Federal Member for Flynn, Colin Boyce has slammed the Federal Labor Government’s 2023 Budget and has labelled it bad for the Flynn electorate.
Mr Boyce said that Labor’s Budget has put a review on the $120 billion infrastructure pipeline, putting all regional programs in doubt.
“Central Queensland is the economic engine room of Australia yet has not been supported in this year’s Budget,” Mr Boyce said.
“It appears that the Federal Labor Government are happy to strip critical funding from regional projects and pump the money into metropolitan areas. There also hasn’t been a commitment that vital regional Queensland infrastructure projects will be not impacted by the review.
“For instance, no commitment of funding for the Rockhampton Ring Road, no commitment to seal more than 450 kilometres of the Queensland beef corridors, no commitment for upgrades of the Inland Freight Route (Charters Towers to Mungindi), no commitment for Gladstone Port Access Road Extension and no commitment for Paradise Dam.
“Enough delays, the Federal Labor Government need to cough up the funding for these critical projects.”
Mr Boyce highlighted several measures in the 2023 Budget which will have an effect on cost-of-living.
“On a positive note, the Federal Labor Government has somewhat addressed cost-of-living pressures felt by many Australians families including by increasing rent assistance, job seeker allowance, single parenting payment cut-off and tripling of the Medicare rebate,” Mr Boyce said.
“However, many people will not be eligible for these cost-of-living assistance measures.
“It remains what effect this will have on inflation and interest rate rises.
“The Labor Government also announced a 6% increase on the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge over a 3-year period which equates to more than an 18% increase over 3 years.
“For the Minister to argue that this will give certainty to the transport industry, the only certainty the transport industry will have is to increase their charges and pass these costs onto the consumer. How can this possibly be helping with the cost-of-living crisis that many Australians are experiencing? Everything comes on the back of a truck and as the transport industry passes on these costs, ultimately, the consumer will have to pay MORE.
This is bad policy from the Government that will only add to inflation.”
Mr Boyce said that the 2023 Budget does not provide any improvement in regional childcare and has failed to invest in initiatives to deal with challenges faced by the pharmaceutical industry.
“In my electorate of Flynn, many families cannot find a childcare place for their child, this is preventing parents from returning to work sooner. Our communities need availability, accessibility as well as affordability,” Mr Boyce said.
“Labor’s policies have failed to introduce one single new childcare place in Flynn.
“While Labor have implemented changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), allowing 60-day dispensing instead of 30, which will risk unintended consequences, such as rural medicine supply shortages and pharmacists in Flynn being forced to shut down.”
