Covid Qld: Govt spent four times as much on PR as vaccine push

The State Government spent four times as much spruiking its Covid-19 recovery plan as it did promoting vaccination to Queenslanders.

The State Government forked out $7m more spruiking its economic recovery plan than what it spent promoting the Covid-19 jab to Queenslanders.

A new report from the Queensland Audit Office ­revealed the government spent $10.75m on “Covid-19 economic recovery communication and engagement”, but suggested the government spent only $2.5m on public information campaigns about the Covid-19 vaccination.

The state government ­defended the revelation, ­saying it was the federal government’s responsibility to promote the vaccination campaign.

A government spokesman also claimed the actual mass media campaign spend to urge Queenslanders to get the jab was $3.65m – still three times less than the spend promoting the recovery plan.

The Audit Office’s report highlighted that the government had no way of confirming how many jobs were supported through key Covid recovery measures.

It suggested it wasn’t clear whether $3bn in job support loans and tax relief during the pandemic did what they meant to do.

Auditor-General Brendan Worrall said that for most of the support packages he reviewed for his latest report, the responsible entities did not collect any performance data relating to the “objective of the initiatives”.

Pointing to the $1bn Jobs Support Loan Scheme, Mr Worrall said there was no way to confirm how many jobs were actually supported through the program.

He also said there was no data collected by the government to determine how many businesses continued to operate or how many jobs were supported through their payroll tax relief package.

The economic recovery plan played a key role in Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s 2020 election campaign, with her ministers often carrying copies of it at their press conferences.

A Palaszczuk government spokesman said it was unclear where the Auditor-General obtained the figure of $2.5m spent on the Covid jab campaign.

“The federal government had primary responsibility for sourcing vaccines and took primary responsibility for promoting the vaccination campaign,” the spokesman said.

“Former Health Minister Greg Hunt stated the federal government’s campaign spent $90m.”

The government spokesman said that the $3.65m was part of a total $11.36m spent on health ads in response to the pandemic.

A spokesman for Treasurer Cameron Dick said the evidence of the success of Queensland’s economic recovery from Covid-19 could be seen in publicly available economic data.

“ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) data shows that since March 2020, Queensland has created 219,400 jobs, the highest of any state,” he said. “ABS data also shows Queensland has had faster workforce participation growth than any other state or territory, with state final demand up by 7.8 per cent.

“And of the four biggest governments in Australia, Queensland is the first to ­return to surplus.”