Thursday, August 24, 2023

Issue:

Mackay and Whitsunday Life

CANDIDATE DEBATE

This week, the Mackay Chamber of Commerce held a candidate’s debate, and I wanted to cover a few key points on what’s important for our region, for the benefit of those who could not attend.

One key area of focus was, understandably, the economy.

We strengthen our economy by investing in the things that create jobs and provide more work for our local businesses. The big focus in the recent Budget was on investing in our regions with $1.7 billion for our region – Central and North Queensland – alone.

I’m excited about building dams like Urannah and we’ve committed half a billion dollars to that. Further north we’re also investing in Hells Gate Dam to the tune of $5.4 billion.

As I like to say, when you add water, everything grows – not just the high value agricultural products but all our other businesses grow from the flow-on effects - our cafes, accommodation houses, small businesses and manufacturers. Building Urannah Dam will have an amazing effect on our region and provide jobs for generations to come.

Many people are concerned about debt and rightly so. But when we were hit with the uncertainty of the global pandemic which forced the world to stop and lock away in our houses for months, the Liberal Nationals Government stepped up to save livelihoods.

Our pandemic support went out to 4,300 businesses in the Dawson electorate, and 17,900 people in Mackay, the Whitsundays, Bowen, the Burdekin and the southern suburbs of Townsville, who would have lost their jobs, got the JobKeeper payment to keep them connected to their place of work.

While some people will just see debt, I see that as an investment in the future. It was also so important for people to have that job security for the sake of their mental health.

There’s a lot of other support for our businesses in the form of tax incentives as well.

We’re continuing the popular Instant Asset Write-off. Businesses invest in eligible assets and they can write-off the full value on their tax. This measure stands to assist the 17,900 businesses we have in Dawson and I know many have already taken advantage of this.

There’s also a new 20 per cent bonus deduction for training and upskilling workers, and a digital technology boost of a 20 per cent deduction on expenses such as computers, accounting software, and cyber security.

When it comes to the household economy you can look forward to extended tax relief. There are two components – a $1,080 low and middle income offset and a $420 cost of living tax offset. Who benefits from that? Well in Dawson there are close to 67,000 people who will be eligible for tax relief of up to $1,500.

Strengthening and growing our economy is the foundation from which all else flows. We can only continue to invest in community facilities, roads, health and education if we get the dollars into the coffers.

Our region plays a huge role in doing that through our strong resources sector, with coal exports tipped to bring in $110 billion this year. Coal is only the second export commodity to hit over the $100 billion mark, the other being iron ore.

Let me finish on a sobering thought.

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