❓ A parliamentary question regarding electricity network spending is met with a lengthy response attacking the opposition's record and funding plans, while highlighting the government's investment and performance standards.
AnsweredQoN 715Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to opposition promises to spend $50 million each year over four years on the electricity network. How does this compare with the Government’s record? Mr E.S. RIPPER
AnswerView source ↗
I was somewhat amused to see the opposition energy policy released earlier this week because members opposite have been posturing for years concerning the electricity network. Frankly, their policy is a damp squib. They demanded that the Government spend $500 million to upgrade the network, yet the Opposition has announced a $200 million policy. The National Party is already in retreat and learning what it is like to be in coalition with the Leader of the Opposition. How will members opposite fund this policy? They are talking about reducing the Western Power dividend to government. Of course, that dividend pays for schools, hospitals and police services. Will members opposite cut these essential services? If not, that promise, like hundreds of others, is unfunded. Once again, a promise for everyone but no plan to pay for them. The coalition promise pales into insignificance next to the Government’s record. The Government will spend $1.8 billion over the next four years on the electricity network to make up for years and years of neglect under our predecessors. The Government has the courage to implement independent performance standards for the electricity network. The Government had the courage, unlike the Leader of the Opposition when he was minister, to give the Director of Energy Safety the power to report on Western Power’s performance. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kingsley! Mr E.S. RIPPER: I have some evidence and testimony on the state of the electricity network under the coalition. This testimony comes from the Leader of the Opposition’s own colleagues. In December 1999, the member for Carine wrote to the then minister as follows - . . . residents are becoming very frustrated at the frequency of the blackouts and have asked me to provide them with a satisfactory explanation as to why power failures continue to happen in the suburbs of Carine, Hamersley and Duncraig . . . In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: I was somewhat amused to see the opposition energy policy released earlier this week because members opposite have been posturing for years concerning the electricity network. Frankly, their policy is a damp squib. They demanded that the Government spend $500 million to upgrade the network, yet the Opposition has announced a $200 million policy. The National Party is already in retreat and learning what it is like to be in coalition with the Leader of the Opposition. How will members opposite fund this policy? They are talking about reducing the Western Power dividend to government. Of course, that dividend pays for schools, hospitals and police services. Will members opposite cut these essential services? If not, that promise, like hundreds of others, is unfunded. Once again, a promise for everyone but no plan to pay for them. The coalition promise pales into insignificance next to the Government’s record. The Government will spend $1.8 billion over the next four years on the electricity network to make up for years and years of neglect under our predecessors. The Government has the courage to implement independent performance standards for the electricity network. The Government had the courage, unlike the Leader of the Opposition when he was minister, to give the Director of Energy Safety the power to report on Western Power’s performance. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kingsley! Mr E.S. RIPPER: I have some evidence and testimony on the state of the electricity network under the coalition. This testimony comes from the Leader of the Opposition’s own colleagues. In December 1999, the member for Carine wrote to the then minister as follows - . . . residents are becoming very frustrated at the frequency of the blackouts and have asked me to provide them with a satisfactory explanation as to why power failures continue to happen in the suburbs of Carine, Hamersley and Duncraig . . . In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
I was somewhat amused to see the opposition energy policy released earlier this week because members opposite have been posturing for years concerning the electricity network. Frankly, their policy is a damp squib. They demanded that the Government spend $500 million to upgrade the network, yet the Opposition has announced a $200 million policy. The National Party is already in retreat and learning what it is like to be in coalition with the Leader of the Opposition. How will members opposite fund this policy? They are talking about reducing the Western Power dividend to government. Of course, that dividend pays for schools, hospitals and police services. Will members opposite cut these essential services? If not, that promise, like hundreds of others, is unfunded. Once again, a promise for everyone but no plan to pay for them. The coalition promise pales into insignificance next to the Government’s record. The Government will spend $1.8 billion over the next four years on the electricity network to make up for years and years of neglect under our predecessors. The Government has the courage to implement independent performance standards for the electricity network. The Government had the courage, unlike the Leader of the Opposition when he was minister, to give the Director of Energy Safety the power to report on Western Power’s performance. