❓ The Minister questions the Opposition's credibility regarding a proposed 13% pay increase for police officers, highlighting a lack of cost analysis and inconsistencies within the Opposition's statements.
AnsweredQoN 1054Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
What confidence can Western Australia’s police officers have in the Opposition’s promise yesterday that it would grant them a pay offer in excess of 13 per cent if it were to win the next election? Mr J.C. KOBELKE
AnswerView source ↗
That is a very good question, given the motion moved by Opposition members yesterday that they thought the police should get at least 13 per cent over three years. If that increase were structured so that it was four and one-third per cent each year over the three years, that would certainly be in advance of the Government’s offer of three per cent a year. The interesting thing is that when I interjected on the Leader of the Opposition, who was proposing this offer, and asked him whether he had done any costings, he would not reply. He was not interested in making sure the money could be found. The estimate, depending when the increase would be applied, is that it would result in an additional cost over three years of some $25 million to $30 million, but he had not even worried about doing the figures. What should we think of someone who makes a promise and does not even know whether he can deliver? He makes a promise and he has not even gone to the trouble of doing the numbers to know whether he can pay for it. If we go beyond that and if that same amount were carried through to the public sector on the basis of comparative wage justice, we would be looking at a cost of some $250 million. Yesterday, Opposition members committed themselves to something in the order of $250 million and they have not even done the numbers on the back of their bus tickets. What confidence can we have in what they said? It was a glib throwaway. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Members! Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Not only had they not done that, they had not even spoken to their spokesperson on police matters, because, according to a transcript provided by the Government Media Monitoring Unit, on Tuesday on the Harvey Deegan show he was asked - Well, if you had to make a decision today on how much you’d offer the police, how much would you offer them? The opposition spokesperson, the member for Kalgoorlie, said - Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE replied: That is a very good question, given the motion moved by Opposition members yesterday that they thought the police should get at least 13 per cent over three years. If that increase were structured so that it was four and one-third per cent each year over the three years, that would certainly be in advance of the Government’s offer of three per cent a year. The interesting thing is that when I interjected on the Leader of the Opposition, who was proposing this offer, and asked him whether he had done any costings, he would not reply. He was not interested in making sure the money could be found. The estimate, depending when the increase would be applied, is that it would result in an additional cost over three years of some $25 million to $30 million, but he had not even worried about doing the figures. What should we think of someone who makes a promise and does not even know whether he can deliver? He makes a promise and he has not even gone to the trouble of doing the numbers to know whether he can pay for it. If we go beyond that and if that same amount were carried through to the public sector on the basis of comparative wage justice, we would be looking at a cost of some $250 million. Yesterday, Opposition members committed themselves to something in the order of $250 million and they have not even done the numbers on the back of their bus tickets. What confidence can we have in what they said? It was a glib throwaway. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Members! Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Not only had they not done that, they had not even spoken to their spokesperson on police matters, because, according to a transcript provided by the Government Media Monitoring Unit, on Tuesday on the Harvey Deegan show he was asked - Well, if you had to make a decision today on how much you’d offer the police, how much would you offer them? The opposition spokesperson, the member for Kalgoorlie, said - Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
That is a very good question, given the motion moved by Opposition members yesterday that they thought the police should get at least 13 per cent over three years. If that increase were structured so that it was four and one-third per cent each year over the three years, that would certainly be in advance of the Government’s offer of three per cent a year. The interesting thing is that when I interjected on the Leader of the Opposition, who was proposing this offer, and asked him whether he had done any costings, he would not reply. He was not interested in making sure the money could be found. The estimate, depending when the increase would be applied, is that it would result in an additional cost over three years of some $25 million to $30 million, but he had not even worried about doing the figures. What should we think of someone who makes a promise and does not even know whether he can deliver? He makes a promise and he has not even gone to the trouble of doing the numbers to know whether he can pay for it. If we go beyond that and if that same amount were carried through to the public sector on the basis of comparative wage justice, we would be looking at a cost of some $250 million. Yesterday, Opposition members committed themselves to something in the order of $250 million and they have not even done the numbers on the back of their bus tickets. What confidence can we have in what they said? It was a glib throwaway. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Members! Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Not only had they not done that, they had not even spoken to their spokesperson on police matters, because, according to a transcript provided by the Government Media Monitoring Unit, on Tuesday on the Harvey Deegan show he was asked - Well, if you had to make a decision today on how much you’d offer the police, how much would you offer them? The opposition spokesperson, the member for Kalgoorlie, said - Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Members! Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Not only had they not done that, they had not even spoken to their spokesperson on police matters, because, according to a transcript provided by the Government Media Monitoring Unit, on Tuesday on the Harvey Deegan show he was asked - Well, if you had to make a decision today on how much you’d offer the police, how much would you offer them? The opposition spokesperson, the member for Kalgoorlie, said - Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
