Qld election 2020: LNP’s costings have an element of con

The LNP’s election costings might have dodged Labor claims of “cut, sack and sell”, but there is an element of con, writes Steven Wardill.

Well, at least one thing can be put to bed.

There’s no LNP plan to sack 33,000 public servants or whatever the latest make-believe number that Labor is using.

The LNP’s election promise costings do not show any forced redundancies for public servants

LNP Bradfield scheme slammed as ‘smoke and mirrors’ after costings show lack of cash for construction

However the odd hoax was revealed yesterday when Queensland’s perennial political aspirants finally detailed the dollars behind their promises.

Deb Frecklington’s “big, bold, ambitious” plan to build a New Bradfield Scheme might have been waiting 80-odd years already to get the green light.

It looks like it’ll have to wait a little longer.

There’s just $20 million to study the scheme by 2022, but no commitment after that to finally get digging.

And after branding Labor’s $4 billion in additional borrowings “an election slush fund”, LNP shadow treasurer Tim Mander has strapped on his gumboots and slopped around in all that debt, using almost half to help pay for his party’s promises.

Yet perhaps the most cunning measure was the LNP’s proposal to just repeat the same savings measures that the Labor Government has under way already.

Shadow treasurer Tim Mander delivers the LNP’s election costings yesterday. Picture: Liam Kidston

Treasurer Cameron Dick reckoned Labor’s $1 billion cut to Queensland Health – or as the bureaucrats prefer to call it an “efficiency dividend” – would be “easily done”.

So the LNP will just apply the same to every department other than health, saving $755 million.

However, try cutting from departments like police and child safety and you’ll soon figure out its no cinch.

Mander has also committed to extending Labor’s hiring freeze on pencil-pushing public servants until the end of 2021, banking on this saving a whopping $1.6 billion.

But does anyone really expect the public service attrition to continue at the previous rate in the current jobs market?

Who are they kidding?

It might not be the “cut, sack and sell” mantra to match Labor’s scare campaign.

But there’s certainly an element of con.