❓ Shadow Treasurer Barnett questions Treasurer Ripper about rising state debt, referencing Standard & Poor's concerns. Ripper deflects by blaming the previous Coalition government's financial management and highlighting debt reduction compared to their forecasts.
AnsweredQoN 690Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer the Treasurer to the level of debt forecast in this Government’s 2003-04 budget and comments by international ratings agency Standard and Poor’s that the Government is cutting things fine and that a blow-out would not be difficult to achieve in the current uncertain environment. (1) Does the Treasurer agree with the warnings that debt is now at dangerously high levels? (2) Does the Treasurer concede that debt increased by $518 million in this financial year and is projected to increase by a massive $951 million in the coming financial year? (3) Can the Treasurer confirm that a further blow-out in the State’s finances of just $400 million would breach his self-imposed debt limit and would be likely to lead to the loss of Western Australia’s AAA credit rating? Mr E.S. RIPPER
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(3) I will provide the Leader of the Opposition with another quote. The editorial in The Australian of 9 May 2003 states - . . . Mr Ripper’s job has been to reverse the high-spending habits of the Coalition government of Richard Court, which somehow managed to fritter away the revenue boom of the 1990s and return a series of deficits. What does the Leader of the Opposition think of that quote? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
(1) Does the Treasurer agree with the warnings that debt is now at dangerously high levels? (2) Does the Treasurer concede that debt increased by $518 million in this financial year and is projected to increase by a massive $951 million in the coming financial year? (3) Can the Treasurer confirm that a further blow-out in the State’s finances of just $400 million would breach his self-imposed debt limit and would be likely to lead to the loss of Western Australia’s AAA credit rating? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(3) I will provide the Leader of the Opposition with another quote. The editorial in The Australian of 9 May 2003 states - . . . Mr Ripper’s job has been to reverse the high-spending habits of the Coalition government of Richard Court, which somehow managed to fritter away the revenue boom of the 1990s and return a series of deficits. What does the Leader of the Opposition think of that quote? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
(2) Does the Treasurer concede that debt increased by $518 million in this financial year and is projected to increase by a massive $951 million in the coming financial year? (3) Can the Treasurer confirm that a further blow-out in the State’s finances of just $400 million would breach his self-imposed debt limit and would be likely to lead to the loss of Western Australia’s AAA credit rating? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(3) I will provide the Leader of the Opposition with another quote. The editorial in The Australian of 9 May 2003 states - . . . Mr Ripper’s job has been to reverse the high-spending habits of the Coalition government of Richard Court, which somehow managed to fritter away the revenue boom of the 1990s and return a series of deficits. What does the Leader of the Opposition think of that quote? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
(3) Can the Treasurer confirm that a further blow-out in the State’s finances of just $400 million would breach his self-imposed debt limit and would be likely to lead to the loss of Western Australia’s AAA credit rating? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(3) I will provide the Leader of the Opposition with another quote. The editorial in The Australian of 9 May 2003 states - . . . Mr Ripper’s job has been to reverse the high-spending habits of the Coalition government of Richard Court, which somehow managed to fritter away the revenue boom of the 1990s and return a series of deficits. What does the Leader of the Opposition think of that quote? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(3) I will provide the Leader of the Opposition with another quote. The editorial in The Australian of 9 May 2003 states - . . . Mr Ripper’s job has been to reverse the high-spending habits of the Coalition government of Richard Court, which somehow managed to fritter away the revenue boom of the 1990s and return a series of deficits. What does the Leader of the Opposition think of that quote? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
(1)-(3) I will provide the Leader of the Opposition with another quote. The editorial in The Australian of 9 May 2003 states - . . . Mr Ripper’s job has been to reverse the high-spending habits of the Coalition government of Richard Court, which somehow managed to fritter away the revenue boom of the 1990s and return a series of deficits. What does the Leader of the Opposition think of that quote? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
(1) Does the Treasurer agree with the warnings that debt is now at dangerously high levels? (2) Does the Treasurer concede that debt increased by $518 million in this financial year and is projected to increase by a massive $951 million in the coming financial year? (3) Can the Treasurer confirm that a further blow-out in the State’s finances of just $400 million would breach his self-imposed debt limit and would be likely to lead to the loss of Western Australia’s AAA credit rating? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(3) I will provide the Leader of the Opposition with another quote. The editorial in The Australian of 9 May 2003 states - . . . Mr Ripper’s job has been to reverse the high-spending habits of the Coalition government of Richard Court, which somehow managed to fritter away the revenue boom of the 1990s and return a series of deficits. What does the Leader of the Opposition think of that quote? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
