Reprioritising WA’s Billion Dollar Surplus - 2024-25 Budget Reply Speech
Every year the amounts of money that are collected via revenue and then distributed amaze me. They are huge amounts. Just from the mining ministry, we have $12.8 billion, which is the highest amount ever received. I find it hard to get my head around the astronomical amounts of money that we are dealing with here. I have many areas of interest, and as I make my way through the budget, I will comment as they come up. I do not claim to be an expert on any of these things here and I compliment the people who work on the budget for the amazing job that they have done. I cannot imagine it being particularly easy.
Racing and Wagering
One of the things I noticed, first up, was the amount of money spent on racing and wagering in Western Australia. Last year we spent $23.6 million and this year it is $17.6 million. That surprised me, because it basically looks like we are subsidising gambling and, to some degree, the cruelty to animals that is involved in greyhound racing, in particular. In my opinion, if an industry is so unprofitable that it requires so many subsidies, it should simply cease to exist. This is how it works for most businesses. On top of that, we are exploiting both animals and humans.
Cruelty to animals is not necessarily my only concern. More concerning is that $7 million is allocated over a two-year period to more than 40 agencies for people fleeing domestic violence, and that amounts to about $7 000 a week to each agency. Basically, we are spending $10 million more on gambling, wagering and racing than on helping people who need to flee domestic violence. That seems weird to me; I would prioritise it differently. I am not quite sure how that has come about. Lobbyists might have plenty of time to go to see people to make sure that the industry remains well funded. Having said that, it is good to see that the budget provides $442 million overall to address family and domestic violence; however, it is an absolute shame that we have to do that. The state of our society is forcing our government to spend more on preventing and responding to family and domestic violence than on disability support services and homelessness, and I think that is an incredibly sad indictment of life in our society.
Health
Obviously, I have a background in health, so I find this very interesting reading overall. A few major hospital projects are going on in the state, although they have not made that much progress. Obviously, the big one is the women’s and babies’ hospital, which has had $19.9 million put into it but has still not been built, which is quite a shame. Laverton Hospital is only $212 000 into a $26.8 million budget, despite Premier Roger Cook saying that it was targeted for completion by September 2023. The Tom Price Hospital redevelopment is only $374 000 into a $32.8 billion budget, and the budget shows that its completion will still be at least three to four years away, despite it being an election promise three years ago.
As a healthcare practitioner who was largely focused on preventive health care, within both my clinic and my professional life after that, I would love to see more of the budget aimed at education and prevention. Healthcare costs are constantly increasing, but it is actually not that hard to improve people’s overall health. A good diet that is low in refined carbohydrates, like sugars, and high in nutrient-dense foods, like good-quality meat, good-quality water—ideally without fluoride, heavy metals and other contaminants—and a variety of fruits and vegetables, would significantly lower the cost of health care. Companies like Coca-Cola are robbing us not only of our water, which thankfully has been addressed, but also of our health, with high-sugar and highly acidic drinks that lead to diseases like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; diabetes; osteopenia and osteoporosis, due to the acidity; cardiovascular disease; autoimmune diseases; and cancers. It is a shame that I can see nothing in the budget that is specifically aimed at education and prevention. Overall, from where I am standing, I think that it would be fairly easy to introduce regulations so supermarkets would have a reduced number of items that are simply different forms of carbohydrates, flavourings and high-salt foods, and those foods would be replaced by low-sugar, more natural alternatives. Currently, choosing a healthier diet tends to be more expensive as well, and that is a shame.
For hospitals in the regions, child care in the regions is also an issue. I know that some private operators are working to improve that, especially in Albany. I hope that this government will support that further. I wonder how the abolishment of the upper house electorates will affect people in the regions and the budget distribution.
This is more specific to my electorate at the moment, but another problem in the regions is that several sites are suspected of being quite polluted by dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls and possibly other harmful chemicals. Some of those chemicals are known carcinogens and neurotoxins. They do not appear to be breaking down and, similar to Wittenoom, there does not seem to be a lot of environmental remediation programs in place. Apart from the environmental concerns, an undocumented connection with a variety of illnesses is likely. With asbestos, the problems are pretty clear to see because people end up with asbestosis, which causes scarring on the lungs. Dioxins, like asbestos fibres, also do not break down; they stay in the environment and have ongoing effects on health. People living around those sorts of chemicals in their environment—possibly growing their food, fruit and vegetables and whatever in their backyard—means that, first, the chemicals will need to be cleaned up and, second, long-term health consequences will be associated with them. It will be expensive. None of those diseases is cheap to treat.
