GST DISTRIBUTION —
IRON ORE PRICE
938. Hon
Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the Treasurer:
I
refer to the answer to my question without notice 13 asked on 12 February 2019,
in which the minister told the house —
A scenario where the average price of
iron ore remains at $90 a tonne has not been modelled, as this assumption is
highly unrealistic.
I refer also to my question without
notice 656 asked on 13 June 2019.
(1) What is the
current international price for iron ore in US dollars per tonne?
(2) On what date
in 2019 did Treasury observe that price to drop below the $90 a tonne
identified in question without notice 13?
(3) For how much
of 2019 to date was the iron ore price therefore above $US90 a tonne?
(4) Given the
budgeted price of iron ore of $US62 a tonne for 2018–19 as per the 2018
state budget, and $US73.50 for 2019–20 in the 2019 state budget, how
much additional iron ore royalty revenue above budget estimates has the state
received so far in the 2019 calendar year?
(5) Given that
this is currently an unbudgeted windfall of revenue, what will the government
spend this windfall on?
Hon
ALANNA CLOHESY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. On behalf of the Minister for Environment, the
Treasurer has provided the following information.
(1) The iron ore
spot price as at 2 September 2019 was $US91.20 per tonne.
(2) The iron ore
spot price fell below $US90 per tonne on 13 August 2019.
(3) Since 1 January
2019, the iron ore spot price has been above $US90 per tonne for 99 days.
(4) The 2018–19
Annual Report on State Finances, to be published in late September 2019,
will detail actual revenue and expenditure for the 2018–19 financial
year and differences with budget estimates. Updated estimates for the 2019–20 financial year will be published in
December in the 2019–20 Government Mid-year Financial
Projections Statement.
(5) There will always be a number of changes to
revenue and expenditure expectations between the delivery of a state budget and
the conclusion of a financial year. The government does not make expenditure
decisions based on changes to a single revenue stream among thousands of items
of revenue and expenditure. I also note that no amount of additional revenue in
a single year can repay the mountain of debt accumulated between 2008 and 2017
by the former Liberal–National government.