RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS - Queensland Parliament ...

31 Oct 2012 Questions Without Notice 2259
Queensland Economy
Mr SHUTTLEWORTH: My question without notice is to the Treasurer and Minister for Trade. Can
the Treasurer please inform the House how the Newman government’s plan for fiscal repair has helped
reduce the interest Queenslanders now pay on Labor’s debt and has helped to improve Queensland’s
standing among potential investors?
Mr NICHOLLS: I thank the member for his question because we are not like those opposite in the
Labor Party who run from their deceitful record of debt and deficit and structural deficit, who have a
cunning plan—they think they have a cunning plan. They think that we cannot see where they are going
to and where they will want to end up.
Mr Mulherin: You’ve been hanging around with Costello too long.
Mr NICHOLLS: Don’t worry. You’ll have your chance. You can ask me a question a bit later on.
I am looking forward to your question and I know where it is coming from. Don’t worry. It is a cunning
plan that you have.
Let me talk to the question that was actually asked—something of importance and relevance to
the people of Queensland, something that does make a difference to people’s everyday lives,
something that does make a difference to business and something that does make a difference to taxes
that Queenslanders pay, because we know that Queenslanders under the former Labor government
paid more and more taxes. We know that the former government removed the fuel subsidy after
promising that they would not. ‘Make no mistake about it, the fuel subsidy scheme will stay in
Queensland.’ That was their promise. Then they introduced an industry waste levy to raise $372 million.
Then they got rid of the principal place of residence concession, adding another $7,000 to the cost of a
family home. Then they increased car registration so that it was the highest in Australia. That is the
legacy of the Labor government and why is it? Because they got further and further into debt—borrowed
more, spent more, saved less.
It got to such a state under the former Labor government that Queensland was paying more for its
interest on the borrowings it had than the state of Tasmania—a mendicant state that relies on wealth
transfers and tax transfers for about 40 per cent of its income. In Queensland, our interest bill was
higher—
Mr Pitt interjected.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! I warn the leader of opposition business, and I will start naming you
under the rules.
Mr NICHOLLS: In Queensland, the fastest-growing component of the expenses for the
government was not health, education or law and order—it was interest. For those opposite, let me just
say where the debt was heading. Ladies and gentlemen, the debt was heading towards $100 billion. Do
you want to hear it again? It was heading towards $100 billion, and it was going towards $85 billion
under the opposition’s own numbers. Under us, the interest rates have narrowed, the spread has
narrowed. Since the budget was brought down on 11 September, our spreads against New South Wales
and Victoria have narrowed and we now no longer pay more for our borrowings than the state of
Tasmania. They now pay more than us. We will save $1.3 billion in interest. Under the opposition, it
would have been spend and tax.
(Time expired)
Uranium Mining
Ms TRAD: My question without notice is to the Premier. I refer the Premier to the World Nuclear
Association research which states that the uranium industry would equate to less than 0.02 per cent of
all jobs in Australia. Will the Premier substantiate his claims that the uranium industry will earn tens
of billions of dollars and provide thousands of jobs with actual data?
Mr NEWMAN: Firstly, I want to clarify what I think I said yesterday. I think I said tens of billions of
dollars nationwide. I think that is what I said. If I did not, then I apologise. In relation to jobs, this is what
we believe. We believe it will create jobs. We know, or we have been told, that there is $10 billion worth
of uranium that is known about in the soil of Queensland—I think I said that yesterday—and we believe
that a lot more will be more found. That is the advice that we have. Do members know why I say that? It
is because that is the advice the previous government got as well. The previous government got that
advice.
There are so many endorsements from people out there about the need to pursue this. The first
one I will start with is from Martin Ferguson. This is what Martin Ferguson, the federal Labor resources
minister, said on 13 June this year—
The Australian government urges Queensland to take the next step and to also remove its ban on uranium mining, given that it
already permits exploration and has an estimated resource base of at least 37,000 tonnes.