Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, $28 billion—not the $4 billion promised just four weeks ago, knowing all of the complications of COVID and the impact that was having on the economy, particularly in light of border closures. No, it took just four weeks and the most important of their promises were broken and out the window.

But perhaps the worst part of knowing they're borrowing against the future of your children and my children is knowing that they're not even borrowing to fund anything that lasts. They're not borrowing to build the great infrastructure that will set up the economic recovery of Queensland for the next 50 years. They're not borrowing to build great water projects that will sustain agriculture. They're not borrowing to invest in the growth of regional Queensland, to help it to reach its potential. No, they're borrowing to pay a public service which has ballooned by 40,000 people since 2015 without delivering any measurable improvement in service delivery. Indeed, you would be horrified to know, Mr Acting Deputy President Griff, that some departments, like the department of the environment, are more cantankerous and ineffective than they've ever been! The public service wage bill in Queensland will now top $26 billion a year. Let that sink in for a moment.

Queensland Labor have even now abandoned the self-imposed constraint they once announced of capping public service job growth to population growth. Do you remember that promise, Senator Scarr? I remember that promise.