I was flattered that the Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt, or possibly one of his staffers, shared my previous post on his Facebook timeline yesterday (screenshot below). It’s regrettable that the integrity of the Queensland Treasury has been questioned in the debate over the reliability of its State Accounts figures, and I’d suggest the Treasury should urgently issue a discussion paper on its State Accounts, explaining why and how it produces them. I agree with the Treasurer about the reliability of the Treasury estimates and the reasonably good economic outlook we have at the moment. Unlike the Treasurer, however, I wouldn’t necessarily blame the former Government for the technical recession we had, as it was always a possibility given the mining investment boom coming to a natural end. In any case, whether the previous Government was to blame for the downturn is irrelevant to sorting out the Queensland Government’s current budgetary challenges, and I wish the Queensland Treasurer good luck in formulating the 2015-16 State Budget.