Morrison’s rotten rip off twice as deep for Queensland

The Morrison Government’s 2021-22 budget has revealed the Federal LNP’s rotten rip off for Queensland is even worse than first feared, with half of the $1.6 billion for infrastructure not being delivered within the four years of the forward estimates.

Treasurer and Minister for Investment Cameron Dick said Prime Minister Scott Morrison had shown that once again, he was taking Queensland for granted and had failed to deliver the state its fair share of federal funding.

 “The $1.6 billion the Federal Government claimed it would deliver for Queensland paled into insignificance against $3 billion each for New South Wales and Victoria and South Australia,” the Treasurer said.

“Tonight, we have learned the truth – only $807.5 million of that supposed $1.6 billion, barely half of the amount promised, is in this budget.

“Scott Morrison is holding Queenslanders to ransom, saying they’d have to vote for him in at least two more elections before we’d see the money he promised.

“By comparison, the Liberal states of New South Wales and South Australia get $1.4 billion and $2 billion in this budget.

“Scott Morrison has also decided to underwrite energy saving measures at the American-owned Portland aluminium smelter in Victoria, but no investment in the long-term viability of the smelter run by Australian company Rio Tinto in Gladstone.”

Other vital projects for regional Queensland have also been completely ignored in the Federal Budget, with no allocations for:

• The Bundaberg East Flood Levee
• Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Entertainment Precinct
• Sunshine Coast Stadium upgrade
• Robina TAFE
• Townsville projects from the $195 million set aside for the Haughton pipeline Stage 2, including the Lansdown Eco-industrial Precinct

The Treasurer said the budget made it clear the Federal Government’s botched vaccine rollout would affect Australia’s prosperity.

“A week after the Reserve Bank predicted economic growth of 3.25% by 2023, Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have wiped three-quarters of a percentage point off that, predicting growth of only 2.5%,” Treasurer Dick said.

“By 2023, Australia’s population growth is forecast to have only crept back to a measly 0.8%.

“Despite that anaemic growth, it will be Queensland that is once again proving itself the place to be.

“Over the next four years, the Federal Treasury estimates Queensland will see net interstate migration gains of 84,600 new residents.

“At the same time, New South Wales will see a net loss 83,100 residents.

“New South Wales gets nearly twice as much infrastructure investment as Queensland, while a city the size of Rockhampton effectively moves north here across the border.

“Scott Morrison’s failure to deliver for Queensland is written in black and white in the pages of this budget.”

Media Contact: Geoff Breusch 0417 272 875