❓ Mrs. O'Malley asks the Premier about the government's fiscal capacity to respond to COVID-19 and credit ratings. The Premier highlights the government's investment, strong financial management, and positive ratings from Standard and Poor's.
AnsweredQoN 154Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS — STATE ECONOMY
154. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Premier:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's significant investment in Western Australia's
world-leading response to COVID-19 and supporting businesses and households
through the pandemic.
(1) Can the
Premier update the house on how this government has ensured that the state has
had the strong fiscal capacity to respond to COVID-19?
(2) Can the
Premier advise the house what the credit ratings agencies have said about this
government's management of the state's finances?
154. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Premier:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's significant investment in Western Australia's
world-leading response to COVID-19 and supporting businesses and households
through the pandemic.
(1) Can the
Premier update the house on how this government has ensured that the state has
had the strong fiscal capacity to respond to COVID-19?
(2) Can the
Premier advise the house what the credit ratings agencies have said about this
government's management of the state's finances?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Bicton for
the question.
(1)–(2) Obviously,
the last two years of dealing with COVID have thrown up many challenges. That
is why we have now invested $10.6 billion of state money to respond to
COVID-19. A lot of that has been for hospital response, frontline services,
direct support to businesses and households, capital works and easily rolled out initiatives to ensure that we kept the
economy strong during a very, very difficult period. A total of $10.6 billion
is an amazing amount of money. That is about five Optus Stadiums of spend over
the course of the last two years to ensure that the state was kept in the
strong position that we are in. Since December, we have announced more than
$420 million of direct support to Western Australian small and medium–sized
businesses as we enter a new phase of the pandemic. That includes the $72 million
level 2 COVID-19 business assistance package, the alfresco rebate program that
I think the Minister for Local Government announced recently and a lot of support
for small businesses to enable them, particularly those in the hospitality
area, to cope with the situation that we now face.
One of the reasons we have been able
to do this is our strong and responsible financial management since we came to
government in March 2017. Today that has once again been recognised. Standard
and Poor's Global Ratings has once again confirmed Western Australian's
positive AA+ rating. I want to quote what Standard and Poor's had to
say. It said that the positive outlook reflects Western Australia's
budgetary outperformance compared with domestic and global peers. The report
stated —
We assess Western Australia's
financial management to be very strong. The current government has displayed a track
record of robust cost control.
I think that is referring to the
current government versus the last government, which obviously made a complete
mess of the state's finances, lost our AAA credit rating and drove debt
to unseen levels and deficits to extraordinary levels, which this government
has turned around.
Standard and Poor's further
said about our fiscal balance sheet that it is —
�
a rare feat given the scale of the COVID-19 shock. This is despite the state
upsizing its budgeted infrastructure program to a record A$32.7 billion
over the next four years.
The report points out —
Western Australia's
debt-to-revenue ratio should continue to decline over the next few years, in
stark contrast to the rising debt of many peers.
That would include every state and
territory in Australia and the commonwealth government. In other words, Western
Australia is setting a way forward that is contrary to and different from the
rest of the country, because we actually
have strong financial management, which has been recognised internationally .
That has allowed us to invest in important COVID-19 response measures that have
not burdened future generations in the way that other governments around
Australia have. It allows us to do things like the free rapid antigen testing
program and spend $1.7 billion out of the $10.6 billion in COVID-19 business
support. Obviously, in the lead-up to the state budget we will continue to keep
our finances strong and cost-of-living pressures as low as possible.
the question.
(1)–(2) Obviously,
the last two years of dealing with COVID have thrown up many challenges. That
is why we have now invested $10.6 billion of state money to respond to
COVID-19. A lot of that has been for hospital response, frontline services,
direct support to businesses and households, capital works and easily rolled out initiatives to ensure that we kept the
economy strong during a very, very difficult period. A total of $10.6 billion
is an amazing amount of money. That is about five Optus Stadiums of spend over
the course of the last two years to ensure that the state was kept in the
strong position that we are in. Since December, we have announced more than
$420 million of direct support to Western Australian small and medium–sized
businesses as we enter a new phase of the pandemic. That includes the $72 million
level 2 COVID-19 business assistance package, the alfresco rebate program that
I think the Minister for Local Government announced recently and a lot of support
for small businesses to enable them, particularly those in the hospitality
area, to cope with the situation that we now face.
One of the reasons we have been able
to do this is our strong and responsible financial management since we came to
government in March 2017. Today that has once again been recognised. Standard
and Poor's Global Ratings has once again confirmed Western Australian's
positive AA+ rating. I want to quote what Standard and Poor's had to
say. It said that the positive outlook reflects Western Australia's
budgetary outperformance compared with domestic and global peers. The report
stated —
We assess Western Australia's
financial management to be very strong. The current government has displayed a track
record of robust cost control.
I think that is referring to the
current government versus the last government, which obviously made a complete
mess of the state's finances, lost our AAA credit rating and drove debt
to unseen levels and deficits to extraordinary levels, which this government
has turned around.
Standard and Poor's further
said about our fiscal balance sheet that it is —
�
a rare feat given the scale of the COVID-19 shock. This is despite the state
upsizing its budgeted infrastructure program to a record A$32.7 billion
over the next four years.
The report points out —
Western Australia's
debt-to-revenue ratio should continue to decline over the next few years, in
stark contrast to the rising debt of many peers.
That would include every state and
territory in Australia and the commonwealth government. In other words, Western
Australia is setting a way forward that is contrary to and different from the
rest of the country, because we actually
have strong financial management, which has been recognised internationally .
That has allowed us to invest in important COVID-19 response measures that have
not burdened future generations in the way that other governments around
Australia have. It allows us to do things like the free rapid antigen testing
program and spend $1.7 billion out of the $10.6 billion in COVID-19 business
support. Obviously, in the lead-up to the state budget we will continue to keep
our finances strong and cost-of-living pressures as low as possible.
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.