The 2023-24 ACT Budget, published this afternoon, builds towards the future, supports ongoing economic growth and fiscal repair, and focuses on health, housing, and cost of living, Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced.
“Today’s budget delivers the health care, housing, and cost of living assistance that our community needs,” Mr Barr said.
“It also continues the task of fiscal repair post the COVID pandemic. This budget builds the hospitals and schools that make Canberra one of the most liveable places in the world. It supports our economy to create thousands of additional jobs, and it provides one of the biggest investments in housing in the Territory’s history. It’s a comprehensive response that delivers now and for the future.”
Expenditure
The ACT government will spend $7.56 billion in this year’s budget. The biggest items are health (31 per cent, or $2.3 billion) and education (23 per cent, $1.7 billion), accounting for more than half the total expenditure.
Otherwise, the budget comprises:
- Community services: 8 per cent ($581 million)
- City services: 7 per cent ($556 million)
- Access Canberra and government services: 7 per cent ($521 million)
- Emergency services and policing: 6 per cent ($480 million)
- Justice: 5 per cent ($362 million)
- Transport: 4 per cent ($322 million)
- Housing: 4 per cent ($286 million)
- Environment, sustainable development, climate change: 3 per cent ($217 million)
- Economic development: 2 per cent ($164 million)
Find more detail on these towards the end of this article.
Cost of living
The budget also delivers cost-of-living support to households “who need it most”, Mr Barr said.
“We acknowledge that at this point in time, some Canberra households are doing it really tough due to inflation. Now, inflation is, of course, a national and global problem. But we are looking at local solutions.”
The cumulative effect of 10 years of suppressed wage growth, Mr Barr believes, has hit families, particularly those who work part-time or do not have six-figure salaries. He stated, however, that wages were starting to grow, following the Fair Work Commission’s minimum wage case decisions and ACT government increases for its lowest-paid staff.
Nearly one in four Canberrans – 43,000 households – will be eligible for the ACT’s $800 Utilities Concession. The government has added 12,000 households to the previous 31,000 that were eligible, Mr Barr said. This expenditure will cost $37.8 million over four years. The Utilities Concession will also be increased by $50, for the second year in a row.
Other measures to address the cost-of-living crisis include:
- $177.1 million over four years: Support Housing ACT to maintain and grow portfolio numbers while providing maintenance and tenancy services
- $20 million over four years: Expand specialist homelessness service capacity
- $11.5 million: Establish the Future of Education Student Equity Fund: direct financial support for financially vulnerable Canberra families
- $430,000: continue the Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Humanitarian Fund
- Additional investment in social and affordable housing
- Continue the Vulnerable Household Energy Support Scheme: support for community housing providers, private rental providers, and low-income homeowners to install energy efficient insulation and replace gas appliances with electric alternatives.
Economic overview
The budget deficit in 2023-24 is expected to be $442.7 million. In last year’s budget, the ACT’s fiscal position (bottom line) improved by more than $800 million over the forward estimates (four years). This year’s budget sees a further $400 million improvement over the forward estimates, Mr Barr said.
The government projects net operating balances of $142 million in 2025-26 and $212 million in 2026-27.
The ACT’s operating cash surplus will reach more than $700 million in 2026-27.
The key balance sheet metrics for 2023-24 – net debt, net financial liabilities, and net worth – are comparable with the estimates released in February’s Budget Review.
Total revenue increased by greater than total expenses over the three years from 2023-24 to 2025-26, compared to the 2022-23 Budget Review, Mr Barr said.
“This reflects the government’s commitments to the principles of good financial management: sustainable economic growth; sound public finances; quality and efficient services; sustainable taxation and revenue; and a strong balance sheet.”
Canberra’s population has grown at a faster rate than any other major city, and is expected to grow over 2023-24 as a result of strong migration driven by a robust labour market and high liveability, Mr Barr said. The economy and job market will continue to grow.
The ACT is at full employment, and the unemployment rate is regularly below 3 per cent – most often the lowest in the nation, he said. The ACT has achieved its jobs target of 250,000 jobs in the economy by 2025 two years ahead of schedule, and is well on track to achieve 300,000 jobs by 2030.
