NSW spent $7.5 billion responding to COVID-19, funded largely by borrowing, but underspent on personal protective equipment and overspent on faulty imported masks and ventilators, a report says.
The breakdown of costs compiled in the 38-page report by the Auditor General on Friday covered the period from January 2020, when the first virus cases appeared in the state, until June 2021.
The report found the government had $433 million allocated for PPE for healthcare workers but underspent by nearly $180 million.
More money could have been spent as part of a $69 million mental health package, with only $51 million used.
There were also glaring financial burdens such as $159 million spent on masks not meeting regulatory standards because they were supplied by an overseas vendor.
Over $20 million was spent on faulty ventilators, also bought from overseas.
In 2020 when lockdowns were enforced, a total of $4.1 billion in emergency funding was used.
Over $2 billion was spent in direct health responses, $1 billion on small business and tax relief, $545 million on housing, homelessness and education and $355 million on quarantine costs and extra cleaning.
The pandemic slowed down the state's economic performance significantly with lockdowns and restrictions leading to lower revenue from providing goods and services.
The transport, health, and education sectors were severely impacted which the government had to foot the bill for.
Opal card users spent approximately $160 million per month before the pandemic but that dropped to about $80 million a month in June 2021.
The government paid $131 million to private operators to make up for the shortfall.
The report noted Treasury allocated COVID-19 funding with the intention for it be used for specific programs but no specific guidance was issued to detail eligible expenditure.
The mechanisms for reporting and monitoring of expenditure were also left for agencies to determine.
The auditor's report highlighted this as a transparency blind-spot which Labor agreed with.
"Every dollar the premier spends in the coming budget has to have a clear and identifiable public benefit," said Labor's treasury spokesperson Daniel Mookhey.
"Money the government promises for critical health and economic support must get out the door".
Labor said "huge amounts" of public money "were wastefully misused".
"We can't afford to pay for more of this government's infamous pork-barrelling," said Mr Mookhey.
Australian Associated Press
