❓ Question regarding the government's policy on privatisation of state assets, particularly in the utilities sector, and accusations of past financial mismanagement by the opposition.
AnsweredQoN 609Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the fact that this Government has not once - not once - in four years privatised a state asset. What will be the Treasurer’s policy; will he continue this into the next term of government? Mr E.S. RIPPER
AnswerView source ↗
Mr Speaker - Dr J.M. Woollard: What about Duncraig House? Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Alfred Cove is still here! I would have thought that rather than campaigning against the Government, the member for Alfred Cove might be more concerned about the potential return of the Prince of Darkness, Graham Kierath, to this Parliament. If she had that concern, she would probably share it with the Leader of the Opposition! Mr Speaker, it is true that the Government has not privatised any asset since coming to office. It is also true that one of the distinguishing features of the former Government and the Leader of the Opposition in particular was their privatisation of a string of government assets, raking in almost $5 billion. More importantly, every time they sold a government asset, they took the stamp duty, put it into revenue and blew that stamp duty on the day-to-day operational expenses of government. There is a limit to the sustainability of that, is there not, Mr Speaker? Not surprisingly, that put them on the slippery slope to budget deficits. They spent more than they earned even when they had windfalls, including the self-arranged windfalls from their privatisations. The former Government had five budget deficits in eight years; rampant spending growth; a sea of red ink, as Alan Wood said; and, as the Under Treasurer said, it put the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. Knowing the Leader of the Opposition’s addiction to privatisation and knowing that he is a serial privatiser, I thought it fair and reasonable to ask last month, when the National Party was having a talkfest on energy, about the coalition’s policy on privatisation. Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: Mr Speaker - Dr J.M. Woollard: What about Duncraig House? Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Alfred Cove is still here! I would have thought that rather than campaigning against the Government, the member for Alfred Cove might be more concerned about the potential return of the Prince of Darkness, Graham Kierath, to this Parliament. If she had that concern, she would probably share it with the Leader of the Opposition! Mr Speaker, it is true that the Government has not privatised any asset since coming to office. It is also true that one of the distinguishing features of the former Government and the Leader of the Opposition in particular was their privatisation of a string of government assets, raking in almost $5 billion. More importantly, every time they sold a government asset, they took the stamp duty, put it into revenue and blew that stamp duty on the day-to-day operational expenses of government. There is a limit to the sustainability of that, is there not, Mr Speaker? Not surprisingly, that put them on the slippery slope to budget deficits. They spent more than they earned even when they had windfalls, including the self-arranged windfalls from their privatisations. The former Government had five budget deficits in eight years; rampant spending growth; a sea of red ink, as Alan Wood said; and, as the Under Treasurer said, it put the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. Knowing the Leader of the Opposition’s addiction to privatisation and knowing that he is a serial privatiser, I thought it fair and reasonable to ask last month, when the National Party was having a talkfest on energy, about the coalition’s policy on privatisation. Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr Speaker - Dr J.M. Woollard: What about Duncraig House? Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Alfred Cove is still here! I would have thought that rather than campaigning against the Government, the member for Alfred Cove might be more concerned about the potential return of the Prince of Darkness, Graham Kierath, to this Parliament. If she had that concern, she would probably share it with the Leader of the Opposition! Mr Speaker, it is true that the Government has not privatised any asset since coming to office. It is also true that one of the distinguishing features of the former Government and the Leader of the Opposition in particular was their privatisation of a string of government assets, raking in almost $5 billion. More importantly, every time they sold a government asset, they took the stamp duty, put it into revenue and blew that stamp duty on the day-to-day operational expenses of government. There is a limit to the sustainability of that, is there not, Mr Speaker? Not surprisingly, that put them on the slippery slope to budget deficits. They spent more than they earned even when they had windfalls, including the self-arranged windfalls from their privatisations. The former Government had five budget deficits in eight years; rampant spending growth; a sea of red ink, as Alan Wood said; and, as the Under Treasurer said, it put the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. Knowing the Leader of the Opposition’s addiction to privatisation and knowing that he is a serial privatiser, I thought it fair and reasonable to ask last month, when the National Party was having a talkfest on energy, about the coalition’s policy on privatisation. Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Dr J.M. Woollard: What about Duncraig House? Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Alfred Cove is still here! I would have thought that rather than campaigning against the Government, the member for Alfred Cove might be more concerned about the potential return of the Prince of Darkness, Graham Kierath, to this Parliament. If she had that concern, she would probably share it with the Leader of the Opposition! Mr Speaker, it is true that the Government has not privatised any asset since coming to office. It is also true that one of the distinguishing features of the former Government and the Leader of the Opposition in particular was their privatisation of a string of government assets, raking in almost $5 billion. More importantly, every time they sold a government asset, they took the stamp duty, put it into revenue and blew that stamp duty on the day-to-day operational expenses of government. There is a limit to the sustainability of that, is there not, Mr Speaker? Not surprisingly, that put them on the slippery slope to budget deficits. They spent more than they earned even when they had windfalls, including the self-arranged windfalls from their privatisations. The former Government had five budget deficits in eight years; rampant spending growth; a sea of red ink, as Alan Wood said; and, as the Under Treasurer said, it put the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. Knowing the Leader of the Opposition’s addiction to privatisation and knowing that he is a serial privatiser, I thought it fair and reasonable to ask last month, when the National Party was having a talkfest on energy, about the coalition’s policy on privatisation. Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Alfred Cove is still here! I would have thought that rather than campaigning against the Government, the member for Alfred Cove might be more concerned about the potential return of the Prince of Darkness, Graham Kierath, to this Parliament. If she had that concern, she would probably share it with the Leader of the Opposition! Mr Speaker, it is true that the Government has not privatised any asset since coming to office. It is also true that one of the distinguishing features of the former Government and the Leader of the Opposition in particular was their privatisation of a string of government assets, raking in almost $5 billion. More importantly, every time they sold a government asset, they took the stamp duty, put it into revenue and blew that stamp duty on the day-to-day operational expenses of government. There is a limit to the sustainability of that, is there not, Mr Speaker? Not surprisingly, that put them on the slippery slope to budget deficits. They spent more than they earned even when they had windfalls, including the self-arranged windfalls from their privatisations. The former Government had five budget deficits in eight years; rampant spending growth; a sea of red ink, as Alan Wood said; and, as the Under Treasurer said, it put the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. Knowing the Leader of the Opposition’s addiction to privatisation and knowing that he is a serial privatiser, I thought it fair and reasonable to ask last month, when the National Party was having a talkfest on energy, about the coalition’s policy on privatisation. Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr Speaker, it is true that the Government has not privatised any asset since coming to office. It is also true that one of the distinguishing features of the former Government and the Leader of the Opposition in particular was their privatisation of a string of government assets, raking in almost $5 billion. More importantly, every time they sold a government asset, they took the stamp duty, put it into revenue and blew that stamp duty on the day-to-day operational expenses of government. There is a limit to the sustainability of that, is there not, Mr Speaker? Not surprisingly, that put them on the slippery slope to budget deficits. They spent more than they earned even when they had windfalls, including the self-arranged windfalls from their privatisations. The former Government had five budget deficits in eight years; rampant spending growth; a sea of red ink, as Alan Wood said; and, as the Under Treasurer said, it put the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. Knowing the Leader of the Opposition’s addiction to privatisation and knowing that he is a serial privatiser, I thought it fair and reasonable to ask last month, when the National Party was having a talkfest on energy, about the coalition’s policy on privatisation. Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: Mr Speaker - Dr J.M. Woollard: What about Duncraig House? Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Alfred Cove is still here! I would have thought that rather than campaigning against the Government, the member for Alfred Cove might be more concerned about the potential return of the Prince of Darkness, Graham Kierath, to this Parliament. If she had that concern, she would probably share it with the Leader of the Opposition! Mr Speaker, it is true that the Government has not privatised any asset since coming to office. It is also true that one of the distinguishing features of the former Government and the Leader of the Opposition in particular was their privatisation of a string of government assets, raking in almost $5 billion. More importantly, every time they sold a government asset, they took the stamp duty, put it into revenue and blew that stamp duty on the day-to-day operational expenses of government. There is a limit to the sustainability of that, is there not, Mr Speaker? Not surprisingly, that put them on the slippery slope to budget deficits. They spent more than they earned even when they had windfalls, including the self-arranged windfalls from their privatisations. The former Government had five budget deficits in eight years; rampant spending growth; a sea of red ink, as Alan Wood said; and, as the Under Treasurer said, it put the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. Knowing the Leader of the Opposition’s addiction to privatisation and knowing that he is a serial privatiser, I thought it fair and reasonable to ask last month, when the National Party was having a talkfest on energy, about the coalition’s policy on privatisation. Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr Speaker - Dr J.M. Woollard: What about Duncraig House? Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Alfred Cove is still here! I would have thought that rather than campaigning against the Government, the member for Alfred Cove might be more concerned about the potential return of the Prince of Darkness, Graham Kierath, to this Parliament. If she had that concern, she would probably share it with the Leader of the Opposition! Mr Speaker, it is true that the Government has not privatised any asset since coming to office. It is also true that one of the distinguishing features of the former Government and the Leader of the Opposition in particular was their privatisation of a string of government assets, raking in almost $5 billion. More importantly, every time they sold a government asset, they took the stamp duty, put it into revenue and blew that stamp duty on the day-to-day operational expenses of government. There is a limit to the sustainability of that, is there not, Mr Speaker? Not surprisingly, that put them on the slippery slope to budget deficits. They spent more than they earned even when they had windfalls, including the self-arranged windfalls from their privatisations. The former Government had five budget deficits in eight years; rampant spending growth; a sea of red ink, as Alan Wood said; and, as the Under Treasurer said, it put the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. Knowing the Leader of the Opposition’s addiction to privatisation and knowing that he is a serial privatiser, I thought it fair and reasonable to ask last month, when the National Party was having a talkfest on energy, about the coalition’s policy on privatisation. Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Dr J.M. Woollard: What about Duncraig House? Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Alfred Cove is still here! I would have thought that rather than campaigning against the Government, the member for Alfred Cove might be more concerned about the potential return of the Prince of Darkness, Graham Kierath, to this Parliament. If she had that concern, she would probably share it with the Leader of the Opposition! Mr Speaker, it is true that the Government has not privatised any asset since coming to office. It is also true that one of the distinguishing features of the former Government and the Leader of the Opposition in particular was their privatisation of a string of government assets, raking in almost $5 billion. More importantly, every time they sold a government asset, they took the stamp duty, put it into revenue and blew that stamp duty on the day-to-day operational expenses of government. There is a limit to the sustainability of that, is there not, Mr Speaker? Not surprisingly, that put them on the slippery slope to budget deficits. They spent more than they earned even when they had windfalls, including the self-arranged windfalls from their privatisations. The former Government had five budget deficits in eight years; rampant spending growth; a sea of red ink, as Alan Wood said; and, as the Under Treasurer said, it put the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. Knowing the Leader of the Opposition’s addiction to privatisation and knowing that he is a serial privatiser, I thought it fair and reasonable to ask last month, when the National Party was having a talkfest on energy, about the coalition’s policy on privatisation. Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Alfred Cove is still here! I would have thought that rather than campaigning against the Government, the member for Alfred Cove might be more concerned about the potential return of the Prince of Darkness, Graham Kierath, to this Parliament. If she had that concern, she would probably share it with the Leader of the Opposition! Mr Speaker, it is true that the Government has not privatised any asset since coming to office. It is also true that one of the distinguishing features of the former Government and the Leader of the Opposition in particular was their privatisation of a string of government assets, raking in almost $5 billion. More importantly, every time they sold a government asset, they took the stamp duty, put it into revenue and blew that stamp duty on the day-to-day operational expenses of government. There is a limit to the sustainability of that, is there not, Mr Speaker? Not surprisingly, that put them on the slippery slope to budget deficits. They spent more than they earned even when they had windfalls, including the self-arranged windfalls from their privatisations. The former Government had five budget deficits in eight years; rampant spending growth; a sea of red ink, as Alan Wood said; and, as the Under Treasurer said, it put the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. Knowing the Leader of the Opposition’s addiction to privatisation and knowing that he is a serial privatiser, I thought it fair and reasonable to ask last month, when the National Party was having a talkfest on energy, about the coalition’s policy on privatisation. Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr Speaker, it is true that the Government has not privatised any asset since coming to office. It is also true that one of the distinguishing features of the former Government and the Leader of the Opposition in particular was their privatisation of a string of government assets, raking in almost $5 billion. More importantly, every time they sold a government asset, they took the stamp duty, put it into revenue and blew that stamp duty on the day-to-day operational expenses of government. There is a limit to the sustainability of that, is there not, Mr Speaker? Not surprisingly, that put them on the slippery slope to budget deficits. They spent more than they earned even when they had windfalls, including the self-arranged windfalls from their privatisations. The former Government had five budget deficits in eight years; rampant spending growth; a sea of red ink, as Alan Wood said; and, as the Under Treasurer said, it put the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. Knowing the Leader of the Opposition’s addiction to privatisation and knowing that he is a serial privatiser, I thought it fair and reasonable to ask last month, when the National Party was having a talkfest on energy, about the coalition’s policy on privatisation. Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr R.A. Ainsworth: You didn’t even go. Goodness me! Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: It would be surprising if I attended a National Party conference; I am a member of the Labor Party. I did not go to a National Party conference; what a surprise! Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr R.A. Ainsworth interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member for Roe is more alive today than he has been for about 10 years, Mr Speaker. The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
The response from the Leader of the National Party was surprisingly candid. He said that all options were on the table. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition knew that that was politically unsustainable, so he quickly jumped in to deny that there were any plans to privatise Western Power. However, the Leader of the Opposition left himself an open back door; he did not rule out privatising individual power stations. I therefore warn the people of Western Australia that the Leader of the Opposition has a formula. His formula is that he will not privatise Western Power from the top down, but he does not say that he will privatise it from the bottom up and sell power stations. That is certainly consistent with a number of public statements he has made, including the following in the Western Australian Business News of 7 November 2002 - If we had been in power one of Western Power’s generators would have been privatised by now. Will the Leader of the Opposition deny that he has a plan to privatise individual power stations of Western Power? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the question on corruption. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: Will the Leader of the Opposition deny it? Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition will not deny it, which is further confirmation that that is what the coalition wants to do. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to sell the power stations; however, that is not the plan of the deputy leader of the coalition, who is the shadow minister for energy but not the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The deputy leader of the coalition is quoted in the Collie Mail on 9 September 2004 as denying that the coalition has plans to sell any power station. Who is telling the truth? Is it the deputy leader of the coalition when he says that the coalition will not sell power stations or is it the Leader of the Opposition when he tells Western Australian Business News that it will? As we go into this forthcoming state election, we need a cast-iron guarantee from the Opposition on the question of privatisation, and that cast-iron guarantee must extend to individual power stations owned by Western Power. Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr C.J. Barnett: Answer the corruption question; that is what we want a guarantee on. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: Answer the corruption question, the Leader of the Opposition says. Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr C.J. Barnett: That’s right, answer it. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: Why did the Leader of the Opposition not take the Western Power matter to the Corruption and Crime Commission? Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr C.J. Barnett: I did. Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: Do you know what I think, Mr Speaker? I think the Leader of the Opposition wanted to tip off the media first, as I think he has a few mates in Western Power that he thought he might protect. He knew that they might have been up to this sort of activity and he wanted to protect them because they were his mates at the time he was in government. We will not privatise Western Power. We will not sell a power station. We will not privatise Western Power from the top down or from the bottom up. Western Power will stay in public ownership under a Gallop Labor Government. We can be trusted on this issue; the Opposition cannot. Coalition members are serial privatisers, which is what they did when they were last in government and what they would do should this community be so unfortunate as to see them in power.
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