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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 169 asked in the Legislative Council on 27 May 2021 by Hon Dr Steve Thomas

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

GST DISTRIBUTION — IRON ORE PRICEIRON ORE ROYALTY REVENUE

169. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the Treasurer:

I refer to the 2018–19 to 2020–21 boom in iron ore royalties.

(1) What is the current spot price of iron ore as measured by Treasury?

(2) Does the Treasurer receive a nightly update on the iron ore price from Treasury to help him sleep, as the previous Treasurer publicly acknowledged?

(3) What is the total government royalty revenue to date for the 2020–21 financial year?

(4) Is an iron ore spot price above $US150 a tonne for the rest of 2021 highly unrealistic?

Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:

Again, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for some notice of the question.

(1) The current spot price is $US191.30.

(2) The Treasurer receives an overnight update of the iron ore spot price.

(3) As stated in the answer to Legislative Council question without notice 2 on 29 April 2021, iron ore royalty income totalled $5.129 billion to 31 December 2020, as shown in the latest December quarterly report. The actual for 2020–21 will be published in the Annual report on state finances in September 2021.

(4) As stated in the answer to Legislative Council question without notice 2 on 29 April 2021, annual average prices are shown in the Annual report on state finances, which is published each financial year. Iron ore prices are highly volatile. Given this inherent volatility, the McGowan Labor government's budgets are based on a prudent iron ore methodology.