Queensland’s credit rating has been downgraded, partly because the LNP government released a damning account of Labor’s last budget without offering any solutions.
Queensland’s credit rating has been downgraded, partly because the LNP government released a damning account of Labor’s last budget without offering any solutions.
By Sean Parnell
February 19, 2025 — 3.55pm
An international ratings agency has issued a “negative outlook” for Queensland government finances and called on the Crisafulli government to outline its plan to stabilise the budget.
Shortly before parliamentary question time on Wednesday, S&P Global formally downgraded Queensland’s outlook from stable to negative, while maintaining other key ratings.
It prompted Treasurer David Janetzki to declare the downgrade, which he foreshadowed last month in the mid-year budget update, “Labor’s legacy”.
“There’s no doubt that this will add to the cost of borrowing,” he said, without outlining the cost to the budget.
Premier David Crisafulli called to the Labor members on the opposition benches: “Hang your head in shame.”
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In a statement, S&P Global said the downgrade was in response to the mid-year budget update and the prospect of deficits and debt ratios weakening in the coming year.
But in pointing to “elevated uncertainty over Queensland’s fiscal outlook,” it made clear the new LNP government was not without blame.
“This is because the government describes [the mid-year budget update] as the previous government’s ‘last budget update’ and hasn’t incorporated its own fiscal strategy or all of its decisions in fiscal forecasts,” it said.
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“The government has promised to address spending pressures and escalating capital costs in its June 2025-2026 budget to ensure debt will be lower than that forecast in [the mid-year budget update].
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“It is unclear how the government will address spending pressures and how much lower expenditure and debt will be in the upcoming budget. This uncertainty is captured in our negative outlook.”
Earlier, unions marched on parliament to protest the government’s decision to suspend Best Practice Industry Conditions on major projects.
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said the BPIC decision followed the “economic vandalism” of the former government and its “union thug mates”.
Bleijie vowed to continue focussing on productivity and efficiency initiatives, including by opposing national initiatives that he felt would put Queensland at a disadvantage.
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Sean Parnell is the Editor of Brisbane Times. He has won journalism awards for analysis, investigations, news and sport, written a biography, and has a Graduate Certificate in (Digital) Business Administration. Sean lives in Brisbane with his family.Connect via Twitter or email.
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