{"id":885117,"date":"2026-06-22T15:22:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T15:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/885117\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T15:22:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T15:22:32","slug":"queensland-budget-to-include-545-million-to-boost-water-security-restore-dams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/885117\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland budget to include $545 million to boost water security, restore dams"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queensland government will invest $545 million in water security and top up two south-east dams in its second budget.<\/p>\n

Treasurer David Janetzki has also ruled out cuts to the public service but has not committed to a return to surplus within the next four years.<\/p>\n

Under the funding, North Pine and Lake Macdonald Dams are set to be restored to full-service levels.<\/p>\n

“If we run those dams to their capacity, we’ll create, effectively, a new dam in Queensland that will be two-and-a-half times the size of the Bjelke-Petersen Dam,” Mr Janetzki said.<\/p>\n

“There is an opportunity for us to invest in our existing infrastructure to build that water security, obviously for households but also for agriculture.”<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

Queensland Treasurer David Janetzki says there will not be any cuts to the public service. (ABC News: Nickoles Coleman)<\/p>\n

The Bjelke-Petersen Dam in the South Burnett region has a capacity of 134,000 megalitres.<\/p>\n

The North Pine Dam, which stores drinking water for north Brisbane and Moreton Bay, was reduced to 54 per cent capacity last year while it awaits upgrades.<\/p>\n

Work is underway on Noosa’s Lake McDonald Dam, which had its capacity reduced to 42 per cent last year.<\/p>\n

The budget will also include $10 million in the next financial year for Seqwater to continue scouting for potential new dam sites, but a timeline has not been confirmed.<\/p>\n

Mr Jantezki said consultation with impacted communities would be “imperative” to allow people to “come along for the journey”.<\/p>\n

\"Water<\/p>\n

North Pine Dam’s capacity was lowered to 54 per cent last year.\u00a0 (Supplied: John Chapman)<\/p>\n

The 2026-27 budget will also include $59.8 million to rebuild Paradise Dam, an LNP election commitment which is slated to cost $4.4 billion.<\/p>\n

Mr Janetzki would not be drawn on when work would begin on the 300,000-megalitre Bundaberg dam, instead referring questions to Water Minister Ann Leahy.<\/p>\n

The government reiterated its commitment to the project last month after the chair of Sunwater wrote to the government<\/a> advising that the board had unanimously agreed it was “grossly disproportionate” and should not be considered any further.<\/p>\n

‘Uncertainty and instability’<\/p>\n

In promoting the LNP’s second budget, Mr Janetzki has said it will be about “strengthening” the foundations laid last year.<\/p>\n

Mr Jantezki has not indicated whether this budget will show a return to surplus within the next four years.<\/p>\n

Instead, he said his focus was on targeting “budget improvements”.<\/p>\n

The state’s total debt is forecast to hit $204.89 billion by 2028-29, according to the mid-year budget update released in January, while an operating deficit of $1.04 billion is expected that year.<\/p>\n

Mr Janetzki has said no changes will be made to the state’s coal royalties regime, but it is understood the budget will show some movement in revenue streams.<\/p>\n

\"Queensland<\/p>\n

The LNP government will hand down its second budget on Tuesday.\u00a0 (ABC News: Chris Gillette)<\/p>\n

Mr Janetzki said he was watching stamp duty revenue and approaches by other states carefully after changes to property and investments were announced in the federal budget.<\/p>\n

“There’s been a lot of uncertainty and instability around the globe, and that has made the challenges significant,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Uncertainty in Canberra, volatility in the Middle East, that’s made our challenge greater, but we have worked through it very carefully.”<\/p>\n

The treasurer has stood by his commitment of no cuts to the public service, accusing the opposition of running a “scare campaign”.<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Steven Miles said he had heard reports from \u201cacross the public service\u201d the government was not renewing temporary contracts that had been rolled over for \u201cmany years\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Loading…Treasurer defends ad spend<\/p>\n

Advertising by the state government promoting 50-cent fares, hospital staffing and how it is “delivering” for each region has been plastered across billboards, social media platforms and cinema screens.<\/p>\n

Mr Jantzki has defended his government’s use of taxpayer funds, saying they have committed to spending “less money on advertising than the Labor Party”.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The treasurer says the ad spend is a “normal part of government”.\u00a0 (ABC News: Jack McKay)<\/p>\n

Meta’s advertising library shows the Queensland government has spent $622,251 from March 21 to June 18 on 198 ads across its Facebook and Instagram accounts.<\/p>\n

“It’s an entirely normal part of government,” Mr Jentzki said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said advertising the government’s move to make 50-cent fares permanent was important to ensure people are “accessing opportunities to get home faster and sooner”, and because the measure was left unfunded by Labor.<\/p>\n

Mr Jantzki rejected that the billboards were political advertising but rather “communication of government policies”.<\/p>\n

When pressed on how much the government was spending on advertising Mr Janetzki said: “Certainly no more than the former Labor government did”.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Shadow Treasurer Shannon Fentiman says the number of government ads has “exploded”.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Shadow Treasurer Shannon Fentiman has called in the government to rein in spending on its barrage of ads.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know how much money they have spent this financial year, but you better believe we will be holding them to account on that because it has exploded,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queensland government will invest $545 million in water security and top up two south-east dams in its…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":885118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,3232,176925,359301,50,359302,359303,73955,4797,4798,4573,527,270395],"class_list":["post-885117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-australia","tag-budget","tag-dams","tag-lake-macdonald","tag-news","tag-north-pine","tag-north-pine-dam","tag-public-service","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-state-budget","tag-water","tag-water-security"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116794448826385974","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}