❓ Treasurer Buswell addresses the Assembly on the impact of the global financial crisis on WA, focusing on the September quarter financial results and criticising the previous Labor government's financial management.
AnsweredQoN 77Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY — SEPTEMBER QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS
In light of the current global financial crisis, can the Treasurer please update the Assembly on the impact of the economic downturn on Western Australia, specifically regarding the September quarter financial results report issued by Treasury today? Mr T.R. BUSWELL
In light of the current global financial crisis, can the Treasurer please update the Assembly on the impact of the economic downturn on Western Australia, specifically regarding the September quarter financial results report issued by Treasury today? Mr T.R. BUSWELL
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Carine for that excellent question on a topic of much significance to the people of Western Australia. I will deal with some of the matters that have been brought to light in the September quarter financials. Of course, the September quarter financials are the last example of the legacy of eight years of Labor in government in this state, which it has left us to clean up. Nonetheless, there are some interesting points to note. Firstly, as I am sure the member for Carine understands, taxation revenues have softened significantly. In fact, even when we take into account some issues relating to the timing of land tax, taxation revenues have clearly plateaued, and we expect them to soften further as we move forward. Goods and services tax payments from the commonwealth are down. On the other hand, royalty payments, as we would expect, have improved. The net position with revenues is that revenues are flat, and it definitely is the case that the period of rapid growth in revenue in this state has finished. However, the more telling and condemning piece of evidence presented in the financials has been the ongoing increase in recurrent spending—10.7 per cent per annum in the first three months. To put that in perspective, in the May budget that the then Treasurer handed down—“Slippery Figures” himself—the target that the then government set was 7.7 per cent for recurrent spending growth. What do we see? There was a massive blow-out in the rate of recurrent spending in the last few months of that government that we now have to deal with, and it is presenting huge challenges to the incoming government. What do we have? We have a pincer movement in this state. I will explain it very slowly to members opposite. Revenues are flattening, and expenditure is going through the roof. For those members who are uninitiated to the finances of this state, I say that when we subtract expenses from revenue, we get the difference—called the surplus—that is available to invest, and it is under extreme pressure. As we look forward over the next four years, member for Carine, we have two significant challenges. The first is to wind back the rate of growth of recurrent spending to try to free up pressure on the surplus, because, quite simply, the government cannot continue to spend money that it does not have. Yesterday in this house we saw a complete attempt to rewrite history by members of the opposition. The fact is that they have left this state on a parlous financial path. Several members interjected. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I thank the member for Carine for that excellent question on a topic of much significance to the people of Western Australia. I will deal with some of the matters that have been brought to light in the September quarter financials. Of course, the September quarter financials are the last example of the legacy of eight years of Labor in government in this state, which it has left us to clean up. Nonetheless, there are some interesting points to note. Firstly, as I am sure the member for Carine understands, taxation revenues have softened significantly. In fact, even when we take into account some issues relating to the timing of land tax, taxation revenues have clearly plateaued, and we expect them to soften further as we move forward. Goods and services tax payments from the commonwealth are down. On the other hand, royalty payments, as we would expect, have improved. The net position with revenues is that revenues are flat, and it definitely is the case that the period of rapid growth in revenue in this state has finished. However, the more telling and condemning piece of evidence presented in the financials has been the ongoing increase in recurrent spending—10.7 per cent per annum in the first three months. To put that in perspective, in the May budget that the then Treasurer handed down—“Slippery Figures” himself—the target that the then government set was 7.7 per cent for recurrent spending growth. What do we see? There was a massive blow-out in the rate of recurrent spending in the last few months of that government that we now have to deal with, and it is presenting huge challenges to the incoming government. What do we have? We have a pincer movement in this state. I will explain it very slowly to members opposite. Revenues are flattening, and expenditure is going through the roof. For those members who are uninitiated to the finances of this state, I say that when we subtract expenses from revenue, we get the difference—called the surplus—that is available to invest, and it is under extreme pressure. As we look forward over the next four years, member for Carine, we have two significant challenges. The first is to wind back the rate of growth of recurrent spending to try to free up pressure on the surplus, because, quite simply, the government cannot continue to spend money that it does not have. Yesterday in this house we saw a complete attempt to rewrite history by members of the opposition. The fact is that they have left this state on a parlous financial path. Several members interjected. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
