2.30PM A breakdown of some of the roads funding in the Dubbo electorate:

- $1.6 million in funding for road and infrastructure upgrades in Wellington

- $1.5 million for roads in Narromine, including $200,000 for the replacement of Bulgandramine Bridge; and

- $2.8 million to invest in roads in the Mid-Western Region.

1.50PM Funding for safer roads

- $3 million to upgrade the Blackbutt Road intersection with the Newell Highway on Dubbo’s outskirts with works to include slip lane/ turning lane enhancements, Mr Grant reports. 

He said a tragic fatality occurred there.

The intersection was the scene of a fatal crash that claimed two lives last year. 

1.45PM More funding from the budget for the Orana region

- More than $25 million for roads in the Narromine, Western Plains and Mid-Western Local Government Areas, Deputy Premier and Dubbo MP Troy Grant reports.

1.25PM Investment in justice

- $57 million for new or upgraded police stations including Mount Druitt, Queanbeyan, Gunnedah, Bay and Basin, Moss Vale, Deniliquin, Lake Macquarie Local Area Command, Liverpool, Riverstone, Tweed Heads, Walgett, and Coffs Harbour. Security upgrades will also be made to a number of stations from this funding.

1.20PM Budget freight highlights for our region and country areas.

 ·      $111 million to continue improving freight productivity and safety, including $64 million towards the Bridges for the Bush program to replace or upgrade ageing infrastructure including timber truss bridges, and $14 million for the Golden Highway

·      $46 million for upgrades on the Newell Highway, including realignment works at Grong Grong and Trewilga, building and planning for new overtaking lanes, heavy duty pavement upgrades, planning for a bypass of Parkes, and planning for improvements at Coonabarabran and Dubbo

- ​ $208 million to continue the upgrade and maintenance of grain lines in country NSW including replacing worn timber sleepers with modern life-long steel sleepers, resurfacing track and replacement of bridges and culverts

 ·      $10.5 million (part of a $15 million pilot) for Fixing Country Rail, kick starting the full $400 million program to upgrade country rail including helping to open unused rail lines.

1.17PM And from the Treasurer herself:

The Sydney Morning Herald’s coverage as #nswbudget trends on social media. 

1.15PM: A post from NSW Premier Mike Baird:

1.10PM: Sport

- $4 million additional for regional offices and regional Sport and Recreation Centres.

- $1.0 million ($4 million over four years) additional funding for the Regional Academies of Sport

-  $1 million in funds carried forward from 2015-16 as an election commitment to assist with the development of the Northern Inland Centre of Excellence in Tamworth

1.05PM Budget highlights for roads and rail include:

- More than $2.1 billion to continue fast tracking major upgrades of key regional highways such as the Pacific, Princes, Central Coast, Great Western, Newell, New England, Oxley, Mitchell, Kings, Riverina, Silver City, Cobb and Bells Line of Road.

- $242 million to upgrade and maintain regional freight rail lines

- $111 million to support productivity and safety for road freight in regional NSW including the Bridges for the Bush program, road freight upgrades and heavy duty pavements

- $21 million to support delivery of 192 priority regional projects under the NSW Boating Now program and other boating initiatives.

1.02PM Budget reaction

NSW Farmers’ Association president Derek Schoen will comment on the NSW 2016 Budget and how it will impact on farmers and regional communities at 3pm Tuesday at Parliament House.

1.00PM Local government

Minister for Local Government Paul Toole says the budget provides record investment in local government. 

It comes after Dubbo and Wellington councils were merged to form Western Plains Regional Council as part of the NSW government’s reform of the sector. 

“The NSW Government’s plan to create stronger new councils in Sydney and regional NSW will be supported by a Budget investment of $590 million over two years,” he said.

 Each new council will receive up to $10 million to meet the costs of merging and up to an additional $15 million to kick start new investment in community infrastructure through the Stronger Communities Fund.

12.53PM: Youth unemployment

The new $100 million Smart, Skilled and Hired initiative will target the State’s highest areas of youth unemployment and respond to the high demands for skilled workers in the construction and disability sectors, Minister for Skills John Barilaro announced.

 “The 2016-17 NSW Budget includes a landmark initiative that will tackle youth unemployment in hotspots including Western Sydney, the Central Coast, New England/North West and the North Coast,” Mr Barilaro said.

The TAFE NSW budget for 2016-17 is $1.8 billion - an increase of 5.4 per cent on TAFE NSW revised expenditure forecast for 2015-16. 

12.50PM: Tackling crime

$14.5 million to be spent over three years to expand a highly successful early intervention program for young offenders.

The 2016-17 Budget will fund the expansion of the program to three new areas - Central West, Coffs/Clarence and New England.  

12.45PM Schools and education 

- Attacking the maintenance backlog: more than doubling funding for backlog maintenance from $160 million to $330 million over two years to address priority maintenance needs in schools  

Will this help the Dubbo and district schools that featured prominently on a list of rundown schools, as shown by education department data released earlier this year by the NSW Opposition?

Read more: School’s Out $2.9M 

12.40PM 

- $8 million for the extension of the $90 gas rebate to household liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which will benefit an estimated 80,000 low-income households.

