In another extraordinary year, which commenced with the rise of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, housing price booms and growing fuel and grocery costs – the budget focusses firmly on the rising costs hitting the back pockets of all Australians. As the economy expands and real GDP rises to an estimated 4.25% this year, the key question for the Commonwealth now is how to slow the cycle of rising prices without putting the handbrake on jobs and growth.

The Commonwealth gross debt is edging towards $1 trillion – 42.5 per cent of the GDP with Treasury forecasting net interest payments through to 2025-26 at 0.9% of GDP, making a good argument for the stimulus spending being long term value for money.

While this is not likely to be the only spending injection in the lead up to the federal election in May, the budget accommodates this dichotomy by introducing a temporary reduction in the fuel excise, red tape reduction for small business and small traders and cash handouts to lower-income families – all while promoting greater job creation in health, education and defence.

Queensland is the biggest winner in both SEQ and the regions, benefiting from the significant infrastructure programme outlined in today’s budget with the following announced across the country:

• NSW – $3.6 billion
• Vic – $3.5 billion
• Qld – $4.4 billion
• WA – $2.3 billion
• SA – $2.9 billion
• Tas – $662 million
• NT – $538.7 million
• ACT – $59.5 million

Queensland will benefit from committed investments specifically:

• $5.4bn for the delivery of the Hells Gate Dam in North Queensland in advance of environmental impact work and business case
• $1.6bn for a 37km rail line from Beerwah to Maroochydore, to be completed before the 2032 Olympic Games, the preliminary business case is currently underway with the cost of the project yet to be confirmed
• $1.1bn upgrade of the 19km stretch of the line between Kuraby and Beenleigh railway line for a faster train on the Gold Coast line to be completed before the 2032 Olympic Games
• $680.6 million for the South East Queensland City Deal
• An additional $126.6 million for Gold Coast Light Rail – Stage 3 to provide 8 new stations and an upgraded interchange at Burleigh Heads
• An additional $400m for Inland Rail
• $22.5 million for Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games 2032 business case development
• $650 million in twenty-four new uncrewed aerial surveillance systems manufactured in Brisbane.
• $63.6 million into science and infrastructure to protect the Great Barrier Reef
• $27.2 million for three business cases for upgrades on the Bruce Highway between Anzac Avenue and Caboolture Bribie Island Road
• $20 million for safety upgrades on the Brisbane Valley Highway
• $35.3 million for the Maryborough-Hervey Bay Road and Pialba-Burrum Heads Road intersection upgrade
• $10 million for the Caboolture – Bribie Island Road (Hickey Road-King John Creek) upgrade.
• $240 million for the Cairns Western Arterial Road duplication
• $160 million for the Mooloolah River interchange upgrade (Packages 1 and 2)
• $68.5 million for the Cooktown to Weipa Corridor Upgrade bringing the total Australian Government funding to the corridor to $258.5 million
• $114.4 million for the Tennant Creek to Townsville Corridor Upgrade
• An extra $1bn over nine years has been pledged to protect the Great Barrier Reef, through investing in water quality, reef management and species protection

Skills and Capacity

• More than $100 million of the $1.2 billion Digital Economy Strategy will focus on the digital skills of Australia’s workforce, including a cyber security innovation fund, and a pilot program for work-based digital cadetships
• $2.7 billion will be invested over four years to expand the Boosting Apprenticeships Commencements wage subsidy, which will support more than 170,000 apprentices and trainees
• The additional $1.7 billion dollars allocated to child care, with subsidies increasing for families with two or more children (benefiting an estimated 250,000 families) and removing the cap on the child care subsidy (benefiting as estimated 18,000 families)
• Children in all states and territories will have access to 15 hours of preschool a week, worth $1340 per child
• $1.2bn has been promised to expand the Transition to Work employment service for disadvantaged youth

Key National Investments

• $875m in investment in 234 Defence projects across the country, involving upgrades and sustainment works across major sites, as part of the plan to continue to strengthen the nation’s sovereign defence capability – Defence spend is near to $50b pa
• $10bn over two decades for an east-coast submarine base in either Queensland or NSW with the final location still to be determined
• An economic accelerator worth $1.6bn will turn leading research into “world-beating” businesses
• $65m to Australia’s booming space sector
• Additional $28.6 million committed to the National Freight & Supply Chain Strategy
• $160 million commitment to establish the National Water Grid Connections
• $58.6 million package for east coast gas projects announced to avoid supply shortfalls
• $124.1 million in a National Artificial Intelligence Centre and the appointment of four regional centres across Australia
• $3 billion of additional funding over four years for mental health and suicide prevention
• $6 million over five years to support screening and support for breast and gynaecological cancers, pelvic pain and endometriosis, and stillbirth and pregnancy loss
• An additional $13.2 billion dollars to fully fund the NDIS over four years (included in an overall growth in funding of $122 billion)
• $17.7 billion in new funding over five years for aged care, with $119 billion over the next four years
• $9 in Digital Health building on COVID related shifts to online platforms and telehealth

Making the right planning decisions and investment priorities in the next ten years is vital

We continue to see a decoupling of budget and political commitments prior to the conclusion of investment decision making processes and value for money assessments, with announcements ahead of business case findings.

Collectively, sound investment appraisal and business case development ensures that we can stand behind our infrastructure priorities. Sound project planning, effective governance and decision-making frameworks that bring together all governments are critical in ensuring public sector investment is delivering value for money, delivering on sustainability objectives and resilient to future disrupters. Given the rate of change, we need to ensure our infrastructure decision making is robust yet quick enough to deliver on our future ambitions and encourage greater private sector involvement.

It is hoped the City Deal and the 2032 Games can help to drive greater collaboration and longer term thinking regarding how we make collaborative, system-wide investment funding decisions and agree on priorities.

IAQ welcomes the opportunity to work alongside both the Commonwealth, state, and local governments to ensure infrastructure planning, design and investment catalyses long term economic opportunities for businesses and communities, improves economic productivity and resilience, delivering equitable access to utilities, digital, services and jobs for all Queenslanders.