HOUSEHOLD FEES AND
CHARGES — 2022–23 STATE BUDGET
305. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Treasurer:
I
remind the Treasurer of the $600 million of relief in electricity charges that
he provided over the summer of 2021, along with a freeze on government
charges.
(1) Was the
Treasurer aware in framing this budget that Perth's inflation rate hit
a massive 7.6 per cent in the March quarter, the highest in many years and
significantly higher than the one per cent inflation rate in the March quarter
of 2021?
(2) If the
Treasurer was aware of the surge in inflation, why did his budget provide
hundreds of millions of dollars less in financial relief to householders than
he provided in 2021, without the relief of freezing government charges?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
I thank the
Leader of the Liberal Party for the question.
(1)–(2) It
is true, as the Minister for Transport said, that he is a critic of the $600
credit that we provided to people in October 2020, not 2021. When he says that
it lacked targeting, it gave some cost-of-living relief to everyone—every
family in Western Australia, including, as I said, all those hardworking
working-class and middle-class families who never receive anything. That is
exactly what we wanted to do. I will take him back to the period. It was a very
frightening and concerning period and there was a lot of concern about what was
going to happen or what could happen. The Attorney General finalised and
secured the Bell Group payment after 30 years of effort, with $620 million or
thereabouts, and we said that we would give it back to people at that time,
which was a very dim and dark time. Back in May 2020, we made the decision to
freeze water and electricity charges in light of what was going on with COVID
at the time. Those two things happened during the course of that calendar year.
They were big issues to help people across Western Australia with
cost-of-living relief.
Now
the member's criticism seems to be that because the inflation rate was,
as I think he said, seven per cent in the March quarter, somehow we are
not doing enough. By giving people $400 and underlying that with a 2.5 per cent
increase in water and electricity charges, somehow we are not doing enough,
even though he has claimed that the inflation rate is seven per cent. The other
day, his shadow Treasurer demanded that water and power charges should not go
up by more than the inflation rate, so we put them up by less than the
inflation rate and we gave people a $400 credit, yet now his criticism is that
the inflation rate is seven per cent. What is he suggesting—that we
should have put it up by more so that it was closer to seven per cent? Is that
what he is suggesting? I do not understand the logic of his argument. The
reality is that the inflation rate should be considered over the course of a year.
The inflation rate is a snapshot of a year, and that is the way that Treasuries
both here and in other states in Australia analyse these things from financial
year to financial year. Our inflation rate estimates are similar to the
Victorian Treasury's inflation rate estimates.
I
realise that the member thrashes around and lashes out, looking for things to
be critical of. The reality is that
we are the only government in Australia providing real relief for every family,
in terms of cost-of-living pressures; a targeted energy assistance
payment for households with a health care card, giving another $318, totalling
$718; $400 for every family around Western Australia; and the overall basket of
household goods and services goes down by 3.8 per cent next financial year.