The costs associated with introducing transport, communication, and other infrastructure to a new colony that was being settled amid rapid industrialization meant that, in the early days of New South Wales, these undertakings were most often seen as the responsibility of government. Until the 1980s, government agencies provided most infrastructure and social services. In 1950, for example, an Electricity Commission (which in 1992 was restructured and renamed Pacific Power) was established to coordinate the provision of electric power across the state. Increasingly, however, the introduction of market pricing systems—beginning with the provision of water in the Hunter valley in 1982—and the privatization of public facilities (such as hospitals and prisons) and creation of public-private partnerships (as in road construction) brought greater competition and the application of business principles to the provision of such services.

The characteristics of the labour force have reflected these transitions in the economy and its regulation. Retail trade is the largest employer, with property and business services, manufacturing, and health and community services following close behind. With the exception of manufacturing, these are also the sectors in which part-time and female employment is highest. Employment in these workplaces tends to entail greater mobility and less job security. There are considerable regional variations in unemployment and in vulnerability to unemployment.

The steady expansion of domestic and overseas tourism to New South Wales, particularly since the 1970s, has been a major influence on the state’s economy and on the labour market in particular. The state has long been the main Australian destination for short-term visitors, although the proportion of tourists it receives has fallen over time, largely due to the increasingly popularity of Queensland as a destination. Within the state, Sydney has been both the gateway and the main tourist destination.

A well-organized trade union movement has adjusted to a decline in its industrial power base and membership rates. Union membership is highest in the areas of mining, government, and education. Employers have also made adjustments to a more-deregulated economy and the competitively oriented and privatized provision of services that were once owned and managed by the government. The main representative of employers’ interests is the New South Wales Business Chamber.

State finances are dominated by the national (Commonwealth) government, which since 1942 has collected all income taxes, the chief source of public revenue. From that time on, all Australian state governments have been reimbursed from these receipts according to a fixed formula that favours certain “disadvantaged” states at the expense of wealthier states such as New South Wales. In the 1970s the Commonwealth also began awarding fixed grants to the states for specified purposes. A national goods and services tax (GST) was introduced in 2000; state-based taxes were abolished, and the Commonwealth became responsible for distributing all GST revenue to the states as well as continuing its special-purpose grants. The calculation of such distributions, however, remained an area of regular disagreement between all states and the Commonwealth.

In addition to funds distributed from the Commonwealth, the state government of New South Wales receives revenue from taxes on property, financial transactions, employers’ payrolls, motor vehicles, and duties on a range of goods and services, including gambling. Local governments and city councils draw revenue mainly from taxes on utility fees and from property taxes for expenditure in areas including the construction and maintenance of roadways and the provision of local health and sanitary services.

Transportation

The principal public transport facilities are owned and operated by the state government. The railways reach many parts of the interior and were built to concentrate traffic in Sydney. The longest direct line is to Broken Hill. State-funded railway construction began in 1854, with main lines extending south from Sydney (reaching the border with Victoria by 1883), west (reaching Broken Hill in 1927, and north (reaching the Queensland border in 1888). Interstate connections were notoriously troubled by the lack of a standard gauge between the states, and a truly national railway service was not achieved until 1995.

In Sydney, planning and investment in metropolitan public transportation have lagged behind development, leading to inefficiencies and unreliability. Although patronage of suburban train and bus services has remained largely unchanged since the 1960s, the use of private automobiles has increased significantly, as has the associated congestion. Transport services are poor in the vast new suburbs to the west.

In the 1970s and ’80s many miles of rail line in the state were closed down; rail services were greatly reduced, with buses taking over unprofitable passenger routes. Several proposals to link cities on the east coast on a fast train line have been discussed through the years.

There are some 200,000 miles (320,000 km) of public roads in the state, and an increasing number of tollways are being created, built with various mixtures of public and private funding and responsibility. The building of this road system across great distances for a sparse population is perhaps the state’s greatest achievement in infrastructure, though many roads are narrow and in poor repair.

There is no commercial water traffic except for some tourist boats on the Murray River. There was once extensive water transport on the Murray, Darling, and Murrumbidgee rivers, which in the early 20th century gave way to rail and road transport. Coastal shipping services were superseded by roads by the 1950s.

Historically, the state’s major ports were Sydney (Port Jackson), Botany Bay, Newcastle, and Port Kembla. Congestion led to Sydney’s port function having largely moved to Botany Bay, located to the south of the city. Both Newcastle and Sydney are among the country’s top ports in terms of both cargo weight and value. Newcastle and Port Kembla concentrate on shipments of coal, grains, containers, bulk liquids, and alumina and bauxite (aluminum ore).

New South Wales has extensive internal air services. They include regular schedules to all large country towns from Sydney and many schedules between towns. Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport, located near the city centre, is one of the oldest continually operating airports in the world and is very congested, handling both national and international traffic.