Budget blowout ‘modest’ for Australia’s Olympic hosts
Public servant costs and delayed coal royalties were cited as the reasons for the budget explosion in Australia’s Olympic host state.
Queensland’s halftime budget report shows an $8.97 billion deficit this financial year as the Sunshine State moves closer to hosting the games in 2032.
That’s a $387 million deterioration since the June budget.
State Treasurer David Janetzki handed over mid-year budget results On Monday, he described the downgrade as a “modest increase” from the previous deficit of $8.58 billion.
The budget downgrade is pegged at $345 million in additional concessions beyond the government’s pay offer to public sector workers and corporate bargaining across health and law enforcement.
Coal royalties also fall by a total of $7.984 billion in 2024/25; This is $4.787 billion (37.5%) lower than in 2023/24 and $421.4 million (5.0%) lower than forecasts in the 2024/25 budget.
The decline in exports and the decline in hard coking coal prices also contributed to the deficit.
“There are a lot of different factors in coal royalty figures – we want to see more coal exported. There is strength in the sector… and we want to see that investment and volumetric volumetric figures increase,” Mr Janetzki said.
The treasurer insisted he would not block Queensland’s credit rating downgrade and blamed the previous Labor government for the state of the records.
“We promised a calm and methodical approach to embarking on the difficult task of budget repair, while highlighting investments to address the health, housing, crime and cost of living crises facing Queenslanders,” Mr Janetzki said.
“A decade of Labour’s reckless fiscal management has made a credit rating downgrade likely, even inevitable, but MYFER shows we are disciplined as we take the next step in the long journey to financial repair.”
Mr Janetzki said it would take two terms of government to return the budget to a “sustainable basis” as he wanted to continue investing in services and infrastructure.
The Labor opposition chose not to comment, citing the Bondi shooting as a reason.
Strengthening in real estate and labor markets, as well as increases in national GST collections, led to a net $1.053 billion (0.5 percent) increase in key government revenues in forward-looking forecasts, largely offsetting short-term declines in concession forecasts due to the exchange rate, the government said.
“MYFER shows that the Crisafulli Government is implementing the plan we outlined in the Budget and restoring respect for taxpayers’ money,” Finance Minister Ros Bates said.
Queensland’s economy grew by 2.1 per cent in 2023/24, driven by a significant recovery in net exports and continued growth in the domestic economy.
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