“… Infrastructure should not be seen as a place to trim the budget” – Chris Warnock, Engineers Australia’s Queensland Division President.
Although regional and rural Queensland will benefit from the Labour government’s first Budget with additional funding and new programs, this may not be enough to boost Queensland’s economic growth warns Queensland Division President Chris Warnock.
Warnock told the Courier Mail the $10 billion annual outlay on new infrastructure needs to be doubled to address the infrastructure backlog and ensure the long term health of the State’s economy.
Mr Warnock warns “infrastructure should not be seen as a place to trim the budget.”
Indeed, on the surface it appears the Government has heeded this advice, bringing forward the Building our Regions Regional Infrastructure Fund with $200 million available over the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 financial years. Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt anticipates that regional communities will begin to see important infrastructure projects underway six months earlier than had been anticipated.
However, this fund and most other projects had already been announced before the budget.
Before the announcement, many were saying this will be a difficult Budget as the Palaszczak government tries to reign in state debt. Mr Warnock urged the government to differentiate between good debt and bad debt.
“Infrastructure investment based on a sound cost benefit analysis, which balances the benefit to the community and return on investment with the level of debt, is an investment in our State’s future and something Queensland Labor should consider a necessity.
“The community and industry looks to the Palaszczuk government to demonstrate foresight and take this opportunity to provide mechanisms to fund infrastructure investment and bring confidence to industry.
“Infrastructure is the backbone of a strong state economy, enabling both innovation and business investment. Putting infrastructure on the backburner puts the long term health of our economy on the backburner too," Mr Warnock said.
Casey Hamilton
Media Manager, Engineers Australia