❓ Question regarding government overspending allegations. The Treasurer defends the government's financial management, contrasting it with the previous coalition's record and promising fiscal discipline in the upcoming budget.
AnsweredQoN 966Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Is it true, as recorded in recent print and radio reports, that the Government is overspending on its budget? Mr RIPPER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for some notice of this question. I noticed the following comment by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in The West Australian - The Gallop Government is showing all the hallmarks of the previous coalition government by failing to curb spending. I also heard an officer of Access Economics say on ABC Radio - . . . the Government has struggled to manage the state’s finances and it’s been unable to curb spending. This is a particular bandwagon of the economic commentators. It is clear that they do not trust the Western Australian Government to control spending. Why is that? It is because they saw the coalition year in, year out spend more than the State earned. Let us look at the record of the coalition. On average, spending grew by 5.6 per cent a year under the Liberal and National Government, and in five out of eight budgets, spending outstripped recorded revenue growth. It had five deficits in eight budgets. It is no secret that public sector spending was out of control when we came to office. It is no secret that it is difficult to control finances. Every minister in this Government knows that it is a week in, week out, day-by-day task to control finances. In our first budget we forecast government spending to rise by 3.8 per cent, well short of the unrestrained growth of previous years. It is well known that we have had to increase spending in a couple of key areas since then. In December we made a policy decision to inject an extra $70 million into health to meet community demands. We also put an extra $3.2 million into tourism promotion in the wake of the Ansett collapse. We paid out an extra $58.5 million in first home owner grants, although this will be reimbursed by the Commonwealth, so there will be no difference to our bottom line. Those things have increased our expenditure. Those are the items that the CCI and Access Economics apparently consider to be evidence of reckless overspending. I do not consider a $70 million injection into our health system to meet community demands to be reckless overspending. I have some news for the Opposition and for those financial commentators. There is a surprise in store for them next week. They will be very pleased to see that we are on track for the 2001-02 financial year, but they will be gobsmacked to see that next financial year, government spending will fall in real terms. Mr Barnett: Look at the despair in the back bench! Mr RIPPER: Spending will not keep pace with inflation. I note the strange comments by the Leader of the Opposition. No wonder he could never deliver a surplus; no wonder there were five deficits in eight budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has surplus envy. We will demonstrate in the budget next week the lowest growth in government spending since 1994-95. We are happy, in terms of financial management, to be judged on our record, because we have demonstrated financial discipline, unlike the mob opposite.
Mr RIPPER replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. I noticed the following comment by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in The West Australian - The Gallop Government is showing all the hallmarks of the previous coalition government by failing to curb spending. I also heard an officer of Access Economics say on ABC Radio - . . . the Government has struggled to manage the state’s finances and it’s been unable to curb spending. This is a particular bandwagon of the economic commentators. It is clear that they do not trust the Western Australian Government to control spending. Why is that? It is because they saw the coalition year in, year out spend more than the State earned. Let us look at the record of the coalition. On average, spending grew by 5.6 per cent a year under the Liberal and National Government, and in five out of eight budgets, spending outstripped recorded revenue growth. It had five deficits in eight budgets. It is no secret that public sector spending was out of control when we came to office. It is no secret that it is difficult to control finances. Every minister in this Government knows that it is a week in, week out, day-by-day task to control finances. In our first budget we forecast government spending to rise by 3.8 per cent, well short of the unrestrained growth of previous years. It is well known that we have had to increase spending in a couple of key areas since then. In December we made a policy decision to inject an extra $70 million into health to meet community demands. We also put an extra $3.2 million into tourism promotion in the wake of the Ansett collapse. We paid out an extra $58.5 million in first home owner grants, although this will be reimbursed by the Commonwealth, so there will be no difference to our bottom line. Those things have increased our expenditure. Those are the items that the CCI and Access Economics apparently consider to be evidence of reckless overspending. I do not consider a $70 million injection into our health system to meet community demands to be reckless overspending. I have some news for the Opposition and for those financial commentators. There is a surprise in store for them next week. They will be very pleased to see that we are on track for the 2001-02 financial year, but they will be gobsmacked to see that next financial year, government spending will fall in real terms. Mr Barnett: Look at the despair in the back bench! Mr RIPPER: Spending will not keep pace with inflation. I note the strange comments by the Leader of the Opposition. No wonder he could never deliver a surplus; no wonder there were five deficits in eight budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has surplus envy. We will demonstrate in the budget next week the lowest growth in government spending since 1994-95. We are happy, in terms of financial management, to be judged on our record, because we have demonstrated financial discipline, unlike the mob opposite.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. I noticed the following comment by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in The West Australian - The Gallop Government is showing all the hallmarks of the previous coalition government by failing to curb spending. I also heard an officer of Access Economics say on ABC Radio - . . . the Government has struggled to manage the state’s finances and it’s been unable to curb spending. This is a particular bandwagon of the economic commentators. It is clear that they do not trust the Western Australian Government to control spending. Why is that? It is because they saw the coalition year in, year out spend more than the State earned. Let us look at the record of the coalition. On average, spending grew by 5.6 per cent a year under the Liberal and National Government, and in five out of eight budgets, spending outstripped recorded revenue growth. It had five deficits in eight budgets. It is no secret that public sector spending was out of control when we came to office. It is no secret that it is difficult to control finances. Every minister in this Government knows that it is a week in, week out, day-by-day task to control finances. In our first budget we forecast government spending to rise by 3.8 per cent, well short of the unrestrained growth of previous years. It is well known that we have had to increase spending in a couple of key areas since then. In December we made a policy decision to inject an extra $70 million into health to meet community demands. We also put an extra $3.2 million into tourism promotion in the wake of the Ansett collapse. We paid out an extra $58.5 million in first home owner grants, although this will be reimbursed by the Commonwealth, so there will be no difference to our bottom line. Those things have increased our expenditure. Those are the items that the CCI and Access Economics apparently consider to be evidence of reckless overspending. I do not consider a $70 million injection into our health system to meet community demands to be reckless overspending. I have some news for the Opposition and for those financial commentators. There is a surprise in store for them next week. They will be very pleased to see that we are on track for the 2001-02 financial year, but they will be gobsmacked to see that next financial year, government spending will fall in real terms. Mr Barnett: Look at the despair in the back bench! Mr RIPPER: Spending will not keep pace with inflation. I note the strange comments by the Leader of the Opposition. No wonder he could never deliver a surplus; no wonder there were five deficits in eight budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has surplus envy. We will demonstrate in the budget next week the lowest growth in government spending since 1994-95. We are happy, in terms of financial management, to be judged on our record, because we have demonstrated financial discipline, unlike the mob opposite.
I have some news for the Opposition and for those financial commentators. There is a surprise in store for them next week. They will be very pleased to see that we are on track for the 2001-02 financial year, but they will be gobsmacked to see that next financial year, government spending will fall in real terms. Mr Barnett: Look at the despair in the back bench! Mr RIPPER: Spending will not keep pace with inflation. I note the strange comments by the Leader of the Opposition. No wonder he could never deliver a surplus; no wonder there were five deficits in eight budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has surplus envy. We will demonstrate in the budget next week the lowest growth in government spending since 1994-95. We are happy, in terms of financial management, to be judged on our record, because we have demonstrated financial discipline, unlike the mob opposite.
Mr Barnett: Look at the despair in the back bench! Mr RIPPER: Spending will not keep pace with inflation. I note the strange comments by the Leader of the Opposition. No wonder he could never deliver a surplus; no wonder there were five deficits in eight budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has surplus envy. We will demonstrate in the budget next week the lowest growth in government spending since 1994-95. We are happy, in terms of financial management, to be judged on our record, because we have demonstrated financial discipline, unlike the mob opposite.
Mr RIPPER: Spending will not keep pace with inflation. I note the strange comments by the Leader of the Opposition. No wonder he could never deliver a surplus; no wonder there were five deficits in eight budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has surplus envy. We will demonstrate in the budget next week the lowest growth in government spending since 1994-95. We are happy, in terms of financial management, to be judged on our record, because we have demonstrated financial discipline, unlike the mob opposite.
