❓ Ms. Rowe questions the Premier on cost-of-living relief measures in the upcoming state budget, and the Premier outlines several initiatives targeting families, seniors, apprentices, and housing affordability.
AnsweredQoN 278Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
COST OF LIVING — RELIEF PAYMENTS
278. Ms C.M. ROWE to the Premier:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's
commitment to supporting Western Australian households.
(1) Can the
Premier outline to the house how tomorrow's state budget will provide
cost-of-living relief to Western Australians?
(2) Can the
Premier advise the house how this government will be able to deliver these
measures?
278. Ms C.M. ROWE to the Premier:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's
commitment to supporting Western Australian households.
(1) Can the
Premier outline to the house how tomorrow's state budget will provide
cost-of-living relief to Western Australians?
(2) Can the
Premier advise the house how this government will be able to deliver these
measures?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
Before I answer it, may I place on the record my thanks to Cherie for her incredible service to the people of Western Australia
and the Parliament of Western Australia and also acknowledge the Speaker
of the ACT Parliament—lovely to have you and to meet you earlier today.
(1)–(2) The
WA government continues to do everything we can to keep money in the pockets of
local families, workers and seniors. Although our economy remains strong, we
know that there are Western Australians who are doing it tough. Since I was
elected, I have always been committed to making sure we keep our economy strong
and we support those who are struggling.
WA is not unique in relation to these
cost-of-living winds that are buffeting Western Australian families today.
Those who have been around long enough would have seen the very difficult
financial restraint we exercised upon coming to government nearly eight years
ago. We have turned that around and now we have taken Western Australia from
the weakest economy with the highest debt burden in the country to one of the strongest economies in the country with
the lowest debt burden. Our efforts have worked. Thanks to all those
difficult decisions that we made earlier, we are in a position to support Western
Australians when they need it most.
I want to go through some of those
measures. One of which I am most proud is the support that we are providing for
families through the WA student assistance payment. We know that navigating the
school years is financially tough on any
family, and our WA student assistance payment offers $250 per high school student and $150 per primary school student.
Today I can confirm that payments covering 250 000 students have now
been paid. That is nearly $50 million in assistance so far in that initiative
alone—$50 million back into the pockets of Western Australian families,
to help them deal with the cost of living. Backing our school package, earlier this year we made public transport free for
school students, saving a family with two kids around $560 a year. In
regional WA, we have more than doubled the transport allowance for students
without access to a free orange school bus service—the biggest increase
in two decades.
There is also help for those who have
worked their whole lives and are now facing challenges in their senior years
with rising costs. To assist with this, the budget will provide every eligible
regional pensioner travel card member an additional $100 back in their pocket
every year. That is an investment of more than
$20 million and it ups the card value to $675 a year. At the same time, we are
giving the Seniors Card program a $6.3 million boost for customer support.
Everyone also knows that our regional airfare cap scheme has been boosted, and
we continue to stand by members of the regional community who have to
frequently travel by air to the major cities for medical attention.
In
tomorrow's budget there will also be support for those in the early
stages of their career. We are providing bonuses to give apprentices the tools they need, when they need them
most, and we are supporting employers to help them take on more building
and construction apprentices. This will have a direct impact on the number of
homes we are building and will create an uplift in the level of housing stock.
While we have been able to offer these cost-of-living relief measures, we have
also kept fees and charges down. We have a track record of keeping fees and
charges below inflation. As power bills on the east coast have risen by more
than 25 per cent over the last year, ours have remained steady. Along with our
great lifestyle and economy, WA's affordability is why more people are
migrating to Western Australia, and I am sure the Treasurer will have more
detail on that tomorrow.
There is one thing I can promise: we
will not be increasing power prices by 90 per cent, like the Liberals and Nationals did. We understand that Western Australians
are enjoying one of the strongest economies in the country, but we also
appreciate that many Western Australians are doing it tough. We will stand by
them, we will make sure that we get people into jobs, and we will help those
who are doing it the toughest.
Before I answer it, may I place on the record my thanks to Cherie for her incredible service to the people of Western Australia
and the Parliament of Western Australia and also acknowledge the Speaker
of the ACT Parliament—lovely to have you and to meet you earlier today.
(1)–(2) The
WA government continues to do everything we can to keep money in the pockets of
local families, workers and seniors. Although our economy remains strong, we
know that there are Western Australians who are doing it tough. Since I was
elected, I have always been committed to making sure we keep our economy strong
and we support those who are struggling.
WA is not unique in relation to these
cost-of-living winds that are buffeting Western Australian families today.
Those who have been around long enough would have seen the very difficult
financial restraint we exercised upon coming to government nearly eight years
ago. We have turned that around and now we have taken Western Australia from
the weakest economy with the highest debt burden in the country to one of the strongest economies in the country with
the lowest debt burden. Our efforts have worked. Thanks to all those
difficult decisions that we made earlier, we are in a position to support Western
Australians when they need it most.
I want to go through some of those
measures. One of which I am most proud is the support that we are providing for
families through the WA student assistance payment. We know that navigating the
school years is financially tough on any
family, and our WA student assistance payment offers $250 per high school student and $150 per primary school student.
Today I can confirm that payments covering 250 000 students have now
been paid. That is nearly $50 million in assistance so far in that initiative
alone—$50 million back into the pockets of Western Australian families,
to help them deal with the cost of living. Backing our school package, earlier this year we made public transport free for
school students, saving a family with two kids around $560 a year. In
regional WA, we have more than doubled the transport allowance for students
without access to a free orange school bus service—the biggest increase
in two decades.
There is also help for those who have
worked their whole lives and are now facing challenges in their senior years
with rising costs. To assist with this, the budget will provide every eligible
regional pensioner travel card member an additional $100 back in their pocket
every year. That is an investment of more than
$20 million and it ups the card value to $675 a year. At the same time, we are
giving the Seniors Card program a $6.3 million boost for customer support.
Everyone also knows that our regional airfare cap scheme has been boosted, and
we continue to stand by members of the regional community who have to
frequently travel by air to the major cities for medical attention.
In
tomorrow's budget there will also be support for those in the early
stages of their career. We are providing bonuses to give apprentices the tools they need, when they need them
most, and we are supporting employers to help them take on more building
and construction apprentices. This will have a direct impact on the number of
homes we are building and will create an uplift in the level of housing stock.
While we have been able to offer these cost-of-living relief measures, we have
also kept fees and charges down. We have a track record of keeping fees and
charges below inflation. As power bills on the east coast have risen by more
than 25 per cent over the last year, ours have remained steady. Along with our
great lifestyle and economy, WA's affordability is why more people are
migrating to Western Australia, and I am sure the Treasurer will have more
detail on that tomorrow.
There is one thing I can promise: we
will not be increasing power prices by 90 per cent, like the Liberals and Nationals did. We understand that Western Australians
are enjoying one of the strongest economies in the country, but we also
appreciate that many Western Australians are doing it tough. We will stand by
them, we will make sure that we get people into jobs, and we will help those
who are doing it the toughest.
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.