Your indepth Queensland Budget day guide for Southern Downs region

It’s been a mixed bag for regional and rural communities as the Queensland government delivers this year’s state budget. Here’s where Warwick and Stanthorpe regions stand.

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick today delivered his second state budget. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

THE Southern Downs region may not have got the biggest slice of the Queensland Budget pie this year, but local road-users were the big winners as Treasurer Cameron Dick confirmed a few small offerings during the annual lockdown in the State Parliament.

The Warwick Daily News and Stanthorpe Post can confirm education, infrastructure, environmental and health projects were high on the budget agenda with one local project taking the lion’s share of funding.

The Karara Wind Farm development project has scored $144.9m in the 2021-22 financial year to help CleanCo build, own and operate the new innovative project near Warwick.

Around $11.5m will go towards the Southern Downs Drought Resilience Package in 2021-22. The $19.3m project will underpin the development of critical infrastructure to address immediate water security in the Southern Downs region.

The funding includes $8.1m for Seqwater to lay the groundwork for the Toowoomba to Warwick pipeline.

The Queensland government says the project will keep the taps flowing across the region.

Meanwhile, the $2.5m Recycled Water for Warwick Industry project has an extra $995,962 to deliver a new water reservoir at the town’s wastewater sewage treatment plant. Once completed the project will to supply industry with Class A recycled water.

The Coolmunda Dam improvement project has $3.4m – of a mooted $6.1m total spend - to continue planning works that will underpin improvements so the facility complies with safety standards in the case of extreme weather events.

The $25m Cunningham Highway (Ipswich - Warwick) Eight Mile intersection upgrade will receive $15m in 2021-22.

The money will ensure ongoing construction of the intersection of the Cunningham Highway and New England Highway, to the north of Warwick.

St George State High School received $1.4m for its $8.8m project to upgrade skills development and training facilities and a hall while Warwick State High School gets $280,000 to put towards its $5.8m hall construction.

The $15m Warwick police facility upgrade received $500,000 in the budget.

Goondiwindi and Warwick hospitals got $76,289 out of a $3.8m total spend to undertake upgrades and improvements to existing facilities.

The Girraween National Park visitor facilities upgrade gets $1.8m in 2021-22 out of a $3.3m total spend for redevelopment of Bald Rock Creek and Castle Rock camping areas near Stanthorpe.