Labor cans our future
I REFER to Ken Mcelligott’s letter ( TB 3/7) in which he proclaims the greatness of all Labor governments, all Labor PMS, premiers, mayors and MPS.
Ken likened criticisms of Labor to hate mail, offensive material and disrespect.
Ken challenged the people in Townsville to debate Labor on policy issues. I accept that challenge.
STATE DEBT: In the
January 2015 election campaign, Labor promised that in government, it would establish a Debt Reduction Trust to repay the then state debt of $75 billion.
Labor promised that twothirds of the returns from all Government Owned Corporations (GOCS) would be quarantined annually into a Debt Reduction Trust.
On July 14, 2015, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk released her first state budget. Less than six months after the election, the promised Debt Reduction Trust and the debt reduction were dumped.
Labor’s 2015 election promise was that debt would be reduced $5 billion by 2021 and $12 billion by 2025. The debt in 2025 was to be reduced to $63 billion.
Labor’s 2019 Budget revealed that the state’s debt in 2022-23 would increase to $91 billion and there is no plan or capacity to repay the debt.
Labor’s state debt of $91 billion is after Labor has: raided the Public Service Superannuation Defined Benefit Fund for $4 billion; “saved” $3.4 billion by no longer making provisions for Public Servants’ Long Service Leave entitlements, and $2 billion by suspending employer superannuation contributions to the Public Service Defined Benefits Superannuation Fund for five years.
Why is the state debt still growing so dramatically? Labor claims that it is because Labor is “Borrowing to Build”.
The real underlying reason is Labor’s uncontrolled spending.
Since taking government in January 2015, Labor increased the public service by 29,613 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) positions as at June 2018.
In the LNP’S last state budget the annual cost of the public service was $18.9 billion. Labor’s cost for the year June 2019 was $24.1 billion. Queenslanders are now paying $5.2 billion yearly to cover Labor’s excessive public service recruitment and there has been no improvement in service standards.
After years of excessive public service recruitment, we have a hospital system in crisis, especially in the southeast, a shortage of police, prison officers and child service staff. We have an overcrowded prison system and out-of-control juvenile crime.
Labor announced in the June 2019 state budget that it would now be cutting the public service. The cuts are to be $200 million for 2019-20 and $500 million each year thereafter.
Ms Palaszczuk maintains that she has kept all her election promises. Her claim is that a “change of policy is not a broken promise”.
What value can Queenslanders place on any future promises made by Premier Palaszczuk? None!
Ken may dismiss me and others as haters, writers of offensive material and being disrespectful. The foregoing are the facts. The Palaszczuk Labor Government is incompetent, good at playing politics but hopeless at good governance. BARRY LOWE,
Kirwan.