Question Without Notice No. 779 asked in the Legislative Council on 2 November 2017 by Hon Dr Steve Thomas
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
EMERGENCY SERVICES VOLUNTEER FUEL CARD — FUNDING
779. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the Minister for Regional Development:
This question has been redirected to the Minister for Regional Development, so I apologise for that.
I refer to the 2017–18 state budget.
(1) Is all royalties for regions expenditure in this year and all forward estimate years, including 2020–21, currently covered by a memorandum of understanding formalising the funding?
(2) If no to (1), please provide a list of all royalties for regions funding listed in the 2017–18 state budget not covered by a memorandum of understanding, which, according to the precedent set by the Minister for Emergency Services in question without notice 755 asked in the Legislative Council yesterday, 1 November 2017, are not funded.
(3) Does the $1.9 million listed on page 195 of the 2016–17 budget paper No 3 under the heading ''Regional Community Programs and Schemes'' and the line item ''Volunteer Fuel Card'' for the 2019–20 forward estimate year actually reflect the funding to this budget item?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
Right. Well, this is rather complicated.
(1) No.
(2) All royalties for regions funding outlined in chapter 7 of budget paper No 3 has been approved by cabinet for expenditure, except the funding contained in the ''Administered Items'' line, which is a notional allocation for projects that require further planning.
(3) A total of $7.37 million of royalties for regions funding was approved by the previous government for the volunteer fuel card, with funding from 2015–16 to 2018–19. In the 2016–17 state budget process, out year funding in 2019–20 was populated as a notional allocation but was not approved by cabinet for expenditure. In the 2017–18 state budget, a total of $4 million of royalties for regions funding has been approved by cabinet for the volunteer fuel card and was included in the budget across the forward estimates.