BUDGET REPLY – A REAL PLAN TO BUILD A BETTER QUEENSLAND
- LNP Plan to create more jobs, stronger families, lower crime rates and build fair dinkum roads, bridge, dam and power projects.
- A Nicholls LNP Government will launch an assault on cost of living pressures.
- A $100 million get Queensland Working Plan to help tackle youth unemployment
- Support a new North Queensland Power Station and 10 year Bruce Highway package
- Asset Sales ruled out completely and no Forced Redundancies in the Public Service.
Massive job creation, building the roads, bridges and dams Queensland needs and an assault on cost of living pressures such as rising family car rego and power costs will be central themes of a future Liberal National Party Government.
LNP Leader Tim Nicholls used his Budget Reply speech to outline his vision to literally build a better Queensland.
“Queensland currently has a ‘do nothing’ Labor Government with an inexperienced Premier, a power-hungry Deputy Leader and an inept Captain Risky Treasurer at war with themselves,” Mr Nicholls said.
“Queenslanders have been stranded for three years without leadership, without direction, without a clear plan.
“Labor’s legacy is one of job losses – 30,000 jobs lost last year alone, massive cost of living increases, raids on public servants’ superannuation, shovelling of debt onto Government-owned corporations and a soft-on-crime approach that has put fright into regional Queenslanders.
“Today I fired our first salvo to offer Queenslanders a clear alternative to this ‘do nothing’ Labor Government and that is a common sense LNP Government which will listen, plan and act to build a better Queensland.
“The LNP’s plan will create jobs, support small business, invest in education to raise standards and we will provide better services and contain cost of living pressures for families and retirees.”
A Real Plan
Mr Nicholls said over coming months the LNP would unveil more policies and plans to literally build a better Queensland.
“Our resolute focus will be to provide Queensland with a Government that creates more jobs, lowers crime rates, contains cost of living pressures, enhances environmental protections, provides a strong and stable business environment and provides better Government, not more Government,” Mr Nicholls said.
“We will build stronger families and one of the main ways to do that is take the pressure off is to contain cost of living pressures. If elected, one of the first things we will do is freeze family car registration for three years.
“It is the first part of our assault on cost of living pressures which hurt both families and businesses.”
A Government for all of Queensland not just inner city Brisbane Labor seats
Mr Nicholls said all of Queensland had been neglected by Labor for three years, especially regional Queensland and electorates in the south-east outside of Jackie Trad’s.
“Make no mistake, this Labor Government is run by Jackie Trad and that’s why billions have been promised in South Brisbane and not much anywhere else,” he said.
“The LNP is the only political party that has a plan for all of Queensland.
“For example, we will grant “priority project” status to a new, economically-viable, low-emission ultra-supercritical coal-fired power station in North Queensland.
“The LNP will also implement a new 10-year action plan to continue to improve the Bruce Highway.
“We will also ensure we build new infrastructure right across Queensland, including dams to provide water security and job-creating agricultural projects.
“To ensure Regional Queensland gets its fair share, the LNP will implement a ramped-up $500 million Royalties for Regions infrastructure program.
“We will implement our $100 million Get Queensland Working plan which will provide up to 20,000 jobs for young Queenslanders, reduce expenses for apprentices and incentivise businesses to train and retain young job-seekers.
“And there’s plenty more to come.”
Labor must rule out fear campaign
Mr Nicholls said the next election would be fought on who had the best ideas and plans for Queensland’s future and called on Labor to rule out a scare campaign and run on its record.
“The next election should not be about who can say the most outrageous thing or who can tell the biggest untruth in an effort to trick Queenslanders,” he said.
“It will be about who has the best plan to Build a Better Queensland.
“Today I am drawing a line in the sand once and for all on two issues that Labor and its union mates are obsessed with.
“First let me make it very clear, we will not sell government- owned corporations.
“We took a plan to the last election to repay debt, help with the cost of living and boost infrastructure spending through asset leasing – that plan, to borrow a phrase, is “dead … buried and cremated”.
“The public has made its view clear and I have listened. Let’s never forget, it was Labor who sold Queensland Rail, it was Labor who sold the Port of Brisbane and it was Labor who sold Forestry Plantation Queensland.”
Mr Nicholls said the second issue Labor and the unions were fixated with was the LNP’s plans for the public service.
“Unless, like every other workplace, people voluntarily decide to leave the public service, everybody who is a public servant will keep their job.
“Building a Better Queensland means delivering outcomes, not outputs, for the people of Queensland.
“To do that, we need all hands on deck.
“The Premier and her Labor Government have managed to stifle enterprise while at the same time growing the bureaucracy and reach of government.
“It’s costing more to deliver less.
“We will focus on a public service of excellence, one measured by outcomes and service delivery – not volumes of paperwork and mind-numbing, restrictive processes.
“The public service is not a warehouse for, or a monument to, public servants but a means to serve the public.”
The LNP’s Pledge
Mr Nicholls pledged the LNP would be a Government for the Queensland people, not big unions or big business.
“We will be a Government which is straight with the people of Queensland,” he said.
“I will not be taking my riding instructions from a union, or from Canberra for that matter.
“I pledge to put Queensland and Queenslanders first.
“I love Queensland and I want to Build a Better Queensland today, and for generations of Queenslanders to come.
“Together, Let’s Build a Better Queensland.”
