Costello response provides stark contrast

Media Release.

The Newman Government’s response to the Costello Audit report provides a stark contrast between Labor and the LNP.

The basis of the government’s response is its fixed and blinkered position that governments should do nothing themselves to support individuals, families, communities, and business operators.

Their callous ideological approach dictates that governments exist solely as clearing house for handing out work to private contractors to deliver services.

With that widespread abrogation of responsibility comes a lack of accountability and the substitution of profits — not people’s needs — as the sole measure for whether services should be delivered or not and how they should be delivered.

The Newman Government has left the door open to more asset sales, and government-wide privatisation and outsourcing of services.

Asset sales including power industry businesses are still on the table. They have only been postponed, not ruled out.

The government’s responses of “for further consideration” or “noted” to so many of the Costello recommendations are their escape clauses.

If they wish to rule out assets sales, privatisations and outsourcing with their consequent job losses, then “rejected” is the clear response they should have used. Instead they prefer to press on with decision that will cause more job cuts and further reductions in frontline services.

The Premier and the Treasurer Tim Nicholls try to dress up their decision to walk away from service delivery as “contestability”.

In fact, when Campbell Newman mentions “contestability” Queenslanders should just think “con”.

He and his government are conning Queenslanders by pretending their response is different from what we have already seen them do in their first year — slash services, sacking workers and sell off assets.

When implemented, this report will have a devastating impact on the day-to-day services used by Queenslanders.

Hospitals, schools, public transport: everything Queenslanders rely on is on the table in the LNP’s fire sale.

Every time they catch a train, every time they go to hospital, every time they flick on a light switch – Queensland families will suffer.

The Premier lied to 14,000 government workers, and he’s now lied to the entire state.

He said he’d seek a mandate at an election before he sold Queensland assets.

But he’s already sold $3.3 billion worth of assets including seven government office blocks in the Brisbane CBD.

Now in the wake of the Costello Audit everything else is on the table.

The Treasurer has refused to rule out more redundancies after the Premier said in December there would be no more job losses.

All of this comes at a time the Newman Government has stifled economic growth, causing a jump in jobless numbers and a downturn in government revenues — all in the space of its first 12 months.

The fact is economic growth is flat-lining and it’s all due to the ideologically driven mass sackings and frontline service cuts contained in the LNP’s first State Budget in September 2012.

There is an alternative. It is Labor’s alternative — a plan to restore growth and revenues without resorting to sackings and service cuts or the sale of assets and the privatisation and outsourcing of jobs and services.

I believe growth will return to our state economy as will new jobs despite, not because of, the Newman Government’s actions.

But as respected independent analysts Deloitte/Access Economics have said recently, that growth will come from major resource projects — especially gas projects initiated by the former Labor government.

The LNP has already sent our economy and jobs into a downward spiral. It is only Labor’s foresight that will halt and reverse that trajectory.

The long-term future of our state’s economy is strong, but only because of the solid foundations laid down by the former government.