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IN PHOTO:Demonstrators protest after Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivers his budget to the House of Commons in London, Britain, July 8, 2015. Osborne set out his plans to reshape the country's economy with the first budget of the new Conservative government on Wednesday. REUTERS/Paul Hackett

In the recent Queenland's budget announcements, it has been decided that government owned businesses wouldn’t be sold off to reduce General Government debts. Cutting services or increasing taxes would not be supported either.

Measures adopted in Government’s Debt Action Plan would reduce the General Government debt approximately by AU$10.04 billion in the coming financial year and around AU$ 12.85 billion by 2017-18. According to the Queensland Government, this budget has been the first of its kind to introduce measures that would reduce General Government debts in the future since 1999-2000.

The Fiscal principles that are adopted are as follows:

  • The government has decided to target ongoing reductions in relative debt burden, measuring General Government debt to revenue ratio.
  • The government has decided to ensure funding of any new capital investment through recurrent revenues rather than borrowing by targeting net operating surplus.
  • To reduce the risk of backlogs and increase in jobs opportunities, the General Government Capital would ensure a continuous and consistent flow of works.
  • To maintain competitive taxation, the General Government would make sure that own-source revenues, on an average remain at or below 8.5 percent of gross state product.
  • Full funding of long-term liabilities such as WorkCover Queensland and superannuation would also be in the list of work targeted.

In the education sector of Queensland, AU$ 333.15 million has been assigned for the next four years directed towards supporting of high schools, hiring upto 875 new teachers including 275 high school specialists and lowering class sizes to improve quality.

For Queensland state schools, AU$ 2.68 million has been assigned for an upgrade in the water based fire protection system across the year. Another AU$2.68 million has been granted as capital investment covering next three years for non-state school sector.

In case of election commitments, the budget has promised to fulfill all the commitments delivered last year. The final cost of election commitment was set at AU$2.65 million to create more jobs, bring about innovations in the field of technology and science, teach skills and provide training. An amount of AU$455.46 has been assigned to bring about fiscal improvements.

Contact the writer on priya.shayani@gmail.com

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