❓ Question regarding claims of reduced hospital maintenance funding. Treasurer refutes claims, accusing opposition of misrepresenting data and misleading parliament.
AnsweredQoN 316Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Hospitals—Maintenance expenditure316.Ms Emily Hamiltonto
theTreasurer:I refer to claims
made by the shadow Minister for Health in this place yesterday and the Leader
of the Opposition on radio today regarding health maintenance funding levels. Can
the Treasurer outline whether there is truth to these claims or is this just
another example of the Liberal Party and the shadow health minister making things
up?Several members
interjected.The Speaker:Members on both sides!
theTreasurer:I refer to claims
made by the shadow Minister for Health in this place yesterday and the Leader
of the Opposition on radio today regarding health maintenance funding levels. Can
the Treasurer outline whether there is truth to these claims or is this just
another example of the Liberal Party and the shadow health minister making things
up?Several members
interjected.The Speaker:Members on both sides!
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
13 August 2025
Response time
0 days
Ms Rita Saffioti replied:Yesterday, a number
of claims were made in this place that were reiterated and given to the media—claims
that were also backed in today on morning radio. I was watching what was
happening yesterday. I was thinking, "Jeez, I just don't know whether
these numbers could be true." They just seemed a bit far-fetched, and we
know what the Liberal Party is like with numbers, members.Several members
interjected.Ms Rita Saffioti:Not great. I thought, "Jeez, we
increased the amount of spending in health from $8.8 billion in 2016–17
to $14.2 billion this financial year. The total cost of services is $14.2 billion."
That is a big increase in anyone's language. I did not think that the numbers
made sense. Yesterday, I was fortunate to be in the chamber during the matter
of public interest when the shadow Minister for Health read out these figures
and said there had been a cut in the funding of hospital maintenance from $106 million
to $72 million. That is what the shadow Minister for Health said yesterday.
Those who were in the chamber at the time might remember that I asked, "Can
you please table those numbers? They're interesting numbers. I'd like to get to
the bottom of that." The shadow health minister said no. She said, "I'm
reading from my notes."We like checking
things. In the meantime, I got some further data from Treasury on the
maintenance front. The quick take that I got from the data I received from
Treasury was that there had been a significant increase over time in the
funding of general maintenance. Specific claims were made so I tracked what the
shadow minister was referring to. The shadow Minister for Health went and got
the total spend for metropolitan health from theMetropolitan
Health Service Annual Report 2015–16. That includes east metro,
south metro, north metro, PathWest, other buildings and the Child and
Adolescent Health Service. She included everything as her base. She then looked
at the annual reports of three health services for 2023–24, added up the
figures to $72 million and said there had been a $34 million cut in maintenance
funding. That is simply wrong. The shadow Minister for Health got it wrong. It is
now up to Liberal Party members to apologise and correct themselves. This is
not the first time the member for Vasse has done something like this. Do
members remember her tweet about our trains? During COVID, she used a photo
that was taken by Ken Travers in 2012 and said, "How can this minister
live with herself because the carriages are so full?" We tracked that
photo and found out that it was taken by Ken Travers in 2012.Several members
interjected.The Speaker:Members!Ms Libby Mettaminterjected.The Speaker:Member for Vasse!Ms Rita Saffioti:Another claim that was made
yesterday was about north metro and the financial year 2023–24. Again,
we have a full financial year behind us, 2024–25, and those numbers
will be even better. She took the figure of $38 million, which included other
things, and compared it with a figure that is now 14 months old. She did not
compare like with like. The member for Vasse did not table the documents
because she knew that any investigation would show that she misled the house.
It is incumbent on you now, member for Vasse, to apologise. You, too, Leader of
the Opposition. They went on radio and said that we cut health maintenance
funding.Several members
interjected.The Speaker:Members!Several members
interjected.The Speaker:Members!Several members
interjected.The Speaker:Minister, Leader of the Opposition and everyone
else—enough. The minister is going to conclude her comments.Ms Rita Saffioti:I was in opposition for a long eight
and a half years. I know that you have to do the research and check and double-check.Ms Libby Mettaminterjected.The Speaker:Member for Vasse!Ms Libby Mettaminterjected.The Speaker:Member for Vasse!Ms Rita Saffioti:The member comes in here without
checking the data. When she did not table those documents, I knew that
something weird was going on. If she had a gotcha—a like-for-like
gotcha—she would have thrownthose
documents to us and been rubbing it in our face, but she refused. On the other
side of the picture is the tensof millions of dollars the government is
spending at Charlies right now building a new ED and upgrading—Ms Libby Mettaminterjected.The Speaker:Member for Vasse!Mr Basil Zempilasinterjected.The Speaker:Leader of the Opposition!Ms Rita Saffioti:I like dealing with facts, Leader of
the Opposition. You went on radio and did not tell the truth—again.Mr Basil Zempilasinterjected.Ms Rita Saffioti:He is moving on from the data. The
shadow Treasurer was yelling out "health maintenance expenditure"
just a couple of questions ago.The Speaker:Thanks, Treasurer—finish.Ms Rita Saffioti:No, if they are going to interject,
they can get it back. I am sick of these people interjecting.The Speaker:Please conclude your comments.Ms Libby Mettaminterjected.The Speaker:Member for Vasse! Please conclude your
comments, Treasurer.Ms Rita Saffioti:As I said, they got it wrong. It is
not the first or the last time that the Liberal Party will get numbers wrong. Liberal
Party members do not go to Treasury for costings, because they know that anyone
who checks their data will know they got it wrong.
