Editorial: The big issue that will decide next Qld election

Queensland’s next election is 18 months away, but we have an early prediction for what it will take to win, writes the editor.

The next state election is still a year and a half away, but here’s an early prediction – the winning party will be the one with the most convincing plan for handling Queensland’s growing pains.

The incumbent Labor government is beset with a range of increasingly prickly political challenges, from a public housing and rental crisis to ever-building pressure on public hospitals and transport.

All are symptomatic of the same overriding challenge – how to deal with population growth.

More than 100,000 people moved to Queensland last financial year alone – a 2 per cent increase, easily the highest in the country.

The recent apparent surge in youth crime, we would argue, is also a direct result of this growth, reflecting a shortage of policing resources and social services in under-served but growing urban centres.

The government’s response to date has been to address each of these issues separately and often reactively, depending on the news of the day – from holding housing summits to beefing up youth crime laws and providing anti-car theft subsidies, to offering bounties to attract police and medical staff from elsewhere.

What appears to be missing is a co-ordinated approach, which is causing all sorts of consequences.

We have reported how Queensland’s housing supply crisis is being made worse by a huge pipeline of mainly state-funded infrastructure projects – from hospitals to roads, rail and renewable energy – which are driving up labour costs.

Treasurer Cameron Dick announced in his recent state budget a record four-year capital works program of $89bn, a 20 per cent hike on 2022-23’s four-year total, fuelled largely by the state’s windfall coal royalties.

Preliminary figures from Construction Skills Queensland suggest 18,000 people with a range of skills will be needed more or less immediately to do this work.

It’s also estimated that the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games will need 80,000 workers over the long-term pipeline.

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon said it was accepted that “the labour market is really tight” but made “no apology” for the multibillion-dollar build program across housing, health, transport and energy.

Similarly, when Mr Dick announced the latest big-ticket infrastructure program in last month’s budget, he rather defensively declared that “even as construction costs rise significantly across the country, continuing with these investments is a deliberate decision by our government”.

“Government either backs these projects and accepts their higher costs, or government has to walk away. And our government will never walk away from the needs of Queenslanders,” he said.

We don’t doubt the Treasurer’s sincerity but do question his and Ms Scanlon’s rather cavalier approach to the issues of soaring costs and skills shortages brought about, in part at least, by the government’s own actions.

The government already has a range of mechanisms for planning for the future, including statutory regional plans described as “long-term strategic documents that guide land use planning for state and local governments”.

It is also developing seven regional infrastructure plans over the next two years to support Queensland’s overarching State Infrastructure Strategy, released in June 2022.

But is this enough?

Rather than addressing each of the various challenges thrown up by the state’s enviable population growth as stand-alone issues, is it time for an overarching state growth – or population – strategy?

As we say, the party that convinces voters it knows how best to respond coherently to all of the pressures caused by a growing population probably has the best chance of winning come election time in October next year.

MINISTER MUST ACT

The harrowing stories emerging from residential care homes clearly show the system is utterly broken.

The whistleblowers’ reports of abuse and neglect make for stomach-churning reading. As does the revelation that more children than ever are now part of this failing system, with the number doubling to 1700 in the past five years.

What hope do kids have when they are placed in homes that subject them to the very conditions that many were removed from for their own safety – often with the added disadvantages of violent peers, isolation from their support networks, limited supervision and poor access to education?

It is little wonder many end up back on the streets committing crimes. It is also no surprise that carers, exhausted from the difficult work and limited resources, are becoming harder to recruit.

One carer described the situation as the worst she had seen in her two decades in the industry.

Newly-minted Child Safety Minister Craig Crawford must immediately order a review of the broken system he inherited. Our most vulnerable children deserve nothing less than urgent action.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here