Bill proves Labor is clueless on debt

Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto has slammed Labor’s debt reduction Bill for its lack of vision and investment in the future of Queensland.

A STATE Labor Government Bill that supposedly reduces debt will do nothing of the sort, says Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto.

Mr Dametto said the Debt Reduction and Savings Bill 2021, simply “moved things around to make the government look good for the State’s credit rating”.

“This legislation does enough to keep things running in the short-term but falls woefully short of showing any kind of investment or vision for the State’s future,” said Mr Dametto.

“Katter’s Australian Party has a very different attitude when it comes to reducing debt across Queensland. In order to reduce debt for future generations, we believe that it would be better to go into further debt right now and invest in things that are nation-building infrastructure to ensure that one day we have assets that can generate an income to pay down our debt across Queensland instead of spending money on throwing parties like the Olympics in a few years time.”

Mr Dametto listed the game-changing CopperString 2.0 project and the proposed $640 million North Queensland Bio Energy plant for Ingham as examples of projects that would provide not only a return on taxpayer investment but provide value infrastructure for “generations to come”.

“We should scrap the Olympics bid. No-one in regional Queensland wants it. Both sides of the House are spruiking it down here because Brisbane wants it. We can reduce the debt if we stop spending money on parties that offer only a short-term economic sugar hit for the south-east,” he said.

“We also need to ensure that we stop the sale by stealth of our electricity generation across Queensland. We have to continue investing in state owned energy-generating projects and not allowing multinationals from overseas to kick off solar and wind farms and then literally siphon Queenslanders’ money overseas. That is another thing that reduces the income of this state and increases debt.

“If some of these projects had already happened, we would not have to talk about a debt reduction bill and the government would not have to change how it names things or think up creative accounting strategies to ensure that the creditors are happy.

“There are better ways to bring down debt in Queensland, there are better ways to consolidate debt and there are better ways to build regional and rural Queensland.”