In a few days’ time the votes will start to be counted in the closely-fought Queensland state election campaign. How can the property industry make its votes count?
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Three key takeaways:
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Record numbers of postal and pre-poll votes have been cast this year, meaning the physical turnout at polling stations this Saturday will be smaller than usual. According to data from the Queensland Electoral Commission, well over one third of voters had cast their ballots or had registered for a postal vote by last week.
The Property Council’s Queensland executive director, Chris Mountford, says the growing popularity of early voting increases the risk of unpopular policy announcements very late in the campaign.
“Our industry vividly remembers the last state election, when four new taxes were rolled out on the Thursday prior to the election, at which point more than one third of votes had already been cast.”
Mountford says the Property Council, along with other business and industry groups, has used the campaign period to shine the spotlight on policies which can leverage the private sector to drive investment, job creation and economic growth.
“Queensland is heavily in debt, so the government doesn’t have much scope to spend its way out of recession without going back to taxpayers for more revenue,” Mountford explains.
“Our policy platform for this election has been all about unshackling private sector investment to maximise its potential to create jobs and drive our economic recovery.”
According to the latest Commonwealth Bank State of the States ranking of economic performance, Queensland was in joint sixth position with Western Australia and the Northern Territory, with big drops in dwelling commencements and construction activity recorded for the quarter.
The Property Council released new data during the campaign which highlights the impact of the property industry’s economic contribution to Queensland.
“We’ve contacted every candidate in the state election to let them know how the property industry supports jobs and economic activity in their community, and why it’s important they support policies that will help our industry power our economic recovery,” Mountford says.
The Property Council has also joined with AgForce Queensland, the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, the Queensland Resources Council and Timber Queensland to seek policy commitments from the next Queensland Government.
The industry groups called for no new taxes, fees or charges; the strengthening of regional communities through infrastructure investment; and greater collaboration with industry on regulation. Collectively, these groups represent industries which employ almost one million Queenslanders.
“We’ve called on candidates in this state election to be bold, innovative and commit to policies that will lift the trajectory of our economic recovery. Queensland can’t afford to miss the opportunity!” Mountford concludes.
Find out more about how the candidates in Queensland’s upcoming election compare on the Property Council’s 2020 Queensland State Election website.