Queensland’s Treasurer Curtis Pitt has helped himself to the state employees' superannuation to the tune of $4 billion and has splashed money around in the latest budget released this week.

There has been a lot of worthy announcements and promises to build roads and bridges and other handouts.

For example, Resource Industry Network Chair Tony Caruso said it was pleasing to see funding to finish the Vines Creek Bridge upgrade but noted there was again no commitment from the state government for the much need Walkerston Bypass in Mackay.

Otherwise Caruso said the budget showed the state government had taken notice of the collective voices of regional Queensland who had been calling for support for some time.

The budget has allocated $8.5 million over two years to prime new projects, including new economic future plans for the regional Queensland.

“With the impact of the current commodity prices slump on our region specifically, it was essential the government step in and address the jobs drain this has had. What is essential now is to see the funding get to the regions quickly, where investment in infrastructure and industry is required in order to create new jobs,” Caruso said.

“There is definitely some good money in this budget for our region but the responsible government departments must now ensure it is delivered fast and is accessible at a grassroots level.”

Key funding that will benefit industry in the Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday regions includes $100 million Regional Queensland Back to Work package to give to give employers the confidence to take on new staff; and continued funding for Skilling Queenslanders for Work and the Rescuing TAFE initiative.

Also the $40 million Industry Attraction Fund aims to help draw and establish new businesses in Queensland. Funding has been increased for Trade and Investment Queensland to further support exporters.

But Hogsback thinks that maybe the good Treasurer could have done more to ensure the lifeblood of the coal mining industry into the future.

Specifically, the encouragement of greater exploration should have been higher up on the agenda, as it has been slipping to historic lows.

QRC CEO Michael Roche said: “For the first time in at least four governments, the budget contains no program funding for pre-competitive geo-science programs through the Geological Survey of Queensland. With exploration in Queensland languishing, this decision to slash funding to GSQ by half is hard to fathom.

“The treasury estimates that it will bank more than $9 billion in royalties from the resource sector over the next four years, but it has not been prepared to reinvest a small portion of those funds to help grow the resources sector pie.”

It is a very worrying prospect for Hogsback to contemplate that after raiding the state’s super funds that the Queensland government will have no mining industry to obtain further royalties in the future to top up the empty piggy banks of its own citizens.