Qld taxpayers fund ‘outrageous’ $1m coal royalties scheme ad campaign

Taxpayers have forked out $1m for a marketing campaign to sell the Queensland government’s contentious new coal royalties scheme amid fierce backlash from the resources industry.

Taxpayers have forked out $1m for a marketing campaign to sell the Palaszczuk government’s contentious new coal royalties scheme amid fierce backlash from the resources industry.

The three-week campaign, which could be extended, has been rolled out to “ensure Queenslanders receive accurate information about the changes”.

It comes amid another campaign by the Queensland Resources Council which claimed the royalties hike wasn’t a fair deal for regional Queensland.

QRC boss Ian Macfarlane slammed the government’s spending.

“We think it’s outrageous that they are spending any taxpayers’ money on a campaign that is basically aimed against the industry and trying to justify an extreme royalty increase which has done enormous damage to Queensland’s reputation and the relationship between business and government,” he said.

Mr Macfarlane said Brisbane’s response to the royalties changes was not the same across the rest of the state.

“I’ll be interested to see what the final cost of the (government’s) campaign is,” he said.

The government has been forced to defend the hike – that’s expected to pump an additional $1.2b into Queensland’s coffers over the next four years – following staunch opposition from the resources industry over the past month.

And in an extraordinary intervention, Japanese ambassador to Australia Shingo Yamagami revealed some companies were already questioning if Queensland would continue to be a “safe and predictable place” to invest.

Three new tiers, which came into effect on July 1, have been added to the existing royalties structure, with companies to now pay 20 per cent on the dollar when coal prices exceed $175 per tonne, 30 per cent on the dollar when prices climb beyond $225 per tonne and 40 per cent when they exceed $300.

A spokesman for Treasurer Cameron Dick said the “information campaign” was designed to ensure Queenslanders received accurate information about the changes.

“The cost of the information campaign to date ($1m) is less than a single day of the additional revenue that will be collected this year through bipartisan progressive coal royalties,” he said. “The campaign is running for three weeks.

Queensland Treasury is currently reviewing whether to conduct any further informational campaigns.”

It was revealed earlier this week that the government was also spending $1.7m to promote its health budget, with a production company filming a campaign across the state.