Parents will receive a $500 voucher for each child to spend on before-and-after-school care as the NSW government moves to ease cost-of-living pressures for families.
The New South Wales Premier, Dominic Perrottet, said the vouchers would put downward pressure on family budgets and "help mums and dads balance work and family life".
"We know, for parents, this pandemic has been incredibly tough, balancing home schooling with work and we want to do whatever we can to improve that daily juggle," Mr Perrottet said.
The $155 million commitment comes as NSW recorded 27 new COVID-19 deaths in the latest reporting period, and the number of people in hospital continued to plateau.
When he took the state's top job late last year, Mr Perrottet promised to be the Premier for families.
"We have always said we want to make sure that parents come first in this state," he said.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said that many working families, particularly essential workers, relied heavily on before-and-after-school care and vacation care.
"So, this is all about helping with that affordability, helping with the household budget," Ms Mitchell said.
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean said the government wanted to do everything it could "to get kids back to school and parents back to work".
He said the vouchers would also help after-school-care businesses that last year were "going to the wall".
Mr Kean again publicly lashed out at the federal government, calling on the Federal Treasurer to provide more funding for businesses struggling in the COVID-19 downturn.
In his second challenge in 24 hours, he warned that small- and medium-sized businesses — particularly retail, tourism and hospitality — needed the Commonwealth government's help now more than ever.
"The NSW government is doing its bit and will continue to call on the Commonwealth to stand by small business. Don't step aside from small businesses."
Speaking earlier today on ABC's Radio National, Mr Frydenberg said the federal government had "done the bulk of the heavy lifting" when it came to economic support for businesses during the pandemic.
However, he said, it was now time for state governments to invest in their own economic responses and not to rely on the federal government for help.
The Commonwealth, he said, had spent $63 billion on support measures for NSW and was still providing weekly disaster payments of $750 for confirmed COVID-19 cases or close contacts who have to isolate and are unable to go to work.
NSW has recorded more than a quarter of a million positive rapid antigen tests since health officials began collating results just over a fortnight ago.
There were 27 deaths of confirmed COVID-19 cases while the number of people with the virus in hospital remained steady at 2,779.
Of the COVID patients in hospital, 185 are in ICU.
A total of 13,026 new cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, with 5,664 from positive rapid-antigen tests (RATs) and 7,362 from PCR swabs.
When it comes to vaccinations, almost 40 per cent of those eligible have had a booster shot.
As students return to school, 78.5 per cent of 12-15-year-olds are double-vaccinated while 38.7 per cent of children aged five-11 years have had one dose of vaccine.
Ahead of the resumption of classes, the NSW government has undertaken a massive logistical exercise to deliver RATs to schools across the state.
Under the government's back-to-school plan, the tests are being distributed to parents, with instructions to swab their children twice weekly before school.
At St Therese Catholic Primary School in Mascot, students returning to school today had their first taste of the new testing regime.
Parent Belinda Firth said the measures provided reassurance as her seven-year-old daughter, Chloe, went back to the classroom.
"Otherwise, we've just got to roll on and keep moving forward."
Anthony Parzakonis said it was great to get his children back into a routine.
"Last year was very disrupted so [let's] get back to school and get on with it," he said.
Mr Parzakonis said the introduction of at-home testing had been straightforward.
"They provide you with the RAT tests. It's easy, just gotta pick them up last week and that was it."
His daughter, Ivy, who is in Year 6, was excited to see her friends but not-so-keen on the before-school test.
"We had to put it up our nose and it was really ticklish and I didn't like it," she said.
