❓ Dr. Thomas questions Premier Carpenter about the Office of Shared Services' cost overruns, suggesting it's a waste of taxpayer money. Carpenter acknowledges potential misjudgments but defends the project, citing commercial sensitivities for not releasing the full business case review and deflecting by referencing a past issue with the opposition.
AnsweredQoN 10Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
OFFICE OF SHARED SERVICES
I refer to the comments of the Premier, as reported in The West Australian on 2 January, about the Office of Shared Services, when he stated — “If we’d known it was going to be so costly and so lengthy, this process has been going on for several years now, different judgements may have been made. “We are confident now that with Treasury overseeing the project the projections they are making will be accurate for us.” (1) Will the Premier now admit that this project is a waste of $450 million—almost enough taxpayers’ money to fund the rebuilding of Princess Margaret Hospital for Children? (2) If the Premier does not accept this, why will he not release the entire business case review of this project instead of his highly edited and uninformative summary? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
I refer to the comments of the Premier, as reported in The West Australian on 2 January, about the Office of Shared Services, when he stated — “If we’d known it was going to be so costly and so lengthy, this process has been going on for several years now, different judgements may have been made. “We are confident now that with Treasury overseeing the project the projections they are making will be accurate for us.” (1) Will the Premier now admit that this project is a waste of $450 million—almost enough taxpayers’ money to fund the rebuilding of Princess Margaret Hospital for Children? (2) If the Premier does not accept this, why will he not release the entire business case review of this project instead of his highly edited and uninformative summary? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(2) Yes, I said that, and I stand by it, of course. Dr S.C. Thomas : Do you think you might have done it differently? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Of course we might have done it differently. That is pretty obvious. We were working on the best advice at the time, and working in what we considered to be the best interests of the state, and we still are. I do not think anyone would have to be very clever to understand that we would have preferred if the costs had been less. We anticipated the cost would be less, and we wish the costs had been less. Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
“We are confident now that with Treasury overseeing the project the projections they are making will be accurate for us.”
(2) If the Premier does not accept this, why will he not release the entire business case review of this project instead of his highly edited and uninformative summary? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: (1)-(2) Yes, I said that, and I stand by it, of course. Dr S.C. Thomas : Do you think you might have done it differently? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Of course we might have done it differently. That is pretty obvious. We were working on the best advice at the time, and working in what we considered to be the best interests of the state, and we still are. I do not think anyone would have to be very clever to understand that we would have preferred if the costs had been less. We anticipated the cost would be less, and we wish the costs had been less. Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: (1)-(2) Yes, I said that, and I stand by it, of course. Dr S.C. Thomas : Do you think you might have done it differently? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Of course we might have done it differently. That is pretty obvious. We were working on the best advice at the time, and working in what we considered to be the best interests of the state, and we still are. I do not think anyone would have to be very clever to understand that we would have preferred if the costs had been less. We anticipated the cost would be less, and we wish the costs had been less. Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
(1)-(2) Yes, I said that, and I stand by it, of course. Dr S.C. Thomas : Do you think you might have done it differently? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Of course we might have done it differently. That is pretty obvious. We were working on the best advice at the time, and working in what we considered to be the best interests of the state, and we still are. I do not think anyone would have to be very clever to understand that we would have preferred if the costs had been less. We anticipated the cost would be less, and we wish the costs had been less. Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Dr S.C. Thomas : Do you think you might have done it differently? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Of course we might have done it differently. That is pretty obvious. We were working on the best advice at the time, and working in what we considered to be the best interests of the state, and we still are. I do not think anyone would have to be very clever to understand that we would have preferred if the costs had been less. We anticipated the cost would be less, and we wish the costs had been less. Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Of course we might have done it differently. That is pretty obvious. We were working on the best advice at the time, and working in what we considered to be the best interests of the state, and we still are. I do not think anyone would have to be very clever to understand that we would have preferred if the costs had been less. We anticipated the cost would be less, and we wish the costs had been less. Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
“We are confident now that with Treasury overseeing the project the projections they are making will be accurate for us.”
(2) If the Premier does not accept this, why will he not release the entire business case review of this project instead of his highly edited and uninformative summary? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: (1)-(2) Yes, I said that, and I stand by it, of course. Dr S.C. Thomas : Do you think you might have done it differently? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Of course we might have done it differently. That is pretty obvious. We were working on the best advice at the time, and working in what we considered to be the best interests of the state, and we still are. I do not think anyone would have to be very clever to understand that we would have preferred if the costs had been less. We anticipated the cost would be less, and we wish the costs had been less. Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: (1)-(2) Yes, I said that, and I stand by it, of course. Dr S.C. Thomas : Do you think you might have done it differently? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Of course we might have done it differently. That is pretty obvious. We were working on the best advice at the time, and working in what we considered to be the best interests of the state, and we still are. I do not think anyone would have to be very clever to understand that we would have preferred if the costs had been less. We anticipated the cost would be less, and we wish the costs had been less. Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
(1)-(2) Yes, I said that, and I stand by it, of course. Dr S.C. Thomas : Do you think you might have done it differently? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Of course we might have done it differently. That is pretty obvious. We were working on the best advice at the time, and working in what we considered to be the best interests of the state, and we still are. I do not think anyone would have to be very clever to understand that we would have preferred if the costs had been less. We anticipated the cost would be less, and we wish the costs had been less. Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Dr S.C. Thomas : Do you think you might have done it differently? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Of course we might have done it differently. That is pretty obvious. We were working on the best advice at the time, and working in what we considered to be the best interests of the state, and we still are. I do not think anyone would have to be very clever to understand that we would have preferred if the costs had been less. We anticipated the cost would be less, and we wish the costs had been less. Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Of course we might have done it differently. That is pretty obvious. We were working on the best advice at the time, and working in what we considered to be the best interests of the state, and we still are. I do not think anyone would have to be very clever to understand that we would have preferred if the costs had been less. We anticipated the cost would be less, and we wish the costs had been less. Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Dr S.C. Thomas : Give us some detail. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member is very inexperienced in the Parliament, as is his leader. He will find, as he moves closer to the leader’s chair, that the light shines more brightly on him. He needs to mature a bit and behave himself, and stop acting like an errant schoolboy. In relation to the release of the full document, of course commercial sensitivities are involved, but I might just reflect upon our efforts to try to obtain similar commercially sensitive information from the other side of the Parliament about the sale of Westrail freight under the previous government. Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr T. Buswell : We are talking taxpayers’ dollars. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It was hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and years later we are still being blocked. I am anticipating that the Leader of the Opposition will remove that objection so that we can get full access to that material. Is that so? Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
Mr T. Buswell : If the Premier releases the documents we are talking about, we will think about it.
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