Federal Budget 2022: Blow to Queensland mega projects
Mega projects once slated for Queensland have been ditched amid the government’s brutal redirection of billions of infrastructure dollars in the budget.
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Mega projects once slated for Queensland including dams, roads and rail have been ditched or delayed amid the federal government’s brutal redirection of billions of infrastructure dollars in the budget.
And the future of other critical infrastructure hangs in the air, with no clarity provided within the budget or by bureaucrats.
Infrastructure Minister Catherine King was scheduled to write to her state and territory counterparts on Tuesday night outlining which projects had been felled by Labor’s razor gang, which had been deferred indefinitely, and which were safe.
Ms King said the budget would “honour” the election pledges Labor had made while also “managing the economy in an uncertain global environment”.
Millions have been allocated to new commitments, particularly for manufacturing, hydrogen and infrastructure projects in Townsville and Cairns.
The government had warned, in the lead up to the budget, that nearly $22bn of spending previously earmarked by the Coalition for infrastructure projects, external labour, grants, advertising, legal and travel expenditure had been repurposed.
But the true extent of infrastructure cash “re-profiling” was revealed when Queensland’s own Jim Chalmers handed down the budget on Tuesday night.
Victims of Labor’s budget razor gang include the Hells Gates Dam project, which has had its $5.4bn in promised funding axed as expected.
The $483m allocated to the Urannah Dam proposal west of Mackay has also been ditched, a move its proponents has slammed as “incredibly disappointing” but asserted was not the death knell for the project.
The critical $600m needed to restore Paradise Dam near Bundaberg to its original 300 gigalitre capacity was untouched.
Two major rail projects — the $1.6bn Sunshine Coast rail extension and the $1.1bn Kuraby- Beenleigh Faster Rail upgrade — were not mentioned in the budget.
But Treasury bureaucrats on Tuesday said the project to connect Beerwah to Maroochydore remained in the budget, though no further detail has been provided.
The fate of the Kuraby-Beenleigh Faster Rail upgrade, noted in the March budget as “critical to meet the demand of projected population growth” and for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, is unknown.
Labor’s budget razor gang noted it had saved billions by killing the National Faster Rail Agency.
Rail investment funding allocated to Queensland into 2025/26 is $300m less than it was in the March budget.
The Hughenden Irrigation Project, a dam in Queensland’s mid-west which promised to open up land for agriculture, has had its promised funding “deferred” — with money to be “reconsidered once business cases are completed and viable pathways to delivery are determined and assessed”.
The Emu Swamp Dam and pipeline, promised $126.5m, shared the same fate.
The Rockhampton Ring Road, allocated $852m in federal funds over the life of the mega project, was not mentioned though Ms King on Monday said money remained in the budget at “tail end” of the forward estimates — meaning closer to or in the 2025/26 financial year.
Ms King said the budget took an “important step to make our infrastructure pipeline more sustainable” without putting “further strain” on a sector facing “labour constraints, inflationary pressures and cost increases due to supply chain challenges”.
Queensland senator Matt Canavan, prior to the budget being released in full, had already accused the government of biasing funding to Victoria over the Sunshine State.
Election commitments funded include $22m for Townsville’s Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct and $200m to expand the Cairns Marine Precinct and build a Central Queensland University campus in the far north Queensland city’s CBD.
There is also $71.9m, though over seven years, to develop a green hydrogen hub in Townsville and $15 million to deliver a new aquatic centre at Boyne Tannum in the Gladstone region.
A total of $32m has also been set aside so the federal government, alongside the state, can look at other water security projects.
Investments in Queensland also include $586.4 million to upgrade the Bruce Highway in Brisbane’s outer northern suburbs, $1.07bn for the Coomera Connector Stage 1 (Coomera to Nerang) and $395.6m of Gold Coast light rail stage 3.
The federal government confirmed it would honour existing City and Regional Deal commitments, meaning a “contribution valued at $668 million for projects across South East Queensland” was untouched.
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