Health - Methamemphetamine
I have also noticed several other trends that will increase the burden on our healthcare system. The first I will talk about is methamphetamine use. Methamphetamine depletes dopamine stores in the brain, and I have mentioned this before in this chamber. Dopamine is one of the chemicals in the brain that make people happy. A lack of dopamine causes Parkinson’s disease, and the increased rate of addiction to methamphetamine will lead to an increase in early onset Parkinson’s disease. The cost of treating Parkinson’s is high, and various levels of physical and cognitive decline happen along that disease pathway. It also signals a very poor quality of life, something that I witnessed recently with my mother, who has now passed away. Seeing her decline from a vibrant, social woman to a fragile, little old lady who required 24-hour care was very hard. It certainly meant, especially in the last six months, that there was no joy in her life.
Apart from methamphetamine use, another addiction associated with Parkinson’s disease is the addiction to sugar. Parkinson’s disease is being associated with type 2 diabetes. Obvious issues with type 2 diabetes are the cost associated with treating it and its association with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. They are chronic disease states that require long-term care and place a high financial burden on society. Once again, this could be regulated by taking sugar out of the equation and out of our diet and reducing the general population’s sugar intake.
Health - Processed Foods and Diet
Other factors that can affect our health are foods high in processed fats, including certain plant oils, and foods that are low in animal protein and animal fats. They are contributing factors to poor health in general. When I see material presented by the Heart Foundation and Diabetes Australia, it always surprises me that they still recommend diets that are high in sugar and processed carbohydrates and often recommend a lower intake of animal fats and proteins. A high carbohydrate diet that is low in animal fats and low in protein is not healthy. Veganism fits in that category as well, and I realise that that is a current trend. People absolutely should be free to choose whatever diet they feel suits them best, but a vegan diet contributes to osteoporosis, diabetes and, interestingly enough, depression and anxiety. One aspect of the increase in mental health issues in our society is nutrition. There are doctors around the world who treat depression and anxiety by simply giving people amino acid supplements, which can help clear those conditions quite quickly.
None of this is being addressed in regulations, especially not in respect of the food choices that we have available, including fast foods, which are easily accessible to people and often quite cheap to buy. I wonder why that is, and why we are not being more proactive in addressing the nutrition of the population and thereby working preventatively to improve quality of life and to save money on health care. In the end, with a combination of pollution, pollutants and poor diet, we will never have a healthcare system that is robust enough to carry the burden of disease resulting from poor diet and environmental pollution, and that is a shame. I feel we need to fix that.
Mental Health - Drugs and Alcohol
I have already mentioned mental health; another factor in that issue is Australia’s alcohol consumption. Australia has an international reputation for being strong alcohol consumers, and Western Australia holds its own in that regard. An example of our alcohol problem can be seen with the new $10.7 million 26-bed sobering-up centre in Broome. It has been found that 35.5 per cent of the population over the age of 16 are reporting recent alcohol use at a level that places them at risk. Compare that with the 11.8 per cent of the population that reports risky use of illicit drugs— although that figure may not be entirely accurate, because we tend to lie about that! In the end, though, 3.6 per cent of the population is receiving public clinical mental health care or support for substance addiction.
Alcohol can be very destructive; I know we have mentioned that in this chamber many times before. The regulation of cannabis could be helpful in managing alcohol-related disorders and behaviours; I am referring specifically to violence. The cost of alcohol can also be quite high compared with the cost of legal cannabis—although that is still quite expensive on the medicinal side of things—but it is rare for someone who is stoned to be violent. I think that needs addressing.
I refer now to the legalisation of cannabis and the changes that that might bring to our economy, occupational health and safety and road statistics. I have previously referred to fly-in fly-out workers who use methamphetamine in their time off, as it flushes out of the system much more quickly than does THC. These people are returning to their worksites tired due to sleep deprivation and because they are going through mini-withdrawals. This is an occupational health and safety issue that allowing a regulated cannabis market would help. It would also be useful to regulate other recreational substances, such as psilocybin, LSD and MDMA. I refer to those drugs because they have medicinal applications and are highly unlikely to cause addiction or other strange behaviours, like violence.
