Pitt vows to over-deliver
Newman austerity compared to Greece Treasurer pledges ‘a real Labor Budget’
THE former Newman government’s austerity agenda was dragging the Queensland economy towards a Greekstyle tragedy, according to Treasurer Curtis Pitt.
Mr Pitt insisted former premier Campbell Newman and the LNP’s cuts had focused on the budget bottom line while ignoring the impact on the broader state economy.
“While they were trying, I think, to manage the finances in a way they saw fit, I think they took their eye off the ball of the economy and I just don’t think we can afford to do that in Queensland,’’ he said.
Mr Pitt said the jobless rate rose in Queensland as the LNP cut government spending while more dramatic unem- ployment effects occurred in Greece and other European countries when similar austerity policies were allowed to last much longer.
“Clearly they have had significant amounts of austerity happening right throughout Europe and that was obviously the complete opposite to the way the global financial crisis was handled in Australia,” he said. “And while, yes, there was economic stimulus and spending required, we didn’t see the mass unemployment and rationing that was going on in those other countries.”
Mr Pitt said while he believed governments should aim to “live within their means”, politicians had to consider the consequences of cuts.
“It has to be a realistic conversation about that,” he said.
“That phrasing was used so often by the previous government. Much of that was about trying to frame the narrative and they spent $70 million of Queenslanders’ money trying to push for asset sales.” CURTIS Pitt declared he’s got nothing to prove with his first fiscal blueprint as he promised to bring down a “real Labor Budget” packed with spending on health and education.
In an exclusive interview, the Queensland Treasurer insisted he would be content with being seen as the Palaszczuk Government’s “quiet achiever” who ensured Labor delivered on its commitments.
“I am about under-promising and over-delivering,’’ Mr Pitt said ahead of Tuesday’s Budget.
“But managing expectations is important and that sometimes means having to have a no-frills approach but that is OK.”
A former bureaucrat, Mr Pitt said a public service rather than political approach sometimes dominated his decisionmaking and kept him out of the limelight.
“But I do want to ensure that people understand that the state finances are in safe hands, that I am someone who is sensible and very methodical about the way I approach my role,” he said.
After a tumultuous five months in office, the minority Labor administration is hoping to use Tuesday’s Budget to finally draw a broader narrative around its agenda.
However, the Government has already been forced to abandon plans to pay down $12 billion worth of debt over a decade from the profits of state-owned businesses.
Instead, $4.1 billion of government debt will be loaded on to the balance sheets of the businesses.
Mr Pitt insisted the plan was in line with Labor’s commitment to reduce government debt and would save the state $600 million over four years.
Mr Pitt said the LNP had earmarked annual rises in the health budget of 2.9 per cent and Labor would increase this to a “more realistic” 4 per cent, costing $1 billion. “It will be a real Labor Budget,” he said.
“A Labor Budget will always focus very strongly on health and education, two very fundamental platforms of what Labor governments are about.”
Mr Pitt insisted that Labor’s improved funding and election promises would not drag on the Budget bottom line, which was forecast to return to an operating surplus this year.