Deb Frecklington: It’s time to get Queensland working again

I want Queensland to be the low-tax state again; a state that gives our businesses a competitive advantage and the confidence to create jobs, writes Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington. Here’s how we’ll do it.

QUEENSLAND is the state with the most potential in the best country in the world.

I believe Queensland could and should be even better than it is.

We should be Australia’s powerhouse state, with an economy that unlocks the potential of our people and our natural resources.

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The LNP’s economic plan for Queensland will do just that. The plan is far-reaching and ambitious.

It’s a plan that will invest for growth, supercharge the regions and secure Queensland jobs for a decade.

Deb Frecklington says her Party would be a government for infrastructure, low taxes, growth and business. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Importantly, it will also secure our children’s future.

One of the first commitments I made to Queenslanders is a no-new-tax guarantee.

There will not be a single new tax under an LNP Government.

This will give business the confidence to invest again after the Palaszczuk Labor Government slugged Queensland with nine new and increased taxes, ripping $3.5 billion from our economy.

I want Queensland to be the low-tax state again; a state that gives our businesses a competitive advantage and the confidence to create jobs.

As well as ruling out new taxes, the LNP will also cut red-tape, speed up payments for small businesses and give Queensland firms their fair share of government contracts.

We will further boost the regional economy by allowing private energy retailers to compete with Ergon, slashing an average of $300 off electricity bills north of Gympie and from Toowoomba west.

I want to make it easier for Queensland businesses to make, build and grow their products here in Queensland – instead of writing cheques for overseas corporations like Labor.

The next LNP Government will also be an infrastructure government.

That’s why last year I threw the LNP’s support behind the New Bradfield Scheme.

This drought-busting project is the brainchild of two visionary Queenslanders – Sir Leo Hielscher and Sir Frank Moore.

Sir Leo and Sir Frank helped build today’s Queensland and I will use their vision to continue building Queensland’s future.

The New Bradfield will create Queensland’s biggest dam and a hydro-electric plant capable of powering 800,000 homes.

It will hold as much water as 28 Sydney Harbours and allow an area larger than Tasmania to be irrigated in outback Queensland.

The scheme is bold and won’t be cheap – but Queensland will get tens of thousands of jobs in return.

The LNP will also back a further four new dam projects, including the Nullinga Dam, Rookwood Weir, Urannah Dam as well as raising the Burdekin Falls Dam.

The Federal Government put money on the table for dams years ago.

Unlike Labor, the LNP will grab the funding with both hands and start building.

I’ll also work with the Federal Government to build the Second M1, slashing congestion on the southeast’s most important road.

There’ll be extra investment in the Bruce Highway too, our most important regional road.

To help fund these investments, the LNP will create the Queensland infrastructure Fund. All royalties from the Galilee Basin will flow into the fund and be used to fund job-creating infrastructure.

We will also be much more responsible than Labor when it comes to spending.

An LNP Government will publish a full budget in its first 100 days.

By balancing the budget over each economic cycle, the LNP will ensure that Queensland can afford to invest more in roads, dams, hospitals and schools.

The contrast with Labor is stark.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has no plan and no budget. Her governments have left us with high unemployment, record bankruptcies and a stagnating economy.

These problems existed long before coronavirus and they were caused by poor government, not a pandemic.

But because of COVID we need a strong economic plan more urgently than ever before to drag ourselves out of recession.

My economic plan will help us do that. It will kickstart the post-COVID economy and deliver a decade of secure jobs.

Over the coming months I will be announcing much more of our plan, but its focus will be simple: supercharging the regions; investing for growth; unleashing Queensland industry and securing our children’s future.

Queensland needs a new direction and a new government.

It’s time to get Queensland working again.