Queensland Budget 2023-24

$1.6 Billion

in new and expanded cost-of-living relief in 2023–24

$8.2 Billion

in concessions in 2023-24

Improving the lives of Queenslanders now and into the future

Leveraging Queensland’s strong economic performance, the 2023–24 Queensland Budget is responding to the challenges facing Queenslanders, including cost-of-living pressures and housing affordability.

The Budget is also investing substantially in healthcare and critical infrastructure across all our regions to position Queensland on a clear path towards longer-term growth and prosperity.

The historic surplus forecast in 2022–23, driven by strong royalties growth due to the high prices received by the state’s coal producers, is providing the capacity to deliver substantial cost-of-living support to Queensland families and businesses, while also funding a record capital program.

In line with the government’s economic strategy to create more jobs in more industries, this investment will provide the infrastructure across all regions of the state to enhance productivity and the competitiveness of Queensland’s traditional industries, support growth in new and emerging sectors, and provide the essential health and other services to meet the needs of a growing population.

The Budget invests in the growth and development of a healthy and skilled workforce, supports the state’s ongoing decarbonisation agenda, and lays a strong platform for future growth that will help ensure Queensland’s economy and communities remain strong, resilient, sustainable and able to respond to future challenges and opportunities.

The government’s community objectives

The 2023–24 Budget is focussed on improving the lives of Queenslanders now and into the future and continues to deliver on the Queensland Government’s objectives for the community, including:

Good jobs: creating more, good, secure jobs in our traditional and emerging industries

Better services: delivering even better services right across Queensland

Great lifestyle: protecting and enhancing our Queensland lifestyle as we grow.

Getting a fair share for the use of our resources

Since mid-2021, Queensland’s coal producers have enjoyed the unprecedented benefits of an exceptional surge in global coal prices, supporting strong employment growth in the mining sector and producing record revenues and profits.

In the context of these record global coal prices, the new coal royalty tiers announced by the Queensland Government in the 2022–23 Budget mean that Queenslanders are also benefitting from these exceptional prices.

Queenslanders are getting a fair and reasonable return for the use of the state’s valuable and limited resources in a period when coal mining companies are generating extraordinary revenues and profits.

The revenue raised from coal royalties helps enable the delivery of essential economic and social infrastructure and essential services to improve the lives of Queenslanders across all regions of the state.

Given the ongoing strength of coal prices, in particular hard coking coal prices, since the 2022–23 Budget Update, the new progressive coal royalty tiers are now expected to generate a revenue uplift of around $7.2 billion over the 5 years ending 2026–27, with most of this (around $5.7 billion) expected in 2022–23. Coal prices are expected to normalise in 2024 and remain at levels more consistent with medium-term expectations across the forward estimates.

The revenue uplift in 2022–23 has presented an opportunity for Queensland to lower its reliance on borrowings in the near term, creating the fiscal capacity to fund a substantial investment in services and concessions to tackle the immediate challenges at the heart of all Queenslanders – cost-of-living pressures, access to health services, alleviating housing pressures, and living in safe and secure communities.

It has also enabled investment in priority capital initiatives to service our growing population, including a range of substantial investments across regional Queensland, especially coal-producing regions.

Approach to gender responsive budgeting

As part of its commitment to gender responsive budgeting, the Queensland Government has assessed all 2023–24 budget bids to determine the alignment with the impact areas identified in the Queensland Women’s Strategy 2022–27. This approach was used to identify high-impact, high-priority bids to move towards a gender equitable distribution of resources. It also led to the 2023–24 Budget including a package of measures focussed on enhancing the economic opportunities and economic security of women.

This is the start of gender responsive budgeting in Queensland with further work being undertaken for implementation in future years.