Queensland’s budget provides a major boost to the state’s betterment fund – a move welcomed by the local government peak body as a much-needed initiative to support councils in building more resilient communities.
Local Government Association of Queensland president Matt Burnett said betterment funding – which allows infrastructure to be rebuilt to a more resilient standard than before a disaster – is proven to work, achieving substantial cost savings and improving the lives of residents living in impacted communities.
“With 73 of Queensland’s 77 councils disaster declared this year, and 677,000 Queenslanders individually impacted, our state continues to maintain its reputation as the country’s most disaster-prone state,” Burnett said. “The state government’s commitment to betterment will help ensure we can build back better and recover faster into the future.”
The Crisafulli Government’s first budget includes $450 million over five years for the Queensland Resilience and Risk Reduction Program to support high-priority disaster resilience and mitigation projects, including a $120 million investment over three years into the Queensland Betterment Fund.
“The benefit of the Queensland Betterment Fund is that the funding is not tied to a specific weather event, which will help give councils the flexibility to future-proof infrastructure before it is damaged,” Burnett said.
LGAQ CEO Alison Smith said the peak also welcomed the fulfilment of key election commitments made by the LNP in Tuesday’s budget. “We welcome Premier David Crisafulli fulfilling his election commitments to a $2 billion trunk infrastructure fund with the inclusion of the Residential Activation Fund, which will help councils across the state prepare land for housing by funding the pipes, footpaths, roads and other infrastructure needed.”
In addition, $330 million will be invested over five years to support Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, jointly funded by the Queensland and Australian governments. LGAQ also welcomed the doubling of the first round of the Residential Activation Fund to $1 billion and $31 million to deliver 13 new regional plans across the state over the next four years.
The budget also commits to the Works for Queensland program being made permanent – W4Q supports the 65 councils outside of South East Queensland to deliver local projects that improve infrastructure and services.
Councils slam ‘bin tax’
LGAQ expressed disappointment that the government reduced advance waste levy payments to councils, which are designed to ensure the levy does not directly impact household waste disposal costs.
“While there are many welcome announcements for local government in this budget, it has also confirmed that from 1 July millions of Queenslanders will either pay the waste levy for the first time or have to pay even more for their rubbish collection,” Smith said.
With a new waste strategy currently under consideration, Smith said councils are calling for the levy costs to be paused while the scheme is reviewed. Councils also want more realistic waste targets and infrastructure to be put in place. “Councils have said they do not think it is fair to levy households with what is a bin tax before real investment has been made into the industries and infrastructure that need to be in place in order to give Queenslanders options to reduce waste.”
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