Budget documents show the 80-hectare site at Birkdale, east of Brisbane, could “support up to 400 homes and will increase the supply of land for housing in metropolitan Brisbane”.

However, Redland City mayor Karen Williams was incensed after learning of the planned sale and described the outcome as “deplorable”.

The federal government was selling the land to raise revenue, she said.

Cr Williams and senior council staff travelled to Canberra in late March to lobby Communications Minister Mitch Fifield to buy the land for education and community purposes.

The land on Old Cleveland Road East, next to Howeston Golf Course, belongs to the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

“Council has been negotiating with the federal government for 3½ years to try to secure this land and ensure it remains as community use,” Cr Williams said.

“For ages it has been considered a potential university site for our area.”

The site is next to land owned by Air Services Australia and the total area is close to 100 hectares.

“We don’t need it for housing,” Cr Williams said on Tuesday night.

“Redlands already meets the state government’s requirements for housing until 2041.

“It is completely contrary to what council has been trying to achieve and it is completely contrary to the South East Queensland Regional Plan.”

Queensland government officers also only learnt of the federal land sale on Tuesday night, with some expressing shock the land was being sold to developers.

On Wednesday morning, Queensland Treasurer and Deputy Premier Jackie Trad said she was “bamboozled” the federal government had “ignored the wishes of the local community”.

“This land, I understand, is outside the urban footprint so if developers were to develop 400 lots, I understand the infrastructure necessary to bring that online is just going to be incredible,” she told ABC Radio Brisbane.

“There are some conservation and koala habitat issues concerning that area and I just think it reflects the hubris and the arrogance of this government.”

In January, Redland City Council voted to buy the land as a potential university or community site.

“I am just so angry with this budget announcement,” Cr Williams said.

“This is a real slap in the face for Redlands.”

Highways, public transport and rail

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull included money for the M1 and Bruce Highway, the Sunshine Coast rail line and Brisbane City Council’s Metro project.

That means work on the two sections of the Pacific Motorway between Eight Mile Plains and Daisy Hill and from Varsity Lakes to Tugun will proceed, with $1 billion set down in the four-year forward estimates.

However, Ms Trad pointed out money for these projects was not allocated "until 2023".

There is $390 million for the Beerburrum to Nambour rail line, $300 million for Brisbane City Council’s Metro project and $880 million to continue the Bruce Highway upgrade between Pine River and Caloundra.

No money was allocated for Brisbane’s underground Cross River Rail, a decision condemned by Ms Trad.

There is $800 million to continue the two decades of work on the Bruce Highway in the Cooroy-to-Curra section in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

In outback Queensland there is $170.0 million for the Amberley Interchange on the Cunningham Highway, $64.2 million for two new upgrades on the Warrego Highway at Dalby, Oakey and Miles and $160 million for an emerging tourism route, The Outback Way, which leads into Winton.

Urban congestion

There is a yet-to-be-defined $1 billion set aside for an Urban Congestion Fund to “tackle urban congestion in cities”.

Budget documents include this description of the fund: “It support projects to remediate pinch points, improve traffic safety and increase network efficiency for commuter and freight movements in urban areas.”

Provision for this funding has already been included in the forward estimates.

Great Barrier Reef

A promised $535.8 million for the Great Barrier Reef’s Reef 2050 Plan will be spent over five years.

Most of the money is invested in the not-for-profit Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

It will fund $200.6 million to improve water quality, $100 million to help coral restoration and adaptation research and $58 million to advance programs to combat the crown-of-thorns starfish.

The fund will also deliver $40 million to enhance reef health monitoring and reporting.

Reaction

Ms Trad said much of the money coming to Queensland for highways “would not eventuate for many years”.

Ms Trad accused the Turnbull government of playing politics on Cross River Rail in favour of similar developments in other states.

"We've actually seen the Turnbull government commit significant funding to congestion-busting rail projects in both Sydney and Melbourne, and Perth, but not in Queensland," she said.

The Queensland Resources Council welcomed the $250 million spending in new satellite technology and “no new taxes” in the mining sector.

“The federal budget also is expecting an extra $3.7 billion in taxes over the next four years based on improved mining profitability on the back of higher commodity prices,” QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said.

Queensland’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the emphasis of the budget was cutting personal income tax.

“Nevertheless, CCIQ remains concerned that Budget 2018-19 has not gone far enough in addressing structural challenges in the budget,” CCIQ general manager of advocacy Kate Whittle said.

“Although we have witnessed an uptick in revenues, this may very well prove temporary and the business community was hoping more would be done to protect Australia’s economy against potential headwinds.”