❓ Dr. Honey questions the achievability of the WA government's ambitious capital works budget, citing past under-delivery. The Treasurer defends the program and accuses the opposition leader of lacking ambition for the state.
AnsweredQoN 302Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
STATE
BUDGET 2022–23 — ASSET INVESTMENT PROGRAM
302. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Treasurer:
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.
As always, I am very grateful.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : We will just
wait for quiet before we start.
Dr D.J. HONEY : Thank you,
Madam Speaker.
I
refer to the unachievable capital works budget for 2022–23, which
without precedent, is set at $8.88 billion, despite the government's
failure to deliver this year's significantly smaller schedule of works
by $1 billion.
(1) Why does this
budget completely ignore reality, and is it the Treasurer's intention
to deliberately mislead the community?
(2) Which of the
Treasurer's budgeted promises does he expect not to be delivered by the
end of 2022–23?
The
SPEAKER : The member will need to
rephrase that question because you cannot say the phrase ''deliberately
mislead''.
Dr D.J. HONEY : Thank you very
much. I am grateful for your guidance.
(1) Why does this budget completely ignore reality,
and is it the Treasurer's intention to mislead the community?
(2) Which of the
Treasurer's budgeted promises does he expect not to delivered by the
end of 2022–23?
BUDGET 2022–23 — ASSET INVESTMENT PROGRAM
302. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Treasurer:
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.
As always, I am very grateful.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : We will just
wait for quiet before we start.
Dr D.J. HONEY : Thank you,
Madam Speaker.
I
refer to the unachievable capital works budget for 2022–23, which
without precedent, is set at $8.88 billion, despite the government's
failure to deliver this year's significantly smaller schedule of works
by $1 billion.
(1) Why does this
budget completely ignore reality, and is it the Treasurer's intention
to deliberately mislead the community?
(2) Which of the
Treasurer's budgeted promises does he expect not to be delivered by the
end of 2022–23?
The
SPEAKER : The member will need to
rephrase that question because you cannot say the phrase ''deliberately
mislead''.
Dr D.J. HONEY : Thank you very
much. I am grateful for your guidance.
(1) Why does this budget completely ignore reality,
and is it the Treasurer's intention to mislead the community?
(2) Which of the
Treasurer's budgeted promises does he expect not to delivered by the
end of 2022–23?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) We
do not make any apologies for having a very strong asset investment program.
The asset investment program is the capital works program across the state.
From memory, it is $33.9 billion across the next four years. There will be
significant investment in rail, road, water, schools, hospitals and all sorts
of infrastructure all over the state. That is the program and that is the plan.
It is an ambitious program. What is wrong with being ambitious? To again quote
Paul Keating, ''You are a leveller and a straighter.'' The Leader
of the Liberal Party is not interested in ambition. We are ambitious. We have
huge aspirations for the state. We want to lift the state up. We do not want
the Leader of the Liberal Party's mean and niggly approach to life. We
want to lift the state. We do not have any truck with the Leader of the Liberal
Party's dim and dark view of human nature and of doing positive things
for the state. We just want to have a very strong asset investment program that
employs many thousands of Western Australians out there and sets up the state's
infrastructure for the future and solves problems across the community.
If there are projects that the Leader
of the Liberal Party thinks should not be in there, he should tell us what they
are, because we would be very interested to know. We know that he does not
support our plans to stop logging our beautiful forests. That is not exactly an
infrastructure issue, but we know that. We know he has one policy, which is to
start logging our old-growth forests again. I would be interested to know which
ones the Leader of the Liberal Party does not want to occur. We have an
ambitious program.
We smoothed some of them out last
year and pushed it forward. We got criticised for that and now the Leader of
the Liberal Party is criticising us for having infrastructure in the asset
investment program. He should tell us which
ones he is not interested in and does not want delivered so that we can let the
community know. I will tell members what: this government invested in
infrastructure at the same time as paying down
debt and delivering surpluses. They are operating surpluses, not cash
surpluses. I know the Leader of the Liberal Party does not know the
difference between the two, but we are delivering operating services while
still paying down debt and delivering a record infrastructure program.
do not make any apologies for having a very strong asset investment program.
The asset investment program is the capital works program across the state.
From memory, it is $33.9 billion across the next four years. There will be
significant investment in rail, road, water, schools, hospitals and all sorts
of infrastructure all over the state. That is the program and that is the plan.
It is an ambitious program. What is wrong with being ambitious? To again quote
Paul Keating, ''You are a leveller and a straighter.'' The Leader
of the Liberal Party is not interested in ambition. We are ambitious. We have
huge aspirations for the state. We want to lift the state up. We do not want
the Leader of the Liberal Party's mean and niggly approach to life. We
want to lift the state. We do not have any truck with the Leader of the Liberal
Party's dim and dark view of human nature and of doing positive things
for the state. We just want to have a very strong asset investment program that
employs many thousands of Western Australians out there and sets up the state's
infrastructure for the future and solves problems across the community.
If there are projects that the Leader
of the Liberal Party thinks should not be in there, he should tell us what they
are, because we would be very interested to know. We know that he does not
support our plans to stop logging our beautiful forests. That is not exactly an
infrastructure issue, but we know that. We know he has one policy, which is to
start logging our old-growth forests again. I would be interested to know which
ones the Leader of the Liberal Party does not want to occur. We have an
ambitious program.
We smoothed some of them out last
year and pushed it forward. We got criticised for that and now the Leader of
the Liberal Party is criticising us for having infrastructure in the asset
investment program. He should tell us which
ones he is not interested in and does not want delivered so that we can let the
community know. I will tell members what: this government invested in
infrastructure at the same time as paying down
debt and delivering surpluses. They are operating surpluses, not cash
surpluses. I know the Leader of the Liberal Party does not know the
difference between the two, but we are delivering operating services while
still paying down debt and delivering a record infrastructure program.
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