❓ Dr. Honey questions why WA isn't investing as much in green hydrogen as NSW, despite a surplus. The Premier defends WA's fiscal responsibility, highlighting superior economic indicators and a strategic approach to hydrogen investment without 'wrecking' the state's finances.
AnsweredQoN 601Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HYDROGEN INDUSTRY — ANDREW FORREST'S COMMENTS
601. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Premier:
I
have a supplementary question. How can the New South Wales Liberal government
deliver $3 billion in investment for
green hydrogen, yet despite a $5.8 billion surplus, the WA government cannot
provide a fraction of that to attract those critical new industries to
the state of Western Australia?
601. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Premier:
I
have a supplementary question. How can the New South Wales Liberal government
deliver $3 billion in investment for
green hydrogen, yet despite a $5.8 billion surplus, the WA government cannot
provide a fraction of that to attract those critical new industries to
the state of Western Australia?
AnswerView source ↗
Just
so we understand, debt levels in the New South Wales government's
budget were heading to $128 billion prior to the lockdown. It currently
has a deficit of, from memory, $8 billion to $9 billion, and that will
obviously get far worse. The New South Wales government does not really care
about financial management, just so we understand. What I find is that other states do not care about financial management.
We do. We care about financial management . That will place us as a state
in a much better position than other states of Australia. Just so the member
understands, Western Australia will be in a far
better position. I just want to outline today that our surpluses and our debt
position are far better than those of
any other state in Australia. That gives us the capacity to respond to health
and other threats that approach the
state that allows us to invest, because we do not have that massive interest
bill. If there is an interest rate increase, think about the slashing
and burning that the other states will do or the loss of credit ratings that
will happen that will drive up their interest bills. All of that awaits the
other states.
We are in a better position than any
other state. The evidence was there today with a 4.1 per cent unemployment
rate, the lowest unemployment rate in Australia by miles. As we saw the other
day, we are attracting new industries to Western
Australia, and we will attract hydrogen investment in large amounts to Western Australia,
but destroying our finances in order to do it is not something I am
going to do. We will use techniques to attract investment that do not involve wrecking the state's financial
position. Obviously, the Leader of the Liberal Party thinks that we should just blow everything and give billions of dollars to billionaires and
multinational corporations. That appears to be the approach of the Leader of
the Liberal Party. I do not know what has happened to the Liberal Party. It
does not seem to have a clue about how to govern responsibly.
Just so I can explain to the
member, we have the strongest service position of any government in Australia,
we have the strongest economy of any state
in Australia, we have the best unemployment figures of any state in Australia ,
we have the lowest cost of training of any state in Australia, so Western Australians
can get trained, and we have the strongest investment in health per capita of
any state in Australia. We have a whole range of new industries developing in Western
Australia, and we are working through the land tenure issues to secure hydrogen
projects. We are working through those issues to do it, and we are attracting
investment into a range of projects that we will see shortly. That is what we are doing. The idea that the Liberal Party
is now promoting is that you take billions of dollars from the taxpayers
of Western Australia and give it to multinational corporations. That is not an
approach I am going to adopt. We are not going to give billions of dollars to
multinationals, but we will look at strategic investments
and leveraging land tenure issues and capital to secure strategic approaches to
hydrogen that will work.
so we understand, debt levels in the New South Wales government's
budget were heading to $128 billion prior to the lockdown. It currently
has a deficit of, from memory, $8 billion to $9 billion, and that will
obviously get far worse. The New South Wales government does not really care
about financial management, just so we understand. What I find is that other states do not care about financial management.
We do. We care about financial management . That will place us as a state
in a much better position than other states of Australia. Just so the member
understands, Western Australia will be in a far
better position. I just want to outline today that our surpluses and our debt
position are far better than those of
any other state in Australia. That gives us the capacity to respond to health
and other threats that approach the
state that allows us to invest, because we do not have that massive interest
bill. If there is an interest rate increase, think about the slashing
and burning that the other states will do or the loss of credit ratings that
will happen that will drive up their interest bills. All of that awaits the
other states.
We are in a better position than any
other state. The evidence was there today with a 4.1 per cent unemployment
rate, the lowest unemployment rate in Australia by miles. As we saw the other
day, we are attracting new industries to Western
Australia, and we will attract hydrogen investment in large amounts to Western Australia,
but destroying our finances in order to do it is not something I am
going to do. We will use techniques to attract investment that do not involve wrecking the state's financial
position. Obviously, the Leader of the Liberal Party thinks that we should just blow everything and give billions of dollars to billionaires and
multinational corporations. That appears to be the approach of the Leader of
the Liberal Party. I do not know what has happened to the Liberal Party. It
does not seem to have a clue about how to govern responsibly.
Just so I can explain to the
member, we have the strongest service position of any government in Australia,
we have the strongest economy of any state
in Australia, we have the best unemployment figures of any state in Australia ,
we have the lowest cost of training of any state in Australia, so Western Australians
can get trained, and we have the strongest investment in health per capita of
any state in Australia. We have a whole range of new industries developing in Western
Australia, and we are working through the land tenure issues to secure hydrogen
projects. We are working through those issues to do it, and we are attracting
investment into a range of projects that we will see shortly. That is what we are doing. The idea that the Liberal Party
is now promoting is that you take billions of dollars from the taxpayers
of Western Australia and give it to multinational corporations. That is not an
approach I am going to adopt. We are not going to give billions of dollars to
multinationals, but we will look at strategic investments
and leveraging land tenure issues and capital to secure strategic approaches to
hydrogen that will work.
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