Budget 2017: Treasurer Curtis Pitt disappointed at lack of federal support for Queensland

UPDATE: The Queensland Premier has blasted the Federal Budget for overlooking a key project for the state, saying it is a “slap in the face for Queensland”.

Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt arrives at the budget breakfast, RNA convention centre, Bowen Hills. Picture: Liam Kidston.

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk says the federal Budget is “a slap in the face to Queensland”.

“You may say it’s a good Budget if you live south of the border, bit it’s not a good Budget for Queensland,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk said there was no excuse for the lack of funding for Cross River Rail.

“They have failed to allocate one cent for Cross River Rail,” she said.

“Yet they can allocate $5 billion to a Sydney airport.

“I’m angry and I think Queenslanders should be angry.”

Ms Palaszczuk said the Federal Government had everything it needed to fund the project.

Prem @AnnastaciaMP says fed budget 'slap in the face for QLD' because no funding for Cross River Rail and 'not much for NQ' #qldpol #auspol pic.twitter.com/Qe9AiPXuN8

— Anthony Templeton (@anto_templeton) May 10, 2017

“They have had the business case for months,” she said

Treasurer Curtis Pitt refused to say whether Cross River Rail would commence this year but indicated the state would consider contributing further funding to the project.

“I think those matters need to be canvassed closer to our Budget,” he said.

“If there’s no federal money we will have to look at the funding options.”

Mr Pitt said the Federal Government had shown “clear disdain” towards Cross River Rail.

Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison defended the exclusion of the proposed Brisbane Cross River Rail Tunnel from the Federal Budget, saying the Queensland Government hadn’t proved it should be funded.

The Queensland Government is angry there was no money set aside for the $5.4 billion project, which it believes is the state’s key infrastructure issue.

But Mr Morrison says Queensland had not yet proven the business case for the project, and would need to compete with other states for funds from 2019 under the $10 billion National Rail Fund announced on Tuesday night.

“Cross River Rail is still to be made as a proven case and the $10 billion National Rail Fund can potentially be used to support that project and we’ll continue to work with the Qld government on that and other projects they’re looking at,” he told ABC Radio in Brisbane this morning.

But Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt said the State Government submitted its business case for Cross River Rail a year ago, and it should not have to wait two years and compete against other states for a slice of the funding pie.

Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt arrives at the budget breakfast, RNA convention centre, Bowen Hills. Picture: Liam Kidston.

“In the 12 months they’ve had the business case (for Cross River Rail), Infrastructure Australia has said it’s still the number one priority for Queensland. It’s been a no-brainer for several years,” Mr Pitt told ABC radio today.

“We’ll have to fight against all those other projects. It would have been a far simpler exercise to do what they’ve done with other states and give us a direct funding injection.” Mr Pitt said Western Australia and Victoria had both received direct funding for major rail projects, but Queensland was left out.

Queenslanders were also being asked to trust that the $10 billion would be there, of which $600 million has already been allocated, when it was able to apply for funding in 2019-20 and 2020-21, he said.

“We’ve got to take it on faith that there’s $9.4 billion that we may be able to apply for somewhere in the out years.”

But shadow treasurer Scott Emerson said Labor should stop complaining, and the Premier and her deputy must now get on with applying for funds under the National Rail Program.

“If they believe this project stands up, they’ll get the money,” he told the ABC.

QLD is ideally positioned to be powerhouse of Australia but we still don’t have the support from the fed gov #Budget2017 #AusPol #qldpol https://t.co/4vyBqeOn2B

— Curtis Pitt MP (@Curtis_Pitt_MP) May 9, 2017

EARLIER: Pitt says Budget falls short for Queensland

QUEENSLAND Treasurer Curtis Pitt has called on the Commonwealth to give priority to the Cross River Rail project when it comes to divvying up its $10 billion national rail fund.

But he stopped short of completely slamming last night’s Federal Budget, saying it was an improvement on previous ones delivered by the Coalition.

“Last night’s Budget...was an obvious attempt to bury the ghosts of Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey and in some ways it has actually done that,” Mr Pitt said.

“I do acknowledge that this Federal Budget is an improvement on the last three.”

But he said while the Budget was long on promises, it was short on actual funds for specific projects like Cross River Rail.

“It appears to support major projects but on closer inspection we see that there isn’t specific funding to back projects so in some respects Scott Morrison is writing undated cheques with no figures filled in.

“The really big case in point is Cross River Rail. We had our business case with the Turnbull Government not long after the last year’s Federal Budget, so we do hope when it comes to looking at these we will be first out of the rank.”

Mr Pitt told the PWC budget breakfast in Brisbane this morning that the majority of the $10 billion national rail fund would not be realised until the out years.

“There’s $600 million in two years over the forward estimates, but there’s still $9.4 billion that we’ve got to take a leap of faith on,” he said.

“We’ve got to take a lot of it on trust here.

“For five years running we have had Cross River Rail as our number one priority, Infrastructure Australia has it up there, we got a mention in the speech but are still having to fight for funding that should be coming our way.

“I think there is some genuine intention to build more infrastructure... but we’re actually not seeing it in the budget papers.”

EARLIER

QUEENSLAND shouldn’t have to compete for federal funds to build Brisbane’s Cross River Rail project, the state treasurer says.

Curtis Pitt says the federal budget should have directly funded the rail link, and at least matched his government’s $850 million commitment. Instead, Queensland will have to compete for a share of $10 billion promised for rail projects across the country.

“In the 12 months they’ve had the business case (for Cross River Rail), Infrastructure Australia has said it’s still the number one priority for Queensland. It’s been a no-brainer for several years,” Mr Pitt told ABC radio on Wednesday.

“We’ll have to fight against all those other projects. It would have been a far simpler exercise to do what they’ve done with other states and give us a direct funding injection.”

Mr Pitt said Western Australia and Victoria had both received direct funding for major rail projects, but Queensland was left out.

Queenslanders were also being asked to trust that the $10 billion would be there, of which $600 million has already been allocated, when it was able to apply for funding in 2019-20 and 2020-21, he said.

“We’ve got to take it on faith that there’s $9.4 billion that we may be able to apply for somewhere in the out years.”

But shadow treasurer Scott Emerson said Labor should stop complaining, and the premier and her deputy must now get on with applying for funds under the National Rail Program.

“If they believe this project stands up, they’ll get the money,” he told the ABC.

Originally published as Budget 2017: Treasurer Curtis Pitt disappointed at lack of federal support for Queensland