Police - Domestic Violence and Harrassment
This would free up police time. As we have seen, the police budget is increasing every year. The total spend for 2023–24 was $1.92 billion; for 2024–25, it increased to $1.98 billion. I understand that we need a police force; it is very important. However, I think it is a shame that the police force is being used to catch people out for using drugs. If we could remove the necessity for the police force to chase up people using cannabis, it would free up some of the police budget, at least.
However, even with a police budget of nearly $2 billion, women are still dying from intimate partner violence and male violence in general. The prosecution rate is still very low, with actual complaints by women not being taken seriously. A friend of mine was recently dismissed at a police station after trying to lodge a complaint about a known sex pest. He is still out there, and she is still traumatised. A young woman has gone into a police station to tell her story and has been told by the police that nothing is going to be done about it. I thought we had moved on from that in this day and age.
I recently had a stressful encounter on a train with a very agitated man who was specifically targeting women and girls. When I reported him to station security, they stated that he was a known pest and that they were grateful that I had reported him, because it meant they could now do something about it. Although it is good that something is being done about it, why was he still out there? Why was he still permitted on the train? Why was he allowed to be there to threaten at least five women on that train? He threw something at my girlfriend and he was verbally abusive towards me. He should not have been there. Why is his right to freedom more important than my right to safety? To be honest, I cannot see the safety of women and girls improving under the proposed self-identification legislation that is coming up.
One of the factors contributing to male violence against women and girls is the continued commodification of our bodies through porn. It dehumanises us and creates a sense of entitlement to our sexual functions. Domestic violence and opportunistic sex crimes against women and girls will continue as long as porn is so easily accessible. It is well documented that there is a direct link between porn and sexual violence, and I am not seeing that being addressed anywhere. One would think that the eSafety Commissioner would help with that, but they have so far appeared to be quite useless, wasting money on fighting Elon Musk in court and not actually making anyone safer. There has been an increase in online grooming of children and sextortion, and there is a clear link between porn and sexual violence against women and girls.
Justice System - Alternative Rehabilitation
It always saddens me to learn about the incarceration of children—or, to use the less emotional term to make it seem less cruel, juveniles. What can we offer those children instead? What approaches might be more effective in reducing the current 50 per cent recidivism rate? I am not an expert in this field, but surely we can do better. In Norway, prison guards are required to have a university education; I think the course is three years in duration, and they come back with a whole skill set that greatly reduces the recidivism rate. Rehabilitation is part of the purpose of incarceration. Punishment is one component, but making sure that these people can go back into society and function normally should be another outcome. Obviously, we do not see that, and certainly not with children. It is also sad to see that overall crime rates have increased. It is sad but unsurprising considering the factors that contribute to that—for instance, homelessness, substance abuse and cost of living, all of which are increasing.
As mentioned previously, the big substance abuse that we are dealing with here in Western Australia is methamphetamine abuse. It is unfortunate that ketamine and fentanyl have now also been seen in our state. Those drugs are incredibly harmful. If we are to safeguard our population, I think that pill testing would be useful. Once again, having a regulated market for psilocybin—which is magic mushrooms by the way—LSD and MDMA would make it easier for people to access those drugs, and they would be less likely to seek out a drug dealer who sells those other substances, which are often cut with other ingredients and are known to be very addictive, very harmful and much more likely to cause an overdose.
Electricity and Renewable Energy Alternatives
One of the living cost increases, obviously, is electricity. I had hoped that with renewables, especially as they come from the wind and the sun, we would see a decrease in the cost of electricity. We have not seen that; costs have actually increased. So far, we have had no clear answer from anyone on when an offshore wind turbine will become carbon neutral. Since that is the whole point of offshore wind turbines, I think we should have that data easily accessible and available. I am happy to be educated on that or anything that I say in my speeches.
One of the criticisms aimed at those who criticise is that no solutions are ever offered. I think that is a fair criticism. I recently toured the Richgro facility at Jandakot. It was super-interesting that Richgro buys food waste from companies, including leftover cabbages from the Canning Vale markets. They are delivered to the Jandakot site, where they go into bio digesters that produce methane. That has put Richgro entirely off-grid and able to sell electricity to Western Power to be distributed—although it appears that sometimes it produces too much and not all the electricity can be taken on, which is a shame. Richgro also does not use any water from the grid either. It collects its own water, too. It is a low-odour, no-waste facility. It is adjacent to a residential area and seems to function just fine. I would like to see studies done on whether this is a viable solution to be adopted on a much larger scale in Western Australia. We could get rid of two things, our waste and electricity issues, in one go.
