LNP Queensland

Beattie-Bligh Budget blow-outs and spiralling debt focus of special Shadow Cabinet meeting tomorrow

Last Updated (DATE_FORMAT_LC2) DATE_FORMAT_LC2

10 August 2008

A special meeting of Queensland’s Shadow Cabinet will be held in Brisbane tomorrow with new LNP Leader, Lawrence Springborg, expected to tell his colleagues that good policies for the future of Queensland families do not always require dollars, just sense… lots of commonsense.

Mr Springborg will also tell colleagues that the ten year inability of the Beattie-Bligh Government to build infrastructure on time and on budget will be one of the biggest challenges facing the new LNP as it tries to get a proper gauge on what Queensland’s financial balance sheet will look like at the next election, scheduled in just over a year’s time.

Mr Springborg will outline the grim reality of the Beattie-Bligh Government's $65 billion debt that is costing Queensland taxpayers $10 million a day in interest repayments alone.

With further Bligh Government budget blow-outs such as last week’s admission that taxpayers will now be expected to foot an additional $220 million for Airport Link, Mr Springborg will tell his colleagues to expect more budget blow-outs from the Bligh Labor Government ahead the next election.

Mr Springborg said Queensland’s LNP Shadow Cabinet would focus first and foremost on locking in policies and funding that plans and builds for the future; not just the next five years, but the next fifty years. However he will remind Shadow Ministers that many of the expectations of Queenslanders do not cost one cent.

"Open and honest government costs nothing. Greater efficiency costs nothing. Properly budgeting for major projects costs nothing. Government that is caring, in touch and understand what life is like for Queensland families costs nothing.

"As my LNP team gets to work on a new and modern policy platform tomorrow, I will be emphasising that in addition to the significant financial investments we need to make for Queenslanders, we also need to focus at those everyday commonsense reforms that can cost next to nothing yet make life easier and safer for Queensland families," Mr Springborg said.

Mr Springborg said after the special meeting, he would announce Queensland’s new Shadow Cabinet later in the week as he finalises plans to bring about a new, focused and open government in Queensland.

"It’s about making our great state a national leader again. It’s about a new Queensland," he said.