❓ Question regarding state debt and potential government privatisations. The Treasurer avoids a direct answer, questioning the premise of further privatisations and defending the government's contracting practices as debt-reducing.
AnsweredQoN 428Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
STATE DEBT
I have a supplementary question. Given this mountain of debt, will the Treasurer absolutely rule out any further government privatisations? Mr C.C. PORTER
I have a supplementary question. Given this mountain of debt, will the Treasurer absolutely rule out any further government privatisations? Mr C.C. PORTER
AnswerView source ↗
Mr Speaker — Mr C.J. Barnett : What’s been privatised? Mr C.C. PORTER : That is a very good point, because the question is predicated on there being further privatisations and yet the member for Midland cannot — Mrs M.H. Roberts : Fiona Stanley Hospital, Midland hospital — Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr C.C. PORTER replied: Mr Speaker — Mr C.J. Barnett : What’s been privatised? Mr C.C. PORTER : That is a very good point, because the question is predicated on there being further privatisations and yet the member for Midland cannot — Mrs M.H. Roberts : Fiona Stanley Hospital, Midland hospital — Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr Speaker — Mr C.J. Barnett : What’s been privatised? Mr C.C. PORTER : That is a very good point, because the question is predicated on there being further privatisations and yet the member for Midland cannot — Mrs M.H. Roberts : Fiona Stanley Hospital, Midland hospital — Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr C.J. Barnett : What’s been privatised? Mr C.C. PORTER : That is a very good point, because the question is predicated on there being further privatisations and yet the member for Midland cannot — Mrs M.H. Roberts : Fiona Stanley Hospital, Midland hospital — Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr C.C. PORTER : That is a very good point, because the question is predicated on there being further privatisations and yet the member for Midland cannot — Mrs M.H. Roberts : Fiona Stanley Hospital, Midland hospital — Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mrs M.H. Roberts : Fiona Stanley Hospital, Midland hospital — Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr C.C. PORTER replied: Mr Speaker — Mr C.J. Barnett : What’s been privatised? Mr C.C. PORTER : That is a very good point, because the question is predicated on there being further privatisations and yet the member for Midland cannot — Mrs M.H. Roberts : Fiona Stanley Hospital, Midland hospital — Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr Speaker — Mr C.J. Barnett : What’s been privatised? Mr C.C. PORTER : That is a very good point, because the question is predicated on there being further privatisations and yet the member for Midland cannot — Mrs M.H. Roberts : Fiona Stanley Hospital, Midland hospital — Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr C.J. Barnett : What’s been privatised? Mr C.C. PORTER : That is a very good point, because the question is predicated on there being further privatisations and yet the member for Midland cannot — Mrs M.H. Roberts : Fiona Stanley Hospital, Midland hospital — Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr C.C. PORTER : That is a very good point, because the question is predicated on there being further privatisations and yet the member for Midland cannot — Mrs M.H. Roberts : Fiona Stanley Hospital, Midland hospital — Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mrs M.H. Roberts : Fiona Stanley Hospital, Midland hospital — Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr C.C. PORTER : Fiona Stanley Hospital is a public hospital. We have entered into a contract to save $500 million for the Western Australian taxpayer, but, presumably, the opposition would not have done that. Does the member know how debt works? This is how debt works: if the contract is not engaged in — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
The SPEAKER : Perhaps the break was not long enough! I formally call the member for Midland to order for the first time today, along with the Leader of the Opposition. I encourage the Treasurer to conclude his answer as rapidly as possible. Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
Mr C.C. PORTER : Excellent encouragement! If that contract were not signed and the public sector were used, an extra $500 million would go onto debt. In everything that the opposition does, it says that there is too much debt, and every policy it proposes would add to debt.
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