Australia Budget 2017: Winners and Losers

Treasurer Scott Morrison on Tuesday announced a A$75 billion plan to build roads, railways and runways across Australia with a budget aimed at boosting growth and the government’s flagging poll ratings. At the same time, he hit the biggest banks with a new levy, cracked down on tax-dodging multinational companies, and charged university students more for their degrees. Here are the winners and losers.

The government’s 10-year nation-building program is set to create tens of thousands of jobs just as a boom in apartment construction slows and as the end of a mining investment bonanza continues to weigh on growth. Morrison will pour A$5.3 billion into a new company to build and operate a new airport for Western Sydney by 2026. The nation’s second and third-largest cities, Melbourne and Brisbane, will be connected by a new 1,700-kilometer inland rail line. The government also said it would take a bigger stake in, or outright ownership of, the Snowy Hydro scheme. That will unlock funds for New South Wales and Victoria states to reinvest in other infrastructure.