Hon Ken Travers questions the Treasurer regarding the financial impact of the Perth Market Authority sale on the public sector's net worth and the rationale for abolishing the net worth target in the budget. The Treasurer's response indicates uncertainty about the exact financial impact and cites technical shortcomings for removing the target.

AnsweredQoN 82Legislative Council
Asked
23 February 2016
Portfolio
minister representing the Treasurer

QuestionView source ↗

PERTH
MARKET AUTHORITY SALE — PUBLIC SECTOR NET WORTH
82. Hon KEN TRAVERS to the minister
representing the Treasurer:
(1) Will the
sale of the Perth Market Authority result in an increase or decrease in the
real net worth of the total public sector?
(2) In dollars, what will be the change in the real net
worth?
(3) Why did
the state government abolish the financial target to maintain or increase real
net worth of the total public sector in the 2013–14 budget?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the member for some notice
of the question.
(1) The final
value of all aspects of the transaction will not be known until the sale is
executed. In addition, the aggregate value is sensitive to the impact of the
business continuing to operate until it is wound up as a public sector entity
at the end of March this year and final valuations of assets and liabilities at
that time. The key benefits from this sale are the opportunity to retire debt
and to increase the capacity of the entity to expand its business.
(2) Further to
the answer to (1), this will not be known with certainty until after the sale
is executed; however, the impact is expected to be immaterial.
(3) Removal of
this target reflected that it had no material influence on the annual credit
rating assessments. Technical shortcomings of the target also undermined its
value for accountability purposes. Specifically, the impact that annual
valuations can have on the value of assets and liabilities undermines the
usefulness of the measure for financial management purposes.

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