Opposition Leader Ripper questions Premier Barnett's decision not to fund Carnarvon flood mitigation in 2009, linking it to current flood damage. Barnett deflects blame, citing the flood's magnitude and divine intervention.

AnsweredQoN 92Legislative Assembly
Asked
15 March 2011
Portfolio
Premier

QuestionView source ↗

CARNARVON FLOOD DAMAGE
I have a supplementary question. Is it not true that in the 2009 budget process, the Premier made the decision not to fund stage 2 of the flood mitigation works? Does the Premier take responsibility for the current consequences of that decision? Mr C.J. BARNETT

AnswerView source ↗

The Leader of the Opposition should be known as the “Leader of the Forward Estimates”. In Labor’s past budgets, all we had to do was ignore the budget for the current year, look at the forward estimates, and that told us all the things that Labor never did. Labor’s forward estimates are a litany of promises not delivered. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, I do not take responsibility for the floods; that was God-created. Also, given the extent of that flood, the advice I have is that the mitigation that was proposed probably would have proved ineffective.
Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: The Leader of the Opposition should be known as the “Leader of the Forward Estimates”. In Labor’s past budgets, all we had to do was ignore the budget for the current year, look at the forward estimates, and that told us all the things that Labor never did. Labor’s forward estimates are a litany of promises not delivered. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, I do not take responsibility for the floods; that was God-created. Also, given the extent of that flood, the advice I have is that the mitigation that was proposed probably would have proved ineffective.
The Leader of the Opposition should be known as the “Leader of the Forward Estimates”. In Labor’s past budgets, all we had to do was ignore the budget for the current year, look at the forward estimates, and that told us all the things that Labor never did. Labor’s forward estimates are a litany of promises not delivered. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, I do not take responsibility for the floods; that was God-created. Also, given the extent of that flood, the advice I have is that the mitigation that was proposed probably would have proved ineffective.
Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, I do not take responsibility for the floods; that was God-created. Also, given the extent of that flood, the advice I have is that the mitigation that was proposed probably would have proved ineffective.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, I do not take responsibility for the floods; that was God-created. Also, given the extent of that flood, the advice I have is that the mitigation that was proposed probably would have proved ineffective.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more