MEDIA ALERT: Why the Qld Government MPs should stop blaming Canberra for their concession cuts Media Statement 3 June 2014 Federal Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry said she was concerned to hear on the grapevine that Queensland Government MP’s were told to blame the Federal Government for their state’s budget woes. Ms Landry said Queensland was better off having an Abbott Coalition Government in Canberra and that the Commonwealth does not provide assistance directly to concession card holders for electricity or rates concessions in the state. “The fact is, that when compared to Labor’s last Federal Budget, Queensland will receive an extra $3.2 billion in funding over four years from Canberra, which is money this State did not expect to receive previously,” Ms Landry said. Ms Landy said seniors in the community were being scared by media headlines warning of cuts to concessions and she warned that the Queensland Government could not hang that on Canberra. “It’s the job of state governments to provide concessions to concession card holders for some local services such as public transport, electricity costs and local government rates,” she said. “State concessions are the responsibility of the Queensland Government and they know it. Previously, the Commonwealth has provided a small proportion of the overall funding directly to the states to offer these concessions, but the Commonwealth does not provide assistance directly to concession card holders for these state concessions.” Ms Landry said when the Abbott Government repeals the carbon tax it will save the Queensland Government around $150 million next year alone. She said Queensland Government MP’s should not bite the hand that feeds them - citing significant pay outs to the State Government including the fact that: • Next financial year Queensland will receive over $21.5 billion in funding from the Commonwealth – a real increase of 5.5% from this financial year. • Queensland will receive an extra $2.2 billion GST revenue over the four years to 2016-17 • The Commonwealth Government is making a record $13.4 billion investment to build the infrastructure of the 21st Century for Queensland including $6.7 billion for the Bruce Highway • And hospital funding for Queensland will increase from $2.7 billion this financial year to $3.1 billion on 1 July for the 2014-15 financial year. “Queenslanders should also know that upon coming to office, the Abbott Coalition also reinstated nearly $800 million of schools funding that Bill Shorten secretly ripped away from Queensland in the dying days of the Federal Labor Government,” Ms Landry said.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 22:40:23 +0000