Queensland Treasurer David Janetzki flags huge increase in state debt

Queensland is sinking into a larger-than-expected budget black hole, with Treasurer David Janetzki tipped to forecast billions in additional debt during the Mid Year Fiscal and Economic Review.

The update on Thursday will show the state’s debt hitting $217.8bn by 2028, far beyond the $172bn forecast by the previous Labor government in its last budget.

It will also show an $887m surplus forecast by Labor for 2026-27 financial year will disintegrate into a $9bn deficit.

An earlier forecast surplus of $2bn for 2027-28 is also expected to collapse into another deficit of more than $9bn.

If the forecast holds, Queensland would exceed Victoria’s expected net debt load of some $188bn by 2028.

Mr Janetzki said the shock update exposed “the debt and deficit legacy of the Labor government”.

“When I was sworn in, Queensland Treasury warned me about the significant and growing debt burden,” he said.

“The finance minister and I asked Treasury to determine every hidden project blowout and every underfunded department service delivery commitment.

“The last few months have revealed the truth of Labor’s debt legacy and funding cliffs for essential services.”

The LNP government, led by Premier David Crisafulli, booted Labor from government after nine years in opposition at last year’s October election.

Opposition Treasurer Shannon Fentiman said the MYFER had being “juiced” by Mr Janetzki for political reasons.

“He is making this as bad as possible and then lo and behold in five months time there will be an improvement in revenue and a reduction in the debt forecast,” said.

“They have juiced this up, the same way they cooked Cross River Rail to play a political game, which would be funny if it wasn’t serious for Queensland’s borrowing cost.

The MYFER provides an update on the state’s financial health and economic outlook halfway through the financial year.

Alongside debt and deficit projections, it presents a general picture of economic growth, employment and new funding allocations.

Lower revenues from the state’s all-important coal royalties are also expected to hit government coffers, with the royalty haul for 2024-25 expected to hit $8bn, a $400m fall from the $8.4bn forecast in the budget.

Lower global coal prices and reduced export volumes produced the revenue slump, the update will show.

The full MYFER will be released at 1pm.

More to come.