The Queensland State Budget was brought down on June 11.
There’s precious little of anything new in it for the Scenic Rim Electorate.
This is a budget that is not about you, but the survival of the Labor Government. It’s a budget for the next four months – the four months in the run up to the State election on October 26.
Labor has ramped up Queensland’s debt by $100 billion – from $72 billion nine years ago to $172 billion now. That means that, each year, Queenslanders will pay about $7 billion in interest, before getting started on anything else.
What does our Scenic Rim Electorate have to show for this debt splurge? Our farmers and small businesses are copping massive electricity price rises because this Government has failed to deliver affordable, reliable energy.
Many of the challenges facing our region – from the poor condition of the Cunningham Highway in the west, to the Mount Lindesay Highway into Beaudesert, and roads through Canungra and Tamborine Mountain – are longstanding problems. Our community, our council and I have made the case for investment, year after year after year – but this Labor Government buries its head in the sand and hopes these problems will just go away.
There is no progress on delivering an upgrade to the Amberley Interchange.
There is no progress on planning for upgrades on the Mount Lindesay Highway south of Jimboomba, and the 4-lane project through Jimboomba remains stalled, at least a year late. When will it start?
There is no progress on delivering a plan to fix Canungra’s road network, or provide funding for much-needed community infrastructure on Tamborine Mountain or in Beaudesert.
There is no progress on expanding Beaudesert Hospital’s ED or providing a CT scanner.
In the Budget in Reply debate in Parliament on June 13, I spoke at length on a number of budget-related issues.
The following points have been extracted from my Budget in Reply speech:
“The Scenic Rim has so much opportunity, but it requires investment in infrastructure and services to capitalise on opportunity.
“We need better roads, we need improved hospital services, and we need dedicated social services and lower costs for business. We need affordable, reliable energy above all else, yet electricity costs for farmers and other businesses are continuing to rise.
“Local café owners, like Mark from Flavours in Boonah, and Tony and Andy from VK Everydays in Beaudesert, regularly tell me about their soaring electricity bills.
“I acknowledge investment in upgrading State school facilities at Beechmont, Kalbar and Rathdowney, and funding for rural fire sheds at Biddaddaba and Mount Alford. It is shocking, however, to hear about the interference that has been run by the officialdom dealing with rural fire brigades when it comes to new sheds.
“Locals [around Biddaddaba] have informed me that they propose to erect a new fire shed for about $150,000, with fitout to be done progressively. It has been handed to QBuild to do, of course, at a far higher price.
“The new Queensland Fire Department has not even commenced yet, but already local brigades are having their autonomy stripped and the costs to taxpayers are mounting. Why does QBuild need to build a rural fire shed, especially if locals do not want them to.
“The amount of traffic through Canungra each day has increased by about 50 per cent in the last decade and locals are paying the price for Labor’s failure to plan for this.
“Development around Jimboomba, Yarrabilba and Beaudesert has caused this problem, but the Government has done nothing to ease that – this budget does nothing.
“The Amberley interchange is a dangerous one that has been neglected by this Labor Government for a generation. There is no plan for fixing this interchange – no plan at all.
“It is a disgrace that RAAF Amberley has such a poor access point. It does not bode well for national security that it is such a choke point every single morning peak hour.
“This budget is not about the long-term future of Queensland. It certainly is not about the long-term future of the Scenic Rim electorate.”