NQ business leaders criticise deficiencies in the 2024-2025 Federal Budget

North Queensland’s disappointed business community has levelled criticism at the government’s Federal Budget, including the lack of new funding for Reef HQ. Read their feedback.

North Queensland’s business community has given the 2024-2025 Federal Budget a chilly reception, ruing the missed opportunities to back small businesses, address insurance failings, and fund the waterfront revitalisation project at Reef HQ.

Hundreds of business leaders and small business owners attended PVW Partners’ corporate breakfast at The Ville to delve into the latest Federal Budget handed down by the government on Tuesday night.

PVW Partners’ Managing Partner Carl Valentine led an expert team who decoded what the budget meant for individuals, unravelled its impact on businesses and North Queensland more broadly.

Mr Valentine was damning in his assessment of the budget’s support for business, giving it a D+ rating, despite it providing rebates of $325 to around one million small businesses and extending the $20,000 instant asset write-off by a further 12 months until June 30, 2025.

“From a business perspective, the budget was fairly benign. Unfortunately, not a lot in there for business,” Mr Valentine said.

“(The $325 rebates) were better than a kick in the bum but it’s not actually a helping hand for small businesses because the price of energy is increasing by far more than that rebate.”

He said the continuation of the instant asset write off was “a little bit of good news” but “many would argue that it’s not sufficient”.

“There’s been other measures in the past that have been far more effective for small businesses, whether that’s higher rates of instant asset write off, or things like tax loss carry back,” he said.

“So there’s other levers the government could pull to create a more conducive environment for business success.”

Townsville Chamber of Commerce chief executive Heidi Turner and PVW Partners’ Managing Partner Carl Valentine attended a post-budget breakfast at The Ville. Picture: Leighton Smith.

Mr Valentine would have loved to have seen a true policy agenda linked to improving productivity in our economy and tax reform, which was one of the big levers that state and federal governments could jointly pull to deliver long term prosperity,

Townsville Chamber of Commerce chief executive Heidi Turner regarded the budget as being very much for the individual rather than business growth.

She hoped some tax breaks for the individuals would lead to increased discretionary spending to support those businesses that are really hurting.

“We’ve seen very minimal things here for the region. The internal road through down to New South Wales and the little bit of spending there on the Bruce Highway,” Ms Turner said.

“Energy bills have gone up significantly in our region, they’ve more than doubled in the last five years, so a rebate of $325 per business, like Carl said, is better than a kick in the bum but really is just the tip of the iceberg. It doesn’t go far enough.

“The instant asset write off from the last budget hasn’t yet come into play, it hasn’t been legislated, so this is just a continuation of that.”

RMS Engineering and Construction managing director Richard McDonald expressed his disappointment with the budget. Picture: Leighton Smith.

Given that NQ businesses were “doing it tough”, battling a range of increasing financial pressures from wages, materials, energy, and insurance, she would have loved to see something to address those cost concerns.

Having advocated for a reduction of premiums in the insurance space by targeting four key principles, with the backing of 19 chambers of commerce across the north, Ms Turner would have loved to have seen some of those addressed in the budget.

RMS Engineering and Construction managing director Richard McDonald described it as a “nothing budget”.

“It doesn’t really do anything for industry or for businesses and it doesn’t do anything really for the region of Townsville,” Mr McDonald said.

“We had that Reef HQ (project proposal). I think that would have been a great thing to put some funding into that.

“I also would have liked to have seen some more money spent on TMR work on main roads, especially the Bruce Highway.

“If you drive up and down the Bruce Highway, it's a pretty horrible stretch of road, and I think some money should have been spent on more overtaking lanes and improvements.”

Originally published as NQ business leaders criticise deficiencies in the 2024-2025 Federal Budget