Newman offers 'can-do' government, redistribution of coal wealth in Qld

CAMPBELL Newman will redistribute Queensland's coal and coal-seam gas boom, vowing at the LNP election launch to make it the "can do" state.

Newman family

CAMPBELL Newman will redistribute the bonanza of Queensland's coal and coal-seam gas boom if elected premier, after vowing to make it the "can do" state at the official launch of the Liberal National Party's state election campaign today.

The former Brisbane mayor, who is hoping to make history by being elected to the top job from outside parliament, tested the patience of even his most enthusiastic supporters with a 43-minute speech, that ran almost half as long as it should have been.

The centrepiece of Mr Newman's pitch to Queensland voters is a West Australian-style "royalties for the regions" program, which will be used to funnel the dividends of the state's resource boom back to the community, especially in areas directly affected by coal mining and CSG development. The progenitor launched by the conservative Barnett government in WA has proved immensely popular despite criticism that it is also a vehicle for political porkbarrelling.

Mr Newman said his scheme would include a $170 million resource community building fund to deliver better social infrastructure, including community centres and sporting facilities, and improve the lifestyle of those living in mineral producing areas. Separate programs would pump royalties into roads and flood mitigation, the LNP leader said.

"We will ensure Queensland regions that host major resource developments receive real, long-term mineral royalty benefits through better planning and targeted infrastructure investment," he said.

Premier Anna Bligh has already promised to divert 50 per cent of liquid natural gas royalties, including the government's CSG take, into a "mines to minds" education fund.

Raising the spending stakes, Mr Newman said an LNP government would commit $1bn to rebuilding the Bruce Highway, provided the federal government brought forward from 20 to 10 years the timetable for "fixing" the arterial road link from Brisbane to Cairns.

A skills and training taskforce would deliver 10,000 apprenticeships to help avert the need to bring in outside workers for the resource sector and cut unemployment, in line with the LNP's target to reduce the jobless rate in Queensland to 4 per cent over the next six years.

And in a surprise announcement, Mr Newman promised to establish a successor to the 1990s Forde inquiry into the treatment of children in state care and introduce a "two strikes" policy for repeat offenders who commit serious sex crimes against children.

Mr Newman was introduced by federal Opposition leader Tony Abbott, who urged Queenslanders to send a national message by punishing a "bad" Labor government in Queensland. Mr Newman said his message was: "The LNP is ready for government. We are ready to get Queensland back on track."

Among the federal Liberal heavyweights in the audience were treasury spokesman Joe Hockey, education spokesman Christopher Pyne and Nationals senate leader Barnaby Joyce. Nationals leader Warren Truss brought the house down at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre by declaring that Labor "couldn't deliver a pizza on a moonlit night".