The Queensland government faces a towering debt and problems with raising revenue but says it must spend to keep a pulse in the state economy.
On Tuesday Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad will deliver a budget promising record $19.2 billion spend in the health sector, $5.66 billion in household concessions and a sharp focus on the regions.
The state Labor government must also contend with a GST cut worth hundreds of millions of dollars, a write-down in stamp duty revenue and a $1.3 billion clean-up bill following February's floods.
Its problems don't end there.
"To be clear, its not just the federal government, but it's also how they're managing the federal economy as well," Ms Trad told AAP.
"The national account figures do demonstrate we've got some pretty challenging economic conditions."
Ms Trad told business and industry leaders this week she would deliver a surplus but that the government can't afford to rein in spending because of the economic hit that would follow.
She says regional towns and cities, where Labor was smashed by voters in May, would feel it the worst because service delivery and infrastructure investment plays a critical role in their economies.
It is there that the government will drop a majority of its spending.
"We can't have a strong economy if we don't have strong regions," she said.
"We are all in this together."
Ms Trad and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk won't rule in or out new taxes, saying all will be revealed in two days.
The treasurer has acknowledged Queensland's revenue problems, but won't increase royalties on the state's coal exports, which reached $36.5 billion in the year to April.
"We made the decision in terms of the economies in regional Queensland that now is not the time to rethink the royalty regime," Ms Trad added.
Instead, Ms Trad has proposed coal companies voluntarily pitch in a combined $70 million over three years to pay for regional infrastructure, in exchange for a three-year royalty freeze.
Total government debt was forecast to reach $83 billion by 2021/22 but Ms Trad won't say if that figure remains accurate, although she insists debt is less than it would have been under the Liberal National Party.