“Our $259 million energy rebates program will assist more than 800,000 eligible households with meeting their energy costs; importantly no eligible households who apply will miss out,” NSW Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy Anthony Roberts Roberts said.

12.30PM Budget highlights for water security include:

 · About $ 500 million over three years to secure Broken Hill’s water supply

· $165 million to assist eligible NSW households with the financial costs of potable water

· $75 million for water saving infrastructure projects, funded by the Commonwealth under the Water for the Future program

· $45 million under the Country Towns Water Supply and Sewerage Program

· $18 million to implement water reform initiatives in the Murray Darling Basin

· $9.4 million to improve water and sewerage services for Aboriginal communities.

- More than $159 million will be invested in Local Land Services to continue delivery of essential advisory services to farmers and landholders across regional NSW.

 – Primary producers will be supported to prepare for and deal with drought, with more than $90 million allocated to the NSW Drought Strategy for concessional loans, farm business planning and vocational training scholarships and more weather stations.

12.25PM Deputy Premier and Dubbo MP Troy Grant on his government’s allocations.  

“With staff and patients experiencing the benefits of the new clinical services building which was part of the Stages 1 and 2 of the Dubbo Base Hospital Redevelopment, this Budget delivers $25 million to start Stages 3 and 4 of the project,” Mr Grant said.

“We are also investing in our much-loved Western Plains Zoo, with $8.4 million allocated this year.”

12.20PM This is what sectors in the Orana region have received so far in the 2016 NSW Budget

- $8.4 million in 2016-17 for work at the Dubbo’s Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

- $25 million to start Stages 3 and 4 of the Dubbo Hospital Upgrade to establish a new emergency department with imaging facilities, new medical inpatient unit, an expanded ambulatory oncology (chemotherapy) unit, a new interventional cardiology unit, and an ambulatory care unit.

- Continuing the construction of the $16 million Walgett police station with $1.2 million allocated in 2016-17.

- Starting the $1 million construction of a new fire station at Parkes with $0.3 million allocated in 2016-17.

- Continuing work on the Gulgong and Nyngan Fire Stations

- Interchange upgrades at Dubbo, Orange and Tamworth.

12.15PM

Current projections of the growing burden on NSW public hospitals may be underestimated, the Australian Medical Association has warned before Tuesday's state budget announcement.

12.01PM 

NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian is on the floor of Parliament handing down the NSW Budget 2016. 

You can watch her live here.

11.40AM

The countdown to the NSW Budget 2016 is on, but some measures have already been revealed ahead of it being delivered by NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian.

WHAT'S ALREADY ON THE CARDS

WINNERS

* $12 billion: Sydney Metro railway project

* $3.8 billion: NSW prisons

* $1 billion: child protection and foster care

* $500 million: water pipeline from Murray River to Broken Hill

* $300 million: domestic violence prevention, including nearly $3 million to an Australian-first trial of fitting GPS tracking bracelets on high-risk offenders

* $135 million: Sydney and Parramatta Light Rail projects

* $58 million: Raising Warragamba Dam wall and flood risk management

* $25 million: the new Sydney School of Entrepreneurship to help foster more start-ups

LOSERS

* $1.41 billion in cuts to government agencies with the back office annual efficiency dividend measure to continue

* Additional four per cent stamp duty surcharge for foreign investors buying homes and apartments

* Extra 0.75 per cent land tax hike on residential real estate for overseas buyers

SCRAPPED

* Mortgage duty, share transfer duty and non-real transfer duty taxes: worth a joint $1.8 billion over the forward estimates

11.30AM

The NSW budget should deliver on “ jobs, jobs and more jobs”, Regional Development Australia Orana chairman John Walkom says.

Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian is set to hand down her second state budget today.

Dubbo-based Mr Walkom’s wishlist is for a budget that focuses on employment.

“Jobs, jobs, and more jobs,”  he said.

“That’s what I hope because that’s driving our economy.”

Mr Walkom said the region had a low unemployment rate - lower than the national average.

“But youth unemployment is still high, so we need to focus on jobs, and having our youth job ready,” he said.

TAFE and registered training organisations (RTOs) were important, as were the industries, the chairman said.

“Whether it is the tradesmen in the construction industry, or the manufacturing or processing industry - they’re the strong industries in our region,” Mr Walkom said.

“The agribusiness sector is still very strong.

“There’s a common theme (in the industry feedback received) - they’re looking for job ready workers who are ready to undertake the training required,” Mr Walkom said.

Many of the sweeteners to be handed out in today’s budget have already been unveiled.

They include a $3.8 billion plan to fix overcrowding in the state's prisons and $300 million for domestic violence prevention.

The budget will also confirm that the Liberal and Nationals government will spend almost double on state-funded infrastructure in the next four years than Labor's last term in office, Ms Berejiklian told AAP.

NSW is the nation's number one economy, its triple-A credit rating is secured and it has an unprecedented pipeline of infrastructure to transform the state, she said.

Those losing out include foreign homebuyers, who face new stamp duty charges and land tax surcharges.

Government agencies will also be hit with a further $1.4 billion in cuts, with the Baird government's annual 1.5 per cent efficiency dividend measure set to continue.