❓ Mrs. Harvey asks the Premier to consider waiving utility charges for struggling WA households during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Premier outlines existing support measures and signals potential for further assistance while balancing state finances.
AnsweredQoN 219Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS —
UTILITY CHARGES — GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
219. Mrs L.M. HARVEY to the Premier:
Given that many struggling families
are now forced to stay at home, including through a loss of work, resulting in
substantially higher electricity and water bills, will the government consider
waiving the higher cost of living for struggling Western Australian households?
UTILITY CHARGES — GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
219. Mrs L.M. HARVEY to the Premier:
Given that many struggling families
are now forced to stay at home, including through a loss of work, resulting in
substantially higher electricity and water bills, will the government consider
waiving the higher cost of living for struggling Western Australian households?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the Leader of the Opposition for the question.
Obviously, there is significant hardship going on across the Western Australian
community. I accept that many people have lost their jobs, many businesses have
closed and many people's expenses
are going to be very difficult to manage. As I outlined yesterday and perhaps
the day before , the government has put in place a whole range of
initiatives to assist families and businesses across the state: payroll tax
relief, energy assistance payments, the waiving of interest on Synergy and
Horizon Power bills, the removal of
disconnection arrangements that were previously in place, and assistance with
Keystart loans for families and the like. From memory, we have announced
in excess of around $2.5 billion in stimulus. A part of that is some of these measures for families and small
businesses, which would total in excess of, I think, $1 billion to $1.5 billion.
One thing I want to make clear is that we will do more to
deal with the COVID-19 situation, but we also have to retain capacity for the state to be able to fund health services,
education, community safety and all of the other things that the state
does, so the state government can continue to function. Secondly, we need to
retain some capacity to pull the state out of this once the issue is resolved.
Obviously, there is significant hardship going on across the Western Australian
community. I accept that many people have lost their jobs, many businesses have
closed and many people's expenses
are going to be very difficult to manage. As I outlined yesterday and perhaps
the day before , the government has put in place a whole range of
initiatives to assist families and businesses across the state: payroll tax
relief, energy assistance payments, the waiving of interest on Synergy and
Horizon Power bills, the removal of
disconnection arrangements that were previously in place, and assistance with
Keystart loans for families and the like. From memory, we have announced
in excess of around $2.5 billion in stimulus. A part of that is some of these measures for families and small
businesses, which would total in excess of, I think, $1 billion to $1.5 billion.
One thing I want to make clear is that we will do more to
deal with the COVID-19 situation, but we also have to retain capacity for the state to be able to fund health services,
education, community safety and all of the other things that the state
does, so the state government can continue to function. Secondly, we need to
retain some capacity to pull the state out of this once the issue is resolved.
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