Earlier this year, I learnt about the costs associated with maintaining the electricity grid. I would like to see the possibility of a decentralised power grid and smaller power grids that are much less prone to interruptions due to weather events, bushfires or traffic incidents. I have been unable to find any research on this in WA. I wonder whether it has been researched at all and why we have not looked into that, because the maintenance required for the electricity grid is very expensive.
Whatever we are going to do in our state, we need to take into account climate variance or climate change. We may well be seeing the beginning of a forest-collapse event in the south west. Apart from the obvious environmental consequences associated with trees dying, we will see the dying of the mycelium, which will affect the nutrients exchange in the soil, killing our soil to some degree. We will see an increase in bushfires and a reduction in wildlife. I do not know how to address that specifically, but we need to ensure that in the south west, our water is used sparingly, that water is not hoarded and that water is not simply drained out of aquifers and used by companies like Coca-Cola Amatil, Schweppes and Mount Franklin.
It is good to see that this budget delivers an additional $72 million to bolster emergency services, which is vital. I believe that further support should be committed.
Hemp
This takes me to my next point, which is support for the hemp industry. It is a shame to see that hemp is still housed with cannabis under funding for the ChemCentre in WA. Certified low-tetrahydrocannabinol hemp seeds are exactly that—low THC. They should not have to be tested at every point along the way. Currently, we have a system in which a hemp farmer with the same batch of seeds in two different paddocks must pay for the hemp in both paddocks to be tested for THC. This does not seem particularly logical. There may be some variation between one paddock and the next; however, if it is certified low-THC seed, one will end up with low-THC plants. Seeing hemp as separate from cannabis would greatly support the hemp industry.
Hemp is a fast-growing crop with many uses, including building fire-resistant homes. In understanding the drying in the south west and the likely increase in bushfires and the need to protect human infrastructure, human houses and human activity, having hemp houses might be quite useful. They continue to sequester carbon along the whole of their life span, which is interesting, but they are also very good for maintaining the same temperature inside the home with very little air conditioning or heating. The good thing about being a fast-growing crop is that if there is a bushfire or some other event, three to four months are lost with hemp versus a 20-year investment loss with pine. The issue with pine, too, is that it degrades the soil around it. Hemp does not do that. It sequesters heavy metals and other toxins in its root ball, so it can be used to regenerate the land. Another thing to make it easier for hemp farmers to enter that market would be for hemp farmers to be able to collect and sell not only the seeds, the hurd and the fibre, but also the CBD oil and terpenes that have medicinal applications but do not actually make people high. CBD itself is very good for calming, to help with anxiety and to reduce inflammation. Terpenes have a variety of effects, including calming effects. Terpenes are still regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which is a shame because pretty much most culinary herbs have terpenes in them; for instance, limonene is found in lemon balm, hemp and cannabis plants. People can buy the herb lemon balm at nurseries and they can also buy lemon balm tea. Why should hemp be any different? Obviously, our farmers are doing it tough at the moment, especially with the sheep trade, and it may be useful for them to be able to go into farming other crops a lot easier.
Recently, a shipment of hemp fibre for China was stuck in the port for several months, partially due to restrictive regulations, which was entirely unnecessary. China has a big demand for hemp fibre, as a lot of clothing is made out of hemp fibre. It was noted that the quality of WA-grown hemp was actually very, very good. Knowing that the Chinese Premier is going to be here, I am hoping that hemp will come up in the conversation at some stage. Hemp uses a lot less water than cotton and much less than avocados as well. I understand that the Industrial Hemp Act 2004 needs to be overhauled, and I would love to work on that as a project, although we are probably a bit too late in the term to go that far. One of the things that could be changed is to reduce the testing costs, which are currently inhibitive for hemp growers, and allow for cannabidiol extraction, which is allowed in some of the eastern states.
Hemp - Fast Fashion vs Slow Fashion
Hemp can also be used to make bioplastics and many other items. When we look at waste management here in WA, we see that hemp could play a role because it is fully compostable. The waste management issue is not just for WA; it is pretty much a global issue. One of the things that we throw away a lot is clothes. In Australia, we throw away 6 000 items of clothing every 10 minutes. A huge amount of clothing goes to landfill. We have certain companies that contribute to our fast fashion addiction here. They make cheap, seasonal items. If we want a more sustainable society and we want to manage our waste, going towards slow fashion is a good strategy to go with.
