State Agreement Acts a major hurdle to overcoming state debt

 

The WA Greens have labelled the Premier’s announcement of a new State Agreement Act for the Pilbara as irresponsible, especially given the fiscal outlook delivered in last week’s budget.

 

Mining spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC said royalties should have increased across the board according to the different conditions relevant to each industry in the mining sector, however state agreements meant a simple solution was not possible.

 

“The gold industry has been unfairly targeted by the McGowan Government, despite other players – Iron Ore in particular – pulling in super profits that the people of Western Australia are not getting a fair return on,” Mr Chapple said.

 

“Now I’ll admit that part of this problem is the lag in our State’s GST share, however state agreement acts have been a disaster in practice for the State in its ability to regulate certain players in the industry.

 

“They are anti-competitive and they mean that those players who are lucky enough to have signed onto one with the Government of Western Australia have a right to veto any changes to their mining conditions, including royalty rate increases.

 

“In this context, it is extremely irresponsible for the McGowan government to have signed onto yet another State Agreement Act.

 

“This Act, once passed, will take the total number of state agreements to 67 and increase the regulatory difficulty over aspects of the Mining industry even further.

 

“I would like to point out that the WA Greens are the only party who have opposed every single State Agreement Act introduced in this state.”