(2) Does the Treasurer concede that debt increased by $518 million in this financial year and is projected to increase by a massive $951 million in the coming financial year? (3) Can the Treasurer confirm that a further blow-out in the State’s finances of just $400 million would breach his self-imposed debt limit and would be likely to lead to the loss of Western Australia’s AAA credit rating? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(3) I will provide the Leader of the Opposition with another quote. The editorial in The Australian of 9 May 2003 states - . . . Mr Ripper’s job has been to reverse the high-spending habits of the Coalition government of Richard Court, which somehow managed to fritter away the revenue boom of the 1990s and return a series of deficits. What does the Leader of the Opposition think of that quote? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
(3) Can the Treasurer confirm that a further blow-out in the State’s finances of just $400 million would breach his self-imposed debt limit and would be likely to lead to the loss of Western Australia’s AAA credit rating? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(3) I will provide the Leader of the Opposition with another quote. The editorial in The Australian of 9 May 2003 states - . . . Mr Ripper’s job has been to reverse the high-spending habits of the Coalition government of Richard Court, which somehow managed to fritter away the revenue boom of the 1990s and return a series of deficits. What does the Leader of the Opposition think of that quote? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(3) I will provide the Leader of the Opposition with another quote. The editorial in The Australian of 9 May 2003 states - . . . Mr Ripper’s job has been to reverse the high-spending habits of the Coalition government of Richard Court, which somehow managed to fritter away the revenue boom of the 1990s and return a series of deficits. What does the Leader of the Opposition think of that quote? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
(1)-(3) I will provide the Leader of the Opposition with another quote. The editorial in The Australian of 9 May 2003 states - . . . Mr Ripper’s job has been to reverse the high-spending habits of the Coalition government of Richard Court, which somehow managed to fritter away the revenue boom of the 1990s and return a series of deficits. What does the Leader of the Opposition think of that quote? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues like to pretend that when they were in government they did not have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah. However, they did have a commitment to build the railway to Mandurah and they did have a set of debt forecasts that went with that commitment. Their debt forecast for 30 June 2003 was $5.444 billion. This Government is now forecasting in the budget papers $5.009 billion of debt - more than $400 million less than the debt forecast by the coalition at the time of the election. These debt figures include hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that we have moved from unofficial debt to official debt to rectify the financial messes left to us by the previous coalition Government. The light vehicle financing facility - the Matrix facility - cost taxpayers a poultice. We have shifted that to official debt, which has added to our figures. The decision to borrow money and buy the rolling stock for the railway line has saved taxpayers $20 million, but it has added to our official debt figures. Yet our official debt figures for 30 June 2003 are more than $400 million less than the coalition’s own plan produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: The previous Government had a plan to do that and it has been running away from it ever since. The previous coalition Government’s pre-election financial projections for 30 June 2004 were $5.902 billion. These figures were produced by the Under Treasurer at the beginning of the election campaign and the Leader of the Opposition denies that it was their plan. Did we hear anything during the election campaign to contradict the Under Treasurer? No, we did not. This was their plan and the figures that we were all asked to operate on at the beginning of the election campaign. The projection in this budget for the same period - to 30 June 2004 - is $5.96 billion. That is $60 million more than was forecast by the coalition at the beginning of the election campaign, and it includes those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Matrix contract and the rolling stock change. Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
Standard and Poor’s has said that the budget is consistent with the AAA credit rating; it has given the budget a tick. I have no truck with suggestions by the Opposition that we are putting at risk this State’s AAA credit rating. Budget after budget members opposite say that, and we deliver budget after budget that is in accord with the AAA credit rating. The Opposition has lost its credibility on that issue because budget after budget it has predicted doom and gloom and it has never come to pass.
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