Sydney's Budget. What About the Rest of NSW?

The Country Women's Association of NSW says the 2026-27 NSW Budget reads like a plan for Sydney, with regional, rural and remote communities left searching for their share of a record spend.

CWA of NSW State President, Tanya Jolly, said the Budget has confirmed what many in regional, rural and remote NSW have long suspected: that this Government's commitment to bush communities runs deeper in rhetoric than it does in the actual allocation of public money.

"For years the CWA has been told that regional NSW is a priority for this Government. Now we have the receipts. Billions for Western Sydney. Crumbs for the bush. The Budget does not lie."

"Rural communities are still struggling to see a doctor, still losing maternity services, still dealing with mobile black spots that have not moved in a decade. This Budget does not answer those problems. It does not even seriously attempt to."

The Budget highlights make the priorities plain. Western Sydney alone received $3.8 billion for hospitals, $4.1 billion for schools and $3.5 billion for transport infrastructure. Meanwhile rural and regional communities continue to face critical shortages of GPs and specialists, quietly disappearing maternity services, mobile black spots cutting people off from emergency services and telehealth, and a chronic lack of affordable childcare that locks women out of the workforce. These are not new problems. The CWA of NSW has raised them consistently across this term of Government. This Budget shows they have not been heard.

"Roads are the arteries of regional NSW. Without them communities are cut off from everything. This Budget found billions for city infrastructure and a few scraps for the roads that connect the bush. That is not a regional strategy. That is an afterthought."

“Education tells the same story. While Western Sydney schools received $4.1 billion in this Budget, regional and remote students continue to contend with teacher shortages, crumbling facilities, limited subject choices and the tyranny of distance. A child in Broken Hill or Bourke deserves the same quality of education as a child in Parramatta. This Budget does not get them there."

"Regional communities are not asking for special treatment. They are asking to be treated as though they matter, with the same access to healthcare, education, childcare and essential services that city residents take for granted."

"Regional NSW feeds, clothes and powers this State. The people who do that work deserve more than maintenance funding and warm words while the big dollars flow to the city."

"We have said for some time that areas other than Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong deserved better from this Government. This Budget has put that beyond doubt. We will be taking that message into the lead-up to the next election, and we will be expecting all major parties to tell regional communities exactly what they plan to do differently."

The CWA of NSW will continue to push for genuine investment in regional health, telecommunications, infrastructure, education, childcare and community services. Regional NSW is not a footnote. It is the backbone of this State, and this Budget should have reflected that.

Ends

For more information or interview requests, please contact Tania Paccanaro on 0414 920 299.