Public investment is forecast to grow in the coming fiscal year (2023–24), supported by the ACT government’s Investment Infrastructure Program: social and affordable housing; upgrades to Canberra Hospital; Light Rail Stage 2; and the new Woden CIT campus.
Gross state product bounced back “very strongly” from the impacts of COVID-19 in the 2022–23 fiscal year. That rate of growth is expected to moderate to 2.25 per cent in 2023–24, but the economy is forecast to return to trend and grow by 3.5 per cent in 2026-27.
Health
The budget has allocated $540 million to health care and $870 million to health infrastructure.
The health care expenditure includes $270 million on public health care, $80 million for better care in the community, and $30 million to expand mental health services.
At Canberra Hospital, the budget covers operationalising the new Critical Services Building; a 12-bed palliative care ward; and upgrading communication infrastructure, nurse call systems, and fixed duress alarms.
The ACT government is in the process of forcibly acquiring Calvary Public Hospital Bruce; the budget accounts for transition and expansion of services, and detailed design of a new Northside Hospital ($64 million).
Other health measures include:
- Additional endoscopy, outpatient, and paediatric services and elective surgeries
- Establishment of a Canberra Health Services Adult Gender Service
- Development of the Watson Health Precinct
- Operational costs of residential treatment services for eating disorders
- New community-based health service in South Tuggeranong
- More support for mental health services
- Measures to reduce harms from alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs
- Continue the second Police, Ambulance and Clinician Early Response (PACER) team
Read more:
- ACT Budget: $43.6 million for frontline health services (22 June)
- More investment in ACT health, but will it be a ‘triple shield’? (20 June)
- ACT Budget: $28 million for mental health (15 June)
Education
The Budget provides additional funding of $400 million to support education and skills; of $230 million for schools and education facilities; and of $52 million for skills and training.
The government will construct a new college in Gungahlin, planned to open before the end of the decade. It will also modernise Telopea Park High School, to increase the school’s permanent capacity by 500 places.
It will upgrade roofing at Latham Primary, Gowrie Primary, Red Hill Primary, and Telopea Park School, and infrastructure at Cranleigh School and Black Mountain School.
It will fund feasibility, planning, and design work for a new college in the Molonglo Valley, and for the modernisation or expansion of Fraser Primary School, North Ainslie Primary School, and Forrest Primary School.
Other measures include:
- Reducing workload pressures for teachers
- Expanding the Safe at Schools Taskforce
- Inclusion and Career Coaches at high-priority schools in the Tuggeranong region
- Improved community access to school facilities
- Upgrades to the Canberra Institute of Technology’s information and communications technology systems and trades training equipment
The budget will invest $400 million to support families and vulnerable children and young people. For instance, from 2024, all Canberra families will be able to access one day a week of free three-year-old preschool, saving $1,329 each. This will benefit more than 5,000 three-year-olds across Canberra, the government states.
Other measures include:
- Face-to-face autism spectrum disorder assessments
- Child and youth mental health support programs
- A dedicated First Nations Family Support team within Child and Youth Protection Services
- Further investment in property
Housing and homelessness
The Budget will spend $345 million on housing and homelessness, including $265 million to strengthen social housing assistance; $62 million to increase affordable rental housing and home ownership; and $19 million to improve housing choice and quality.
The government will invest $177.1 million on Housing ACT operations, repairs, and maintenance, to ensure that public housing is safe, comfortable, and meets tenants’ needs.
The $60 million Affordable Housing Project Fund, new in this budget, will supply 160 community housing-owned or managed affordable rental properties for at least 15 years, while the $4.5 million Ginninderry Women’s Housing Initiative will provide 22 affordable rental dwellings to transition low-income women from renting to home ownership.
$55.9 million will be invested in the Growing and Renewing Public Housing program to build 140 new public housing dwellings. The government has committed to renew 1,000 properties and add 400 new public housing homes to the portfolio by the end of 2026–27. By the end of 2023-24, the government promises that it will deliver 700, or half, of these dwellings. The government states that its expenditure on the Growing and Renewing Public Housing Program is the largest per capita investment in public housing in Australia.
