❓ Mr Nalder asks the Premier to freeze cost-of-living increases. The Premier responds by highlighting the government's strong financial management and its impact on the upcoming budget, without directly committing to the freeze.
AnsweredQoN 111Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
STATE ECONOMY
111. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
Will the Premier immediately commit to freezing all cost-of-living increases,
so that the public of Western Australia can
spend with some confidence, knowing they will not be hit with cost-of-living increases in the upcoming budget?
111. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
Will the Premier immediately commit to freezing all cost-of-living increases,
so that the public of Western Australia can
spend with some confidence, knowing they will not be hit with cost-of-living increases in the upcoming budget?
AnswerView source ↗
The
government is currently considering what it will do. Obviously, our policy is
to deliver a surplus in the upcoming budget. We delivered a surplus in
the current budget. We are a government that believes in strong financial management, but our strong financial management,
even in the face of economic headwinds that we have confronted over the
last three years, gives us additional capacity to deal with the matter. Had we
not had this government, this Treasurer and this cabinet in power, Western Australia
would be all at sea. If we had had the 6.7 per cent expense growth that the last government put in place
continue every year, this state would be in all sorts of trouble. Fortunately, over the last three years—I made a virtue of this and, I must say, I have
got a lot of criticism out of it—we have done everything we can to repair the budget situation, including working
with the commonwealth to get a repair to the GST. I want to make this point, and this is, again, true: had a Labor
government not been elected in March 2017 , a repair to the GST would not
have been put in place.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr M. McGOWAN : Even under the
arrangement we still only get 70 cents in the dollar, which is way below
anything any government has experienced in Australia in the last 80 years,
since the system has been in place.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr M. McGOWAN : It is way
below what any other government in Australia has ever experienced in the 90 years
since the system has been in place, but better than what we were getting. What
happened of course was that we had a government in Western Australia that was
prepared to take up the fight to the commonwealth government, and that resulted
in an outcome there.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr
M. McGOWAN : On top of that, over
the course of the last three years we have had the best financial management in place in Western Australian history, and the best financial management of
any government in Australia, at least in the
last decade. That has given us some capacity to respond. Of course, we cannot
do everything people might like , but we understand that there is a requirement
to respond and we are going to go about that in a sensible, reasonable and
rational way.
government is currently considering what it will do. Obviously, our policy is
to deliver a surplus in the upcoming budget. We delivered a surplus in
the current budget. We are a government that believes in strong financial management, but our strong financial management,
even in the face of economic headwinds that we have confronted over the
last three years, gives us additional capacity to deal with the matter. Had we
not had this government, this Treasurer and this cabinet in power, Western Australia
would be all at sea. If we had had the 6.7 per cent expense growth that the last government put in place
continue every year, this state would be in all sorts of trouble. Fortunately, over the last three years—I made a virtue of this and, I must say, I have
got a lot of criticism out of it—we have done everything we can to repair the budget situation, including working
with the commonwealth to get a repair to the GST. I want to make this point, and this is, again, true: had a Labor
government not been elected in March 2017 , a repair to the GST would not
have been put in place.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr M. McGOWAN : Even under the
arrangement we still only get 70 cents in the dollar, which is way below
anything any government has experienced in Australia in the last 80 years,
since the system has been in place.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr M. McGOWAN : It is way
below what any other government in Australia has ever experienced in the 90 years
since the system has been in place, but better than what we were getting. What
happened of course was that we had a government in Western Australia that was
prepared to take up the fight to the commonwealth government, and that resulted
in an outcome there.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr
M. McGOWAN : On top of that, over
the course of the last three years we have had the best financial management in place in Western Australian history, and the best financial management of
any government in Australia, at least in the
last decade. That has given us some capacity to respond. Of course, we cannot
do everything people might like , but we understand that there is a requirement
to respond and we are going to go about that in a sensible, reasonable and
rational way.
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