CORONAVIRUS —
STATE ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN
513. Ms
E. HAMILTON to the Treasurer:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's $5.5 billion recovery plan.
(1) Can the
Treasurer outline to the house how this plan will support businesses, get Western
Australians back to work and strengthen our economy?
(2) Can the
Treasurer advise the house whether this comprehensive economic driving plan
would have been possible without this government's strong and
disciplined financial management?
Mr B.S.
WYATT replied:
I thank the member for Joondalup for
that very good question.
(1)–(2) I
must say, in reflecting on the comments of the Premier just a moment ago, that
there really is not a place on this planet
that we would want to be other than Western Australia. When I look at the
national response, I suspect that Australia is leading globally, and certainly
within Australia, Western Australia is leading the nation. Despite some of the
rhetoric coming from the opposition, there is not another place we would want
to be.
We
are, I think, dealing very effectively with the health and economic challenges
that the coronavirus has put upon us. When I became Treasurer—I have
reflected upon this many times in this place—I said that we must always
govern and manage the balance sheet for the future. I was often very critical
of the former Liberal–National government about how it took it upon
itself to consume the capacity of the balance sheet for years ahead. For the
first three years of this government, great effort went into restoring strength
to our balance sheet. That is because at no point can we just assume that good
economic times are here to stay. Admittedly,
at the time, I was thinking about the normal economic contractions through the
cycle, not the impact of a global pandemic. Nonetheless, the health
crisis has certainly now given a global economic crisis that I think Western Australia
is leading. Because of those efforts, we have worked very hard, against the
resistance and objections of the opposition, to restore strength to the balance
sheet.
Moody's made the point,
member for Joondalup, that of all the states in the nation, Western Australia
is best placed to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus. As a result,
everybody saw the $2.8 billion in immediate reaction around support for
households and businesses and stimulus into the economy, and of course the
Premier announced the other week the $5.5 billion recovery plan. No other state
is at this point. No other state is at the point at which we are at—planning
for recovery, secure behind the hard borders that the Premier has had to defend
against the Leader of the Opposition. Secure behind those hard borders, we have
been able to open up our economy and get activity and jobs growth in a way that
makes all other states envious, let alone economies around the world. This plan
to support jobs in construction,
manufacturing, tourism and hospitality, renewable energy, education and
training, agriculture, mining and conservation means that we can, in an
environment in which we have seen perhaps the greatest economic shock of our
lifetime, start generating activity and job creation.
I want to make this point in
conclusion: the Premier has been determined in protecting the great gains that Western
Australians have sacrificed much for for the greater good. The Premier has
defended this hard border against constant
attack from the Leader of the Opposition and the Liberal Party at both the
state and federal level. One thing I know as I move around Western Australia
is that every Western Australian values that
border and they are not going to sacrifice what they have given to ensure that Western
Australia is in the strongest economic position in the nation.