The SPEAKER: Members! Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Not only had they not done that, they had not even spoken to their spokesperson on police matters, because, according to a transcript provided by the Government Media Monitoring Unit, on Tuesday on the Harvey Deegan show he was asked - Well, if you had to make a decision today on how much you’d offer the police, how much would you offer them? The opposition spokesperson, the member for Kalgoorlie, said - Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Not only had they not done that, they had not even spoken to their spokesperson on police matters, because, according to a transcript provided by the Government Media Monitoring Unit, on Tuesday on the Harvey Deegan show he was asked - Well, if you had to make a decision today on how much you’d offer the police, how much would you offer them? The opposition spokesperson, the member for Kalgoorlie, said - Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE replied: That is a very good question, given the motion moved by Opposition members yesterday that they thought the police should get at least 13 per cent over three years. If that increase were structured so that it was four and one-third per cent each year over the three years, that would certainly be in advance of the Government’s offer of three per cent a year. The interesting thing is that when I interjected on the Leader of the Opposition, who was proposing this offer, and asked him whether he had done any costings, he would not reply. He was not interested in making sure the money could be found. The estimate, depending when the increase would be applied, is that it would result in an additional cost over three years of some $25 million to $30 million, but he had not even worried about doing the figures. What should we think of someone who makes a promise and does not even know whether he can deliver? He makes a promise and he has not even gone to the trouble of doing the numbers to know whether he can pay for it. If we go beyond that and if that same amount were carried through to the public sector on the basis of comparative wage justice, we would be looking at a cost of some $250 million. Yesterday, Opposition members committed themselves to something in the order of $250 million and they have not even done the numbers on the back of their bus tickets. What confidence can we have in what they said? It was a glib throwaway. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Members! Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Not only had they not done that, they had not even spoken to their spokesperson on police matters, because, according to a transcript provided by the Government Media Monitoring Unit, on Tuesday on the Harvey Deegan show he was asked - Well, if you had to make a decision today on how much you’d offer the police, how much would you offer them? The opposition spokesperson, the member for Kalgoorlie, said - Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
That is a very good question, given the motion moved by Opposition members yesterday that they thought the police should get at least 13 per cent over three years. If that increase were structured so that it was four and one-third per cent each year over the three years, that would certainly be in advance of the Government’s offer of three per cent a year. The interesting thing is that when I interjected on the Leader of the Opposition, who was proposing this offer, and asked him whether he had done any costings, he would not reply. He was not interested in making sure the money could be found. The estimate, depending when the increase would be applied, is that it would result in an additional cost over three years of some $25 million to $30 million, but he had not even worried about doing the figures. What should we think of someone who makes a promise and does not even know whether he can deliver? He makes a promise and he has not even gone to the trouble of doing the numbers to know whether he can pay for it. If we go beyond that and if that same amount were carried through to the public sector on the basis of comparative wage justice, we would be looking at a cost of some $250 million. Yesterday, Opposition members committed themselves to something in the order of $250 million and they have not even done the numbers on the back of their bus tickets. What confidence can we have in what they said? It was a glib throwaway. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Members! Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Not only had they not done that, they had not even spoken to their spokesperson on police matters, because, according to a transcript provided by the Government Media Monitoring Unit, on Tuesday on the Harvey Deegan show he was asked - Well, if you had to make a decision today on how much you’d offer the police, how much would you offer them? The opposition spokesperson, the member for Kalgoorlie, said - Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Members! Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Not only had they not done that, they had not even spoken to their spokesperson on police matters, because, according to a transcript provided by the Government Media Monitoring Unit, on Tuesday on the Harvey Deegan show he was asked - Well, if you had to make a decision today on how much you’d offer the police, how much would you offer them? The opposition spokesperson, the member for Kalgoorlie, said - Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
The SPEAKER: Members! Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Not only had they not done that, they had not even spoken to their spokesperson on police matters, because, according to a transcript provided by the Government Media Monitoring Unit, on Tuesday on the Harvey Deegan show he was asked - Well, if you had to make a decision today on how much you’d offer the police, how much would you offer them? The opposition spokesperson, the member for Kalgoorlie, said - Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Not only had they not done that, they had not even spoken to their spokesperson on police matters, because, according to a transcript provided by the Government Media Monitoring Unit, on Tuesday on the Harvey Deegan show he was asked - Well, if you had to make a decision today on how much you’d offer the police, how much would you offer them? The opposition spokesperson, the member for Kalgoorlie, said - Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Mr C.J. Barnett: The member for Eyre? Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, the member for Kalgoorlie. The reason for my mistake is that his name actually appears and I was trying to get away from it. That is what appears in the transcript. The member for Kalgoorlie said - It is very irresponsible to try and do that from Opposition. Who will be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election? Will it be the irresponsible member for Cottesloe or will it be the member for Kalgoorlie, who knows that if he makes a promise he should do some numbers and see whether it can be afforded? Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Several members interjected. Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE: Sorry, it might be the member for Mitchell. It could be any one of two or three, but the point is, what confidence can we have in a promise when those opposite have not done the numbers and when their spokesperson for police says something totally different from the Leader of the Opposition when he made that promise? That promise has no credibility whatsoever.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.