Qld backwards under labor...

Save our state: Business leaders plea to kickstart our floundering economy

September 3, 2015 12:00am
Steven Wardill, Steven Scott, Matthew KilloranThe Courier-Mail
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PREMIER Annastacia Palaszcuk’s own business advisers say she needs to act as the Queensland economy stalls.

The state’s business leaders have demanded the Palaszczuk Government start making decisions and spend on vital infrastructure if it is to arrest fears of a slowdown.

As Queensland scores the worst domestic economy of all states, big business abandons the state and work on major construction sites dries up, prominent members of the Premier’s Business Advisory Council are among those calling for action.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures have revealed Queensland’s domestic economy shrank 0.8 per cent between April and June, the fourth consecutive quarter of contraction.
Plummeting business investment, which fell 8.4 per cent in trend terms, and an empty pipeline of major construction projects were the major drivers of the domestic downturn.

An upturn in new homes and household spending saved Queensland from a worse result.
Only the Northern Territory performed worse than Queensland with a fall of 3.4 per cent while NSW, Victoria and Western Australia all enjoyed improvement in their domestic economy.

Ms Palaszczcuk first convened her business council in June, saying she wanted direct feedback for senior leaders to strengthen the economy.

NEW FIGURES: Queensland economy the worst performer of all states

Outcome Results chief executive Rabieh Krayem said the Government had settled in and delivered its Budget but needed to say what was next.
“Now is the time for major announcements to be made by the Government to give the business community and private sector confidence,” he said.
Mr Krayem said he wanted to see major projects such as the Integrated Sports and Entertainment Centre, for which the state has pledged $100 million, to go ahead.

“Jobs queen” Sarina Russo said there were pockets of flagging business confidence around the country including in Queensland and governments need to spend more to drive growth.


“My advice to our Premier, who I respect enormously, is to get some infrastructure going,” Ms Russo said.
“Start building bridges or roads. Just start investing in infrastructure and that immediately gives confidence.

“The thing that will make it easier for us to get jobseekers work is if there is confidence in Australia with employers.”
Member Ken Pickard, managing director at Moore Stephens Queensland, said the Government needed to facilitate business investment in the state by fast-tracking approvals and cutting red tape.

Tourism giant Chapman Group boss Ken Chapman said the Government needed to approve major projects such as the proposed Aquis resort in Cairns and spend money on infrastructure for far north Queensland. “They need to get going, they haven’t event done the planning,” Mr Chapman said. “They haven’t been preparing for the future in any big way.”
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The ABS State Final Demand figures do not include exports, leaving the state at the mercy of embattled miners and other export industries to prevent consecutive quarters of contraction in gross state product, which many economists say is a recession.

Treasurer Curtis Pitt, who is currently on an international tour spruiking Queensland as an investment destination, downplayed the figures as only a “partial measure” while previously insisting they were a “key ABS measure”.

After courting controversy in May with claims Queensland fell into a recession under the LNP, Mr Pitt blamed the downturn on the end of the gas construction boom. “The ABS data shows Queensland is continuing to transition from the LNG construction boom to the production and export phase,” he said.

Mr Pitt said he hoped a prettier economic picture would emerge when exports from the gas industry were included in the final figures.
“Queensland’s LNG exports are forecast to hit $15 billion by 2016-17,” he said.

Opposition treasury spokesman John-Paul Langbroek said Labor’s lack of a plan was harming business confidence and driving investment away to other states.