The Turnbull Government is sticking to our plan to build a stronger economy to benefit all Australians.
Under the Government’s economic plan; record jobs are being created, investment is rising and the Budget is strengthening. This means that we can guarantee the essential services Australians rely on.
The Government’s plan will encourage and reward working Australians with lower, fairer and simpler taxes, starting with low and middle income earners.
The Government’s income tax relief will benefit 10 million Australians next year alone, with 4.4 million Australians receiving the maximum relief of $530 per year.
Over two million Queenslanders stand to benefit from this tax relief next year.
The plan will back businesses to invest and create more jobs, building on our legislated tax cuts for small and medium enterprise, supporting businesses to compete globally, delivering infrastructure that industry and workers rely on and targeting incentives to promote research, development and new technology.
Our plan for a stronger economy will support more jobs for Queensland families and their children and set Queensland up for the future. Already in Queensland, there are 154,300 more people in work since the Coalition was elected.
Our rolling $75 billion transport infrastructure plan will connect our nation, reduce congestion, help get goods to market, and keep our roads safe.
The Commonwealth is working with Queensland to provide $20.4 billion for vital infrastructure projects, including $5.2 billion for new major projects, such as:
• $3.3 billion for additional upgrades to the Bruce Highway, including $800 million for the Cooroy to Curra – Section D project, supporting 2,400 jobs and $880 million for the Pine Rivers to Caloundra section. This brings total Commonwealth support for the Bruce Highway to $10 billion.
• $1 billion for the M1 Pacific Motorway for the Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill and Varsity Lakes to Tugun sections on one of the most important and congested roads in Queensland.
• $390 million for the Beerburrum to Nambour Rail Upgrade, reducing pressure on the Bruce Highway and increasing travel reliability for passengers and nearly doubling freight rail capacity. This is in addition to the Turnbull Government’s business case funding for faster rail in the Brisbane to Sunshine Coast rail corridor.
• $300 million for Brisbane Metro, providing more public transport services between Eight Mile Plains and the Roma Street Busway and between the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and the University of Queensland
• $170 million for the Cunningham Highway linking the Darling Downs and Ipswich to improve travel reliability and reduce congestion.
• $1.5 billion as part of the Roads of Strategic Importance initiative, along with the Northern Territory and Western Australia, to build a more reliable road network in Northern Australia. These funds will allow for sealing roads, improving flood immunity, strengthening and widening roads and opening up corridors.
The Budget guarantees the essential services that Australians rely on – including record funding for hospitals and schools, a comprehensive approach to aged care so older Australians can live healthier, more independent and safer lives and there’s guaranteed funding for disability services.
Under the fully funded hospitals agreement, Queensland public hospitals will receive $29.5 billion over the five years to 2024-25, delivering an additional $7.49 billion in funding compared to the previous five years – an increase of 34 per cent. In 2016-17 in Queensland, there were 4.6 million more bulk billed GP attendances compared to 2012-13.
The Turnbull Government’s support for students and families means that in Queensland we will deliver record levels of support including $52.2 billion in funding for our schools over the next 10 years and a new, simplified, Childcare Subsidy on 2 July 2018, with nearly 200,000 Queensland families who stand to benefit from these changes.
Queenslanders with a disability will be supported through a fully-funded National Disability Insurance Scheme. Once fully implemented in 2020, nearly 96,300 participants in Queensland will benefit from the certainty and flexibility of support it provides.
The Budget will keep Australians safe by investing more in security at airports and strengthening our intelligence and security services so they can respond to new and challenging threats. We will also protect our unique environment with smarter biosecurity systems and continue to safeguard our borders.
It ensures the Government lives within its means with a forecast return to modest Budget balance in 2019-20, increasing to a projected surplus of $11 billion in 2020-21; no longer borrowing to pay for essential services and the lowest average real growth in payments of any Government in the last 50 years.
Our plan for a stronger economy benefits all Australians. After record jobs growth, the proportion of working age Australians now dependent on welfare has fallen to 15.1 per cent – the lowest level in over 25 years.
Improved compliance and better targeting is helping to get welfare spending under control and we will continue to make sure that everyone, including multinationals, pay their fair share of tax.
Our record of responsible Budget management means that under our plan, Australians can plan for their future with confidence.