Cost of living relief comes into effect today

Premier
The Honourable Campbell Newman

Cost of living relief comes into effect today

Queensland families will get a much needed household budget boost through a raft of LNP Government cost of living relief measures taking effect today.

Premier Campbell Newman said the LNP Government had committed to lowering the cost of living for families, and was delivering on this election promise.

“Prior to the election, we pledged to do everything possible to reduce the pressure on household budgets,” he said.

“We have already started delivering on that commitment with the Cost of Living Bill one of the very first bills we introduced into Parliament, providing real hip pocket relief for Queenslanders.”

The LNP’s cost of living commitments coming into effect today are:

Freezing the standard domestic electricity tariff (Tariff 11) saving families an average of $120 this year;
Freezing family car registration for the first term of an LNP Government;
Reintroducing stamp duty concessions for the principal place of residence saving up to $7,000 on the family home;
Scrapping Labor’s job destroying waste tax, saving a medium sized restaurant around $3,000 a year – which they would have been forced to pass on to consumers.
Mr Newman said while the Queensland Government was freezing the standard domestic electricity tariff, the Federal Government’s introduction of a carbon tax today meant household electricity bills would still rise.

“We have never supported Labor’s carbon tax, but we will be putting it separately on the bill so that people can see how much extra they are paying due to the tax,” Mr Newman said.

Mr Newman said the Newman Government was continuing to look at ways to address cost of living pressures while also addressing the dire situation the state’s finances had been left in by the Bligh Government.

He said work had commenced to implement the LNP’s four point water plan to reduce household water prices in South East Queensland.

“We also introduced a new weekly nine trip cap on Go Cards on June 25, meaning that regular commuters who have used go cards for nine journeys in a Monday to Friday week on buses, trains and ferries in South East Queensland will be rewarded with any additional trips free,” Mr Newman said.

Mr Newman said the LNP was also delivering significant savings for businesses.

“From today, the exemption threshold for businesses paying payroll tax will increase from $1 million to $1.1 million from 1 July 2012, the first incremental threshold increase to meet the LNP’s long-term policy to increase the threshold for payroll tax to $1.6 million,” Mr Newman said.

“Sustainability declarations have also been abolished when selling houses and an Office of Best Practice Regulation will be introduced this month to rein in unnecessary red tape.

“My Government is committed to cutting waste to lower the cost of living for Queensland families and ease the burden on businesses who did it tough for so long under Labor.”