A full record of Mark's Speeches are available at www.parliament.qld.gov.au
A full record of Mark's Speeches are available at www.parliament.qld.gov.au
I am very excited to rise in the House this afternoon to contribute to the debate on the Queensland state budget and also to speak in support of the Appropriation Bills introduced by the Treasurer. I start by commending the Treasurer, the Premier and all ministers for their great effort in respect of this budget.
Out in the community I have been telling people that this is the best budget that I have seen in at least a decade. It is an outstanding budget not only for Queensland but for the local community that I represent. It is an outstanding budget because it continues that good work that we are undertaking to transition our economy by growing innovation, attracting investment and building infrastructure to create jobs now and for the future. Of course, it also continues our good work of fulfilling our election commitments, those commitments of restoring front-line services, supporting job-creation activities, paying down general government sector debt and doing all of those things without the sale of our most profitable income-generating assets.
I am pleased to see that since the last election unemployment is down and tens of thousands more Queenslanders have a job. We also see that general government sector debt is down; it is forecast to be down by $10.4 billion. We also see revenue growth is forecast to exceed expenses growth and growth is expected to be the highest in the nation. At the last election we said there was a better way and we are delivering.
Locally, we see some outstanding things in this budget for the Caboolture region such as the Fairer Fares package, which I know will help a lot of people in the Caboolture region with the cost of living. There are a lot of people in the Caboolture region who rely on public transport. In fact, the train stations within the Morayfield state electorate—Burpengary, Morayfield and half of Narangba train station—are some of the busiest train stations in the network. We will have some great cost-of-living relief for those people using those train stations. For a growing region I also see that the first home owner’s grant will make a big difference for young people and other people in the Caboolture region who are looking at purchasing their own home. I am very pleased to see the support for small business and jobseekers that this budget delivers.
As I have said, this is one of the best budgets for the Caboolture region in at least a decade and the reason is the local projects that are supported and funded in this budget. I am so pleased that the Minister for Education is here because it is her department that is supporting the great schools of the Morayfield state electorate. I am just so pleased to see some money in the budget for the Burpengary State School hall project. I say thank you very much to the minister for her support of that project. As I have spoken in this House before, this year Burpengary State School celebrates 140 years. What better birthday present to give to the Burpengary State School than to support their hall enclosure project. We also see new classrooms at Narangba Valley State School and, most importantly, the beginning of the redevelopment of Caboolture Special School—the beginning of construction of $6.4 million worth of new classrooms and administration at Caboolture Special School. When I informed the principal of that contribution she started crying. She gave me a hug and she said, ‘Thank you, Mark, and your government for delivering for Caboolture Special School.’ It is the largest special school in Queensland. It is three times the average size of a normal special school, so everything that we can do to contribute to the work that Caboolture Special School does, the better.
We also see money to construct a new police station in the Caboolture region and upgrade the Morayfield train station to ensure that it has disability compliance. Most exciting of all, we see money for a new car park at Caboolture Hospital. We have heard others speak about what they say they were doing with car parking at Caboolture Hospital. They say there was money in the budget before the last state election. They say they were going to construct all these car parks. All it was was imaginary money on imaginary land with imaginary car parks. What have we done? We have committed real money, $4 million, to construct 300 car parks at the Caboolture Hospital. That is a very welcome announcement indeed, and it follows a lot of hard work from both my colleague, the member for Pumicestone, and me. With respect to those great announcements I look at the local newspaper, the Caboolture News, and this is what it says about our great state budget—
While most eyes are on the fallout from the federal budget, last night’s state budget was one of the most Moreton Bay-friendly in recent years.
It continues—
The comparisons between this budget and the LNP’s federal budget are stark after [the federal government] cut funding for both hospitals and education, while focusing on trickledown economics.
I want to finish with the headline on the front page of the Caboolture News this week entitled, ‘Big win in state budget’. This is a winner state budget; it is a winner state budget for the Caboolture region. It is a winner Labor government delivering for the people of Caboolture, and I am so pleased that the people of the Caboolture region will receive improvements to infrastructure, support for job-generating activities and cost-of-living relief. I support the budget.