June 15, 2021
The 2021-22 Queensland Budget is a piece of PR that with will keep the lights on and the public servants paid but will do nothing to advance the future of the state, Katter’s Australian Party Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter has said.
Mr Katter said the Palaszczuk Labor Government had also failed to address crucial needs in health, crime and development, making today’s Budget one of the most inconsequential of recent years.
“Beware of the smoke and mirrors – the Government want to tell you this has been a record health budget but you need to ground truth a lot of these things,” he said.
“You can try and bamboozle people with spin but you need to see what’s going on, on the ground.
“We know as MPs there is nothing new or significant in health spending, regional communities are still without dialysis, palliative care is still grossly underfunded.”
The Traeger MP said he thought the Government had spent more time writing their Budget-related press releases than they did creating a plan that would truly serve Queenslanders.
“People in rural and regional areas of Queensland need to reflect on whether all these fancy announcements will equate to anything material or substantial in their area,” he said.
For instance, we desperately need more renal chairs in the North West and a CT scanner in Charters Towers but they didn’t happen yet we’re led to believe a boost in health spending.
Mr Katter said the State Government had failed to fund critical aspects of health and crime including: