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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 79 asked in the Legislative Council on 20 March 2018 by Hon Colin Holt

Parliament: 40 Session: 1


WASTE PROCESSING FACILITY — SOUTH WEST REGION
      79. Hon COLIN HOLT to the Minister for Regional Development:
News reports today have indicated that the minister has withdrawn funding of around $4 million budgeted for a regional waste facility in the south west.
(1) Are the reports true?
      (2) If they are true, will the minister repurpose this unbudgeted windfall to funding Moora Residential College?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
      (1)–(2) The member appears to be unaware that we are not in a situation of finding ourselves with a windfall. In fact, we have a $43 billion debt. It is true that because of the way royalties for regions was structured and the way that National Party ministers ran it, on 29 June every year money was shovelled out the door to make sure that they did not go over and that there was not an accrual of funds within the fund. As a result, many projects that were very vague and undeveloped got funding, and that funding was sent off to various local governments. This was one such project. In fact, the money was given some four years ago for this particular project and it has never moved. Indeed, over the intervening four years, at least two of the local authorities have decided that they do not want to be part of it. I have to say to the member that we have to use every opportunity we can to get value out of these things. We cannot have all these sums of money sitting around in local government coffers, doing nothing to —
Hon Martin Aldridge: So will you give it to Moora?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN: We have made a decision about Moora on other grounds, as we have articulated. We have this $4 million and I can tell the member that there is plenty of unmet need across this state, and that money will be going into consideration for the projects that we have.