Annastacia Palaszczuk’s arrogant Twits

On my calculations, COVID has cost Queensland about $12 to $14 billion, as a result of a combined drop in income and increase in expenses. Add that to existing gross debt and you get $114 to $116 billion, close to the figure our consultants got in their review. With state gross debt to hit $130 billion, there is up to $18 billion in additional deficits.

What is causing that? Is it a deterioration in state revenue? No. State revenue will have recovered to where it was estimated to be in the 2018-19 budget by 22-23.

This is despite a significant fall in royalties (mostly coal) in the next two years, and a decline in income from government-owned corporations, some of which, like the electricity generating and distributing assets, loaded-up with state debt, look to be in serious decline.

It looks like privatising the "wires and poles" would have been a brilliant, strategic, top-of-the-market move when mooted by the Newman government. Now the treasurer disingenuously claims Queensland's non-privatised assets are going to pay for the state's debt.

So it must be expenditure, but which parts of expenditure? Most of it will be wages, up 13% by 2024 from actuals in 2019-20, a gross figure of $3.3 billion per year, or most of your additional deficits of $18 billion.

Then there's another half a billion for debt servicing per year, compared to 2019-20 and depreciation up $738 million per year compared to the same period.

The debt might have been excusable if it were being applied to infrastructure projects that would significantly lift state productivity. That is not to be, with infrastructure spending over the period of $56 billion about $1.5 billion a year higher than previously.

The debt might be manageable if the state was planning to run an operating surplus anytime soon, but at the end of this 4-year period it expects to still have $1.4 billion more expenses than revenue per year, with no plan to pay back debt.

Dick's not worried, because interest rates are so low. I hope his kids are so sanguine. Rates can't stay low forever, and when they rise you can't just borrow the difference. Someone will have to pay at some time in the future.

Dick is big on symbolism and imagery. His social media stream is full of heroic images of himself, one of which taken yesterday morning before delivering the budget was identified by The Courier Mail as aping another by Barack Obama.

The Courier thinks this budget marks the beginning of his run for premier. If it does, then its symbolism is of a status quo government that has given up on reform or progress, in favour of staying in power. Pandering to government employees, and strategically targeting modest amounts of infrastructure at electorally critical constituencies, rather than improving economic systems to the benefit of all.

In another act of symbolism, Dick talked about his father, whose successful butcher shop sent his two sons to the elite Church of England Grammar school in East Brisbane.

While draped in the heritage of small business, the treasurer seems to have learned little from it. The secret to small business is to out-compete your competitor by offering a good product at an affordable price. Part of that involves screwing all your costs as tight as you can, and not borrowing money without ensuring it will return more than it costs and without a plan to pay it back.

Queensland might get better returns if, instead of a social media strategy, Cameron Dick communications strategy to talk with, rather than at, those of his constituents who return the profits that pay state revenue. They could tell him this budget is all wrong.

It's no excuse that no other state Treasurer appears to have a clue either.