| NSW Premier Mike Baird and Family and Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton talk to Rosemeadow resident Tom Puffett about public housing issues on Monday. Photo: Anna Warr |
Nicole Hasham State Politics Reporter
February 23, 2015
Raising taxes to pay for big-ticket projects such as a second harbour rail crossing would mean thousands fewer jobs and plunge NSW back into the economic doldrums, Premier Mike Baird says.
He was responding to a Galaxy poll published by News Limited on Monday which showed the government's lead over Labor was narrowing. It also showed more voters supported raising taxes to pay for $20 billion in infrastructure, rather than part-leasing the state's electricity distribution networks, known as the "poles and wires".
The less popular lease option is the central plank of the Baird government's re-election platform.
Mr Baird attempted to link the notion of higher taxes to the state opposition, saying such a policy was "in Labor's DNA".
"[Under Labor] taxes go up, debt goes up, but you need to understand those taxes going up … means less jobs. Thousands of less jobs," he said.
"If you want a state where debt is going up, we have thousands of less jobs and we go back to the bottom economically, well Labor is your team."
Labor last week released its infrastructure package, which would keep NSW electricity assets in public hands.
A "modest" $10 billion set of projects would be paid for in two ways: retaining for a decade a range of business taxes abolished in last year's state budget, and drawing on an "uncommitted" $4.9 billion already in the government's infrastructure fund, Restart NSW.
The opposition's treasury spokesman Michael Daley said Mr Baird was "looking really silly and rattled", and Labor's proposal to retain business taxes did not equate to raising taxes.
"Mike Baird knows not a single tax was raised, not a single cent of new debt was proposed [ by Labor] and Labor didn't have to blackmail people with asset sales," Mr Daley said.
"Instead, Labor found $10 billion of additional funding and Mike Baird is embarrassed because he said we wouldn't find any."
Mr Baird said the election on March 28 was always going to be a tough one, but voters had a "clear choice".
"We have an opposition that is promising more congestion, more crowded trains, more time in your car and on public transport getting home to your family," he said.
"This government ... has a very clear plan to take away congestion, to provide more trains and enable you to get home to your family quicker."
Mr Baird was speaking at Rosemeadow in south-western Sydney, where he announced a new hardline stance against public housing trouble makers.
If the government is re-elected, it will crack down on anti-social and illegal behaviour and evict tenants who commit serious crimes.
Mr Baird said there were "hundreds and hundreds" of problem tenants who were "taking public housing for granted. They are disrupting, they are terrorising, they are making people's lives a misery on a regular basis".
Under the policy, a person convicted of a serious offence would be evicted. A tenant will also be evicted if they breach their tenancy agreement three times in a year.
NSW Council of Social Service chief executive Tracy Howe said while public tenants deserve to feel safe, the government's policy must acknowledge that "many people who live in social housing have complex needs".
"Government has a responsibility to ensure any social housing policy aims to break cycles of disadvantage, and responds sensibly and fairly to the many and varied experiences of people living in social housing," she said.
Mr Baird said evicted tenants could access other government services.
Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton said the government would also provide $20 million worth of grants for projects to improve public housing communal spaces, such as creating a community garden or boosting security.
Meantime, Mr Baird said the government would soon release details of how it expects to spend the proceeds of the Millers Point public housing sell-off.
Public housing advocates have criticised the government for failing to produce a business plan for the sales, which are likely to raise more than $500 million.
The government says the proceeds will be redirected back into the social housing system, but has not detailed where or how they will be spent. Mr Baird said the government would release those details "shortly" but did not guarantee it would come before the election.
RESOURCED: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-state-election-2015/nsw-state-election-2015-taxes-under-labor-would-send-nsw-backwards-says-premier-mike-baird-20150223-13m805.html
