Fire sale and fuel tax broken promises from a broke Government

The full extent of the Bligh Labor Government’s financial mismanagement was laid bare today with confirmation of a fire sale of state assets and the introduction of new fuel tax just 74 days after the State Election.

State Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek questioned why the Premier didn’t tell Queenslanders about her plans for an asset fire sale and a fuel tax when she called an election six months early.

“Despite the mining boom and the rivers of gold that flowed in to Treasury’s coffers for more than a decade, this State Government didn’t put aside anything for the tough times and are racking up a $74 billion debt,” he said.

“Now the State Government is looking to flog off whatever asset they can at the worst possible time with the market at rock bottom.

“To make matters worse, the Bligh Labor Government will introduce a fuel tax for the first time in the state’s history.

“A fuel tax will cost jobs. A fuel tax will cost jobs in tourism, construction, agriculture and transport industries, and it will hit every Queensland family in the hip pocket at a time when they can least afford it.

“Queenslanders have every right to feel betrayed. It’s only been 74 days since the Election. Why didn’t she tell Queenslanders what her real plans were before she dashed to the polls six months early?”

In State Parliament today, Mr Langbroek tabled a copy of Labor’s 2008 State Platform document which states ‘Labor rejects a program of privatisation of public services, such as public hospitals and schools, public enterprises including subsidiary companies or utilities (in particular rail, ports, public hospitals and water) as an economic strategy.’

The Labor platform document goes on to state that ‘Privatisation of public enterprises should not be used to solve revenue problems of governments.’

“If the Bligh Labor Government had managed infrastructure spending and expense growth properly over the past decade, we would not have such a massive debt burden,” Mr Langbroek said.

“Labor is blaming everyone and everything but themselves when the reality is they clocked up massive debt and mismanaged the State Budget before the global financial crisis had even been heard of, leaving Queensland vulnerable when times turned bad.”

Media Contact: Scott Whitby 0419 178 698