Estimates
Estimates of revenue and expenditure
Consideration of tabled papers
Resumed from an earlier stage of the sitting.
Hon Dan Caddy (Parliamentary Secretary) (4:21 pm): I was going to start by saying, "Fourth time lucky, I might get to finish my contribution in one hit", but it would appear that that is not going to happen, given that we have only six minutes to go until question time. In any case, I will start where I left off. I am not exactly sure where I got to. I think I was speaking about the GST, and I am not sure how far I got with that. I made a handwritten note that when Hon Tjorn Sibma was on his feet, he spoke about the GST. I want to acknowledge his acknowledgement that it was indeed this Labor government that secured this outcome, as distinct from so many of his colleagues on the other side who want to peddle a different narrative, not the least of whom is my very good friend Hon Dr Steve Thomas.
Hon Tjorn Sibma interjected.
Hon Dan Caddy: I am glad to see my very good friend Hon Tjorn Sibma in the chamber and chirpy as always. It would be disappointing if he was not here.
Let me go through what we have done in doubling down on our efforts to protect our fair share of the GST. It is important, ahead of the review, that we do everything we can as a government and, indeed, as a state Parliament to protect it. Our 75% share is still lower than the share any other state has ever experienced. Without the 2018 reforms that both Hon Tjorn Sibma and I referred to, our GST would fall to just 18% of our population share. As everybody knows, we continue to heavily subsidise the rest of the nation—at well over $10,000 per person. I will say again ahead of this review that I hope everyone in this chamber, including every member opposite, will be on the side of Western Australia. I urge members opposite to speak to their federal colleagues and ensure that they are all on the side of Western Australia when it comes time to do this review.
Hon Tjorn Sibma: I hope you are too.
Hon Dan Caddy: I am absolutely on the side of Western Australia.
Hon Tjorn Sibma: And speaking to your federal colleagues.
Hon Dan Caddy: I will speak to my federal colleagues. I speak to them as often as I can. Obviously, I have many more to speak to than the honourable member does, so it takes a bit of time to get around.
Hon Tjorn Sibma: I'm sure the quality of my conversation is higher than yours.
Hon Dan Caddy: I have had many conversations with the honourable member, so I am not so sure of that!
Anyway, let us move on from the GST. If I am not mistaken, because of the broken nature of the contribution that I have been fortunate enough to give, this is probably the third or fourth time I have spoken about the GST.
Hon Steve Martin interjected.
Hon Dan Caddy: Thank you my good friend. It is good to ram home a point, because it is always important to reiterate to the people of Western Australia just who fixed the problem we saw ourselves lumbered with after the Court government did that atrocious deal on the GST. But I will move on from that.
I spoke earlier—days ago now—about extended cost-of-living relief programs and specifically some of the regional programs. I realised when I went over what I said that I had missed some specific programs targeted at families and households.
Hon Matthew Swinbourn interjected.
Hon Dan Caddy: The member is very lucky. No doubt he will get another opportunity to hear me after question time!
Hon Matthew Swinbourn interjected.
Hon Dan Caddy: That is good. I am glad the member will be here. In fact, I might even ask for an extension so that he can hear me speak for a little longer.
I want to talk about the packages that are supporting Western Australian households. I have a little list here. There is $22 million to increase the number of fee-free TAFE courses, and I will speak a little more about TAFE in either a minute or about an hour; $28 million to expand the school breakfast program to over 670 schools; $29 million to pilot free full-time kindy at 10 sites across the state; and $7 million for KidSport vouchers and new Kids Access All Areas passes. Obviously, the WA rent relief program and the Hardship Utility Grant Scheme have been expanded. Some existing programs have been expanded. There is $93 million for the energy assistance payment, with the total payment increasing to $343 for approximately 330,000 households across the state. There is $20 million for the dependent child rebate, which will increase to $361 to assist approximately 62,000 families across the state. There is $34 million for the seniors cost-of-living rebate, which will increase to $161 for 360,000 households across Western Australia. More than $4 billion in social concessions is expected to be delivered this year.
On top of that, there are specific measures aimed at increasing housing supply. I mentioned in one of the earlier parts of this speech in the last week or month the $101 million to unlock an additional 33,000 new homes. This comes on top of the previous number of 28,000 new homes. As well as that, there is $325 million in support for homebuyers, including stamp duty relief for first home buyers, shared equity loans and a new modular home loan product through Keystart. I want to commend Keystart for the outstanding work that it does. There is a $66 million investment to continue to grow the residential construction workforce, including 1,000 tradies through the government trading organisation wage subsidy; fee-free TAFE courses, which I spoke about a moment ago; and relocation initiatives. On top of those commitments I have just mentioned, there is also $246 million for social and affordable housing and $198 million for regional housing, and I will get into the specifics of the regional housing and social housing initiatives.
The $246 million investment in social and affordable housing includes the delivery of 548 additional homes in partnership with the community housing sector and the Commonwealth. It is a social housing program that will now deliver over 5,800 homes, with more than 3,000 already delivered and a further 1,000 under contract. It is set to deliver 1,000 homes this financial year and the next. The $198 million investment that I mentioned for regional housing includes doubling the Government Regional Officers' Housing construction program, the Regional Housing Support Fund and projects in Karratha, Albany, Kalgoorlie and Kununurra. Indeed, there are housing projects right around this state. This government is doing more than ever to increase housing supply, especially in the regions.
This budget will enhance community safety in Western Australia, and there are just a couple of headline items that I want to point to in this regard.
Debate interrupted, pursuant to standing orders.
(Continued at a later stage of the sitting.)
