Cash to the country as federal lessons learnt

The Palaszczuk government has dedicated its budget to the regions in a bid to win back voters.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Treasurer Jackie Trad, right, at Parliament House in Brisbane. Picture: AAP

The Palaszczuk government has dedicated its budget to the regions in a bid to stimulate the economy and win back voters following Labor’s wipe-out at the federal election.

Targeting regional economic growth through a significant capital works program, Treasurer Jackie Trad yesterday announced a payroll tax discount of 1 per cent for businesses with more than 85 per cent of staff based outside the southeast corner of the state.

Of the $12.9 billion spent on ­infrastructure projects in 2019-20, 60 per cent will be outside the greater Brisbane area.

The state’s record roads and transport capital investment will be spent mostly north of Brisbane as funding pours into bypasses of regional cities and upgrades to the Bruce Highway.

Ms Trad mentioned the word “region” 37 times during her speech, which she began by saying: “Today I deliver a Queensland budget unashamedly focused on our regions.”

The Treasurer, who has previously said Queensland needed to move away from the thermal coal industry and told coalminers to reskill, yesterday hailed the “resources state” and said the budget was dedicated to the “coal and resource regions”, as well as agricultural and tourism regions.

To help boost exports from the northwest minerals province, the government will subsidise users of the Mount Isa rail line and has set aside $193 million to widen channels at the Port of Townsville to give access to larger ships.

It comes after federal Labor was hammered at polling booths in Queensland on May 18, losing its Townsville seat of Herbert and suffering significant swings in ­regional electorates.

Party stalwarts blamed the crash in support on the Palaszczuk government’s stalling on the Adani mine and a perception in the regions that the government was against the resources industry.

Among those aware of the boom-and-bust cycle of regional Queensland is Darrin Keates, who lost his job at an earthmoving company in Mackay in 2014 as the mining downturn hit. He started a workshop, Viking Mechanical, and five years later has seen such a turnaround in the city’s fortunes that he struggles to find workers.

He believes the government is right to focus on ensuring a healthy regional economy. “We are the main breadwinner of Queensland,” he said. “A lot of the state’s revenue comes from here.”

He said the government’s 1 per cent payroll tax discount for regional employers, and the lifting of the payroll tax threshold from $1.1m to $1.3m would boost the economy. “Those businesses will be able to expand, simply because they will have more cashflow and they’ll be able to invest,” he said.