❓ The Treasurer refutes claims of WA's credit rating being at risk due to cost blowouts, citing Moody's positive assessment of the state's financial performance and prudent management.
AnsweredQoN 6Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE — NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ON REPORT
Can the Treasurer refute the assertions in an article printed in a local newspaper last month headlined “Cost blowouts put WA’s credit rating at risk”? Mr E.S. RIPPER
Can the Treasurer refute the assertions in an article printed in a local newspaper last month headlined “Cost blowouts put WA’s credit rating at risk”? Mr E.S. RIPPER
AnswerView source ↗
Even a yobbo like the Leader of the Opposition would know that Western Australia’s economy is in terrific shape. We now export more than New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia combined. Someone at The West Australian thinks that this state is in economic and financial crisis, judging by the headline in response to a Moody’s Investors Service report. It was rather different from Moody’s headline, “Stellar Financial Performance Reflects Economic Growth and Prudent Management”. Moody’s noted that - The government’s commitment to successfully contain growing expenditure pressures for services and infrastructure expansion is important . . . Moody’s further noted that - Officials are cognizant that expenditure controls will be of key importance once the robust economic growth eases, and have made important attempts to . . . rationalize costs. Several members interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : An inexperienced Leader of the Opposition does not know what is going on, but Moody’s, an international ratings agency, does. It said that Western Australia’s credit quality reflects the state’s outstanding financial performance. It also referred to the state’s prudent fiscal management. That is what we are doing: we are managing this period of extraordinary growth to keep it going for as long as possible and we are investing the proceeds in the future of this state. That is the reason we have a debt-free new MetroRail project that will serve the state for 50 years into the future; that is the reason we have been able to put $1.1 billion from the last surplus in the Fiona Stanley Hospital account. On the other side of the house we have an inexperienced and immature opposition that cannot get its act together. The shadow Treasurer tells us that government workers would get nothing under a Liberal government, while the education spokesperson says that teachers should get a 20 per cent salary increase. Who is right—the shadow Treasurer or the shadow education minister? Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition is too inexperienced to get those two shadow ministers to get their act together. We know, and the Western Australian community knows, that Western Australia’s economy is doing very well. Access Economics, for example, says that prospective investment projects are worth $164.7 billion; that is, about 30 per cent of the nation’s total. We have an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent nationally. We have issues in managing this economic growth. It takes concerted government effort to resolve the issues that need to be resolved to keep the growth going. However, the growth is being kept going, courtesy of the hard work and enterprise of Western Australians and the government’s management of this period of economic prosperity. Not only are we managing these times — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: Even a yobbo like the Leader of the Opposition would know that Western Australia’s economy is in terrific shape. We now export more than New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia combined. Someone at The West Australian thinks that this state is in economic and financial crisis, judging by the headline in response to a Moody’s Investors Service report. It was rather different from Moody’s headline, “Stellar Financial Performance Reflects Economic Growth and Prudent Management”. Moody’s noted that - The government’s commitment to successfully contain growing expenditure pressures for services and infrastructure expansion is important . . . Moody’s further noted that - Officials are cognizant that expenditure controls will be of key importance once the robust economic growth eases, and have made important attempts to . . . rationalize costs. Several members interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : An inexperienced Leader of the Opposition does not know what is going on, but Moody’s, an international ratings agency, does. It said that Western Australia’s credit quality reflects the state’s outstanding financial performance. It also referred to the state’s prudent fiscal management. That is what we are doing: we are managing this period of extraordinary growth to keep it going for as long as possible and we are investing the proceeds in the future of this state. That is the reason we have a debt-free new MetroRail project that will serve the state for 50 years into the future; that is the reason we have been able to put $1.1 billion from the last surplus in the Fiona Stanley Hospital account. On the other side of the house we have an inexperienced and immature opposition that cannot get its act together. The shadow Treasurer tells us that government workers would get nothing under a Liberal government, while the education spokesperson says that teachers should get a 20 per cent salary increase. Who is right—the shadow Treasurer or the shadow education minister? Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition is too inexperienced to get those two shadow ministers to get their act together. We know, and the Western Australian community knows, that Western Australia’s economy is doing very well. Access Economics, for example, says that prospective investment projects are worth $164.7 billion; that is, about 30 per cent of the nation’s total. We have an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent nationally. We have issues in managing this economic growth. It takes concerted government effort to resolve the issues that need to be resolved to keep the growth going. However, the growth is being kept going, courtesy of the hard work and enterprise of Western Australians and the government’s management of this period of economic prosperity. Not only are we managing these times — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