Two of the longest lasting natural fibres are hemp and wool. These items are long lasting and are, in the end, non-toxic and biodegradable. There is evidence that the plastics, polyesters and other chemicals that end up in our clothes are absorbed through our skin and, together with other plastics, lead to endocrine dysfunction. However, we do not get that with wool or hemp. When I was in Iceland a few years ago—an amazing country—I could buy beautiful, handmade woollen jumpers. They were very expensive; however, they would last for at least 20 years or so. I could see people wearing them. Yes, they might look slightly more worn, but they still provided warmth to the person.
Looking into the future of fibres, we are starting to see some of the larger companies around the world trying to reduce their carbon footprint and using more natural fibres. We can now get very thin, 15 denier, wool-fibre T-shirts and a lot more hemp clothing. Having said that, this is my hemp business jacket. It is very nice and warm, I have to say, which is needed here, and it seems to be lasting very, very well. I hope to never need to buy another black jacket again. Wool is one of the fibres that is getting more popular for clothing, and it would be a shame if we lost a lot of the sheep farmers here, having such a reduction in the number of sheep for both meat and wool, because both those markets deserve to be developed.
Decarbonisation and Renewable Electricity
I think it is fairly obvious that I care about the environment and that I would like to see the effect of human activity on the environment reduced and minimised as much as possible. I think science, not necessarily ideology, needs to form the basis for this. This leads us to decarbonisation. The budget has committed $1.8 billion to diversify and decarbonise our economy, driving Western Australia’s energy transition and the jobs of the future. This is not necessarily a correct statement. It is well known that skyrocketing electricity prices lead to a reduction in manufacturing and a stagnation of the economy. For every green job created, 2.2 jobs are lost. This government’s decarbonisation plan includes making our strategic industrial areas ready for projects in new industries like critical minerals and hydrogen. What this is translating into at the moment is that the isolated iconic tourist and fishing community of Kalbarri is under threat of environmental damage caused by onshore and offshore turbines and a hydrogen plant.
Several members interjected.
The PRESIDENT: Order!
Hon SOPHIA MOERMOND: Members will be pleased to know that if I do not have my headphones in, I have no idea what they are saying and I just hear noise.
The decarbonisation plan will undertake economic reforms, including streamlining government approvals to attract new investment. My concern around this and the process is that it will not support the local community. The community consultation that I attended did not really address the concerns of the people there. The addition of $472 million in this budget to the $4 billion that has already been committed to gold plating our electricity grid to support the connection of wind turbines seems very expensive when we have so many homeless people in our communities. I think that the care of people needs to be prioritised, and that other options are available, like I said, around methane that would have less of an impact on the fishing and tourism industries in total. Some of this information comes from the Synergy website. This budget delivers a household electricity credit of $400 to more than 1.1 million Western Australian households.
Subsidies paid every year for wind turbines through our electricity bills amount to $1 500 for each household, so delivering a household credit of $400 does not really mean a lot. Even when we add the extra $334 energy assistance payment, which is paid to less than one-third of the total number of households, we have covered only some of the cost of this incredibly large subsidy. Synergy states —
“The State Government has allocated a budget of $3 billion for Synergy to assist in the decarbonisation of WA’s energy industry.
…
In 2018 Synergy Renewable Energy Developments Pty Ltd (known as SynergyRED) was launched as a wholly owned subsidiary of Electricity Generation and Retail Corporation, trading as Synergy.
SynergyRED was established to provide vehicle and asset management and development services to Bright Energy Investments (BEI), Synergy and other customers and investors. “
It goes on to say —
“(BEI) was set up in 2018 as a joint venture between Synergy, Construction and Building Unions Superannuation (CBUS) and an independent fund management company (DIF Capital Partners).”
Bright Energy Investments is a joint venture between Synergy, Dutch Infrastructure Fund and Cbus. I am unsure why Dutch Infrastructure Fund needs to be involved in this. Why is this not a WA-based company? The Synergy website continues —
“Through Synergy Renewable Energy Developments (… a wholly owned subsidiary of Synergy), we provide BEI with asset management services, vehicle management services and services to develop future assets, including harnessing more wind power for WA.”
To put this in simple terms, this government has used state-owned infrastructure, Synergy, state coffers up to $3 billion, and union super funds with the help of the Dutch Infrastructure Fund to commandeer our electricity bills and destroy productive farmland, the fragile environment and threaten Karri Karrak land at Scott River for no reduction in emissions within the south west interconnected system. That is worrying to say the least.