Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk: Queensland has a lot to be proud of

As a shock new poll highlights Queenslanders aren’t happy with the direction the state is moving in, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has hit back with a list of just what the government has and is hoping to achieve. JOIN THE CONVERSATION

The Government I lead always has been and always will be focused on creating jobs for Queenslanders in existing and new industries.

More than 235,000 jobs have been created in Queensland since 2015.

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The current budget includes almost $52 billion in infrastructure investment over the next four years which is supporting more than 41,000 jobs across Queensland this year alone.

We’re investing tens of billions in infrastructure including:

- Cross River Rail

- Townsville and Cairns Port upgrades

- Townsville stadium

- Mackay Ring Road

- M1 upgrades

- New and refurbished hospitals at Roma, Logan, Ipswich and Caboolture

- Counter-Terrorism and Community Safety Training Centre at Wacol and new prison expansion at Capricornia

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Nigel Hallett

And we have a plan to deliver more jobs in more industries.

We are ensuring we are providing opportunities for young people to get new skills in new industries by providing free apprenticeships to under 21s.

We delivered a better way of keeping our public, power, port and water assets in public hands and reinvesting returns into lower debt and frontline services just like we said we would.

We are on track to deliver our fifth consecutive budget surplus with debt still lower than where the LNP left it and debt to revenue ratios are forecast to remain lower than left by the LNP over the next four years.

We delivered the best Commonwealth Games ever on the Gold Coast and we’re building on that legacy towards a potential 2032 Olympics which would create 130,000 direct jobs and $8.6 billion in increased export opportunities.

The Cross River Rail project is underway.

That’s on the top of the record $85 billion in exports in 2019 – larger than New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania combined

In education, we have seen:

- 18 more schools delivered or underway including eight this year

- 5,800 more teachers and 1,400 more teacher aides

- Made Prep Year compulsory

- Introduced coding and robotics

We have rebuilt our public health sector by employing 6,252 more nurses, more than 2,000 extra doctors, 1,806 more health practitioners and 511 more paramedics

And we’ve opened 888 more hospital beds with a further 756 to come

We’ve delivered 562 more police officers across Queensland to keep our communities safe as well as more paramedics and more firefighters.

This comes on top of support for better water infrastructure with an $848 million investment across Queensland supporting 1600 jobs and Queensland agriculture.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at Foxwell State Secondary College, one of eight new schools to open this year. Picture: Nigel Hallett

We are supporting tourism by investing in renewables to protect the Great Barrier Reef and taking action on climate change.

We will keep working for Queensland to deliver infrastructure and support jobs in a growing economy.

1. Keeping public assets in public hands

2. Rebuilding Queensland’s frontline services in health, education, police, paramedics and more

3. Supporting a Queensland economy that has grown by 235,000 jobs since 2015

4. Investing in the Bruce Highway, upgrading the M1, starting Cross River Rail and the second stage of Gold Coast Light Rail.

5. Growing new jobs in new industries like advanced manufacturing, hydrogen, aviation and biofuels.

6. Delivering $1.78 billion to support skills training and 50,000 jobs in regional Queensland and saving TAFE

7. Delivering electricity prices that have fallen $82 over the past two years in regional Queensland – the lowest on the eastern seaboard

8. More than $20 billion has been invested in or committed by resource companies supporting more than 7,000 jobs

9. Employment in the renewable energy industry has nearly doubled to more than 5,000 jobs and we’re on track to meet our 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030 exceeding 20 per cent renewable energy in 2020.

10. Implemented all 140 recommendations of the Not Now Not Ever domestic and family violence report and placed cyber-bullying on the national agenda with a taskforce to provide practical recommendations for tackling cyber-bullying