information about the levy can be found here.

Green slip reforms"Reforming green slips was like the first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan." — Minister for Finance, Services & Innovation Victor Dominello
Also on Tuesday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister Dominello revealed the final details of the Governments new green slip reforms.

From December this year, payments for motor vehicle accident injuries will be streamlined. Compensation for minor injuries, such as whiplash, will now be awarded for a maximum of six months, while more seriously injured persons will receive compensation, as well as lost income and medical benefit payments for up to two years. Drivers who are at fault in an accident may also now receive up to six months compensation.

The changes should enable insurers to more accurately plan for annual payment costs. As such, they are expected to result in an average premium reduction of around $120.

International Women's Day

Wednesday morning saw the Premier and Minister for Women Tanya Davies attend the 2017 NSW Women of the Year Awards, in celebration of International Women's Day. The main award of the day went to Associate Professor Catherine Birman, a pioneering adult and paediatric cochlear implant surgeon, otologist and paediatric ENT surgeon. The awards are an initiative of Women NSW, which falls within the Health cluster. It should also be noted that many MPs, including a raft of Cabinet ministers, took the opportunity to make mention of prominent women in their elecorates during question time.

Shark surveillance
A lot has been made of last summer's spate of shark attacks, including whether or not there should be nets off popular beaches (damned if you do, damned if you don't). However, Tuesday saw Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair reveal the successful outcomes of the Government's drone and helicopter surveillance programs. Minister Blair revealed that 46 potentially dangerous sharks were spotted over the summer by drones, as well as a further 525 by helicopter crews. On 86 occasions, evacuations were called for due to the sharks coming within 100 metres of beachgoers.

Record housing completions
Thursday provided Minister for Planning & Housing Anthony Roberts with the opportunity to confirm 2016's record-breaking housing completion figures. There were 34,121 houses built in Greater Sydney last year, a 25 per cent increase on 2015 and more than double the number of homes built in 2010. Perhaps even more telling is the fact that 54,722 housing approvals were granted in 2016. The Premier has made it clear that increasing supply is her preferred approach to tackling Sydney's housing affordability challenges— this data confirms the Government is delivering on its commitment.

Stadia strategy
On Thursday, Minister for Sport Stuart Ayres revealed that the Sporting Venues Authorities Amendment Bill 2017, which consolidates the Stadium Australia Group and Venues NSW boards into one, had successfully passed through Parliament. As a result, all major stadia in NSW are now controlled by the Government, streamlining governance arrangements.

Regional Infrastructure Coordinator appointed
The Premier and Deputy Premier demonstrated their commitment to regional and rural NSW on Thursday with the appointment of former Australian Army Chief Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie AC DSC CSM as Regional Infrastructure Coordinator. In this role, Lieutenant General Gillespie, a former defence industry adviser to the Department of Trade & Investment, will be responsible for advising the Government about the delivery of regional infrastructure projects.

Affordable housing fund
The Government ended the week on a high note, with the Premier and Minister for Social Housing Pru Goward finalising contracts for the delivery of more than two thousand new affordable homes. Five non-profits will provide homes throughout the state under the Government’s $1.1 billion Social and Affordable Housing Fund. As part of the contracts, the NFPs will be required to provide support services to tenants, and in some cases will also provide the land on which new homes will be built.