Budget backs big-ticket projects

TWELVE big-ticket items in Toowoomba are expected to be funded by the State Government, as part of a cash splash designed to generate and support jobs and infrastructure.

Health, social housing, infrastructure and education will get a multi-billion dollar boost in today’s State Budget, The Chronicle can reveal.

At least 34 different projects, both new and recurring, are expected to receive funding by Treasurer Curtis Pitt, including a dozen in Toowoomba alone.

While the ALP Government remained tight-lipped about the specific projects in Toowoomba, a new hospital, police station at Highfields (see P. 5) and funding for flood mitigation have all been flagged on both sides of government as potential items.

Nearly $1 billion is expected to be spent on infrastructure alone in the Darling Downs-South West, which covers an area from Toowoomba to the border.

That figure alone is estimated to generate and support 3700 jobs.

The region’s health industry will also take the lead in growth, with key hospital announcements across south-west Queensland anticipated.

Health and social assistance is expected to receive $903 million in 2017/18, a major boost for the second-largest employer of people in the Darling Downs.

Another $27.9 million should be invested in education for maintenance and capital works projects in Darling Downs schools, while the Government also outlined $35 million trade and investment initiatives that will benefit Toowoomba exporters.

Jobs and economic activity has been signalled as a key feature in the State Budget by the ALP Government, as it tries to wrestle back approval figures from the LNP with an election looming.

Nearly 60 new buildings worth $23.6 million are also in the pipeline as part of the Government’s new social housing boost across the state.

“The Toowoomba region is set to share in a $1.8 billion housing investment by the government, which will deliver more than 5000 extra homes and thousands of jobs across the state in the next 10 years,” Minister for Housing and Public Works Mick de Brenni said.