Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning
The Honourable Jeff Seeney
Significant decisions lay foundation for growth
The Newman Government is laying the foundations for Queensland’s future growth with actions taken by the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning in its first 100 days.
Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Jeff Seeney said key departmental decisions would help get Queensland back on track.
“Despite the resources boom, the State was stagnating under the previous Labor Government which was focussed on itself and had become directionless,” he said.
“In our first hundred days in office we’ve taken the important decisions to turn this around. One example is restoring the Department of State Development and State Coordinator-General to high level roles in Government, which will help set Queensland on a new course.”
Mr Seeney said an empowered Coordinator-General had progressed decisions on 32 major projects in just three months – several each week – compared to just 45 in the last year und er Labor.
Among them are approval of the $6.4 billion Alpha Coal project and the $1.45 billion South of Embley bauxite mine. Both projects will provide thousands of jobs in construction and operation phases and significant export earnings, taxes and royalties.
Other key milestones to deal with major issues facing the state are:
• Establishment of the GasFields Commission
• Establishment of the Bruce Highway Crisis Management Group
• Establishment of Infrastructure Queensland
• Starting the Statutory Regional Planning process for the Darling Downs and Central Queensland
• Deciding the framework for the Royalties to Regions initiative
Mr Seeney said several legacy issues which highlighted Labor’s incompetence had been resolved such as reducing the Abbot Point coal port expansion from an unrealistic 10 coal terminals and multi-cargo facility to two new terminals and scaling down Galilee Basin rail corrido rs from six to two.
The Deputy Premier said measures were also underway to change Labor’s restrictive and negative policies, which were holding back economic activity, to a ‘can do’ attitude.
These include:
• Reform of State Planning Policies
• Appointment of Assistant Minister for Planning Reform Ian Walker as a “go to’ person for the property and construction industry
• Identifying planning powers that can be transferred to local government
“We’ve had our heads down since the election and have been working hard to deliver on our commitments. We are working with business, industry and other levels of government to lay the groundwork for strong future growth,” Mr Seeney said.
