Budget week in Parliament is always guaranteed to see a glaring difference between speakers on the two sides of the house, and this year it was no different, even between crossbench members.
Whilst Government MPs speak glowingly of the many good items contained that Queenslanders will be happy with, opposition highlight what is missing as part of its role to ‘keep government to account’.
As always, I look through those many pages of the Service Delivery Statements for both.
Even though for Noosa specifically we were not seeking many major announcements, mainly operational funding, as our ‘big ticket’ items have been completed, are in progress, planning, design or recommendation stage, or already announced.
This includes stage one of the Tewantin Bypass with the new roundabout at the intersection of Cooroy and Beckman’s Road completed, and $1.4m allocated in planning for Stage two which is currently in the design phase between Noosa Council and TMR.
Enormous volumes of both capital and maintenance funding for the Pomona Kin Kin Road continue to be committed in response to the totally inappropriate volumes of heavy haulage on a road never built for such traffic. Noosa Council’s court case is awaiting determination from Judge Long to see an end to this, and it has never been more important that a QLD Independent Environmental Agency gets operational with appropriate funding as it has been 18 months since the first consultations. In addition, the recommendations from the Review of Powers and Penalties Under the Environmental Protection Act needs to translate into a tabling of new legislation to come into Parliament sooner rather than later, especially in relation to increased powers of the Minister.
The Six Mile Bridge Replacement project is progressing with $9.2m allocated this year, with a projected completion by mid-2024. This is one that I will definitely celebrate with the community as it has been a long, long journey! We already ‘turned the sod’ for the construction of a $13m state-of-the-art school hall for our Noosa District State High School Pomona Campus which is due to be completed in readiness for the start of the 2024 school year, with Sunshine Beach State School seeing a refurbishment of Block HA.
Our really big disappointment was the omission of an allocation for the Advanced Manufacturing unit for Sunshine Beach State High. With the Masterplan for this bursting-at-the-seams school completed, to not get started makes no sense given we have no local provision of TAFE courses, which this unit does. May my meeting with Minister Grace find that there is funding for the detailed design and a reconsideration as students currently are being turned away due to space restrictions.
The Lake MacDonald dam wall project is now back on track, with nearly a million dollars in this budget to get started out of the total $127m, however the lack of movement on the two Cooroy intersections is of concern. Even though not in the Noosa electorate, our residents, as well those in Nicklin are at risk daily at these, and clarification is needed as to why these remain unaddressed.
Even though the transitional demountable buildings at Noosa Hospital are now installed to triage patients as part of ensuring the Emergency Department operates efficiently, reducing delays and ‘bypassing’ to Nambour or SCUH contributing to their ramping, we need a permanent solution. The data from this ‘triaging’ is vital for our advocacy for this private hospital expansion which is contracted by state government, with provision this year of $22.6m for public services and of this, $7m for the Emergency Department. This may sound sufficient, however given the limited capacity, and frustration of residents who are relayed unnecessarily to hospitals further away, we need to know exactly what is required now and into the future. Government could simply provide the requested longer lease to Ramsay to allow for expansion investment, as this would be a ‘win-win’ for government, as well our community.
With the ongoing issue of housing, it was a shock that more was not dedicated across Queensland from the $12b surplus from mining royalties. In Noosa, we appreciate the purchase of blocks in Doonella Street last year, and successful funding applications soon to be announced for initiatives including for four units for domestic violence families, though more is needed, especially with the known impacts staging the 2032 Olympic Games will have on Southeast Queensland.
We questioned why given the crisis, the government policy of departments requiring market price for sites could not be suspended, as we had those Queensland Police Service houses in Tewantin become available as our Police Beats became mobile rather than stationery.
Yes, the Budget outlined record commitments across Queensland by June 2027 of 5,600 social and affordable homes and 3,265 by June 2025 via an additional $1.1B to the Housing and Homelessness Action Plan, however it is a drop in the ocean.
Queensland Council of Social Service research stated a need for 11,000 new social and affordable homes each year for 20 years, with their report in March 2023 that there are 150,000 households across Queensland with unmet housing needs, 50,000 typically not eligible for social housing. This does not include the many residents who do not even apply.
Add interest rate pressures, inflation, land tax and policy proposals such as rental reforms and developer accreditation driving mortgages and housing costs up, which then impact those renting, why is government not putting in place a freeze on land tax to the 2021 valuations as we have requested, and stop introducing legislative changes or policies that will make this situation worse for Queenslanders?
Yes, there are so many whys, and may the Estimates Hearings provide some answers.
Now to transport, given that congestion and lack of access to public transport has escalated for Noosa, the importance of reducing the current and future loads on the M1 cannot be understated. The North Coast Rail study is long overdue and increases in rail and other forms of public transport is vital well before the 2032 Olympic Games.
A glaring omission was increasing support for Queensland small to medium businesses. Given the ongoing hardships from lack of staff, increased rentals, inflation and monetary policy responses on interest rates, this is deeply concerning as they are our ‘back bone’. Though as part of the Tourism Experience Development Fund, grants have been approved to Noosa RACV resort and to Kin Kins Mayan Farm, with Advance Queensland innovation funding to Ordo Enterprises.
There were other bits-n-bobs for our community including Noosa Council receiving another $1.4m as part of the Community Stimulus Program, $257,000 for the McKinnon Drive Sports Facility and $110,000 for investigations into transit hubs.
On the broader Queensland front, there were some good announcements including those electricity rebates and free kindy.
As we have seen in our many inquiries, and from reports via Taskforces and Commissions, the contributors to crime are complex and many.
We have also seen where the recommendations from these are not actioned, so it was positive to see that there is $132m over 4 years dedicated to crime prevention and victim support, as well an increase of $189m for youth justice including the much-needed earlier intervention.
However, until we see where the increased patrols and programs take place, Noosa may still be requesting ‘specials’, as well the need for greater technology for monitoring. The recent devastating death of one of our fellow Noosans highlighted again the importance of reporting unusual behaviours and activity, as we need to be the ‘eyes’ for our police who cannot be everywhere at once. In addition, for residents to consider reforming their Neighbourhood Watch programs, which has diminished over the years as our crime statistics went down. We can’t afford to become complacent.
It was really good to see $18.6m for the Public Service Commission to increase the sectors capabilities as in multiple realms. We have raised concerns over the inability of the ‘on the ground’ needs not translating up the chain to action, such as we saw when we raised the issue of housing for over five years.
In addition, $6.1m to implement the recommendations from the Coaldrake Review of culture and accountability in the QLD public sector, as greater transparency is essential.
In summary, the glaring issue with this budget is that we should have celebrated that surplus delivered from mining royalties, with announcements that address our most urgent needs and issues; housing and youth crime.
Even though efforts on paying down state debt are commendable, given what it is costing in support and health services for increasing poor mental and physical health due to the housing crisis and ongoing fallout from Covid, it makes little sense that more was not injected into ensuring Queenslanders have a place to call home.
Budgets are never easy; however as stated in my full budget reply speech and our summary available at www.SandyBolton.com/Budget-2023-24-Summary, the shortfalls identified need to be remedied, and it is never too late.
The devil is always in the detail and I look forward to finding out about the ‘whys’ during Estimates next month, especially in the operational funding list of increases needed including for our National Parks as just one example.
