The authorities in the Australian state of Queensland are aiming to return the state's budget to surplus in 2014-15.

Premier Campbell Newman has indicated that he wants to get the AAA credit rating again. The Newman government's first budget has announced 14,000 public service job cuts on Tuesday. The state is expected to report A $10.8 billion or $11.2 billion in the fiscal year till June 30, 2013, according to Treasurer Tim Nicholls.

It is the first budget prepared by the Liberal National Party's government, which was formed after the party succeeded in winning the election from Labor after 14 years in March. Newman is cutting jobs and slashing services in order to avoid worsening of the fiscal situation of the state, which already has the highest level of debt in the country.

While speaking to the state parliament in Brisbane, Nicholls said, "We have had to make the hard decisions necessary to get the great state of Queensland's finances back on track and back in the black. This afternoon we reset the clock and we break from the addiction to debt and deficit that characterized Queensland's finances under Labor."

Queensland accounts for about a fifth of the country's A$1.4 trillion economy and is the third largest state in terms of population.