❓ Mr Nalder questions the Premier about additional plans to stimulate the WA economy given Qantas's travel cuts and a sluggish domestic economy. The Premier outlines existing measures and criticises the previous government's financial management.
AnsweredQoN 110Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
STATE ECONOMY
110. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Premier:
Given that Qantas is saying people
have dramatically cut travelling, both domestically and internationally, and
that the majority of the initiatives the Treasurer has recently mentioned were
to deal with an already sluggish domestic economy,
will the Premier outline to the people of Western Australia the additional
government plans to immediately stimulate the Western Australian
economy?
110. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Premier:
Given that Qantas is saying people
have dramatically cut travelling, both domestically and internationally, and
that the majority of the initiatives the Treasurer has recently mentioned were
to deal with an already sluggish domestic economy,
will the Premier outline to the people of Western Australia the additional
government plans to immediately stimulate the Western Australian
economy?
AnswerView source ↗
As I have been saying going back to
3 February, this is a serious threat to the Western Australian economy. We are
a trade-exposed economy. We have a strong trading relationship, particularly
with China, and that is why I convened the industry roundtables on the first
working day after the Prime Minister contacted me to indicate the cessation of
people transiting from China to Australia. It is a serious threat to the
economy. I will to outline a few things. Fortunately, towards the end of last
year we put in place a whole range of measures to enhance economic activity. We
provided $200 million for maintenance spend in schools; $100 million
maintenance spend in hospitals; two rounds of cuts to payroll tax, one of which
has already been put in place; the cut to TAFE fees for 34 important courses;
and cuts to stamp duty, particularly for multistorey developments across the
community. They are five significant
stimulus measures that we put in place across the economy. This morning, the
Minister for Transport, the member
for Midland and I turned the sod on the train manufacturing facility here in Western
Australia. That is another facility that will create hundreds, if not
thousands, of jobs and a new industry for Western Australia, and we can build
trains more cheaply in Western Australia than elsewhere. Following the industry
round tables I conducted on 3 February, we
launched a tourism package that has money for marketing and also to support
cheaper airfares around Western Australia.
We did that back in early February. As the Tourism Council Western Australia
said , we were the first government in
Australia to act. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia said we were the first government to act.
Paul Everingham from the CCI said that the contact with the Western Australian government has been second to none and that our working together has been
second to none. We are doing everything we can to deal with this matter. The
reality—this is an undeniable fact—is that over the last three
years the government has put in enormous work to repair the state budget.
Mr D.C. Nalder interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : Members must
recall, as Joe Spagnolo wrote on the weekend, that debt had spiralled from less
than $5 billion or thereabouts when the last Liberal–National
government came to power, and it was heading to over $44 billion over the
forward estimates.
Mr D.C. Nalder : Not when
they left power.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Bateman!
Mr M. McGOWAN : Please, just
listen to the answer.
Mr D.C. Nalder interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Bateman, I call you to order for the first time.
Mr M. McGOWAN : There was
annual expense growth of 6.7 per cent; it was a period. The average spend
growth in the last government was 6.7 per cent.
I want to make a point about this: we have gone to enormous efforts to repair the budget.
Mr D.C. Nalder : Lucky.
Mr M. McGOWAN : Mr Speaker!
The SPEAKER : Lucky you, you
get called to order for a second time, member for Bateman.
Mr M. McGOWAN : The member
asks me questions about coronavirus, the most important issue confronting the
world at the moment, and he interjects with inane interjections while I am
trying to answer his question.
We have gone to an enormous effort to repair the budget. That
gives us some capacity in the lead-up to the state budget to assist small to medium-sized enterprises and households across Western Australia.
That is what we are currently working on. Had we not done that repair work over
the last three years, we would not have this capacity. That is the reality. During the economic good times, from 2008 onwards,
the last government blew the budget. During economic good times, we
should have debt at low levels, so that there is capacity for when unexpected
dramatic and potentially catastrophic events
occur. The previous government did the opposite. It left us a financial basket
case . We have had to repair that and,
fortunately, against opposition members' objections, we have, and that
gives us some capacity to deal with the situation we are currently
confronting, and that is what the government is working on.
3 February, this is a serious threat to the Western Australian economy. We are
a trade-exposed economy. We have a strong trading relationship, particularly
with China, and that is why I convened the industry roundtables on the first
working day after the Prime Minister contacted me to indicate the cessation of
people transiting from China to Australia. It is a serious threat to the
economy. I will to outline a few things. Fortunately, towards the end of last
year we put in place a whole range of measures to enhance economic activity. We
provided $200 million for maintenance spend in schools; $100 million
maintenance spend in hospitals; two rounds of cuts to payroll tax, one of which
has already been put in place; the cut to TAFE fees for 34 important courses;
and cuts to stamp duty, particularly for multistorey developments across the
community. They are five significant
stimulus measures that we put in place across the economy. This morning, the
Minister for Transport, the member
for Midland and I turned the sod on the train manufacturing facility here in Western
Australia. That is another facility that will create hundreds, if not
thousands, of jobs and a new industry for Western Australia, and we can build
trains more cheaply in Western Australia than elsewhere. Following the industry
round tables I conducted on 3 February, we
launched a tourism package that has money for marketing and also to support
cheaper airfares around Western Australia.
We did that back in early February. As the Tourism Council Western Australia
said , we were the first government in
Australia to act. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia said we were the first government to act.
Paul Everingham from the CCI said that the contact with the Western Australian government has been second to none and that our working together has been
second to none. We are doing everything we can to deal with this matter. The
reality—this is an undeniable fact—is that over the last three
years the government has put in enormous work to repair the state budget.
Mr D.C. Nalder interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : Members must
recall, as Joe Spagnolo wrote on the weekend, that debt had spiralled from less
than $5 billion or thereabouts when the last Liberal–National
government came to power, and it was heading to over $44 billion over the
forward estimates.
Mr D.C. Nalder : Not when
they left power.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Bateman!
Mr M. McGOWAN : Please, just
listen to the answer.
Mr D.C. Nalder interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Bateman, I call you to order for the first time.
Mr M. McGOWAN : There was
annual expense growth of 6.7 per cent; it was a period. The average spend
growth in the last government was 6.7 per cent.
I want to make a point about this: we have gone to enormous efforts to repair the budget.
Mr D.C. Nalder : Lucky.
Mr M. McGOWAN : Mr Speaker!
The SPEAKER : Lucky you, you
get called to order for a second time, member for Bateman.
Mr M. McGOWAN : The member
asks me questions about coronavirus, the most important issue confronting the
world at the moment, and he interjects with inane interjections while I am
trying to answer his question.
We have gone to an enormous effort to repair the budget. That
gives us some capacity in the lead-up to the state budget to assist small to medium-sized enterprises and households across Western Australia.
That is what we are currently working on. Had we not done that repair work over
the last three years, we would not have this capacity. That is the reality. During the economic good times, from 2008 onwards,
the last government blew the budget. During economic good times, we
should have debt at low levels, so that there is capacity for when unexpected
dramatic and potentially catastrophic events
occur. The previous government did the opposite. It left us a financial basket
case . We have had to repair that and,
fortunately, against opposition members' objections, we have, and that
gives us some capacity to deal with the situation we are currently
confronting, and that is what the government is working on.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.