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PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian government on Thursday announced that it would be pursuing a second tranche of asset sales in an effort to retire debt and fund new major projects, as declining commodity prices impacted the state’s bottom line.
Revenues for the year fell by 13%, or A$3.9-billion, compared with the previous Budget, and was predicted to fall by some A$10.21-billion over the four-year period from 2014/15 to 2017/18.
“Commodity prices have plummeted, our share of GST revenue has been driven to record lows and softening economic conditions have directly reduced all other major sources of State tax revenue,” Treasurer Mike Nathan said in announcing the state Budget on Thursday.
The Fremantle port had been earmarked for sale, through a long-term lease, along with a number of other government-owned assets, such as office buildings and individual generation assets, and noncore assets from electricity provider Western Power.
“The decision to pursue a sensible programme of further asset sales will enable the government to build new infrastructure to support future growth without putting further pressure on the State’s finances,” said Premier Colin Barnett.
Nathan predicted a deficit of A$2.7-billion for the 2015/16 financial year and a net debt projection of A$31-billion by June 2016. Despite the losses, the state government had taken the decision not to increase taxes on miners.
The Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) on Thursday welcomed news that royalty rates in the state would not be increased for any commodity.
The Treasurer has predicted that the resource sector would generate some A$3.67-billion in royalty incomes over the next year, which CME CEO Reg Howard-Smith pointed out was around 14% of the state’s total income.
This was up from only 5% of total income in 2004/05.
The Association of Mining & Exploration Companies (Amec) also said that the state government should be congratulated for not being tempted to extract additional revenue from the mining industry, given the financial and economic pressure under which the state Budget had been drafted.
“It is, therefore, particularly pleasing to note that any reference to increases in royalty rates has been removed from the Budget and the Forward Estimates. This is a sensible and welcome outcome and will provide the industry with some critical certainty for business and investment planning purposes,” Amec CEO Simon Bennison said.
Amec also welcomed some A$2.6-billion in funding to extend the Perth Core library, as well as the allocation of A$11.6-million to the government’s cofunded drilling programme to 2016/17.