Treasurer says coal royalties will pay for new Moranbah Hospital

Labor says its new mining royalties will help build a desperately needed new hospital in Central Queensland, but leaders are calling the rhetoric ‘false’ hope and ‘smoke and mirrors’.

In the wake of questions over where the money is coming from for the new Moranbah Hospital, Treasurer Cameron Dick says the government’s new “progressive coal royalties” will fund it and claimed any attempt to reverse the new policy would devastate health funding in the regions.

“Our new progressive coal royalties will fund new and better hospitals in regional Queensland, in places like Moranbah in the electorate of Burdekin,” Mr Dick said in parliament on Friday.

Mr Dick suggested the LNP would strip back the new royalty regime and reduce the revenues needed for more hospitals, given opposition to the new royalties tiers introduced in the Queensland Budget on Tuesday.

“They (the opposition) will cut the new Coomera hospital, the new Toowoomba Hospital and the new Moranbah hospital,” he said.

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick speaks during parliament question time in Brisbane. Picture: Tertius Pickard

“They will all be cut back by the LNP which is obsessed with giving money back to big business and big coal companies.”

Burdekin MP Dale Last and QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane have heaped scorn on the plan, with Mr Last calling the commitment “false hope” in a speech to parliament on June 23.

“There is no money in the budget (for Moranbah), just more false hope,” he said.

“I visited this hospital with the shadow minister for health only a fortnight ago.

“Yes, we desperately need a new hospital in Moranbah.

Burdekin MP Dale Last said the government was giving the people of Moranbah ‘false hope’. Picture: Dan Peled

“We also need some answers to simple questions such as, ‘When can we expect this project to start? Will it cater for future growth?’

“The long-suffering community at Moranbah deserves better. “

Mr Macfarlane said the government’s plan was “smoke and mirrors”.

“It’s just smoke and mirrors to say the extra taxes raised from royalties will be going into regional projects like the Moranbah Hospital upgrade,” he said.

“If you look at the budget papers, there is no money allocated to upgrade the hospital until at least 2025-26.

“That’s at least three years away, yet resources companies will start paying these exorbitant new royalty taxes from next week.”

In his 2022-23 budget, Mr Dick said three new royalty tiers would 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.

The new structure is expected to raise an additional $1.2bn over forward estimates.

The budget commits to a new hospital for Moranbah, part of a larger $943.5m spend on rural and remote hospitals.

But the budget papers lack basic details about the funding, including how much of the $943.5m will go towards Moranbah.

Forward estimates for the build are also entirely absent from the document.