Ninderry MP Dan Purdie has slammed the State Budget for not only failing to deliver on important infrastructure projects across the region, but for failing to address the state’s crippling debt crisis.

In delivering his Budget reply speech last night, Mr Purdie said the Budget confirmed the Palasczcuk Government has no inclination to address the ‘dungeon of debt’ that would be passed on to the next generation.

“Thirty years ago, Queensland was an economic powerhouse, but now it is battling it out for the wooden spoon,” Mr Purdie said.

“Business confidence is at its lowest level since 2016, productivity is down off the back of 34,000 work days lost to trade union strike action and we have the highest unemployment rate in the country at 6.5 per cent.

“History shows this is a government who robs Peter to pay Paul,” Mr Purdie said.

“Even with raids on the superannuation funds of public servants—the same public servants those opposite tout to respect—this government still has no plan to steer our state into a future position of prosperity.

“Even with the benefit of blind luck and a $2 billion windfall from royalties, that is lipstick on this pig of a budget—lipstick that comes from higher royalties from coal.

Mr Purdie said the region was facing an infrastructure funding shortfall of $234million at the expense of the south-east.

“At the last election, the good people of the Ninderry electorate spoke loud and clear and endorsed a number of infrastructure upgrades across the electorate, none of which have been addressed in this budget,” Mr Purdie said.

Local projects including the Coolum roundabout, the Coolum police station, bridges in Bli Bli and Eumundi, as well as one of coast’s worst intersections in the industrial hub of Kunda Park had all been overlooked in what was a Budget that only cares about its electoral fortunes in the South-east, he said. 

“An example of this Brisbane-centric attitude is $65 million allocated to bike paths in Brisbane. Half of that money could solve all the congestion-busting and critical infrastructure projects that are desperately required across the electorate of Ninderry.

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“All of those could have been solved with less funding than that allocated to bike paths in the electorate of the transport minister.”The full transcript of Mr Purdie’s speech is available at http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/hansard/2018/2018_06_14_DAILY.pdf