I thank the member for Carine for that excellent question on a topic of much significance to the people of Western Australia. I will deal with some of the matters that have been brought to light in the September quarter financials. Of course, the September quarter financials are the last example of the legacy of eight years of Labor in government in this state, which it has left us to clean up. Nonetheless, there are some interesting points to note. Firstly, as I am sure the member for Carine understands, taxation revenues have softened significantly. In fact, even when we take into account some issues relating to the timing of land tax, taxation revenues have clearly plateaued, and we expect them to soften further as we move forward. Goods and services tax payments from the commonwealth are down. On the other hand, royalty payments, as we would expect, have improved. The net position with revenues is that revenues are flat, and it definitely is the case that the period of rapid growth in revenue in this state has finished. However, the more telling and condemning piece of evidence presented in the financials has been the ongoing increase in recurrent spending—10.7 per cent per annum in the first three months. To put that in perspective, in the May budget that the then Treasurer handed down—“Slippery Figures” himself—the target that the then government set was 7.7 per cent for recurrent spending growth. What do we see? There was a massive blow-out in the rate of recurrent spending in the last few months of that government that we now have to deal with, and it is presenting huge challenges to the incoming government. What do we have? We have a pincer movement in this state. I will explain it very slowly to members opposite. Revenues are flattening, and expenditure is going through the roof. For those members who are uninitiated to the finances of this state, I say that when we subtract expenses from revenue, we get the difference—called the surplus—that is available to invest, and it is under extreme pressure. As we look forward over the next four years, member for Carine, we have two significant challenges. The first is to wind back the rate of growth of recurrent spending to try to free up pressure on the surplus, because, quite simply, the government cannot continue to spend money that it does not have. Yesterday in this house we saw a complete attempt to rewrite history by members of the opposition. The fact is that they have left this state on a parlous financial path. Several members interjected. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
However, the more telling and condemning piece of evidence presented in the financials has been the ongoing increase in recurrent spending—10.7 per cent per annum in the first three months. To put that in perspective, in the May budget that the then Treasurer handed down—“Slippery Figures” himself—the target that the then government set was 7.7 per cent for recurrent spending growth. What do we see? There was a massive blow-out in the rate of recurrent spending in the last few months of that government that we now have to deal with, and it is presenting huge challenges to the incoming government. What do we have? We have a pincer movement in this state. I will explain it very slowly to members opposite. Revenues are flattening, and expenditure is going through the roof. For those members who are uninitiated to the finances of this state, I say that when we subtract expenses from revenue, we get the difference—called the surplus—that is available to invest, and it is under extreme pressure. As we look forward over the next four years, member for Carine, we have two significant challenges. The first is to wind back the rate of growth of recurrent spending to try to free up pressure on the surplus, because, quite simply, the government cannot continue to spend money that it does not have. Yesterday in this house we saw a complete attempt to rewrite history by members of the opposition. The fact is that they have left this state on a parlous financial path. Several members interjected. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
As we look forward over the next four years, member for Carine, we have two significant challenges. The first is to wind back the rate of growth of recurrent spending to try to free up pressure on the surplus, because, quite simply, the government cannot continue to spend money that it does not have. Yesterday in this house we saw a complete attempt to rewrite history by members of the opposition. The fact is that they have left this state on a parlous financial path. Several members interjected. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
Several members interjected. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: I thank the member for Carine for that excellent question on a topic of much significance to the people of Western Australia. I will deal with some of the matters that have been brought to light in the September quarter financials. Of course, the September quarter financials are the last example of the legacy of eight years of Labor in government in this state, which it has left us to clean up. Nonetheless, there are some interesting points to note. Firstly, as I am sure the member for Carine understands, taxation revenues have softened significantly. In fact, even when we take into account some issues relating to the timing of land tax, taxation revenues have clearly plateaued, and we expect them to soften further as we move forward. Goods and services tax payments from the commonwealth are down. On the other hand, royalty payments, as we would expect, have improved. The net position with revenues is that revenues are flat, and it definitely is the case that the period of rapid growth in revenue in this state has finished. However, the more telling and condemning piece of evidence presented in the financials has been the ongoing increase in recurrent spending—10.7 per cent per annum in the first three months. To put that in perspective, in the May budget that the then Treasurer handed down—“Slippery Figures” himself—the target that the then government set was 7.7 per cent for recurrent spending growth. What do we see? There was a massive blow-out in the rate of recurrent spending in the last few months of that government that we now have to deal with, and it is presenting huge challenges to the incoming government. What do we have? We have a pincer movement in this state. I will explain it very slowly to members opposite. Revenues are flattening, and expenditure is going through the roof. For those members who are uninitiated to the finances of this state, I say that when we subtract expenses from revenue, we get the difference—called the surplus—that is available to invest, and it is under extreme pressure. As we look forward over the next four years, member for Carine, we have two significant challenges. The first is to wind back the rate of growth of recurrent spending to try to free up pressure on the surplus, because, quite simply, the government cannot continue to spend money that it does not have. Yesterday in this house we saw a complete attempt to rewrite history by members of the opposition. The fact is that they have left this state on a parlous financial path. Several members interjected. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
