In what may go down as the most insensitive piece of political word play this year, Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls has admitted that his state’s journey back to surplus has been ‘blown off course’ by ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald.

Mr Nicholls handed down his ‘no-fills, no-nonsense budget’ earlier this week, and admitted that the cost of rebuilding after natural disasters had weighed heavily on the state’s finances.

“This Budget allocates total disaster spending over the three years from 2012-13 to 2014-15 of $9.3 billion including $4.2 billion in 2013-14,” he said.

“The size of this year’s disaster sparked by ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald isn’t always clear because it didn’t get the same sort of attention as earlier disasters, but its scale and reach was devastating.

Overall, the state’s growth forecast is resting comfortably at 3 per cent over the 2013-14 year, seconded only to Western Australia and above the national average of 2.75 per cent.

Mr Nicholls said there had already been many hard decisions in framing this year’s Budget.

“Revenue forecasts have fallen by $5.3 billion since the Government was elected last year,” he said.

“This Budget includes a write down in general taxation and royalties of $1.9 billion and a decrease of more than $695 million in GST payments over the forward estimates.

“For the 2013-14 year the Government will record a fiscal deficit of $7.7 billion.

“Given the loss of revenue, the current deficit, the rebuilding task and the need to fund new services we’ve made a balanced decision to delay reaching a fiscal surplus in 2014-15.”

Major budget allocations include:

  • $4.2 billion for recovery and reconstruction work
  • $12.3 billion for Health up 4.5 per cent
  • $11.4 billion for Education up 6.1 per cent, including the Great Teachers = Great Results initiative
  • $8.8 billion for Community Services, including $868 million for Disability Care Australia (NDIS)
  • $5.5 billion for Transport and Main Roads.