A parliamentary question referencing a political analyst's assessment of procedural shortcuts and their potential consequences, met with a highly critical and defensive response from the Premier, deflecting blame onto the previous government's financial management.

AnsweredQoN 772Legislative Assembly
Asked
17 September 2019
Portfolio
Premier

QuestionView source ↗

STANDING COMMITTEE ON
PROCEDURE AND PRIVILEGES — FIFTY-FIFTH REPORT — EMAIL ACCESS
772. Mr A. KRSTICEVIC to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question. Is
respected political analyst Peter Kennedy correct with his assessment that if
you take shortcuts with correct parliamentary procedures, there are serious
consequences, like the dark WA Inc years under WA Labor in the 1980s?

AnswerView source ↗

The member for Carine has outdone
himself in the stupidity of his question. He is an expert at dumb questions,
but that really takes the cake. I have a lot of time for Peter Kennedy and have
obviously known him for a long time. Clearly, this government is doing all it
can to rectify the financial wreckage of the worst government in history, which was the last Liberal–National
government, which blew the state's debt by $40 billion. No government in history has ever come remotely close to what you did. No government in
history has ever lost so much money. No government in history has had so many
blowouts or failed projects as the last Liberal–National government. A $40
billion budget hole and budget deficits in the vicinity of $3 billion to $5 billion
a year—that is what you left us with! If I were to speculate about
asking Peter Kennedy about that wreckage, I am sure he would say that that was
a shocking period of government that lost this state so much money. If I were
you, I would not stand up here and ask these ridiculous questions, because you
will get answers that will point out the facts about yourselves.
The SPEAKER : That is the end
of question time.

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