South-East Queensland may be the country's fastest growing region, but federal Treasurer Wayne Swan had no big infrastructure announcement to cater for the bulging population.
In an election year budget in which the goodies were doled out to individuals, most of Queensland's priority projects missed out on any federal money and appear likely to have to wait to take their chance in the new infrastructure fund to be born from the controversial Resources Super Profits Tax.
The federal government will build the new infrastructure fund to $5.6 billion over the next decade, with $700 million injected in 2012-13, and resource-rich states such as Queensland have been promised the majority of the money.
However, the fund depends on the super profits tax passing the Senate.
There was no money in the budget for four of the top priorities in the state's Infrastructure Australia submission - the Darra to Springfield rail project, Brisbane's Northern Link road tunnel, a rail line betwen Kippa-Ring and Petrie, or the Toowoomba Bypass.
The Treasurer did announce that half a billion dollars originally budgeted for the Ipswich Motorway over the next two years will now be paid by July, to reflect progress made on the project to date.
Meanwhile, work on the Douglas Arterial Road in Townsville is expected to start earlier after $44 million, initially promised for 2010-11 to 2012-13, was brought forward to this financial year.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority will receive an extra $2.1 million in each of the next two years, as well as $4 million to upgrade critical infrastructure at the Reef HQ Aquarium in Townsville.
James Cook University's Cairns campus will, as announced late last year, get $19.5 million over two years to build a Tropical Innovation Hub, which will have 125 research staff working on issues of significance to the tropics.
But today's budget, much of which had already been leaked or announced beforehand, contained a few new morsels, for savers, prospective homeowners and low-income earners.
The first $1000 of interest earned from savings accounts will get a 50 per cent tax discount, aligning them closer with the treatment of capital gains, and potentially enabling banks to get an increased stable source of funding. It is expected to cost the government about $1 billion in lost tax revenue in the next four years.
First Home Saver Accounts, which have struggled for wider acceptance, have also been reformed. If a home is bought before the end of the four-year qualifying period, the balance of the account will eventually be paid into the mortgage, instead of the accountholder's super fund as at present.
The low-income tax offset will be increased to $1500, effectively providing a tax-free threshold of $16,000 for those with incomes under $30,000.
There is also reform of tax returns, partially in line with recommendations in the Henry Review.The option to claim a $500 standard deduction for work-related expenses will be available from 2012-13, with the amount increasing to $1000 the following year.
It is estimated this could lead to a decrease in tax of $192 for someone on the average income.But there will be some pain for those with health-related expenses.
The tax offset threshold will be raised $500, to $2000, a move that will save the government about $350 million.The offset was last increased in 2002-03, and the government says wages and medical expenses had risen since then.
It will also save about $1.9 billion from reforms to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in the next five years, while the 25 per cent tobacco excise will net about $5 billion.
The government's health reform package is expected to cost about $7.3 billion over the next five years.
There will be $661 million for skills training, creating 70,000 new training places and 25,000 new apprenticeships nationally, while $652 million will go into a renewable enrgy investment fund.
Mr Swan has crafted himself as a fiscal conservative, with the budget due to return to surplus in 2012-13, three years ahead of schedule.
Spending growth will be capped at 2 per cent until the surplus is at least 1 per cent of GDP.The deficit for 2010-11 is expected to be $40 billion, down from the $46 billion estimate in the mid-year review and substantially less than the $57 billion predicted in last year's budget.
The $28 billion deficit predicted last year for 2012-13 has been turned into a $1 billion surplus, courtesy of expected strong gains in revenue as the economy power along with growth rates betwen 3 per cent and 4 per cent.
Revenue will soar by about $100 billion over the next four years, while expenses will increase by about $30 billion. But the deferral of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will save the government about half of that.
