Opposition to cancel Christmas holidays of senior public servants, if need be, to get Budget done

Senior public servants will work through Christmas and lose their holidays, if need be, in order to meet a bold pre-election pledge made by Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington if she wins the state poll in October.

DEB Frecklington has vowed to deliver a Budget in her first 100 days in office if the LNP wins the looming October election and would cancel the Christmas holidays of senior public servants to get it done.

The Sunday Mail can reveal the LNP will promise to use its first Budget to fund its plans to build a second M1 and its New Bradfield Scheme.

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Ms Frecklington said delivering a Budget in the first 100 days of an LNP Government would give Queensland businesses “confidence and certainty”.

“Our budget would implement our economic plan to get Queensland working again and deliver a decade of secure jobs,” the LNP leader said.

The commitment comes after the Palaszczuk Government cancelled this year’s Budget amid the COVID-19 pandemic and will instead deliver a COVID-19 Fiscal and Economic review later in the year.

LNP treasury spokesman Tim Mander said if need be, Christmas holidays would be cancelled for senior public servants to help deliver the LNP’s first Budget if it wins the election.

Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington says she will cancel the Christmas holidays of senior public servants to get the Budget done if she wins the state election. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

“There is no time for a break if hundreds of thousands of Queenslanders are out of job,” Mr Mander told The Sunday Mail.

“Labor’s decision to cancel the Budget means they don’t have an economic plan.”

The state Budget was initially expected to be delivered in June, but former treasurer Jackie Trad committed last year to bringing it forward to April to give business and industry more certainty ahead of the October election.

The Government later confirmed it would suspend the 2020-21 Budget, along with other states and territories, and promised to hand down a COVID-19 Fiscal and Economic Review in September.

New Treasurer Cameron Dick said in May that the review would be produced to the same standards used for the annual Mid-Year Fiscal and Economic Review and promised to make himself available to appear before the parliament’s Economics and Governance Committee.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told Parliament last month that it would be “negligent” for any government to hand down a Budget when “the sands are moving so constantly”.

Mr Mander claimed that the decision to cancel the Budget meant the Government was “flying blind” through an economic crisis.

The New Bradfield Scheme, which the LNP says will help droughtproof the state and increase food production, is expected to cost billions of dollars.

The Government has already unveiled billions of dollars in measures to support jobs and businesses during the pandemic.