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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 198 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 24 March 2022 by Mr R.S. Love

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

COUNTRY AGE PENSION FUEL CARD

198. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Treasurer:

I have a supplementary question. Given that state incomes rise with the price of oil and gas, does the Treasurer think that it is fair to share that windfall with struggling pensioners?

Mr M. McGOWAN replied:

They do rise modestly. With the increase in the price of oil and gas, particularly the price of oil, they do rise relatively modestly compared with other impacts on the state budget; but, as the member knows, there is a whole range of factors that impact on the state budget that we have to take into account. One thing I want to do is to make sure that we understand in the budget the impact of the cost of living on families, which is what we have done in each of our budgets—certainly, compared with those of the previous government. The member might recall that back in 2020 we provided support to each and every household across Western Australia for their electricity costs—something that was condemned by the Liberal Party at that time, or perhaps more recently. I think most Western Australians appreciated that bit of support at that point in time, even if the Liberal Party did not.

In respect of the member's question, he actually raised a reasonable point, which we will consider. I will make one point about the Country Age Pension Fuel Card. In the lead-up to the 2017 election—I must say, all the elections are starting to run together in my head these days—I recall that the Nationals WA ran a campaign to abolish it. They had ads and all sorts of things out there, and they were going to get rid of it, but we did not. I just make that point.

Mr R.S. Love interjected.

Mr M. McGOWAN: Yes, you did. You had all sorts of ads out there saying that you are going to get rid of it, and that if you were elected, it would all be gone. You were wrong then and you are wrong now.