"Labor's promises have been and will continue to be, careful and modest in spending terms when compared to the LNP," he said. Labor leader Annastacia Palaszczuk answers questions about Labor's economic plan. Credit:Amy Remeikis "But they are meaningful promises that set about undoing the damage done to Queensland by Campbell Newman." Instead, it relies on paying down general government debt - the debt governments accumulate from day to day business and building infrastructure, instead of including debt owned by government-owned corporations, which is serviced by the revenue they raise and tax-equivalent payments. Paying down debt

General government debt in Queensland is about $46 billion. The government plans on paying this down by about $7 billion through its Strong Choices asset lease and privatisation plan, as detailed by the analysis economist John Quiggin undertook. Labor plans on paying it down by $5.4 billion over the next six years. It plans on a $12 billion pay down over the next decade, "to reach zero net debt", "exceeding the likely pay down of general government debt under the Newman LNP Government's asset sales plan". "When we look at that figure ($46 billion), Labor, from year one of our promise, we will be under the debt action plan paying down $5.4 billion over six years. Of course, that means over our 10-year plan, that $12 billion will be paid down," Mr Pitt said. "This is the debt that is not self-supporting. Right now, those government-owned businesses are paying down their own debt and this is the debt we must be paying down to ensure we are impressing upon people we are serious about paying down debt."

It means that Labor will take longer to pay down the debt, but they have said there would be a difference in the time frames for that, for a while. But Mr Pitt said under Labor's plan, the government could continue paying down debt using revenues raised by its corporations, while the LNP had chosen a "one-off" option. "Now I'm not sure where their future sources are going to be for debt pay down," he said. "That's a question you can ask the Treasurer." Mr Pitt vowed to maintain a general government net operating surplus over the economic cycle, promising to "match" the LNP's much touted return to surplus next financial year.

Government-owned corporations It has also vowed to "quarantine" 66 per cent of dividends raised by the government-owned corporations, for a debt management trust, while reforming the management of the corporations. "A Labor government will merge the three electricity distribution network businesses - Ergon, Energex and Powerlink - into a single, more efficient network business," Mr Pitt said. "We will also combine the two electricity generation businesses - CS Energy and Stanwell - into a new generation business. "This will consolidate the number of government-owned energy businesses from five, currently, down to two.

"Independent modelling by Orion Consulting Network details that this new structure for our energy businesses will achieve more than $150 million a year in savings." Mr Pitt said that number would be achieved through a reduction in board and management costs, bringing board positions from 34 to 16, reduced administration and human resources duplication and savings from aggregated network operations, which would include lower borrowings from lower capital spend, transaction costs and loan fees. "And importantly, these savings are achievable without any forced redundancies," he said. When pressed, Mr Pitt said Labor was not promising no job losses, just that it wouldn't force people into losing their position. "We will not make a promise like Campbell Newman did and say there will be no job losses," he said.

"We have no forced redundancies. Our first approach will be of course, redeployment, and we will of course, with consolidation of five entities down to two, see some changes and that includes changes in the space of the boards, the number of people on those boards, and of course there are going to be senior managers, but all senior executive contracts will be honoured. "We will work off natural attrition and not forced redundancies. We have been clear." Mr Pitt said the state's forecast growth, which the Premier and Treasurer have been pointing to for the past year as proof of their economic management, which is set to be the highest in the nation "will be almost entirely due to LNG exports", which was a Beattie government initiative. "The best time for Labor to be in office, is during a period of growth," he said. "Because we are the ones to capitalise on that. Because we believe that people matter and employment matters and that is the message we are giving to Queenslanders."