ROYALTIES FOR REGIONS —
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
976. Mr
R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
I ask this question on behalf of
the people of regional Western Australia. Will the Premier outline whether he
and the Labor Party will fully commit to royalties for regions as it was
intended—that is, 25 per cent of royalties collected by the state
dedicated to a statewide regional development program?
Mr M. McGOWAN
replied:
It is interesting because there are
only 25 per cent of Nationals WA members in the chamber—and one of them
is a ring-in.
We said prior to the last election
that we would keep royalties for regions, and that is exactly what we have
done. Members of the Nationals ran a scare campaign prior to the last election
in which they were saying that we were going to abolish the scheme. It turned
out that they were wrong. They ran another scare campaign that we were going to abolish the Country Age Pension Fuel
Card. Again it turned out that they were wrong. We kept the scheme. We
are ensuring that the money is spent wisely. We have proper budget processes
around it; we do not have the two budget processes that the Liberals and
Nationals had that drove Colin Barnett nuts. We have a proper budget process
whereby royalties for regions comes in to the Expenditure Review Committee and
measures within it are ticked off and go through the normal cabinet process.
Members will find that all sorts of
important projects all over regional WA are being funded by this government through royalties for regions. Yesterday, I was in
Bunbury for the opening of the Jetty Road Causeway, the wonderful
Bunbury waterfront project. I congratulate the member for Bunbury.
Mr R.S. Love: He's
not here.
Mr M. McGOWAN: He is no
doubt down there enjoying it.
Mr R.S. Love: He's
not here; he must be out with the Nationals.
Mr M. McGOWAN: We have about 85 per cent of our
members here.
I was down there yesterday
for that important announcement. Yesterday, I was also in Mandurah to see the
important upgrades to the TAFE college. Our record stands. We are
strongly supportive of regional WA. We are keeping an important program for the
people of regional WA. We are keeping the regions safe and strong. Industries
all over the state, including the tourism, hospitality, mining and agriculture
industries, are all very, very strong in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.
That is what this government has ensured will continue to take place.