Qld Budget 2020: Education at the forefront of investment for Toowoomba and Darling Downs

The Queensland Treasurer this afternoon handed down the 2020-21 State Budget. Here is what was in it for Toowoomba.

New classrooms and education facilities are at the forefront of new infrastructure spending for the Darling Downs in the state budget handed down by Treasurer Cameron Dick this afternoon.

Mr Dick delivered the much-anticipated COVID-19 pandemic budget at Parliament House in Brisbane just after 2pm.

“This is a budget that delivers certainty in a year that has been anything but certain,” Mr Dick said.

In Toowoomba, Wilsonton State High School will receive $5.355m this financial year for additional classrooms, with the rest of the $16.5m project to be spent in future budgets.

Upgrades to the school, and several others in the region, were part of a major education promise made by the Labor Party heading into October’s state election.

Clifford Park Special School will receive $13.9m for additional classrooms and the relocation of the Denise Kable Centre, with $5.355m allocated in 2020-21.

Toowoomba West Special School will receive $1.9 million in 2020-21 out of a $3.1 million total spend for new classrooms.

Highfields State School will receive $3m for upgrades to the administration building and Harristown State High School will receive $700,000 for security fences.

Gowrie State School will receive $500,000 for a new outdoor learning area, Harristown State School will receive $300,000 for a car park upgrade, Lockyer District State High School will receive $550,000 for stormwater mitigation on the oval and Withcott State School will receive $300,000 to replace a septic system.

In the Darling Downs-Maranoa area, Oakey State High School will receive $7.1 million for a new multipurpose hall and to refurbish hospitality, industrial design and technology facilities.

Overall, there has been $47.231m committed to education works in Toowoomba in the 2020-21 financial year and $23.702m in the Darling Downs-Maranoa region.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Treasurer Cameron Dick pose for a photo after a press conference during the Queensland Budget lockup at Parliament House. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

That figure includes continued funding for the likes of the Toowoomba State High School new performing arts centre project and fire repair work at Warwick East State School.

“The Palaszczuk Government is focused on stimulating growth in the private sector to foster job creation, and is determined to directly support jobs through the delivery of infrastructure that Queenslanders deserve, no matter where they live across our vast state,” Treasurer Cameron Dick said in his budget speech.

“That means building the schools, the hospitals and the bridges, roads and tunnels that our growing state will need in the future.”

Budget documents revealed a total capital purchase amount of $259.794m in Toowoomba and $311.883m in the Darling Downs-Maranoa.

Across the Darling Downs-Maranoa and Toowoomba regions, $179.741m of the capital purchase amount will be spent on energy projects, $208.390m on transport projects, $70.933m on education and training, $39.921m on health, and $28.438m on justice and public safety.

Darling Downs Health will receive $11.234m for capital projects, health technology equipment and minor capital projects and acquisitions.

The majority of funding for the new Queensland Fire and Emergency Services headquarters at Charlton will be spent this year ($16.02m out of a total spend of $18.354m), as will the majority of funds for a new Wilsonton Neighbourhood Centre ($2.467m out of a total spend of $3.8m).

The State Government has also allocated the previously announced $40m for the Wagner’s Wellcamp Entertainment Precinct in the budget documents.

The government is also funding $37.544m worth of capital grants in Toowoomba and $114.011m in the Darling Downs-Maranoa.

Overall in the budget, Queensland’s forecast deficit for 2020-21 is $8.633 billion.

General Government Sector borrowing is estimated to be $53.501 billion, up from the pre-crisis forecast of $34.772.

“To do anything other than borrow to rebuild would condemn our economy to years of austerity and a far slower and more painful recovery,” Mr Dick said.

“It would condemn unemployed Queenslanders to a longer job search.

“For nearly a decade, Queensland politics has been haunted by the false argument that debt in Queensland was somehow inherently more dangerous and damaging than debt borrowed anywhere else, or borrowed by anyone else.

“When Australia begins to exit this pandemic, Queensland will have the lowest debt of east coast states, even if you include all the borrowings of our government-owned corporations and statutory authorities.”