NSW pre-schoolers to get $100 swim lesson vouchers

In the latest NSW budget handed down by Treasurer Perrottet, $43.9 million will be provided over two years for $100 Learn-to-Swim Active Pre-Schooler Vouchers.

These are for children aged three to six years of age, not yet enrolled in school. The aim is to develop important water safety and swimming skills.

Perrottet says the program follows the success of the Government’s Active Kids voucher program and would help “ease cost of living pressures and help save lives”.

Economy recovering

He says the NSW economy is recovering faster than expected from covid, with this financial year’s deficit of $7.9 billion roughly half what had been forecast.

He says it puts the state on track to return a surplus of $466 million in three years and says all the jobs lost as a result of the pandemic had been regained, with an additional 36,000 jobs added.

He has called on the federal government to set vaccination targets to allow more certainty for business and consumers.

Despite the uncertainty, the state’s bottom line has been given a massive boost from $9.37 billion in stamp duty revenue – almost $1 billion more than expected thanks to the state’s red-hot property market.