Hospitals—Maintenance expenditure
of claims were made in this place that were reiterated and given to the media—claims
that were also backed in today on morning radio. I was watching what was
happening yesterday. I was thinking, "Jeez, I just don't know whether
these numbers could be true." They just seemed a bit far-fetched, and we
know what the Liberal Party is like with numbers, members.Several members
interjected.Ms Rita Saffioti:Not great. I thought, "Jeez, we
increased the amount of spending in health from $8.8 billion in 2016–17
to $14.2 billion this financial year. The total cost of services is $14.2 billion."
That is a big increase in anyone's language. I did not think that the numbers
made sense. Yesterday, I was fortunate to be in the chamber during the matter
of public interest when the shadow Minister for Health read out these figures
and said there had been a cut in the funding of hospital maintenance from $106 million
to $72 million. That is what the shadow Minister for Health said yesterday.
Those who were in the chamber at the time might remember that I asked, "Can
you please table those numbers? They're interesting numbers. I'd like to get to
the bottom of that." The shadow health minister said no. She said, "I'm
reading from my notes."We like checking
things. In the meantime, I got some further data from Treasury on the
maintenance front. The quick take that I got from the data I received from
Treasury was that there had been a significant increase over time in the
funding of general maintenance. Specific claims were made so I tracked what the
shadow minister was referring to. The shadow Minister for Health went and got
the total spend for metropolitan health from theMetropolitan
Health Service Annual Report 2015–16. That includes east metro,
south metro, north metro, PathWest, other buildings and the Child and
Adolescent Health Service. She included everything as her base. She then looked
at the annual reports of three health services for 2023–24, added up the
figures to $72 million and said there had been a $34 million cut in maintenance
funding. That is simply wrong. The shadow Minister for Health got it wrong. It is
now up to Liberal Party members to apologise and correct themselves. This is
not the first time the member for Vasse has done something like this. Do
members remember her tweet about our trains? During COVID, she used a photo
that was taken by Ken Travers in 2012 and said, "How can this minister
live with herself because the carriages are so full?" We tracked that
photo and found out that it was taken by Ken Travers in 2012.Several members
interjected.The Speaker:Members!Ms Libby Mettaminterjected.The Speaker:Member for Vasse!Ms Rita Saffioti:Another claim that was made
yesterday was about north metro and the financial year 2023–24. Again,
we have a full financial year behind us, 2024–25, and those numbers
will be even better. She took the figure of $38 million, which included other
things, and compared it with a figure that is now 14 months old. She did not
compare like with like. The member for Vasse did not table the documents
because she knew that any investigation would show that she misled the house.
It is incumbent on you now, member for Vasse, to apologise. You, too, Leader of
the Opposition. They went on radio and said that we cut health maintenance
funding.Several members
interjected.The Speaker:Members!Several members
interjected.The Speaker:Members!Several members
interjected.The Speaker:Minister, Leader of the Opposition and everyone
else—enough. The minister is going to conclude her comments.Ms Rita Saffioti:I was in opposition for a long eight
and a half years. I know that you have to do the research and check and double-check.Ms Libby Mettaminterjected.The Speaker:Member for Vasse!Ms Libby Mettaminterjected.The Speaker:Member for Vasse!Ms Rita Saffioti:The member comes in here without
checking the data. When she did not table those documents, I knew that
something weird was going on. If she had a gotcha—a like-for-like
gotcha—she would have thrownthose
documents to us and been rubbing it in our face, but she refused. On the other
side of the picture is the tensof millions of dollars the government is
spending at Charlies right now building a new ED and upgrading—Ms Libby Mettaminterjected.The Speaker:Member for Vasse!Mr Basil Zempilasinterjected.The Speaker:Leader of the Opposition!Ms Rita Saffioti:I like dealing with facts, Leader of
the Opposition. You went on radio and did not tell the truth—again.Mr Basil Zempilasinterjected.Ms Rita Saffioti:He is moving on from the data. The
shadow Treasurer was yelling out "health maintenance expenditure"
just a couple of questions ago.The Speaker:Thanks, Treasurer—finish.Ms Rita Saffioti:No, if they are going to interject,
they can get it back. I am sick of these people interjecting.The Speaker:Please conclude your comments.Ms Libby Mettaminterjected.The Speaker:Member for Vasse! Please conclude your
comments, Treasurer.Ms Rita Saffioti:As I said, they got it wrong. It is
not the first or the last time that the Liberal Party will get numbers wrong. Liberal
Party members do not go to Treasury for costings, because they know that anyone
who checks their data will know they got it wrong.
Hospitals—Maintenance expenditure
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