Finance

(Adopted October 2014, updated December 2020, updated January 2021)

Principles

The Queensland Greens believe that:

1. Government finances must be sustainable over the long-term, it is appropriate to stimulate the economy during economic downturns and save during economic booms.

2. Government financing should be equitably and responsibly managed so as to avoid an unsustainable debt burden on future generations.

3. Natural monopolies and essential public services should generally be in public ownership and control.

4. Policies that guide government investment should prioritise the long-term public interest.

5. Government financing is the preferred mechanism for funding public infrastructure.

6. Bail-outs and other significant transfers made to private corporations should be undertaken as acquisitions of a commensurate proportion of equity.

Aims

The Queensland Greens will:

1. Introduce social and environmental accountability requirements, with guidance from the standards of Triple Bottom Line accounting. These are to include societal measures of well-being. A bureau will be established to guide and assist with compliance to this requirement.

2. Provide for annual calculation of Queensland's ecological footprint and that of all individual local authorities to be used in association with traditional measures of economic activity.

3. Ensure that whether in public or private ownership, natural monopolies and essential public services are be subject to a regime of transparency, accountability and stewardship that ensures maximum benefit to the public.

4. Not-for-profit involvement with the provision of essential services and infrastructure should also be subject to a long-term community benefit test.

5. Introduce climate adaptation measures, including a Natural Hazard Insurance Fund, to avoid or minimise the cost of increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters, with a focus on pre-hazard planning rather than post-disaster response.

6. Provide direct government investment and industry assistance towards the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries, in order to spur research and development, overcome market inertia, create new long-term employment and rapidly decarbonise the economy.

7. Publicly invest in an electricity smart grid as basic necessary infrastructure required for economic development.

8. Investigate the creation of a state bank to provide competition to commercial banks for the benefit of Queensland small and medium businesses and householders.

9. Create a Queensland Clean Energy Finance Corporation (QCEFC).

10. Create a Sovereign Wealth Fund funded by royalties from resource extraction.

11. Ensure the Queensland Investment Corporation makes only ethical and ecologically sustainable development investments.

12. Introduce a Parliamentary Budget Office accessible by registered political parties.

13. Establish a Queensland Public Infrastructure Bank (QPIB) which would invest in public infrastructure like schools, hospitals, green space and public transport.

14. Ensure banks are contributing more toward a fair share of tax by implementing a Queensland Bank Levy on the biggest banks operating in Queensland.