Queensland politics as it happened: Treasurer wants ‘Canadian-style’ tax reform for Qld; Katter introduces ‘castle law’ bill; LNP tables more posts from Healy

Queensland Treasurer David Janetzki has used his ministerial statement this afternoon to detail the government’s submission to a federal Productivity Commission review of GST distribution.

The state government has been vocal about the Commonwealth Grants Commission’s most recent GST allocation, a drop of $2.3 billion – the state’s lowest-ever share – due to heightened coal mining royalties.

Janetzki said Queensland would push for a “Canadian-style” discount to the impact of mining-related revenue on the calculation of the states’ share of the GST.

“States should not be penalised for their contribution to industries that drive national wealth, but under the existing methodology, that is exactly what happens,” he said.

“States that support the growth of our resources industries are penalised, with royalty revenue redistributed to states that ban or restrict exploration.”

Janetzki said Canada’s system saw a 50 per cent discount applied to mining revenue, which was generally on par with Western Australia’s “sweetheart deal”.

Traeger MP and Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter has introduced his long-promised “castle law” bill to allow lethal force against home intruders.

A government-controlled parliamentary committee will now consider the bill, before making recommendations back to parliament about its passage, amendment, or otherwise.

And with that, we’re back into debate on the government’s hate speech and gun control laws – and the end of our blogging for the day.

We’ll see you back here when proceedings kick off again at 9.30am on Thursday.

Away from parliament down on the Gold Coast, senior figures running the Queensland inquiry into the CFMEU on Wednesday morning accused a traffic management operation of having links with Melbourne underworld identity Mick Gatto.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Patrick Wheelahan said M1 Traffic Control Queensland appeared to have recently begun operations in the state.

The firm had “similar features” to those documented by the CFMEU administration’s former corruption-busting barrister, Geoffrey Watson.

“The corporate structure in the ASIC records for M1 Traffic Control QLD shows similar features to those Watson SC documented: a Paragalli as director, a company with the name Portia Nominees as a shareholder, and all shares held non-beneficially,” Wheelahan said in a statement.

The inquiry figures said no findings had been made, and they were not suggesting who owned the company or that it had engaged in any misconduct.

Calls to the phone number listed on the company’s signage went to voicemail.

Queensland’s hate speech and gun laws will likely dominate parliament again today following a fiery sitting on Tuesday.

Accusations flew from both sides of the chamber yesterday, with the government branding Cairns Labor MP Michael Healy “an antisemite” over social media posts criticising “the criminal element now running Israel” and calling for diplomatic engagement with the state to be ended “as we did with Germany” during World War II.

Meanwhile, the government faced criticism over reports the state’s lower crime victims number was the result of a change in data collection, which Police Minister Dan Purdie described as “incorrect and insulting”.

Follow our live politics blog for the latest from parliament today.