Qld Budget 2022: Edited version of Treasurer Cameron Dick’s speech

Treasurer Cameron Dick has delivered the Queensland Budget for 2022. Read an edited extract from his speech.

This Budget delivers good jobs. It provides better services. And it supports Queensland’s great lifestyle.

It is a Budget that puts health care first. It is a Budget to propel us from times of tremendous disruption and turbulence towards a brighter horizon.

We will achieve a surplus of $1.9 billion, and our net debt will be reduced by $6.146 billion compared to the forecast in December last year.

A new era is dawning for Queensland. We are taking advantage of global shifts, like decarbonisation and digitalisation, to realise opportunities in our traditional and emerging industries and to help create more jobs.

We are building the infrastructure for tomorrow. We are providing better services for all Queenslanders. And we are doing all of this without compromising our cherished lifestyle.

As in many parts of the world, healthcare is facing short and long-term challenges. Less than one in four Queenslanders have private cover for all hospital admissions. Over the longer term there are also pressures from a growing and ageing population.

Today, I am pleased to announce that this year’s Budget will deliver a record commitment of $23.6 billion for frontline health services and high-quality healthcare infrastructure – and the biggest hospital-building program in the history of Queensland.

That commitment will deliver 2200 additional overnight hospital beds. There will be new hospitals in Bundaberg, Toowoomba and at Coomera (Gold Coast). There will be hospital expansions in Cairns, Townsville, Robina, Mackay, Redcliffe, Ipswich and Hervey Bay. Metropolitan hospitals like the Princess Alexandra Hospital, the QEII Hospital, the Prince Charles Hospital and Logan Hospital will all be expanded. This is a record budget for health.

Treasurer Cameron Dick yesterday. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

Every year, the health budget grows. But this year, the increase is much more than just the usual. We have listened to stakeholders in the health system, who tell us that they need greater budget certainty to plan and deliver high quality health care.

This year, for the first time, we are providing a sustained, long-term uplift to Queensland Health funding across the forward estimates.

The pandemic has painted a stark picture of the importance of mental health care. We will commit an additional $1.6 billion for mental health services over five years. But in order to deliver this funding, we must have a sustainable funding model.

To that end, our Government will introduce a 0.25 per cent mental health levy on businesses with annual taxable Australian wages of over $10 million from 1 January 2023. Businesses with annual wages over $100 million will pay an additional 0.5 per cent levy. Treasury modelling indicates this levy will only apply to around one per cent of all Queensland businesses.

By the end of the forward estimates, the mental health levy will generate $425 million each year, a sustainable and ongoing source of funding to assist Queenslanders in need.

Nation-leading jobs growth is something our Government will continue to pursue relentlessly.

As Queensland’s economy continues to gather speed, our Government is actively seeking to identify and support the industries that will deliver the well-paying, secure, highly skilled jobs of the future. That means jobs in hydrogen and renewables, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, resource recovery, biomedical technology, aerospace, defence, tourism and innovation, creative and design industries.

Our Government keeps its promises. We promised the people of Queensland we would not raise their taxes. And the people of Queensland will not pay one dollar of the revenue measures I announce in this Budget.

We promised the coal companies, we would freeze their royalties until June 30, 2022. We will keep that promise. But from July 1, the 10-year freeze comes to an end. It is time for new arrangements to be implemented.

Three new progressive royalty tiers will be introduced: 20 per cent for prices above $175 per tonne, 30 per cent for prices above $225 per tonne and 40 per cent for prices above $300 per tonne. Each of these new tiers applies only on the margin.

The new regime is forecast to deliver an additional $1.2 billion in royalties over the forward estimates. All of that $1.2 billion, and more, will be going into regional Queensland.

Queensland has always been one of the best places in Australia to live, work and raise a family. And our Government intends to keep it that way.

Net interstate migration to Queensland was the highest of all Australian states and territories in 2020-21, reaching a record quarterly increase of more than 16,600 in the September quarter. While there are clear economic benefits to interstate migration, this Budget invests in measures to protect and enhance our lifestyle.

That includes investment in roads, rail, bus, cycleways, and marine infrastructure to improve the way people travel. But our single biggest economic opportunity – hosting the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games – gives us a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to put Queensland on the world map.

The 10-year runway of investment and infrastructure built in time for the Games will deliver benefits for generations to come. But it’s about more than concrete and construction. It is a chance to unite Queenslanders behind an aspirational plan for our future.

Much has changed from when I stood here to deliver last year’s Budget – from rising tensions in our region to the war in Ukraine, the rising spectre of global inflation and labour and supply chain constraints.

But one thing remains constant. And that is the commitment of the Palaszczuk Labor Government to deliver for the people of Queensland. To deliver good jobs. To deliver better services. And to preserve and protect the great lifestyle of the place we all call home, the most wonderful place on Earth: Queensland.

Cameron Dick is Treasurer of Queensland