Queensland Government Budget fails the trust of Queenslanders

The Queensland Budget handed down today confirms that Campbell Newman’s Government is determined to make ungrounded financial decisions that will cost people’s jobs and destroy the environment, Australian Greens Senator for Queensland, Larissa Waters, said today.

“If Queensland becomes a state where basic services – such as health care, quality education and emergency services – aren’t on offer because the public service has been slashed, it won’t make any difference to people’s lives if the Budget is in surplus or not,” Senator Waters said.

“Campbell Newman said before the election that forced redundancies for the public service were not going to be necessary. He has no mandate to take jobs away from these people.

“While Campbell Newman is claiming these tough decisions must be made in the interests of fiscal prudence, it is clearly a matter of priorities – the Newman Government can find $80 million for greyhound racing, but refuses to support the trial of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

“There is also zero financial judgement shown in Campbell Newman’s blatant cash grab for mining royalties, as he tries to blatantly exploit a loophole in the mining tax that will see the Commonwealth foot the big miners’ bill – the Greens will introduce a bill today to close this loophole.

“The Queensland Greens at our State Conference at the weekend unanimously passed a motion which ‘affirms our support for the tens of thousands of Queenslanders, their families and their communities, who have been severely impacted by the unprecedented and unjustified, ideologically driven attacks by the Newman LNP government on the public service, community and NGO sectors’ and that resolves to actively campaign alongside the union movement and those affected against such attacks.”