Under Treasurer's report
Treasury is a diverse and complex portfolio with almost 2,000 employees throughout the state and offices in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Rockhampton. Its services cover fiscal and economic management research and advice, regulation of Government Owned Corporations, gaming regulation, taxation, superannuation, insurance, and shared service implementation. In 2004-05 Treasury administered and receipted almost $14 billion in revenue and administered grants and subsidy programs of $787.18 million.
Treasury's key responsibility remains the development and implementation of whole of Government fiscal and economic strategies to achieve the Government's priorities and advance the performance of the Queensland economy. The cornerstone of this strategy, the annual State Budget, saw the financial year close with a record surplus and investment returns on superannuation assets, the maintenance of the State's AAA credit rating, economic growth exceeding the level in all other States and the nation generally and an unemployment rate at the lowest level in 30 years.
The 2005-06 Budget delivered in June 2005 was developed to continue this strong economic and fiscal performance, providing significant taxation concessions and supporting the Government's key priority areas.
Treasury played a significant role with the Office of Urban Management to develop the South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program (SEQIPP). Treasury has created a Capital Monitoring and Review Unit to monitor progress with SEQIPP and with industry capacity issues and general economic conditions affecting infrastructure delivery.
Government Owned Corporations in Queensland play a significant role in delivering services and infrastructure to enhance Queensland's growth. Treasury through the Office of Government Owned Corporations has further developed the governance arrangements under which GOCs operate to ensure they remain consistent with the standards required for significant commercial organisations.
Throughout 2004-05 the Office of State Revenue worked on the development of its Revenue Management System to have the payroll tax component of that system operational on 1 July 2005. The RMS provides information technology infrastructure to facilitate contemporary business practices and payment methods to benefit taxpayers throughout the state.
The reallocation scheme for gaming machines continued during the year with the most recent tender in May 2005. The three tenders successfully completed since 2003 have generated total revenue of almost $38 Million for the Community Investment Fund. In accordance with the Gaming Machine Act the scheme for reallocation of gaming machines is currently under review. Community awareness and education in relation to responsible gambling continued in 2004-05 with the release of the Responsible Gambling Teaching Resource Kit, and a major community awareness campaign conducted between April and July targeted particularly at the major risk group - the 18 to 35 year olds.
QSuper again had a very successful year, launching a new website and new Member Investment Choice options to its more than 430,000 members. QSuper was placed as the second best performing Fund in Australia for the financial year.
Treasury through the Shared Service Implementation Office and CorpTech, continued to lead the field in the implementation of a shared service environment for the provision of corporate services. The initiative has already delivered significant returns to the Queensland Government and is on target to achieve significant savings when fully implemented. During 2004-05 comprehensive and innovative solutions were developed for new finance, human resources and electronic document management systems.
I am proud of Treasury's achievements and the contributions of staff across the portfolio to reach those achievements. This demonstrates Treasury's commitment to shaping solutions to assist the Government to maintain Queensland's strong fiscal and economic position and deliver services to the community.
Gerard Bradley