❓ Opposition questions the Premier about alleged unpaid BHP royalties and public servant pay rises. The Premier denies the premise, stating the government is working to resolve the BHP dispute and has implemented a pay policy for public servants, while managing inherited debt.
AnsweredQoN 319Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
BHP — IRON ORE ROYALTY PAYMENTS
319. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Premier:
Does the Premier think it is weak
and mean-spirited of him to allow BHP to short-change the people of Western Australia
by hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid royalties while he continues to
deny hardworking public servants a pay rise?
319. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Premier:
Does the Premier think it is weak
and mean-spirited of him to allow BHP to short-change the people of Western Australia
by hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid royalties while he continues to
deny hardworking public servants a pay rise?
AnswerView source ↗
The
premise of the question is incorrect on both counts. If I can just explain to
the house, as I said to the Leader of the National Party, we hope to
resolve any dispute with BHP amicably and continue to ensure that BHP plays a major
role employing and investing in Western Australia while the taxpayers of Western
Australia get what they are owed. That process is ongoing. As I said at the
outset, we hope to resolve those issues as soon as possible.
In relation to public servants
across Western Australia, as members would know we brought in legislation maybe
18 months or so ago to ensure that a four-year pay freeze for members of
Parliament, ministers, judges and CEOs of government agencies was put in place
to set the appropriate example. That is the only pay freeze in place. For the
remainder of the public sector, the government implemented a $1 000-a-year pay
policy for four years, which is accumulative. The idea that there is whatever
the member said about pay is incorrect; pay rises are in place. Obviously, we
would love to do more, but whenever I explain to people that we were left with
more than $40 billion worth of debt, they understand that the situation was
dire.
Everyone in Australia, from Malcolm
Turnbull—although, I think he is in New York—and others from
across the country, understands that the situation left in Western Australia by
the last government was dire for this government to deal with, and this is one
of the measures that we are using to get the state back on track. We have not
engaged in forced redundancies and we have made sure we support our workforce
in other ways, such as creating domestic violence leave and providing more
permanency for public servants. We have created a range of other initiatives to
support the Western Australian workforce, including improving payouts for
people killed in the workplace. The pay policy that we implemented is fair and
reasonable.
premise of the question is incorrect on both counts. If I can just explain to
the house, as I said to the Leader of the National Party, we hope to
resolve any dispute with BHP amicably and continue to ensure that BHP plays a major
role employing and investing in Western Australia while the taxpayers of Western
Australia get what they are owed. That process is ongoing. As I said at the
outset, we hope to resolve those issues as soon as possible.
In relation to public servants
across Western Australia, as members would know we brought in legislation maybe
18 months or so ago to ensure that a four-year pay freeze for members of
Parliament, ministers, judges and CEOs of government agencies was put in place
to set the appropriate example. That is the only pay freeze in place. For the
remainder of the public sector, the government implemented a $1 000-a-year pay
policy for four years, which is accumulative. The idea that there is whatever
the member said about pay is incorrect; pay rises are in place. Obviously, we
would love to do more, but whenever I explain to people that we were left with
more than $40 billion worth of debt, they understand that the situation was
dire.
Everyone in Australia, from Malcolm
Turnbull—although, I think he is in New York—and others from
across the country, understands that the situation left in Western Australia by
the last government was dire for this government to deal with, and this is one
of the measures that we are using to get the state back on track. We have not
engaged in forced redundancies and we have made sure we support our workforce
in other ways, such as creating domestic violence leave and providing more
permanency for public servants. We have created a range of other initiatives to
support the Western Australian workforce, including improving payouts for
people killed in the workplace. The pay policy that we implemented is fair and
reasonable.
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.