POTASH ROYALTY RATE
308. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
I refer to the government's
plan to charge a five per cent royalty on sulphate of potash production.
(1) Given the
sector's very strong advice to government that a five per cent royalty
charge would damage investment in the industry, why did the government go ahead
and do it anyway?
(2) How does
crippling the development of a burgeoning critical mineral industry help
diversify the Western Australian economy?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
(1)–(2) The Minister for Mines and Petroleum advises me
that the royalty rate has not changed since the opposition was in
office, so that is the existing royalty rate. We have provided a 50 per cent
rebate for a period of two years—to, I think, sometime in 2023—in
order to assist any producers over this more difficult period. I realise that
in the mining industry, as with everything, people would like to pay less, but
obviously the people of Western Australia deserve a return on the mineral
wealth that the people of Western Australia own, whatever form of minerals it
might be. As Colin Barnett always used to say—perhaps the member was
not listening when he was here—minerals under the ground are the
property of the state; that is the law. The
state provides the right for miners of whatever type to mine minerals, and the
return the state gets—which is the fee that the owner receives—is
the royalty rate. That is why the people of the state deserve a return. I am
advised that it is the same royalty rate as has been in place for some years.