George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I think it is only honest for the full sentence to be quoted, Senator Moore, in relation to the great mediocrity of the Palaszczuk Labor government. Do you know, Senator Moore—and you should—that Queensland is now Australia's most greatly indebted state? This is for a population, by the way, of some 4.9 million people. State debt is now almost $80 billion—more than $15,000 of state debt for every man, woman and child in Queensland. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Queensland, at six per cent, is 0.4 per cent above the national average and has been so consistently.

Senator Moore, you and I both have the good fortune to come from Queensland. We are used to Queensland being a powerhouse economy. We are used to Queensland riding the mining boom—riding the economic wave. But, under the Palaszczuk Labor government, Queensland has stopped dead in its tracks.