The $250 per household in vouchers will be available through Service NSW from March and will be for families who had a school-aged child in 2021. They can be spent on attractions and entertainment.
Premier Dominic Perrottet says parents deserve a thank you for months of homeschooling.Nick Moir
Premier Dominic Perrottet said parents deserved to be thanked for persevering with homeschooling. The vouchers will cost the government $193 million and will be valid from March to October 2022.
“We all owe you,the mums and dads of this state,a great deal of gratitude,” Mr Perrottet said.
“You have been the primary educators to make sure none of our kids get left behind. You are really the cornerstones of our success here in NSW.”
Other measures in the economic recovery strategy include $500 million for the expansion of Dine&Discover vouchers and a new Stay and Rediscover accommodation voucher.
There will also be more than $200 million for the performing arts sector and a package to boost alfresco dining.
A signature policy will be $500 million to tackle domestic violence,including doubling the number of women’s refuges across the state to 161. There will also be $130 million for a mental health recovery package.
Treasurer Matt Kean said the lockdown cost the NSW economy about $1.9 billion a week,totalling $50 billion.
“NSW has seen the biggest contraction in economic activity in our state’s history,” he said.
Mr Kean said he expected the NSW unemployment rate in December to be 6.4 per cent when he releases the half-yearly budget update.
The Treasurer said the people of NSW had shown great strength and ingenuity throughout the pandemic.
“This package will boost confidence,provide fresh opportunities and support NSW to return to a way of life we know and love,” he said.
“But we don’t just want to recover what we lost,we want to bounce back better than ever – and this package lays the foundations to do exactly that.”
NSW Labor leader Chris Minns welcomed the stimulus,but said it needed to be delivered sooner than March.
“At the end of the day the NSW government should work on getting the $250 in the hands of families in the state before Christmas,that’s when the costs are most severe on the family budget,” he said.
“When it comes to urgent stimulus spending,let’s try and make a dent in the 260,000 people that have lost their jobs in the last two and a half months.”
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