![]() ![]() “It gives more Queenslanders the opportunity to return to work or to take on more work,” Dick said. The measure is expected to save Queenslanders up to $4,600 a year in fees. The government has also announced it will fully subsidise 15 hours a week of kindergarten (in Queensland kindy is the year before children start school). He said the rebates were a deliberate measure to assist households in a way that is deflationary, rather than putting cash directly into people’s pockets and potentially contributing to further inflation. Queensland will spend $8.2bn in 2023-24 on cost-of-living relief, including a $550 energy rebate for every household, with concession holders to receive an additional $150 discount on top of an existing $372 rebate, taking total support for this group to $1,072 in 2023-24.ĭick said the rebate was the most generous of all the states and territories and meant many Queenslanders won’t pay for electricity at all next year. By 2026-27, debt levels will have climbed back to almost $47bn, largely due to infrastructure spending. The budget predicts Queensland will run a $2.2bn deficit next year, largely due to one-off spending measures.Ĭoal royalties also helped the state temporarily reduce net debt, which is now $5.9bn, instead of the $19.8bn forecast 12 months ago. The increased royalties income are set to push the 2022-23 surplus to $12.3bn, which Dick said was the largest recorded by a state or territory government. “Our decision to take on the mining lobby, to stand our ground and to fight for the people of our state has delivered a rich reward.” “We can deliver our state’s biggest cost-of-living program, our state’s biggest building program and deliver lower debt for one simple reason – progressive coal royalties,” Dick said. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The boost has allowed the government to frame its 2023-24 budget as a Robin Hood-style affair – portraying miners as greedy for complaining while they rake in super profits, while marking the budget papers with a “tackling the cost of living” stamp. The budget papers reveal income of more than $15bn from coal royalties in 2022-23 – about $10bn more than had been forecast 12 months ago – due mainly to sustained high coal prices, which trigger the increased royalty rates. At the heart of this year’s budget is the increased revenue generated by coal royalty hikes – a measure announced last year that has faced significant opposition from the mining sector, including a $40m advertising campaign by the Queensland Resources Council. ![]()
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