I thank the member for Carine for that excellent question on a topic of much significance to the people of Western Australia. I will deal with some of the matters that have been brought to light in the September quarter financials. Of course, the September quarter financials are the last example of the legacy of eight years of Labor in government in this state, which it has left us to clean up. Nonetheless, there are some interesting points to note. Firstly, as I am sure the member for Carine understands, taxation revenues have softened significantly. In fact, even when we take into account some issues relating to the timing of land tax, taxation revenues have clearly plateaued, and we expect them to soften further as we move forward. Goods and services tax payments from the commonwealth are down. On the other hand, royalty payments, as we would expect, have improved. The net position with revenues is that revenues are flat, and it definitely is the case that the period of rapid growth in revenue in this state has finished. However, the more telling and condemning piece of evidence presented in the financials has been the ongoing increase in recurrent spending—10.7 per cent per annum in the first three months. To put that in perspective, in the May budget that the then Treasurer handed down—“Slippery Figures” himself—the target that the then government set was 7.7 per cent for recurrent spending growth. What do we see? There was a massive blow-out in the rate of recurrent spending in the last few months of that government that we now have to deal with, and it is presenting huge challenges to the incoming government. What do we have? We have a pincer movement in this state. I will explain it very slowly to members opposite. Revenues are flattening, and expenditure is going through the roof. For those members who are uninitiated to the finances of this state, I say that when we subtract expenses from revenue, we get the difference—called the surplus—that is available to invest, and it is under extreme pressure. As we look forward over the next four years, member for Carine, we have two significant challenges. The first is to wind back the rate of growth of recurrent spending to try to free up pressure on the surplus, because, quite simply, the government cannot continue to spend money that it does not have. Yesterday in this house we saw a complete attempt to rewrite history by members of the opposition. The fact is that they have left this state on a parlous financial path. Several members interjected. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
However, the more telling and condemning piece of evidence presented in the financials has been the ongoing increase in recurrent spending—10.7 per cent per annum in the first three months. To put that in perspective, in the May budget that the then Treasurer handed down—“Slippery Figures” himself—the target that the then government set was 7.7 per cent for recurrent spending growth. What do we see? There was a massive blow-out in the rate of recurrent spending in the last few months of that government that we now have to deal with, and it is presenting huge challenges to the incoming government. What do we have? We have a pincer movement in this state. I will explain it very slowly to members opposite. Revenues are flattening, and expenditure is going through the roof. For those members who are uninitiated to the finances of this state, I say that when we subtract expenses from revenue, we get the difference—called the surplus—that is available to invest, and it is under extreme pressure. As we look forward over the next four years, member for Carine, we have two significant challenges. The first is to wind back the rate of growth of recurrent spending to try to free up pressure on the surplus, because, quite simply, the government cannot continue to spend money that it does not have. Yesterday in this house we saw a complete attempt to rewrite history by members of the opposition. The fact is that they have left this state on a parlous financial path. Several members interjected. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
As we look forward over the next four years, member for Carine, we have two significant challenges. The first is to wind back the rate of growth of recurrent spending to try to free up pressure on the surplus, because, quite simply, the government cannot continue to spend money that it does not have. Yesterday in this house we saw a complete attempt to rewrite history by members of the opposition. The fact is that they have left this state on a parlous financial path. Several members interjected. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
Several members interjected. Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Keep going! Their ignorance is blinding! I will be brief. However, this is the situation they left us with after four years: surpluses squeezed down to $200 million and the debt-to-revenue ratio at 44 per cent and climbing. We will have to fix it, and it is not easy. It is compounded by the impact of the global slowdown. The global slowdown is impacting on private sector investment in Western Australia, and it is impacting on export earnings for Western Australia. Those two factors will impact on state economic growth. The former Treasurer may be interested to know that state economic growth was forecast to come in at 6.25 per cent this year. I suspect it will be significantly lower than that. Therefore, we have challenges, but we are committed to working hard to meet those challenges and, as I said yesterday, to fix the train wreck that the former government left us and to begin to restore confidence and underlying stability in the finances of this state.
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