Editorial: Great failure at heart of Qld state budget

Cameron Dick may have studied at Cambridge, but that doesn’t mean he’s smarter than everyone. Recent policy decisions reveal why private sector consultation is a must, writes the Editor.

• ‘No idea’: Housing plan backlash

Anybody who watches our state parliamentarians at work in the chamber will note how often they trumpet the phrase “hear, hear” to show their support for a speech – their way of essentially saying, “listen – it is important”.

Well, touche. Because listening is critical, in most scenarios. As the old saying goes, one should listen twice and speak once. Being willing to take advice when building out any policy is a sign of a good leader. Not doing so is downright reckless.

The welcome decision to appoint a commissioner for the Night Life Economy is a case in point. As Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said when The Courier-Mail’s Future Brisbane series last November floated the idea, our capital city in particular is being held back because of lockout laws and complex and expensive trading hours regulations.

Treasurer Cameron Dick prepares for the June 11 state budget. Picture:David Clark

The new commissioner –who hasn’t yet been appointed although Powderfinger bassist and Fortitude Valley Music Hall director John Collins has been floated as an ideal option – would “work closely and collaboratively with the sector” to feed back into government the actions and investments required to “keep Queensland’s night-life economies pumping” (in the epic words of Small Business Minister Lance McCallum yesterday).

This is the right approach. Find someone who understands the sector and give them a formal way to advise government about the impact of its decisions. It is a process that gives industry clarity as to how to lobby for changes, and it ensures ministers, who rarely have the right expertise, are properly advised.

When then plugged into the skilful hands of the public service for implementation, this approach should deliver better outcomes for everyone – and the economy.

On the other hand, Treasurer Cameron Dick continues to provide evidence of the fact he considers consultation with industry to be a waste of time. The latest example of his disdain for the private sector came yesterday when a reset of the threshold for stamp duty relief for first homebuyers was unveiled.

The policy itself – stolen from the LNP – was a good one on face value. It lifts the threshold for stamp duty concessions for first homebuyers from $500,000 to $700,000, with the deal then phasing out up to a purchase price of $800,000. It is a move that reflects the fact that house prices have risen by at least half since Covid across Queensland.

But instead of funding the change through allocating some of the $3.5bn extra the government has taken in property fees since the house price boom, Mr Dick has decided to do what he often does and lift taxes. On this occasion, it will be funded by an increase in what foreign investors pay in terms of a surcharge: to 3 per cent for land tax and to 8 per cent for the transfer duty, in line with NSW and Victoria.

Again, it sounds fine on the face of it – taxing foreigners is not going to be a decision that will lead to a sleepless night for any politician.

Property Council Queensland executive director Jess Caire. Picture: David Clark

However, the property industry is apoplectic. They say the Treasurer has failed to understand the difference between the way the surcharge is imposed here compared to other states. In NSW, Australian-based developers are not hit with the surcharge regardless of their ownership structure. In Queensland, any companies that are more than 50 per cent foreign-owned are hit with the tax, regardless of whether they are domiciled here – and so the increase will hit “the very companies that build the new homes … that the first homeowners who received this concession will buy”, warned the Property Council’s local executive director Jess Caire.

“Increasing a tax on these companies will only drive up the cost of housing – further squeezing first homebuyers out of the market. No matter how this is packaged up, it’s a tax on housing … we can’t tax our way out of a crisis.”

And then the sting: Ms Caire says the government failed to consult with industry to understand what the true impact might be – the exact same concern raised by the mining industry when two years ago Mr Dick hit them with a tax hike that has damaged investor confidence in Queensland’s resources sector.

The same was the case with Mr Dick’s embarrassing blunder in that same year when he announced – again without any consultation, even with his interstate peers – that he would use the value of any interstate properties to determine the rate a property investor in Queensland would pay in land tax.

Once that thought-bubble policy was announced, it soon became clear that it would amount to a renters’ tax, as landlords in a tight market would simply add the extra to what they charge their tenants – the very outcome the industry would have warned Mr Dick of, if he had bothered to ask them.

But he hadn’t. And instead he had to endure a fortnight of terrible publicity about his “tax on renters” until then-premier Annastacia Palaszczuk finally told Mr Dick that he was wrong, and dumped the plan. But the Treasurer remained unrepentant, saying he stood by everything he had said on the tax.

Seriously, the Treasurer might have studied at Cambridge – but he needs to remember he is not necessarily smarter than everyone.

As any smart leader will attest, being willing to first listen so you can then weigh up the different perspectives before you make a big call is the secret ingredient to good decision making. That is why the Night Life Economy commissioner is a good thing, and Mr Dick’s latest new tax on property in the middle of a record housing crisis is yet another bad one – because for some reason he just doesn’t want to listen.

* A previous version of this story said that NSW does not impose the foreign investor surcharge on companies that have any portion of foreign ownership.