Helping NSW Community Organisations Understand the Budget

In the lead up to the release of the NSW state budget, NCOSS, the NSW Council of Social Services, has held the first of a series of budget briefing sessions.

The first briefing, held together with the NSW Department of Treasury, focused on how to read and interpret the budget, and contributes to one of NCOSS’s core aims of building the capacity of the sector.

Karen Riley, Principal Financial Analyst from the Department of Treasury, and Solange Frost, Senior Policy Officer for Health at NCOSS, presented to researches, policy analysts and other leaders from across the sector.

Riley says NSW is looking at a fairly restrained budget, but gave little other details of what is to be expected when it is released on September 6.

Although normally announced in June, the newly elected Liberal government has withheld release of the formal budget in order to adequately revise the state’s fiscal position.

The 2011/12 budget will include six distinct papers, one more than usual, with the sixth focusing on long term fiscal pressures, normally presented every 5 years.

Paper one will contain the minister’s budget speech, and will give the big picture as well as information on changes and new initiatives.

NCOSS will hold their budget analysis briefing on September 7, the day after the budget is released, which is likely to be followed by joint briefings with each state department.

Workers in the sector are also encouraged to read the media releases that come from the various state departments in order to understand how the budget affects their industry.

The NCOSS Analysis of the NSW State Budget: Briefing for the community sector, will take place on Wed September 7 from 2-4pm at the NSW Teacher’s Federation. For further information and bookings visit www.ncoss.org.au

Tamara Newman is Pro Bono Australia’s Sydney correspondent and attended the NCOSS budget briefing on behalf of Pro Bono Australia News.