But the rivers of gold – also propped up by $1.7 billion more tax from residents and businesses – are not tipped to last,with a return to deficit in the 2023-24 financial year before more modest surpluses in the following three.
“The one deficit that remains ... is the written proof that our government puts the finances of everyday Queenslanders first,” Dick told parliament in his budget speech on Tuesday.
“Our government is willing to keep our budget in deficit if it means keeping the budgets of more Queensland households and families in surplus.”
The turnaround in the government’s financial fortune,after a four-deficit forecast laid out in Dick’s first budget in 2020,is overwhelmingly a result of higher progressive coal royalty tiers tacked to the existing scheme last year.
In total,coal royalties are expected to tip $15.2 billion into the government’s coffers this financial year – more than double the 2021-22 figures and about $10 billion more than predicted inthe past budget.
The figure is higher even than the resource sector lobbysuggested last month amid its multimillion-dollar campaign against the measures,at which Dick took direct aim in his speech,calling on the LNP to state their unequivocal support for the scheme this week.