Amy Remeikis writes in the Brisbane Times (18.12.14) that Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls’ mid-year fiscal and economic update has painted a grimmer than expected picture for the state. ‘A higher than predicted deficit and lower growth rate – things aren’t as rosy for the Queensland economy as the government had hoped. Treasurer Tim Nicholls delivered the mid-year fiscal and economic update on Thursday and admitted the deficit would be $571 million higher than the 2014-15 budget estimate, bringing it to $2.842 billion. Mr Nicholls said part of that increase was due to the federal government paying disaster relief funding during 2013-14, a year earlier than expected. But as with the 2014-15 budget, these were not the numbers Mr Nicholls wanted to be delivering just months out from the next election, which may explain why it took 10 paragraphs in the government media release before any of the bad news was acknowledged.’