Even a yobbo like the Leader of the Opposition would know that Western Australia’s economy is in terrific shape. We now export more than New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia combined. Someone at The West Australian thinks that this state is in economic and financial crisis, judging by the headline in response to a Moody’s Investors Service report. It was rather different from Moody’s headline, “Stellar Financial Performance Reflects Economic Growth and Prudent Management”. Moody’s noted that - The government’s commitment to successfully contain growing expenditure pressures for services and infrastructure expansion is important . . . Moody’s further noted that - Officials are cognizant that expenditure controls will be of key importance once the robust economic growth eases, and have made important attempts to . . . rationalize costs. Several members interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : An inexperienced Leader of the Opposition does not know what is going on, but Moody’s, an international ratings agency, does. It said that Western Australia’s credit quality reflects the state’s outstanding financial performance. It also referred to the state’s prudent fiscal management. That is what we are doing: we are managing this period of extraordinary growth to keep it going for as long as possible and we are investing the proceeds in the future of this state. That is the reason we have a debt-free new MetroRail project that will serve the state for 50 years into the future; that is the reason we have been able to put $1.1 billion from the last surplus in the Fiona Stanley Hospital account. On the other side of the house we have an inexperienced and immature opposition that cannot get its act together. The shadow Treasurer tells us that government workers would get nothing under a Liberal government, while the education spokesperson says that teachers should get a 20 per cent salary increase. Who is right—the shadow Treasurer or the shadow education minister? Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition is too inexperienced to get those two shadow ministers to get their act together. We know, and the Western Australian community knows, that Western Australia’s economy is doing very well. Access Economics, for example, says that prospective investment projects are worth $164.7 billion; that is, about 30 per cent of the nation’s total. We have an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent nationally. We have issues in managing this economic growth. It takes concerted government effort to resolve the issues that need to be resolved to keep the growth going. However, the growth is being kept going, courtesy of the hard work and enterprise of Western Australians and the government’s management of this period of economic prosperity. Not only are we managing these times — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : An inexperienced Leader of the Opposition does not know what is going on, but Moody’s, an international ratings agency, does. It said that Western Australia’s credit quality reflects the state’s outstanding financial performance. It also referred to the state’s prudent fiscal management. That is what we are doing: we are managing this period of extraordinary growth to keep it going for as long as possible and we are investing the proceeds in the future of this state. That is the reason we have a debt-free new MetroRail project that will serve the state for 50 years into the future; that is the reason we have been able to put $1.1 billion from the last surplus in the Fiona Stanley Hospital account. On the other side of the house we have an inexperienced and immature opposition that cannot get its act together. The shadow Treasurer tells us that government workers would get nothing under a Liberal government, while the education spokesperson says that teachers should get a 20 per cent salary increase. Who is right—the shadow Treasurer or the shadow education minister? Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition is too inexperienced to get those two shadow ministers to get their act together. We know, and the Western Australian community knows, that Western Australia’s economy is doing very well. Access Economics, for example, says that prospective investment projects are worth $164.7 billion; that is, about 30 per cent of the nation’s total. We have an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent nationally. We have issues in managing this economic growth. It takes concerted government effort to resolve the issues that need to be resolved to keep the growth going. However, the growth is being kept going, courtesy of the hard work and enterprise of Western Australians and the government’s management of this period of economic prosperity. Not only are we managing these times — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
