Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick defends debt surge for ‘big growing state’

Cameron Dick says Queensland’s infrastructure spend will soon outstrip NSW and Victoria.

Treasurer Cameron Dick, Qld Parliament Question Time, Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick has defended the government’s decision to rack up debt for its expensive infrastructure program, saying his state would grow while NSW and Victoria contracted.

After raking in huge coal royalty windfalls this financial year, the Sunshine State will ramp up borrowings over the next four years as it embarks on an $89bn capital program to transition away from coal and prepare for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.

Net debt – which excludes the borrowings of state-owned corporations – is forecast to reach $46.93bn by mid-2027, driving the debt-revenue ratio from 7 per cent to 55 per cent in four years.

Total debt, including borrowings held by public companies, will also surge by another $45bn, hitting $147bn by 2027.

But Mr Dick said Queensland was in a better fiscal position than other eastern states, and infrastructure spend was needed to “cater for the growth state”.

“When other states are contracting, we have a big growing state,” he said. “We have seen a lot of commentary about major projects in other states; in this budget, Queensland takes the lead. NSW and Victoria, over the forward estimates, are reducing their capital spend.”

Mr Dick said by 2024-25, Queensland’s capital spend per capita would overtake both NSW and Victoria.

Ratings agency S&P Global maintained the state’s AA+ credit rating after Tuesday’s budget but warned of future fiscal pressure because of the billions of dollars added to the state’s already large infrastructure program.

“Infrastructure spending will mean goss debt will continue to climb, after a temporary decline in 2023 as operating revenues spiked,” analyst Rebecca Hrvatin said on Wednesday.

The government will inject $10bn of equity into publicly owned companies over the next four years, including an initial $6bn for the $14bn Borumba hydro project near Gympie.

There will be no capital investment made in the controversial Pioneer-Burdekin hydro project for the next four years.

The project is critical to the Palaszczuk government’s target of reaching 80 per cent renewable energy by 2035, but has not been subjected to detailed studies as yet.