NSW Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres has attacked the Queensland government’s multimillion dollar bid to host the State of Origin opener in Townsville.

Mr Ayres told Jim Wilson NSW’s offer was ‘substantially’ inferior to Queensland’s $8 million, but the NSW government but not prepared to take so great a loss.

“We’ve got to be prudent with the way we spend taxpayers’ money.

“We thought it was a pretty competitive offer, and the NRL just came back and said ‘this is what we’ve been offered from Queensland’.

“I said to them ‘Good luck to you, I don’t think that’s a very responsible figure’.”

Mr Ayres also pointed out Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has recently been approved for a pay rise up to $427,500.

“They’ve got enough money to buy State of Origin, but if you’re a tourism operator in the north end of Queensland … I don’t know whether this is enough to fill the gap.”

Press PLAY below to hear his hit on the Queensland government