- ACT Budget: Immediate relief for homeless (20 June)
- ACT Government’s Budget aims to tackle rental crisis (21 June)
Community support, social inclusion, and safety
The Budget will spend $355 million on new initiatives to improve community support, social inclusion, and safety, including:
- $144 million: community support and social inclusion
- $161 million: emergency services
- $41 million: justice system reforms and human rights
- $21 million: support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
The ACT government will spend more than $107 million to recruit 126 ACT Policing personnel over the next five years, and hold an additional annual recruit course every year for the next five years. The government says this is the single largest investment ever made in ACT Policing.
Funding to community sector organisations will increase by $15 million to reflect the recent Fair Work Commission annual wage review.
The Drug and Alcohol Court’s capacity will increase by 20 per cent (from 35 to 42 people).
Other measures include:
- $37.8 million over four years: additional support to low-income households facing escalating living costs; and additional indexation funding for community sector organisations to reflect the recent Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review
- Enhancements to youth justice, child and youth protection, and early childhood services
- New or expanded programs to prevent gendered violence – including a further $9.4 million investment over four years in frontline domestic, family and sexual violence services
- A modernised and more patient-centric service delivery model for the ACT Ambulance Service
- A new joint ACT Ambulance Service and ACT Fire and Rescue emergency services station in the Molonglo Valley
- Wellbeing improvements for ACT Fire and Rescue staff and volunteers
- Enhanced rehabilitation opportunities for detainees, and safety and wellbeing improvements at the Alexander Maconochie Centre
- Additional support for the ACT’s community-based legal assistance sector and Legal Aid, the ACT Human Rights Commission, and the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Environment, climate, and transport
The budget will provide more than $285 million for new initiatives to support the environment, climate action, and transport, bringing total expenditure on these areas to $539 million.
For instance, $5.8 million will be invested over four years to strengthen biosecurity and nature conservation programs; and $8.2 million for the Healthy Waterways Project to improve water quality and catchment health.
- ACT Budget: Environment and water (26 June)
$80 million will be spent to extend the Sustainable Household Scheme, which offers interest-free loans on sustainable household devices. However, eligibility for solar panels under the Scheme will be limited to homeowners with a 2022 unimproved land value of $450,000 or less.
The government will spend $85 million to electrify government-owned and operated buildings, replacing gas with electric heating and hot water systems in schools, hospitals, emergency services, and government offices.
More vulnerable households will be able to receive rebates through the Home Energy Support Program.
The budget will invest in the Big Canberra Battery project to establish large-scale to neighbourhood-scale batteries to help power ACT homes and businesses.
The public EV charging network will be expanded to achieve 180 public EV chargers by 2025 and support the transition to zero emissions vehicles.
The ACT government will invest more than $26 million in active travel in the 2023–24 budget to encourage more people to ride and walk around the city, ministers announced today. The biggest item is $10.4 million to fund stage 1 of the Garden City Cycle Route, which the government says will better connect inner north suburbs on the eastern side of Northbourne Avenue to Canberra’s main cycling network.
More than $5 million will be spent to maintain the ACT’s 3,190 km of path and cycle network and fix safety hotspots: a 46 per cent increase on the existing path maintenance budget.
Other measures include:
- Constructing an organic waste recovery facility
- Implementing the Urban Forest Act 2023
- Further support for the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust
- Ongoing rapid response mowing activities
- Light rail to Woden
- Additional bus drivers and support for Transport Canberra employees
- Increasing the uptake of zero emissions vehicles
$1.9 billion will be spent on roads, public transport, and active travel.
Community infrastructure, venues, arts and culture
The budget includes more than $184 million in new funding for community and infrastructure, venues and events that promote arts and culture, bringing funding for community infrastructure projects to more than $600 million over next five years.
For instance, the government will invest an additional $3.3 million into the National Multicultural Festival over the next two years; improve the Canberra Theatre Centre; and transform the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
$25.5 million will be spent through the City Precinct Renewal Program to upgrade infrastructure in the City Centre, Acton, Braddon, and Dickson, ensuring that they “remain attractive destinations for locals and visitors”.
Other measures include:
- Expanding and upgrading the Belconnen Basketball Stadium
- Upgrading district netball facilities
- New Gungahlin Community Centre with a combined community and youth centre
- Improve the affordability of tickets and food at ACT Brumbies and Canberra Raiders matches at GIO Stadium