On the other side of the house we have an inexperienced and immature opposition that cannot get its act together. The shadow Treasurer tells us that government workers would get nothing under a Liberal government, while the education spokesperson says that teachers should get a 20 per cent salary increase. Who is right—the shadow Treasurer or the shadow education minister? Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition is too inexperienced to get those two shadow ministers to get their act together. We know, and the Western Australian community knows, that Western Australia’s economy is doing very well. Access Economics, for example, says that prospective investment projects are worth $164.7 billion; that is, about 30 per cent of the nation’s total. We have an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent nationally. We have issues in managing this economic growth. It takes concerted government effort to resolve the issues that need to be resolved to keep the growth going. However, the growth is being kept going, courtesy of the hard work and enterprise of Western Australians and the government’s management of this period of economic prosperity. Not only are we managing these times — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
We know, and the Western Australian community knows, that Western Australia’s economy is doing very well. Access Economics, for example, says that prospective investment projects are worth $164.7 billion; that is, about 30 per cent of the nation’s total. We have an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent nationally. We have issues in managing this economic growth. It takes concerted government effort to resolve the issues that need to be resolved to keep the growth going. However, the growth is being kept going, courtesy of the hard work and enterprise of Western Australians and the government’s management of this period of economic prosperity. Not only are we managing these times — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: Even a yobbo like the Leader of the Opposition would know that Western Australia’s economy is in terrific shape. We now export more than New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia combined. Someone at The West Australian thinks that this state is in economic and financial crisis, judging by the headline in response to a Moody’s Investors Service report. It was rather different from Moody’s headline, “Stellar Financial Performance Reflects Economic Growth and Prudent Management”. Moody’s noted that - The government’s commitment to successfully contain growing expenditure pressures for services and infrastructure expansion is important . . . Moody’s further noted that - Officials are cognizant that expenditure controls will be of key importance once the robust economic growth eases, and have made important attempts to . . . rationalize costs. Several members interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : An inexperienced Leader of the Opposition does not know what is going on, but Moody’s, an international ratings agency, does. It said that Western Australia’s credit quality reflects the state’s outstanding financial performance. It also referred to the state’s prudent fiscal management. That is what we are doing: we are managing this period of extraordinary growth to keep it going for as long as possible and we are investing the proceeds in the future of this state. That is the reason we have a debt-free new MetroRail project that will serve the state for 50 years into the future; that is the reason we have been able to put $1.1 billion from the last surplus in the Fiona Stanley Hospital account. On the other side of the house we have an inexperienced and immature opposition that cannot get its act together. The shadow Treasurer tells us that government workers would get nothing under a Liberal government, while the education spokesperson says that teachers should get a 20 per cent salary increase. Who is right—the shadow Treasurer or the shadow education minister? Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition is too inexperienced to get those two shadow ministers to get their act together. We know, and the Western Australian community knows, that Western Australia’s economy is doing very well. Access Economics, for example, says that prospective investment projects are worth $164.7 billion; that is, about 30 per cent of the nation’s total. We have an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent nationally. We have issues in managing this economic growth. It takes concerted government effort to resolve the issues that need to be resolved to keep the growth going. However, the growth is being kept going, courtesy of the hard work and enterprise of Western Australians and the government’s management of this period of economic prosperity. Not only are we managing these times — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
Even a yobbo like the Leader of the Opposition would know that Western Australia’s economy is in terrific shape. We now export more than New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia combined. Someone at The West Australian thinks that this state is in economic and financial crisis, judging by the headline in response to a Moody’s Investors Service report. It was rather different from Moody’s headline, “Stellar Financial Performance Reflects Economic Growth and Prudent Management”. Moody’s noted that - The government’s commitment to successfully contain growing expenditure pressures for services and infrastructure expansion is important . . . Moody’s further noted that - Officials are cognizant that expenditure controls will be of key importance once the robust economic growth eases, and have made important attempts to . . . rationalize costs. Several members interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : An inexperienced Leader of the Opposition does not know what is going on, but Moody’s, an international ratings agency, does. It said that Western Australia’s credit quality reflects the state’s outstanding financial performance. It also referred to the state’s prudent fiscal management. That is what we are doing: we are managing this period of extraordinary growth to keep it going for as long as possible and we are investing the proceeds in the future of this state. That is the reason we have a debt-free new MetroRail project that will serve the state for 50 years into the future; that is the reason we have been able to put $1.1 billion from the last surplus in the Fiona Stanley Hospital account. On the other side of the house we have an inexperienced and immature opposition that cannot get its act together. The shadow Treasurer tells us that government workers would get nothing under a Liberal government, while the education spokesperson says that teachers should get a 20 per cent salary increase. Who is right—the shadow Treasurer or the shadow education minister? Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition is too inexperienced to get those two shadow ministers to get their act together. We know, and the Western Australian community knows, that Western Australia’s economy is doing very well. Access Economics, for example, says that prospective investment projects are worth $164.7 billion; that is, about 30 per cent of the nation’s total. We have an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent nationally. We have issues in managing this economic growth. It takes concerted government effort to resolve the issues that need to be resolved to keep the growth going. However, the growth is being kept going, courtesy of the hard work and enterprise of Western Australians and the government’s management of this period of economic prosperity. Not only are we managing these times — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : An inexperienced Leader of the Opposition does not know what is going on, but Moody’s, an international ratings agency, does. It said that Western Australia’s credit quality reflects the state’s outstanding financial performance. It also referred to the state’s prudent fiscal management. That is what we are doing: we are managing this period of extraordinary growth to keep it going for as long as possible and we are investing the proceeds in the future of this state. That is the reason we have a debt-free new MetroRail project that will serve the state for 50 years into the future; that is the reason we have been able to put $1.1 billion from the last surplus in the Fiona Stanley Hospital account. On the other side of the house we have an inexperienced and immature opposition that cannot get its act together. The shadow Treasurer tells us that government workers would get nothing under a Liberal government, while the education spokesperson says that teachers should get a 20 per cent salary increase. Who is right—the shadow Treasurer or the shadow education minister? Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition is too inexperienced to get those two shadow ministers to get their act together. We know, and the Western Australian community knows, that Western Australia’s economy is doing very well. Access Economics, for example, says that prospective investment projects are worth $164.7 billion; that is, about 30 per cent of the nation’s total. We have an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent nationally. We have issues in managing this economic growth. It takes concerted government effort to resolve the issues that need to be resolved to keep the growth going. However, the growth is being kept going, courtesy of the hard work and enterprise of Western Australians and the government’s management of this period of economic prosperity. Not only are we managing these times — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
On the other side of the house we have an inexperienced and immature opposition that cannot get its act together. The shadow Treasurer tells us that government workers would get nothing under a Liberal government, while the education spokesperson says that teachers should get a 20 per cent salary increase. Who is right—the shadow Treasurer or the shadow education minister? Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition is too inexperienced to get those two shadow ministers to get their act together. We know, and the Western Australian community knows, that Western Australia’s economy is doing very well. Access Economics, for example, says that prospective investment projects are worth $164.7 billion; that is, about 30 per cent of the nation’s total. We have an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent nationally. We have issues in managing this economic growth. It takes concerted government effort to resolve the issues that need to be resolved to keep the growth going. However, the growth is being kept going, courtesy of the hard work and enterprise of Western Australians and the government’s management of this period of economic prosperity. Not only are we managing these times — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
We know, and the Western Australian community knows, that Western Australia’s economy is doing very well. Access Economics, for example, says that prospective investment projects are worth $164.7 billion; that is, about 30 per cent of the nation’s total. We have an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent nationally. We have issues in managing this economic growth. It takes concerted government effort to resolve the issues that need to be resolved to keep the growth going. However, the growth is being kept going, courtesy of the hard work and enterprise of Western Australians and the government’s management of this period of economic prosperity. Not only are we managing these times — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
The SPEAKER : I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the third time and the member for Roe for the third time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : It is an immature Leader of the Opposition that gets three calls to order in one short question time. He should begin to recognise the status of the position he now occupies. Not only are we managing this period of record economic growth to keep it going for as long as possible, but also we are investing the proceeds, every last dollar of the surplus, in the future of Western Australians.
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