Budget Boosts Lifestyle, Economy via Environment, Tourism
- Budget delivers the foundations for a fresh start for environment, tourism, science and innovation, with $1.4 billion in 2025-26.
- More than $1 billion for tourism over the next 4 years, kickstarting the delivery of Destination 2045.
- $133 million in new funding for environmental stewardship, including expanding and managing protected areas and five wildlife and marine hospitals.
- $130 million to divert landfill and boost recycling rates in Queensland.
The Crisafulli Government is delivering for Queensland with certainty for tourism and protected area expansion on the horizon in the 2025-26 State Budget.
The $1.4 billion Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation Budget lays the foundation for a fresh start with a better lifestyle through a stronger economy.
A tourism investment of more than $1 billion over four years has been locked in following the momentous launch of the industry’s 20-year plan earlier this month.
This includes $446 million over four years to kick-start the delivery of Destination 2045, comprising a new dedicated fund to attract world-class events to Queensland, unlocking air routes through the Connecting Queensland Fund to drive visitation, and new eco-tourism experiences.
The Budget will also deliver on key election commitments for new or expanded wildlife hospitals and an increase in the protection of natural assets.
Key initiatives include:
- $40.2 million to deliver the first of 45 new ecotourism experiences promised by Destination 2045, including upgrades to the Smithfield Mountain Bike Trail, supporting the proposed Whitsunday Skyway attraction, and getting the Wangetti Trail back on track.
- $133 million to enhance the management of national parks, support councils to strengthen resilient coastlines, welcome 150 additional Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and Indigenous Land and Sea Rangers – including 40 specialist Fire Management Rangers Labor failed to fund – as well as expand and care for protected areas after Labor wasted a decade failing to reach even a fraction of its own target.
- This includes $39.6 million over three years to support new or expanded wildlife hospitals in Moreton Bay, Currumbin, Cairns, Southport, and the Redlands.
- $35 million to deliver the Zero Litter to the Bay initiative, diverting hundreds of tonnes of litter from the Moreton Bay by 2030.
- $130 million to establish a three-year Resource Recovery Boost Fund to help councils divert waste from red bins to yellow and green bins, as well as $70 million for resource recovery infrastructure in partnership with the Australian Government under the SEQ City Deal, to increase resource recovery rates and facilitate organics recycling.
The Budget will also restore funding for Tourism and Events Queensland, providing much-needed certainty in the wake of Labor’s funding cliff, which was set to leave this industry-leading organisation with barely a third of its funding by 2028.
With the backing of the Crisafulli Government, Tourism and Events Queensland will work to position Queensland as the home of the holiday and the events capital of the nation, delivering sustainable economic growth.
This Budget’s bold investment in tourism is a critical lifeline for the industry, businesses and jobs that would have been sacrificed by Labor’s forecasted 95% funding cuts.
Across tourism, it’s been revealed Labor was secretly planning to reduce funding from $160 million in 2024-25 to just $7.6 million by 2028-29, knee-capping the industry on the eve of the once-in-a-generation opportunity that is the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The previous Government was also planning to axe $525,000 in funding for Queensland’s Regional Organisation Tourism Network under planned cuts to the Tourism Network Fund – a veritable death sentence for the industry that supports 1 in 11 Queensland jobs.
Treasurer David Janetzki said the 2025-26 Budget was about delivering for Queensland with a better lifestyle through a stronger economy.
https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/102866