Economist claims Mackay better off than SE Queensland

Brisbane economist says CQ is going well while SE QLD is missing out

The welcome to Mackay sign on the roundabout at Bakers Creek on the southern entrance to the city. Photo Alan Quinney / Daily Mercury. Picture: Alan Quinney

A BRISBANE economist has come under fire for claiming regional centres received an "excessive" amount of funding at the State Budget compared to the South-East corner.

In an article published by the Brisbane Times on Thursday, economist Gene Tunny said a "strong case" could be made for considering some areas in the south-east were underfunded.

Mayor Jenny Hill and Townsville economist Colin Dwyer have hit back at the claims following years of arduous campaigning, with Treasurer Curtis Pitt stating that he made no apologies for the funding.

The article included a graph from the budget papers which showed Townsville, Fitzroy, Mackay and Cairns received above average funding for capital spending.

READ MORE: 'North Queensland has its fair share of funds' economist says

More than $20 billion was allocated to the regions during May's 2017-18 budget for the next four financial years.

Cr Hill said Mr Tunny - who is Adept Economics' principal - had made calculations off a one-time snapshot.

"I don't know why they're saying they get nothing," she said.

"If you were to add up all that money - Brisbane-North, Logan and Beaudesert then they are well ahead of us."

Cr Hill said people in the south-east corner were trying to "trump a story" when there wasn't one.

"I could do an interesting one based around three years ago when we hardly saw any money spent outside the south-east corner," she said.

"Don't show me one year's budget, show me 10 years."

Mr Pitt said the Palaszczuk Government had always given support to regional communities that were not transitioning to a post-mining boom economy as strongly as others.

"I make no apology for that, it's what any responsible government would do and puts Labor in stark contrast to the hack and slash ideology of the LNP that pushed our economy to the precipice," he said.

"As a government we have been implementing an economic plan with a single-minded focus on creating jobs that's been reflected in the three state budgets I have delivered.

"But in no way are we ignoring the needs of southeast Queensland."

Mr Pitt said there was no "top-down" formula for allocating capital spending by regions.

Mr Tunny said he had made his calculations on what was published in this year's budget for particular regions.

"I've been basing it on the Australian Bureau of Statistics regions, Townsville was above the average," he said.

"I've taken the number and divided it by population.

"On the basis of that data it would seem excessive.

"It appears to me that the north is doing pretty well out of the state budget."

Mr Tunny said having been born in Townsville, he knew that there was a perception that the government wasn't "giving their fair share".

"So I thought one way to look at this was to look at what's published in the budget," he said.

"I haven't analysed every single capital works program within the electorate, there may be very good projects that justify that higher level (funding).

"It (regional funding) did look a bit odd to me.

"I have gone back to 2012-13 and the regions have been doing very well."

Mr Dwyer said the findings were an endorsement of the Our Fair Share campaign which was developed between 2003 and 2004.

"The Our Fair Share campaign has been very successful," he said.

"Prior to 2012 North Queensland was consistently underfunded.

"Is the OFS job done? It's been very successful but there's lots more work to do.

"We need to dig deeper and develop smarter comparative tools to provide net benefits to regional people."

Originally published as Economist claims Mackay better off than SE Queensland