❓ Opposition Leader McGowan questions the Treasurer about cabinet approval for the Fremantle Port lease and its valuation compared to federal estimates. The Treasurer clarifies it's a lease, not a sale, confirms cabinet approval, and disputes the federal Treasurer's valuation.
AnsweredQoN 137Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FREMANTLE PORT — ASSET SALES
137. Mr M. McGOWAN to the Treasurer:
I have a supplementary question.
When the Treasurer announced the sale of the Fremantle port, did he have
cabinet sign-off, including National Party ministers, and does he agree with
the federal Treasurer's assessments of the value of the Fremantle port?
137. Mr M. McGOWAN to the Treasurer:
I have a supplementary question.
When the Treasurer announced the sale of the Fremantle port, did he have
cabinet sign-off, including National Party ministers, and does he agree with
the federal Treasurer's assessments of the value of the Fremantle port?
AnswerView source ↗
A couple of things: first, we have
not announced the sale of the port—we haven't! We have announced
that we have proceeded to the process of leasing the port.
Several members interjected.
Dr
M.D. NAHAN : No, we have not. If you don't know the difference
between an actual sale and a proposal to explore sale, you're really
hopeless!
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members!
Dr
M.D. NAHAN : There is a big difference. In the last budget, we announced we
would proceed with the lease of the port of Fremantle and we are about ready to
bring legislation into this house that details the process so that we can
proceed to the lease of the port.
Mr
M. McGowan : Did the cabinet agree?
Dr
M.D. NAHAN : We will go through that process and it has been through
cabinet, okay? Importantly, about the federal government, it has not only been
supporting and encouraging the sale of the port, it is also offering a recycling
of 15 per cent of the sale of the port to be used for more capital and—I
might add—that will be exempted from the GST process, so it is very
strongly for it. Of course, we have gone through the Foreign Investment Review
Board and everything else related to the vetting of the process at the
commonwealth level. I heard that the federal Treasurer said it was $1 billion,
but he has not seen the full details and I think that would be significantly
under-pricing the asset.
not announced the sale of the port—we haven't! We have announced
that we have proceeded to the process of leasing the port.
Several members interjected.
Dr
M.D. NAHAN : No, we have not. If you don't know the difference
between an actual sale and a proposal to explore sale, you're really
hopeless!
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members!
Dr
M.D. NAHAN : There is a big difference. In the last budget, we announced we
would proceed with the lease of the port of Fremantle and we are about ready to
bring legislation into this house that details the process so that we can
proceed to the lease of the port.
Mr
M. McGowan : Did the cabinet agree?
Dr
M.D. NAHAN : We will go through that process and it has been through
cabinet, okay? Importantly, about the federal government, it has not only been
supporting and encouraging the sale of the port, it is also offering a recycling
of 15 per cent of the sale of the port to be used for more capital and—I
might add—that will be exempted from the GST process, so it is very
strongly for it. Of course, we have gone through the Foreign Investment Review
Board and everything else related to the vetting of the process at the
commonwealth level. I heard that the federal Treasurer said it was $1 billion,
but he has not seen the full details and I think that would be significantly
under-pricing the asset.
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