ROYALTIES FOR REGIONS —
2020–21 STATE BUDGET
774. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Premier:
I refer to the state budget papers
and the section relating to royalties for regions.
(1) Why has the Premier's government directed
almost half the funding from the state's only regional development
program to subsidise the Water Corporation, TAFE, the Department of Education
and the Department of Transport to underwrite existing services that had
previously been paid for from each portfolio's budget?
(2) Have any of
his regional members of Parliament raised concerns with him, as the Premier,
about the misuse of royalties for regions under his leadership?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
(1)–(2) Leader
of the National Party, I have had a lot of positive feedback about the budget
from members of the caucus. People are very
excited about the fact that there will be 800 additional police officers shared
all over Western Australia, metro and
country. People are very excited that fees and charges are frozen for everyone
across the regions and, indeed, every household will get a $600 credit on its
electricity bill. People are very excited that we were able to put $200 million
into backfilling remote Aboriginal communities and making sure that they are maintained and have proper buildings, because
the Liberal Party pulled out support for remote Aboriginal communities.
People are very excited about a massive increase in mental health spend across the state, including our support for
suicide prevention, in particular, all over Western Australia, and people are very excited that we kept royalties
for regions, as we said we would prior to the state election. Indeed,
there are huge spends all over regional Western Australia, creating jobs and
ensuring that we recover from COVID in each region of the state.
But
I note that the Nationals WA members continue to whinge. I expect that they
will produce a whole set of
commitments at the next election and then the Liberal Party will produce a whole
set of commitments at the next election, and considering the Liberals and
Nationals do not go into coalition anymore, both sets of commitments will be
loaded onto the taxpayers of Western Australia. So, if the conservative forces
of this state are re-elected at the next election, or at any time in the future
whilst this arrangement subsists whereby they do not go into coalition and do
not calibrate their policies together, the taxpayers of Western Australia
should be very, very frightened. Last time when they were in office, the
Liberal and National Parties drove the
state's debt to extraordinary levels when economic times were good and
revenues were growing. Imagine what
they might do were they to get back into office! Imagine the disaster that
would befall the people of Western Australia if the Liberals and Nationals come
back to office any time, I expect, in the next 10 years.