More than 70 business leaders from construction, infrastructure, education, manufacturing and transport met with Labor's new ministry on Tuesday morning.

Senior business figures gave the "meet and greet" a positive tick, but asked the Labor government to work quickly to ease the peaks and troughs in the construction industry.

Labor has promised to set up Building Queensland to prioritise infrastructure projects and produce an infrastructure plan for Queensland within 12 months.

Treasurer Curtis Pitt said Labor was interested in the large Queens Wharf integrated resort concept in George Street, but was scathing of Brisbane's 1 William Street building.

"One William Street is the absolute example of why we needed a statutory authority to provide independent advice to government," Mr Pitt said.

"We saw no business case for 1 William Street and we had the Auditor General saying that," he said.

"We ended up with a $2.6 billion fiscal disaster over the next decade, where we are going to see Queensland taxpayers essentially paying 'dead rent' in a building that was all about Campbell Newman trying to leave a legacy."

Jemina Dunn, Queensland director of the Australian Industry Group, said establishing Building Queensland – Labor's new infrastructure planning body - should be government's main aim.

"Obviously the devil will be in the detail, but we liked a lot of what we heard, particularly in terms of Building Queensland," Ms Dunn said.

"We like the idea of a Building Queensland type arrangement, which would mirror Infrastructure Australia, but at the state level."

Ms Dunn said to encourage productivity and to create a mix of jobs infrastructure projects need to come online "as quickly as possible."

"We obviously need some major capacity around the rail network and both Labor – initially with Cross River Rail – and more recently the LNP with the BaT tunnel have been looking at that," she said.

She paused when asked if 12 months was too long to wait for an infrastructure plan, but accepted good planning was needed.

"Having an absence of that for too long is going to be a problem for us," she said.

"But we want robust planning around projects and we want investment in productivity-lifting projects," she said.

"But we also need to ensure for industry a pipeline of projects because we don't want to lose the skills from the construction sector and for them to go to other states."

Queensland's major contractors raised similar concerns during the election campaign pointing out that the state had approached a lull in the infrastructure projects with no infrastructure plan.

However Mr Pitt on Tuesday said Labor understood it needed to be "disciplined" in its spending.

"We were very fiscally disciplined in preparing our election commitments and we are going to have to be very fiscally disciplined in government as well."

He said Labor would prepare its infrastructure plan within 12 months.

The previous Bligh Labor Government released a South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program first unveiled in 2005 and released annually until 2011, which had short, medium and long-term time funding frames.

In July 2011 Ms Bligh revealed a Queensland Infrastructure Plan.

Mr Pitt said that was the type of infrastructure plan Labor would again adopt.

"What we have seen in the past three years is a complete lack of an infrastructure plan, no infrastructure plan," he said.

"Business did not know what government was turning to next," he said.

"Our Building Queensland policy is a very important policy because what it does is provide that certainty," he said.

Mr Pitt said some existing infrastructure projects identified by the LNP would continue.

"There are already existing projects on the board or proposed in Queensland that a Labor government would be very interested in talking to proponents about," he said.

"Not every aspect of what the previous government did were things we disagreed with."

Queensland's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIQ) said business welcomed the discussions around payroll tax, red tape reduction and jobs growth.

Nick Behrens, CCIQ's general manager of advocacy, said Labor's payroll tax policy – of offering incentives to businesses to take on apprentices and trainees, rather than offering to lifting the payroll threshold from $1 million to $1.6 million – did reduce business costs, but not as a key cost reduction.

"I think ultimately economic activity is the greatest influence on whether or not an employee puts on an apprentice or a trainee," he said.

"But nevertheless, whatever they can do to supplement what has been a significant cost of putting on an apprentice or trainee – particularly in the second year rates – the more the merrier."

The LNP deferred the payroll tax threshold increase last year and it remains at $1.1 million.

Mr Pitt said Labor had explained its payroll tax policy to business in Opposition, and at Tuesday's meeting.

Labor offers a 25 per cent payroll rebate for businesses employing apprentices and trainees.

"It is always about having a direct link to employment and job creation," he said.

Mr Pitt said workers compensation issues were not raised by business at Tuesday's meeting, but he understood they "would be raised in the future."

Stay informed. Like the Brisbane Times Facebook page.