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kingsley! Mr E.S. RIPPER: I have some evidence and testimony on the state of the electricity network under the coalition. This testimony comes from the Leader of the Opposition’s own colleagues. In December 1999, the member for Carine wrote to the then minister as follows - . . . residents are becoming very frustrated at the frequency of the blackouts and have asked me to provide them with a satisfactory explanation as to why power failures continue to happen in the suburbs of Carine, Hamersley and Duncraig . . . In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kingsley! Mr E.S. RIPPER: I have some evidence and testimony on the state of the electricity network under the coalition. This testimony comes from the Leader of the Opposition’s own colleagues. In December 1999, the member for Carine wrote to the then minister as follows - . . . residents are becoming very frustrated at the frequency of the blackouts and have asked me to provide them with a satisfactory explanation as to why power failures continue to happen in the suburbs of Carine, Hamersley and Duncraig . . . In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: I have some evidence and testimony on the state of the electricity network under the coalition. This testimony comes from the Leader of the Opposition’s own colleagues. In December 1999, the member for Carine wrote to the then minister as follows - . . . residents are becoming very frustrated at the frequency of the blackouts and have asked me to provide them with a satisfactory explanation as to why power failures continue to happen in the suburbs of Carine, Hamersley and Duncraig . . . In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
. . . residents are becoming very frustrated at the frequency of the blackouts and have asked me to provide them with a satisfactory explanation as to why power failures continue to happen in the suburbs of Carine, Hamersley and Duncraig . . . In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
. . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: I was somewhat amused to see the opposition energy policy released earlier this week because members opposite have been posturing for years concerning the electricity network. Frankly, their policy is a damp squib. They demanded that the Government spend $500 million to upgrade the network, yet the Opposition has announced a $200 million policy. The National Party is already in retreat and learning what it is like to be in coalition with the Leader of the Opposition. How will members opposite fund this policy? They are talking about reducing the Western Power dividend to government. Of course, that dividend pays for schools, hospitals and police services. Will members opposite cut these essential services? If not, that promise, like hundreds of others, is unfunded. Once again, a promise for everyone but no plan to pay for them. The coalition promise pales into insignificance next to the Government’s record. The Government will spend $1.8 billion over the next four years on the electricity network to make up for years and years of neglect under our predecessors. The Government has the courage to implement independent performance standards for the electricity network. The Government had the courage, unlike the Leader of the Opposition when he was minister, to give the Director of Energy Safety the power to report on Western Power’s performance. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kingsley! Mr E.S. RIPPER: I have some evidence and testimony on the state of the electricity network under the coalition. This testimony comes from the Leader of the Opposition’s own colleagues. In December 1999, the member for Carine wrote to the then minister as follows - . . . residents are becoming very frustrated at the frequency of the blackouts and have asked me to provide them with a satisfactory explanation as to why power failures continue to happen in the suburbs of Carine, Hamersley and Duncraig . . . In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
I was somewhat amused to see the opposition energy policy released earlier this week because members opposite have been posturing for years concerning the electricity network. Frankly, their policy is a damp squib. They demanded that the Government spend $500 million to upgrade the network, yet the Opposition has announced a $200 million policy. The National Party is already in retreat and learning what it is like to be in coalition with the Leader of the Opposition. How will members opposite fund this policy? They are talking about reducing the Western Power dividend to government. Of course, that dividend pays for schools, hospitals and police services. Will members opposite cut these essential services? If not, that promise, like hundreds of others, is unfunded. Once again, a promise for everyone but no plan to pay for them. The coalition promise pales into insignificance next to the Government’s record. The Government will spend $1.8 billion over the next four years on the electricity network to make up for years and years of neglect under our predecessors. The Government has the courage to implement independent performance standards for the electricity network. The Government had the courage, unlike the Leader of the Opposition when he was minister, to give the Director of Energy Safety the power to report on Western Power’s performance. