Queensland State Budget 2020-21 at a glance

: 09 December 2020

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick delivered the states 2020-21 Budget on the same day the borders opened to New South Wales and Victorian travellers.

Similar to budgets released by other states, the focus was on creating jobs, while also focussing on 'rebounding from COVID-19 impacts' and celebrating the success of Queensland in response to the pandemic.

The budget is focused on the economy moving sooner with the priorities listed as:

creating jobs
backing small businesses to support jobs and communities across the state
increasing investment in manufacturing including $1 billion towards building trains in Queensland again
driving the largest infrastructure program in over a decade of $14.8 billion
growing our regions and supporting key industries including tourism, agriculture and mining
protecting the environment
providing more Queenslanders with access to the skills and training they need for careers
enhancing frontline services
delivering lower debt than New South Wales and Victoria.

Backing Small Business

The budget did not propose any further tax breaks for small business in addition to those already provided under the Governments $7 billion Unit and Recover Economic Recovery Plan.

It acknowledged the investment already made in (amongst other things):

concessional job support loans
payroll tax, land tax, gaming machine and health services levies relief measures
Small Business Adaptation Grants
Electricity bill relief for small businesses.

The Government has stated it is supporting small business by introducing a procurement target, with 25 per cent of all Government spend to go toward small and medium businesses.

Further, an additional $15.5 million was announced to boost the ‘Made in Queensland’ grants program and was indicated that further rounds will be made available. We will keep you up to date with this as further information is released.

Infrastructure

Key infrastructure and spending commitments include:

$1 billion to bring train manufacturing back to Queensland
$1.6 billion for health infrastructure projects across the state
funding for front line services across the next four years, including:

- 5,800 additional nurses, 1,500 doctors and 1,700 allied health professionals
- four new schools opening in 2022 and 2023
- investing almost $1 billion in four years for school upgrades and employing 6,190 new teachers and 1,139 new teacher aides during the same period
- funding for a new fire station at Mount Cotton
- $36 million for Surf Lifesaving QLD
- $55.8 million in infrastructure for the QLD Ambulance Service
- 2,025 new police, 357 new firefighters and 475 new ambulance operatives
- $6.3 billion for transport infrastructure in 2020-2021, including continued construction of the Cross River Rail Project ($1.5 billion) and ongoing spending to fund major upgrades to the M1 Pacific Motorway and the Bruce Highway