There’s no big cash splashes in today’s Queensland budget, with Treasurer David Janetzki revealing the state is going further into the red, forecast to record an $8.6 billion deficit next financial year.
Janetzki has blamed cost blowouts under the previous Labor government, as well as a drop in GST revenue and declining coal royalties, for the grim outlook.
He told parliament today the government had taken a “calm and methodical” approach to the budget but that the challenges facing the bottom line could not be overcome in a single term of government.
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There are some small cost-of-living measures for families, including $100 for every primary school student to help with uniforms and textbooks and the expansion of the $200 sports vouchers for children.
Energy rebates for around 600,000 vulnerable households will rise by 3.8 per cent to $386 next year and a $1.6 billion electricity maintenance guarantee is also supposed to drive power bills down.
For aspiring homeowners, $165 million has been set aside for the new Boost to Buy shared equity scheme that will see eligible Queenslanders with a deposit of as little as 2 per cent able to purchase a property valued up to $1 million.
“We’ve got a generation of young people giving up hope,” Janetzki said.
“A thousand spots (in the program) right now, I want that to be a thousand dreams.”
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As revealed by 9News last night, $4.7 billion will be spent over the next four years developing Queensland’s Olympic stadiums and villages.
Another $446 million will be spent over the next four years on developing ecotourism projects, advertising campaigns and attracting new airlines to Queensland.
To repair the budget, the government hopes to claw back $681 million by setting up its own consultancy arm while reducing external consultants.
The public service is forecast to grow to 277,352 employees but the number of non-frontline executives in the public service will be capped at current levels over the next four years to save an estimated $18 million.
The state’s debt is forecast to rise to nearly $150 billion next year, increasing to a record $205 billion by 2028-29, accruing interest of more than $7 billion a year.
But the government maintains the situation would have been worse under Labor.
“A fog has lifted and on the other side of it is an LNP government delivering services for Queenslanders today and infrastructure for a growing state,” Premier David Crisafulli said.
“Right now we need to fix service delivery in this state, there were a lot of things that weren’t funded and we need to make sure that it is.”
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