461. Hon ALISON XAMON to the Leader of the House representing the Premier:
This question is asked on behalf of Hon Robin Chapple, who is out of the chamber on urgent parliamentary business.
I refer to question without notice 443 asked before the Legislative Council on Tuesday, 12 May 2020, and I note the answer supplied to that question.
(1) Would the minister please list the amounts received via COVID-19 funding by the adjacent Shire of Ashburton and the City of Karratha?
(2) Given the government has no control over the spending of these funds, as disclosed in the answer to question without notice 443, who holds accountability of the funding and its expenditure?
(3) Can the minister explain why the Shire of East Pilbara received the sum of $8.5 million as opposed to any other amount?
(4) Given that the airport at Marble Bar is to be used primarily by industry, does the minister consider it appropriate that emergency pandemic funds raised through taxes are being used to build a commercial airport?
Hon SUE ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(4) The premise of the question is incorrect as there is no specific state government COVID-19 funding to local government authorities. However, $100 million in loans is available to local government authorities and universities to meet short-term cashflow requirements as a result of COVID-19.