EMERGENCY SERVICES VOLUNTEER FUEL CARD
200. Hon MARTIN ALDRIDGE to the Minister for Emergency Services:
I refer to the Emergency Services
Volunteer Fuel Card scheme funded by royalties for regions.
(1) Is the
minister aware that in 2017 the McGowan Labor government halved the fuel card
value from $2 000 to $1 000?
(2) Is the minister aware that one
in three brigades, groups or units fully expend the value of the card?
(3) Is the minister
aware that the value of the fuel card in 2016 could purchase around 1 700
litres of petrol compared with just 500 litres today?
(4) Considering
rising fuel prices and cost-of-living pressures, will the minister immediately
commit to reinstate the original $2 000 value of the card in recognition of the
vitally important work of emergency service volunteers?
Hon SAMANTHA ROWE replied:
I thank the member for some notice
of the question. I provide the following answer on behalf of the Minister for
Emergency Services.
(1) Yes.
(2)–(3) No.
(4) No. The
McGowan government takes decision-making on public expenditure seriously,
unlike the former Liberal–National government. It is not for an
individual minister to make financial commitments outside of a budget process.