Budget 2021: Road, rail funds ‘fail to match migration surge’

Queensland’s Labor government has criticised the perceived lack of dedicated infrastructure funding in the federal budget, despite the state being the epicentre for interstate migration.

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick in question time on Wednesday. Picture: Dan Peled

Queensland’s Labor government has criticised the perceived lack of dedicated infrastructure funding in the federal budget, despite the state having the highest interstate migration.

State Treasurer Cameron Dick said Queensland was being “ripped off” by the Morrison government and noted that infrastructure funding was significantly less than it was for NSW, South Australia and Victoria, which were not experiencing such high levels of interstate migration.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released last week showed Queensland had again topped the list when it came to interstate ­migration with a net gain of 30,000 in 2020, significantly more than any other state and in contrast to the population losses of 19,000 and 13,000 in NSW and Victoria.

“As the rest of the nation languishes with below-trend growth, these interstate arrivals will help support economic growth,” Mr Dick said. “But that growth in our population … will put more pressure on our infrastructure, which is exactly why Queensland has been so clearly ripped off.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: “These are the facts. For infrastructure, NSW gets $3.3bn, South Australia $3.2bn, Victoria $3bn. Queensland gets $1.6bn.”

Scott Morrison accused Mr Dick of “politicking”.

“The facts are this — that under this budget, Queenslanders will receive a higher share of infrastructure funding than ­actually per head of population,” Mr Morrison told 4BC radio.