Annastacia Palaszczuk welcomes Peter Beattie’s ideas for QLD economy
Annastacia Palaszczuk has sung the praises of former Labor premier Peter Beattie, who said Queensland needed to develop a ‘point of difference’ to help the state’s struggling economy.
QLD Politics
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Annastacia Palaszczuk has sung the praises of her Labor predecessor Peter Beattie who said Queensland needed to develop a “point of difference” to help bolster the state’s struggling economy.
The Premier said her Government was open to “good ideas” from anyone, saying Mr Beattie’s proposal about working more with universities was great.
It comes two months after Ms Palaszczuk took aim at the former leader’s blueprint for economic recovery because he didn’t live in Queensland.
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At the time, Mr Beattie remarked government should “never be scared of good ideas” regardless of where they come from.
“Peter’s got some good ideas,” Ms Palaszczuk said yesterday.
The former Labor leader yesterday warned Queensland’s next government couldn’t afford to be “risk-averse” if it wanted to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
Mr Beattie said there needed to be a regional recovery strategy for each key region while forming a think tank with universities could form the basis of Queensland’s point of difference over southern states.
Ms Palaszczuk said herself and Treasurer Cameron Dick had already said they’ll be looking at regional recovery plans.
“And I think he’s (Beattie) got a great idea about working more with the universities so of course we’re open for good ideas from anyone,” she said.
“Peter Beattie did a great job in setting up the Smart State.
“He worked well with building the infrastructure at the universities and I’m quite sure that the University of Queensland would not be in the position they’re in today about now looking at the vaccine if it wasn’t for the investment that Peter Beattie’s Labor Government made in the past.”
Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland general manager of policy and advocacy Amanda Rohan said Mr Beattie’s intention was right.
“There needs to be some leadership and some thought put into how we approach the next four and beyond years,” she said.
“We definitely think we need to look at opportunities to attract capital into the state.”
Asked whether Queensland should sit down with New South Wales to discuss tourism opportunities, after Mr Beattie said state rivalry should be left to the State of Origin field, Ms Rohan said, “We all know we can do really good things when we’re all on the same page.”