The Hon Mark Ryan spoke with us and outlined many of the local benefits the state budget for 2019-2020 holds for the area and answers questions on the greater scope of the budget as well.

The Early Childhood Development program will get ongoing funding which goes on to helps young people for they go to school and will also provide support for the family of children going to school where they qualify.  The service is based at Caboolture East State School with the funding now set in stone.

Infrastructure was a big gain as well for the Caboolture Region, Morayfield State High School will get funding to the tune of 6 Million dollars towards a Performing Arts Hall and centre that will be a centre piece for the Schools Art and Cultural activities and  construction will begin soon.

Caboolture State High School, Caboolture State School and Caboolture Special School gets funding for improvements to facilities as well in the budget.

Over 400 Million dollars is allocated for the long term upgrades to the Caboolture Hospital and a special emphasis on the new car park facility.

The increases on fines and Car Rego Mark explains is within the CPI index.

A record concession program has been announced according the Mark Ryan set at 5.7 billion dollars, which includes discounted registrations, transport and free dental services to approved people on concession.

No forced redundancies are a commitment by the government.

The LNP had been campaigning hard for air conditioning and it seems the state government has taken that on board with allocation of monies to schools to fit out air conditioning in schools which don’t have it.

On the debt highlighted in the budget The Hon Mark Ryan explains a method of measuring the level of borrowing of government is to weigh up the borrowing vs the assets and revenue and he says Queensland comes in at the second lowest in that nation to the leader NSW, while all the other states are well above NSW and Queensland.

So far Mark Ryan explains that the current government has delivered 5 surpluses in a row.

The exemption threshold on companies paying payroll tax has increased from 1.1 million to 1.3 Million dollars, Mark says this is an attraction for business to have their operations in this state while other states have a threshold half that of Queensland, which is good for stimulating economic activity.

In Summary:

The state’s debt sits at $71.4 billion but will soar to a massive $90 billion within four years.

The Queensland Government is trumpeting an operating surplus this year of $841 million.

It is forecasting a smaller surplus in 2019-20 of $189 million over the next four years.

Health spending goes up every year and this one is no different. This year the Government is budgeting $19.2 billion for health, up $929 million on last year’s budget.

400 “nurse navigator” positions and 100 midwives will be made permanent from 2021-22, at a cost of $147.5 million.

$957 million has been set aside to expand the Caboolture, Ipswich, and Logan hospitals.

Some schools will be a bit cooler with $100 million for air conditioners, taking the total fund to $191 million over four years.

Hiring 240 new teachers and aides to help students with disabilities in Queensland schools at a cost of $136 million.

The total spending on education will increase to $13 billion.

$62 million will fund suicide prevention and support services as an alternative to hospital emergency departments.

But the Queensland Mental Health Alliance said at least 10 community mental health services are set to have their funding reduced.

A new men’s prison will be built near Gatton by 2022-23 at a cost of $619 million in a bid to reduce overcrowding.

The overtime bill for police officers supervising children in Queensland watch houses was $938,000 this year.

$1.3 million has been set aside for a “response team” of youth workers to supervise children in the Brisbane watch house.

An extra $10 million is being budgeted towards the cost of a new youth detention centre at Wacol.

The threshold where small businesses need to start paying payroll tax will be increased. So those with a wages bill below $1.3 million don’t need to pay.

Businesses that can show a net gain in staff numbers will get a $20,000 tax rebate per employee.

There’s also a 1 percentage point reduction on payroll tax for smaller businesses, predominantly in regional Queensland.

More than 6,000 businesses with a wages bill of over $6.5 million will be hit with a 0.2 per cent hike in payroll tax.

Land taxes for companies and trustees with landholdings worth more than $5 million will increase by 0.25 cents for every dollar over $5 million.

Treasury is expected to claw back $220 million from businesses not paying the tax they owe.

Businesses that can show a net gain in staff numbers will get a $20,000 tax rebate per employee.

There’s also a 1 per cent payroll tax discount for businesses predominantly located in regional Queensland.

There’s a $70 million boost to the local government and regional infrastructure projects through the “Building our Regions” program.

The Government says the program has already supported 2,400 jobs.

Increasing staff numbers and wages mean the public service will cost $25.4 billion — 5.4 per cent more than the previous year.

It’s increasing at a rate that is higher than population growth.

An office will be set up in Treasury to review the programs and the public sector and find savings. It’s been set a target of $200m in 2019-20 and $500 million every year after that.

The Government says there will be no forced redundancies.

$80 million in concessions to make the Mt Isa rail line cheaper for companies who use it.

$30 million towards a new container terminal at Townsville Port to allow trains better access to the port.

For one year mining companies won’t be hit with a hike in royalties, but the terms of a potential freeze for future years is yet to be agreed on.

The petroleum royalty rate is being hiked from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent. The Government expects to pocket an extra $476 million over four years.

Fees and charges like car rego and speeding fines are increasing by 2.25 per cent which was in line with the forecast for inflation. But now inflation is only predicted to be 2 per cent.

There’s $3.9 million for new speed cameras.

The Government expects to make an extra 7.9 per cent in fines and forfeitures from the new cameras and additional “enforcement hours”.

The fund used to lure Hollywood producers to film their movies and TV shows in Queensland is getting $30 million over two years.

The land tax on foreign companies and foreign trusts will be increased from 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent.

This had applied to Australian citizens who live overseas for six months of the year, but won’t anymore.

These changes will mean an extra half a billion dollars for the budget over four years.

The Queensland Art Gallery gets an extra $4 million to attract “blockbuster exhibitions”.

While money to build the Townsville Stadium was budgeted last year, $14 million over four years is now being set aside to run it.

The Gabba will get a $35 million refurbishment.