❓ Mr. Wyatt questions the Treasurer on the consistency of capping Royalties for Regions at 12.4% when the Act states 25%. The Treasurer defends the cap, citing the $1 billion limit in the original legislation and criticises the opposition's fiscal management.
AnsweredQoN 351Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
STATE
BUDGET 2014–15 — ROYALTIES FOR REGIONS
351. Mr B.S. WYATT to the
Treasurer:
I refer to the Treasurer's
comments last Thursday about royalties for regions that —
� yes, it's not consuming 25 per cent of royalties, but then
again it was never intended to do so.
(1) Section 6(2) of the Royalties
for Regions Act states —
In each financial year the Treasurer
is to cause to be credited to the Fund an amount equal to 25% of the forecast
royalty income for the financial year.
In light of that, how is placing a
cap of 12.4 per cent consistent with that section?
(2) Why did the
government advertise in numerous publications and on television that royalties
for regions spends 25 per cent of royalties in the regions?
BUDGET 2014–15 — ROYALTIES FOR REGIONS
351. Mr B.S. WYATT to the
Treasurer:
I refer to the Treasurer's
comments last Thursday about royalties for regions that —
� yes, it's not consuming 25 per cent of royalties, but then
again it was never intended to do so.
(1) Section 6(2) of the Royalties
for Regions Act states —
In each financial year the Treasurer
is to cause to be credited to the Fund an amount equal to 25% of the forecast
royalty income for the financial year.
In light of that, how is placing a
cap of 12.4 per cent consistent with that section?
(2) Why did the
government advertise in numerous publications and on television that royalties
for regions spends 25 per cent of royalties in the regions?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for his question. Royalties for regions was in the first term and
is in this term one of the cornerstones of the Liberal–National
government's policies. It has done great things in regional Western
Australia and indeed transformed many areas. When it first started, the royalty
collections were—I cannot remember exactly—I think, in the
first year about $600 million; that was 25 per cent. The fund was set up to
function like this: 25 per cent of royalty collections would go into the
royalties for regions fund. The fund was capped at $1 billion. That was in the
legislation; we do not propose to change that. Any moneys accumulated over the
$1 billion will flow into the consolidated fund, and that has happened. Over
the past six years, of course, the collection of royalties has grown very
significantly beyond our expectations, and we were optimistic. In this budget,
we kept the cap at $1 billion in the fund—to not change the fund, but
also limit expenditure to $1 billion a year. That is fully within the
legislation; it is fully within the expectation. We hear these members opposite
going on and on about our levels of debt and expenditure when they come up —
Mr
P.B. Watson interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Albany, I call you now to order for the second time.
Dr
M.D. NAHAN : Particularly the member for Albany! Labor did nothing in
Albany. We have done one thing after another and all he does is sit back and
say, ''Thanks very much.'' He does not even lobby for it. We have
invested hugely in the regions and we will continue to do so at a pace of $1 billion
a year. We are also making the change to the fund to be as it was originally
intended. The fund was not to fund things that would otherwise be funded by the
government. Therefore, we are cleaning up the fund to make sure that it is new
and targeted for the purposes we want. This is a good reform. It continues with
the foundations of the royalties for regions and revitalises the regions in
Western Australia. Labor members' complaints about this show us that
they know nothing about fiscal management and they do not care about the regions.
thank the member for his question. Royalties for regions was in the first term and
is in this term one of the cornerstones of the Liberal–National
government's policies. It has done great things in regional Western
Australia and indeed transformed many areas. When it first started, the royalty
collections were—I cannot remember exactly—I think, in the
first year about $600 million; that was 25 per cent. The fund was set up to
function like this: 25 per cent of royalty collections would go into the
royalties for regions fund. The fund was capped at $1 billion. That was in the
legislation; we do not propose to change that. Any moneys accumulated over the
$1 billion will flow into the consolidated fund, and that has happened. Over
the past six years, of course, the collection of royalties has grown very
significantly beyond our expectations, and we were optimistic. In this budget,
we kept the cap at $1 billion in the fund—to not change the fund, but
also limit expenditure to $1 billion a year. That is fully within the
legislation; it is fully within the expectation. We hear these members opposite
going on and on about our levels of debt and expenditure when they come up —
Mr
P.B. Watson interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Albany, I call you now to order for the second time.
Dr
M.D. NAHAN : Particularly the member for Albany! Labor did nothing in
Albany. We have done one thing after another and all he does is sit back and
say, ''Thanks very much.'' He does not even lobby for it. We have
invested hugely in the regions and we will continue to do so at a pace of $1 billion
a year. We are also making the change to the fund to be as it was originally
intended. The fund was not to fund things that would otherwise be funded by the
government. Therefore, we are cleaning up the fund to make sure that it is new
and targeted for the purposes we want. This is a good reform. It continues with
the foundations of the royalties for regions and revitalises the regions in
Western Australia. Labor members' complaints about this show us that
they know nothing about fiscal management and they do not care about the regions.
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.