Budget 'focused on our regions' after election loss

Just weeks after regional Queensland rejected Federal Labor, the State Labor budget wants to woo us back

Queensland Treasurer Jackie Trad. Picture: GLENN HUNT

ANALYSIS:

Just weeks ago, regional Queensland turned on the Labor Party at the Federal election.

Now Queensland's Labor government wants to get the state back on side with a budget Treasurer Jackie Trad claims is "unashamedly focused on our regions”.

Ms Trad told the parliament on Tuesday her budget's infrastructure spend will create more jobs in regional areas than in greater Brisbane.

She said small regional businesses employing 85per cent or more local workers will get a discount on payroll tax, a welcome relief for many business owners and an incentive for them to hire locals.

She pointed to declining unemployment rates in regional communities as evidence the government's job policies were working

But at the same time MsTrad announced an increase to company and trust land tax rates, a hike Ms Trad said she must do because of the Federal Government's changes to GST that will leave Queensland worse off.

Similarly, royalties for petroleum will increase to 12.5per cent - a change that will impact the booming LNG industry based primarily in western and central Queensland.

Ms Trad also looked to satisfy her inner-city constituents, calling for Queensland to develop more capacity in gas, hydrogen, solar and wind power generation. And Ms Trad said the word "coal” just three times in her budget speech.

The question now is if the Government can follow through on claims it is working for those outside of Brisbane, and if those Queenslanders are listening.