Synergy—Operational subsidies
176. Hon Dr Steve Thomas to the Leader of the House representing the Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation:
I refer to media reports that in the lead-up to the Government Mid-year Financial Projections Statement, released in December 2024, the then Minister for Energy sought almost $1 billion in additional funding for Synergy to cover operational subsidies.
(1) How much additional funding was sought by the Minister for Energy or Synergy in late 2024 to cover operational subsidies?
(2) How much total funding was sought to cover Synergy's operational subsidies?
(3) What was the total of the operational subsidies received by or budgeted for Synergy in 2024–25?
(4) What was the profit and loss result for Synergy in the 2023–24 financial year?
(5) While it loses money in operations, what was the budget for Synergy's "Greater, connected" advertising campaign in total and broken down by financial year?
Hon Stephen Dawson replied:
(1)–(2) These matters were subject to cabinet decisions and therefore the information is cabinet-in-confidence.
(3) The final amounts will be released as part of the 2025–26 state budget.
(4) For the 2023–24 financial year, Synergy reported a statutory net profit before tax of $589.7 million.
(5) Synergy has had a campaign called "Greater, Connected" since the 2023 financial year. The budget for that campaign is as follows: for the 2023 financial year, $3,273,000; for the 2024 financial year, $1,920,000; for the 2025 financial year, $1,664,000.
