NSW Budget Visualisation
The Treasury
The NSW Budget is prepared by the Treasury each year, and is released to the public in June. The Budget outlines revenue and expenses for the coming year, provides overview of the State’s economy, and details the priorities the Government will deliver.
The Question 
As Treasury moves towards outcome based budgeting, they are seeking to make the budget more accessible to the general public. The DAC was engaged to create an interactive visualisation tool for the 2018-19 Budget, for any stakeholder to review, including citizens, press, public servants and financial analysts.
Our Solution 
- Design principle of ‘citizen-first, mobile device first’: strong focus on accessibility and interactivity
- Simple, readable charts demonstrating high-level overview of state revenue and expenditure
- Interactive and comprehensive map of all expenditure and planned investments across NSW
- Analysis of State’s revenue and debt position
- Graphic highlighting how State Outcomes are addressed in each cluster by the Budget, through capital expenditure and ongoing expenses
This solution went live on the NSW Budget’s release date: 19 June 2018
Impact
In the week post Budget announcement, the number of unique visitors increased 8½ times compared to the previous year, and page views increased ten-fold. Stronger citizen engagement with the budget process encourages Government-population collaboration and the greater number of site users increases accuracy of website analytics. The project was able to provide greater insights into citizen priorities and demonstrated successful cross Treasury collaboration on a new digital project, despite Budget pressure.
This reveals the potential for open and accessible information in increasing public engagement and, in time, to support better policy development and outcomes in NSW
Nathan Pringle, The Treasury
What Next? 
This project was intended as a springboard from which the relationship between The Treasury and the DAC could develop. The Treasury has now collaboratively and successfully engaged with technology and data in unfamiliar ways. The Treasury and the DAC are currently exploring how the solution may be taken further in future Budget releases.