❓ Mr. Tinley questions the Minister for Housing about alleged breaches of Treasury guidelines and misuse of taxpayer money related to a failed housing maintenance model. The Minister acknowledges challenges but denies fraud, highlighting the Auditor General's findings and accusing Mr. Tinley of misrepresentation.
AnsweredQoN 549Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PUBLIC HOUSING —
MAINTENANCE — AUDITOR GENERAL'S REPORT
549. Mr P.C. TINLEY to the Minister for Housing:
I refer to the Western Australian
Auditor General's report into the failed housing maintenance model
introduced by this government.
(1) Can the
minister confirm that the head contractor model was failing so badly that for a
period of 12 months more than $50 million worth of payments were made in breach
of fundamental Treasury guidelines that exist to prevent this exact type of
abuse of taxpayers' money?
(2) Can the
minister confirm that these breaches have resulted in more than $3.4 million
worth of taxpayers' money literally being given away?
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : I think the member for Willagee asked the Minister for Housing the
question. I am sure he did not ask anybody else.
MAINTENANCE — AUDITOR GENERAL'S REPORT
549. Mr P.C. TINLEY to the Minister for Housing:
I refer to the Western Australian
Auditor General's report into the failed housing maintenance model
introduced by this government.
(1) Can the
minister confirm that the head contractor model was failing so badly that for a
period of 12 months more than $50 million worth of payments were made in breach
of fundamental Treasury guidelines that exist to prevent this exact type of
abuse of taxpayers' money?
(2) Can the
minister confirm that these breaches have resulted in more than $3.4 million
worth of taxpayers' money literally being given away?
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : I think the member for Willagee asked the Minister for Housing the
question. I am sure he did not ask anybody else.
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Willagee for
his question.
(1)–(2) The
only new news in the Auditor General's report is that there was no
evidence of fraud that the Auditor General put into play. I highlight the fact
that the information that I have already made available to this place is that
there were challenges with the implementation of the new model. That is
certainly acknowledged by the Auditor General. A range of processes have been
put in place to cover those challenges. I am confident, as I said yesterday,
that the processes that are in place now deal with the challenges that existed
when that model was first rolled out.
The other point I make is that we
absolutely support the recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor
General. We will be watching those very closely, ensuring that all those
processes are in place, if they are not at the level that they should be. I
wish to highlight that on a number of occasions the member has raised questions
in this place about the notion of fraud. He raised it in a media release on 7 August
this year in which he said that more than 21 000 job orders had been
fraudulently claimed. He asked in a question without notice whether any of the
21 000 plus job orders identified as fraudulent had been reported to the
police. Even a question yesterday that the member put to me about issues of
fraudulence related to an issue about clay tiles on a tin roof, as I recall, is
something that happened two years ago, which was six weeks after the new model
was put in place. That is the only issue that the member goes back to claim as
being fraudulent. The Auditor General has been through this issue, at the
request of the member for Willagee. We acknowledge the issues that are there
and the issues that he has put up and we have said that we have processes in
place. The Auditor General also went on to say —
we also did not find any
evidence of fraud
The risk of fraud in Housing
maintenance existed before the HCMM —
That is, the head contractor
maintenance model —
was implemented. The HCMM
potentially offers improvements over the previous maintenance arrangements in
reducing Housing's exposure to fraud risk and loss:
Although I acknowledge that there are
issues and challenges with the implementation of this model, as acknowledged by
the Auditor General, I also make the point that the only fraud in this place is
the member for Willagee in what he has been raising over the last number of
weeks.
his question.
(1)–(2) The
only new news in the Auditor General's report is that there was no
evidence of fraud that the Auditor General put into play. I highlight the fact
that the information that I have already made available to this place is that
there were challenges with the implementation of the new model. That is
certainly acknowledged by the Auditor General. A range of processes have been
put in place to cover those challenges. I am confident, as I said yesterday,
that the processes that are in place now deal with the challenges that existed
when that model was first rolled out.
The other point I make is that we
absolutely support the recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor
General. We will be watching those very closely, ensuring that all those
processes are in place, if they are not at the level that they should be. I
wish to highlight that on a number of occasions the member has raised questions
in this place about the notion of fraud. He raised it in a media release on 7 August
this year in which he said that more than 21 000 job orders had been
fraudulently claimed. He asked in a question without notice whether any of the
21 000 plus job orders identified as fraudulent had been reported to the
police. Even a question yesterday that the member put to me about issues of
fraudulence related to an issue about clay tiles on a tin roof, as I recall, is
something that happened two years ago, which was six weeks after the new model
was put in place. That is the only issue that the member goes back to claim as
being fraudulent. The Auditor General has been through this issue, at the
request of the member for Willagee. We acknowledge the issues that are there
and the issues that he has put up and we have said that we have processes in
place. The Auditor General also went on to say —
we also did not find any
evidence of fraud
The risk of fraud in Housing
maintenance existed before the HCMM —
That is, the head contractor
maintenance model —
was implemented. The HCMM
potentially offers improvements over the previous maintenance arrangements in
reducing Housing's exposure to fraud risk and loss:
Although I acknowledge that there are
issues and challenges with the implementation of this model, as acknowledged by
the Auditor General, I also make the point that the only fraud in this place is
the member for Willagee in what he has been raising over the last number of
weeks.
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