Following a warning from a QUT economist about Queensland's spiralling debt, the ALP has toned down its election promises to more realistic levels of spending.
"Queensland's debt level is one of the critical election issues and both the major parties had 'unexplained black holes' in their budget plans to tackle it," said Dr Mark McGovern from QUT Business School.
"Both the ALP and LNP have presented seriously flawed economic plans during this election campaign but the ALP has this week come down to earth, but I am still very concerned about the LNP.
"Labor has now recognised and rectified the A$1.7 billion problem I highlighted last week. The party has announced spending commitments which are very modest, indicating a potentially worthwhile attempt to rectify the situation.
"Previously Labor's strategy made overly optimistic assumptions about available returns.
"However, the LNP continues to overlook the major contribution made from earnings by the government-owned-corporation assets that are up for lease. This contribution was $3.2 billion in 2013-14, being $1 billion in own Interest and $2.2 billion in transfers.
"The LNP has yet to identify just where they have accounted for this contribution from the GOCs they propose to 'lease'.
"They could easily build on the Balance Sheet I presented to explain their calculations.
"A proper accounting of how foregone annual contributions will be compensated for should be their immediate priority."
Dr McGovern, who has examined the economic plans of the state LNP and ALP, as well as figures from Queensland budget papers and Queensland Treasury Corporation reports, said the LNP needed such an accounting and a properly detailed explanation to demonstrate that they were not sticking to unsound policies.
"These fundamentals need to be right before we can sensibly move to the next step," he said.
"Currently neither party has a clear plan to tackle the state's debt which does not bode well for Queensland's future. More adequate evaluations and reporting can help rectify this."
Read more from Dr McGovern at https://theconversation.com/uncovering-the-black-holes-in-plans-to-fix-queenslands-debt-36218
Media contact:
Amanda Weaver, QUT Media, 07 3138 9449, amanda.weaver@qut.edu.au
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