$12b infrastructure black hole amid public wage splurge
The State Labor Government‘s cuts to capital works spending have been revealed as enough to build two Cross River Rail projects, five duplicate Pacific Motorways or 40 Townsville stadiums.
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A $12 billion black hole was punched into Queensland’s infrastructure spending over the first five years under the State Labor Government, while cash was splurged on a public sector wage spree.
Enough to build two Cross River Rail projects, five duplicate Pacific Motorways or 40 Townsville stadiums, the massive cut in capital spending has been exposed in a detailed analysis undertaken by the Federal Parliamentary Budget Office.
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Released to The Courier-Mail, the damning analysis has revealed Queensland’s net spending on roads, public transport and other infrastructure as a proportion of state revenue lags woefully behind NSW and Victoria.
The results are a bitter blow for the Government as it attempts to mount its case for re-election on October 31 around a recovery plan to spend $52 billion on infrastructure projects over the next four years.
Federal Government backbencher Ted O’Brien insisted the analysis was “irrefutable evidence” of a massive infrastructure cut in Queensland which had harmed the economy and cost jobs.
“Remember, we are talking billions here, not millions,” the Member for Fairfax said.
“How many additional schools or hospitals could have been built?
“How many bridges, ports, roads and rail lines could have been fixed or built anew?
“How many dams, weirs and pipelines could have been built or under construction?”
Treasurer Cameron Dick said the public infrastructure expenditure of southern states was fuelled by privatisation which Queenslanders had repeatedly opposed.
“The NSW and Victorian Governments sold public assets to fund their capital works programs and received additional infrastructure funding from federal Coalition governments to do so, while Queensland received nothing,” a spokeswoman said.
“Queenslanders have rejected asset sales at the last three state elections.”
The figures show on average Queensland spent 48 per cent less than Victoria and 45 per cent less than NSW of its own tax revenue on infrastructure between 2014-15 and 2018-19.
According to the analysis based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data, Queensland’s net spend on infrastructure was $3.093 billion in 2018-19 compared to $7.287 in Victoria and $10.659 billion for NSW.
Queensland was on track to match the infrastructure spend of southern states in the final budget projections produced by the Newman government in late 2014 before it was ousted from office.
Had the Sunshine State kept pace, a further $12 billion would have been spent on projects across Queensland, including an additional $3 billion in 2018-19.
Instead, the annual public sector wage bill rose by $5.5 billion or 30 per cent over the five-year period with almost 35,000 new full-time equivalent positions created.
According to the Federal Parliamentary Budget Office, the Commonwealth’s average annual contribution towards overall infrastructure spending was 40 per cent in Queensland compared to 21 per cent in other states.
Mr O’Brien said that, while the Palaszczuk Government had a habit of blaming Canberra over infrastructure spending, the figures demonstrated that it was the state failing to fund its fair share.
“By blaming the Federal Government, their cunning plan is to deflect attention and reframe the issue as ‘he said, she said’ spat between political rivals,” he said.
“But, this time it’s different. Now there’s compelling, hard evidence which has been independently modelled.”
Mr Dick insisted the Government’s infrastructure spending had risen each year while cuts were inevitable if the LNP was elected at the October 31 election.
“With the LNP now making billions in unfunded election commitments and ruling out any further borrowings, Deb Frecklington needs to explain what she will cut, and sell, to fund those promises,” Mr Dick’s spokeswoman said.
“Unlike the LNP, the Palaszczuk Government has made no cuts to the capital program since we were elected in 2015, with the government increasing its infrastructure spend every year since coming to office.”