IRON ORE ROYALTY REVENUE
53. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the
Treasurer:
It is not the same without the
Minister for Emergency Services on Thursday; however, I imagine the Leader of the
House might be taking questions on his behalf.
Hon Sue Ellery: No.
Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS: It must
be the parliamentary secretary.
I refer to the rivers of cash
flowing into the government's coffers thanks to the 2019–22
iron ore price boom.
(1) What is the current spot price
of iron ore as measured by Treasury?
(2) What was the average iron ore
price for the 2021–22 financial year to date?
(3) What is the iron or royalty
income in this financial year to date?
(4) Has the
government reassessed the price and reset its expected revenue and surplus for
2021–22; and, if so, what are the new predictions?
(5) What is the
government's working estimate of the non-accelerating relation rate of
unemployment for Western Australia and how does that compare to the current
unemployment rate?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
It is actually in my pile. I answer
on behalf of the Minister for Emergency Services. I thank the honourable member
for some notice of the question.
(1) It is $US139.70 per tonne.
(2) It is $US137 per tonne.
(3) Royalty
income is stated in each quarterly financially results report. Royalty income
totalled $3.57 billion to 31 September 2021, as shown in the September
quarterly report.
(4) The updated
iron ore price and royalty forecast will be provided in the 2022–23
state budget.
(5) The
non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment is difficult to estimate and
the Western Australian Treasury does not
have a working estimate. The Reserve Bank noted the difficulty of estimating
the NAIRU. Even at a national level the Reserve Bank of Australia is
only prepared to offer a range.