STATE ECONOMY
761. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
With 240 000 Western Australians either unemployed or underemployed, would the
Premier not say that our domestic economy is in a perilous state, despite a second
mining boom?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
There
is a pandemic going on around the world. Western Australia is one of the only
places in the world that has now had
five months, perhaps longer, of no community spread of the virus, and we have a
growing economy. Very, very few other economies in the world are actually
growing. We have the highest consumer and business confidence of anywhere in
Australia. We launched a recovery plan—the first state in Australia to
do so—of $5.5 billion. In order to promote more consumer confidence,
over the weekend we were able to announce a $600 credit to people's
electricity bills for households around Western Australia. That is a $600
credit to everyone's electricity bills. That is a massive
cost-of-living benefit the likes of which no government in Western Australian
history has ever done before. That assists us in recovering from COVID and
builds on the success of the Attorney General and the Treasurer in securing the
Bell Group payment. After 30 years of various governments trying, this
government has managed to secure that payment, and we are giving it back to
consumers and people across the state.
I ask the shadow Treasurer—is he the shadow
Treasurer? He does not answer; he probably does not know himself. Rather than
the shadow Treasurer continuing to talk down Western Australia —
Mr D.C. Nalder: I don't!
Mr M. McGOWAN: Yes, you do.
All he does is talk down Western Australia! I think it is a factor of his
bitterness that he has absolutely no authority or role within the state
opposition. He is exhibiting a factor of that bitterness. Rather than talk down
the Western Australian economy, how about he supports us? He has not supported
us once during the whole pandemic. The member has objected to everything we
have done to keep the state safe and strong.