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kingsley! Mr E.S. RIPPER: I have some evidence and testimony on the state of the electricity network under the coalition. This testimony comes from the Leader of the Opposition’s own colleagues. In December 1999, the member for Carine wrote to the then minister as follows - . . . residents are becoming very frustrated at the frequency of the blackouts and have asked me to provide them with a satisfactory explanation as to why power failures continue to happen in the suburbs of Carine, Hamersley and Duncraig . . . In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kingsley! Mr E.S. RIPPER: I have some evidence and testimony on the state of the electricity network under the coalition. This testimony comes from the Leader of the Opposition’s own colleagues. In December 1999, the member for Carine wrote to the then minister as follows - . . . residents are becoming very frustrated at the frequency of the blackouts and have asked me to provide them with a satisfactory explanation as to why power failures continue to happen in the suburbs of Carine, Hamersley and Duncraig . . . In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: I have some evidence and testimony on the state of the electricity network under the coalition. This testimony comes from the Leader of the Opposition’s own colleagues. In December 1999, the member for Carine wrote to the then minister as follows - . . . residents are becoming very frustrated at the frequency of the blackouts and have asked me to provide them with a satisfactory explanation as to why power failures continue to happen in the suburbs of Carine, Hamersley and Duncraig . . . In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
. . . residents are becoming very frustrated at the frequency of the blackouts and have asked me to provide them with a satisfactory explanation as to why power failures continue to happen in the suburbs of Carine, Hamersley and Duncraig . . . In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
In February 2000, the then member for Greenough wrote complaining about power reliability in Kalbarri in these terms - . . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
. . . not only is Kalbarri a growing township, but many businesses are suffering computer failure and particularly refrigeration compressor failure. The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The inconvenience and economic loss is considerable . . . In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
In March 2000, the ever-loyal member for Mitchell, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but not the Deputy Leader of the Coalition, wrote to the then minister as follows - Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Recently, I surveyed residents in the Leschenault area - That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
That must have been a very welcome survey from the then minister and current Leader of the Opposition’s point of view. The letter continues - Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Quite frankly, I was stunned to learn from the figures collated that more than one-third . . . of the respondents had experienced electricity supply problems. In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
In July 2000, the then member for Swan Hills, Mrs van de Klashorst, wrote to the minister as follows - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: Members opposite do not want to hear the opinions of their colleagues in 2000. Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr A.D. Marshall: Don’t look back - look forward. Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: They want to drown me out and interject so they cannot hear. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The SPEAKER: I call the member for Dawesville to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: I will not go on with it, but I wonder about the parliamentary convention of the member for Dawesville interjecting in that way. Mrs van de Klashorst said that her office continues to field complaints - Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The SPEAKER: I call the member for Darling Range to order for the third time. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kalgoorlie! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The member wrote - Colin, this office continues to field complaints from constituents living in the Hills regarding power cuts and I can well understand their frustration . . . It is difficult to appease constituents when it appears that bandaid type solutions are being applied where real solutions are needed. What did the Leader of the Opposition do? After years of privatisation, and those ceremonies at which the champagne glasses clinked because another state asset had been sold out from under taxpayers, and years of ignoring the electricity network, the then minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, decided that he had better come up with a plan. He was getting too many angry letters from his colleagues. On 8 December 2000, just three weeks before the election was called, and after eight years as Minister for Energy, he announced a 10-year plan. What a visionary! Eight years as minister, and then right at the death knock he decides to deal with the issue with a 10-year plan. Of course, it was unfunded. His commitments while in government were unfunded and his commitments in opposition are unfunded. I sympathise with the members opposite who wrote those letters, and I can assure those who are frustrated with the former Minister for Energy that the Gallop Government has a massive investment program in the electricity network, and it is fully funded and fully costed, unlike anything the Leader of the Opposition does in opposition or anything he did while he was a minister in the previous Government.
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