Mr RIPPER replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. I noticed the following comment by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in The West Australian - The Gallop Government is showing all the hallmarks of the previous coalition government by failing to curb spending. I also heard an officer of Access Economics say on ABC Radio - . . . the Government has struggled to manage the state’s finances and it’s been unable to curb spending. This is a particular bandwagon of the economic commentators. It is clear that they do not trust the Western Australian Government to control spending. Why is that? It is because they saw the coalition year in, year out spend more than the State earned. Let us look at the record of the coalition. On average, spending grew by 5.6 per cent a year under the Liberal and National Government, and in five out of eight budgets, spending outstripped recorded revenue growth. It had five deficits in eight budgets. It is no secret that public sector spending was out of control when we came to office. It is no secret that it is difficult to control finances. Every minister in this Government knows that it is a week in, week out, day-by-day task to control finances. In our first budget we forecast government spending to rise by 3.8 per cent, well short of the unrestrained growth of previous years. It is well known that we have had to increase spending in a couple of key areas since then. In December we made a policy decision to inject an extra $70 million into health to meet community demands. We also put an extra $3.2 million into tourism promotion in the wake of the Ansett collapse. We paid out an extra $58.5 million in first home owner grants, although this will be reimbursed by the Commonwealth, so there will be no difference to our bottom line. Those things have increased our expenditure. Those are the items that the CCI and Access Economics apparently consider to be evidence of reckless overspending. I do not consider a $70 million injection into our health system to meet community demands to be reckless overspending. I have some news for the Opposition and for those financial commentators. There is a surprise in store for them next week. They will be very pleased to see that we are on track for the 2001-02 financial year, but they will be gobsmacked to see that next financial year, government spending will fall in real terms. Mr Barnett: Look at the despair in the back bench! Mr RIPPER: Spending will not keep pace with inflation. I note the strange comments by the Leader of the Opposition. No wonder he could never deliver a surplus; no wonder there were five deficits in eight budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has surplus envy. We will demonstrate in the budget next week the lowest growth in government spending since 1994-95. We are happy, in terms of financial management, to be judged on our record, because we have demonstrated financial discipline, unlike the mob opposite.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. I noticed the following comment by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in The West Australian - The Gallop Government is showing all the hallmarks of the previous coalition government by failing to curb spending. I also heard an officer of Access Economics say on ABC Radio - . . . the Government has struggled to manage the state’s finances and it’s been unable to curb spending. This is a particular bandwagon of the economic commentators. It is clear that they do not trust the Western Australian Government to control spending. Why is that? It is because they saw the coalition year in, year out spend more than the State earned. Let us look at the record of the coalition. On average, spending grew by 5.6 per cent a year under the Liberal and National Government, and in five out of eight budgets, spending outstripped recorded revenue growth. It had five deficits in eight budgets. It is no secret that public sector spending was out of control when we came to office. It is no secret that it is difficult to control finances. Every minister in this Government knows that it is a week in, week out, day-by-day task to control finances. In our first budget we forecast government spending to rise by 3.8 per cent, well short of the unrestrained growth of previous years. It is well known that we have had to increase spending in a couple of key areas since then. In December we made a policy decision to inject an extra $70 million into health to meet community demands. We also put an extra $3.2 million into tourism promotion in the wake of the Ansett collapse. We paid out an extra $58.5 million in first home owner grants, although this will be reimbursed by the Commonwealth, so there will be no difference to our bottom line. Those things have increased our expenditure. Those are the items that the CCI and Access Economics apparently consider to be evidence of reckless overspending. I do not consider a $70 million injection into our health system to meet community demands to be reckless overspending. I have some news for the Opposition and for those financial commentators. There is a surprise in store for them next week. They will be very pleased to see that we are on track for the 2001-02 financial year, but they will be gobsmacked to see that next financial year, government spending will fall in real terms. Mr Barnett: Look at the despair in the back bench! Mr RIPPER: Spending will not keep pace with inflation. I note the strange comments by the Leader of the Opposition. No wonder he could never deliver a surplus; no wonder there were five deficits in eight budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has surplus envy. We will demonstrate in the budget next week the lowest growth in government spending since 1994-95. We are happy, in terms of financial management, to be judged on our record, because we have demonstrated financial discipline, unlike the mob opposite.
I have some news for the Opposition and for those financial commentators. There is a surprise in store for them next week. They will be very pleased to see that we are on track for the 2001-02 financial year, but they will be gobsmacked to see that next financial year, government spending will fall in real terms. Mr Barnett: Look at the despair in the back bench! Mr RIPPER: Spending will not keep pace with inflation. I note the strange comments by the Leader of the Opposition. No wonder he could never deliver a surplus; no wonder there were five deficits in eight budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has surplus envy. We will demonstrate in the budget next week the lowest growth in government spending since 1994-95. We are happy, in terms of financial management, to be judged on our record, because we have demonstrated financial discipline, unlike the mob opposite.
Mr Barnett: Look at the despair in the back bench! Mr RIPPER: Spending will not keep pace with inflation. I note the strange comments by the Leader of the Opposition. No wonder he could never deliver a surplus; no wonder there were five deficits in eight budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has surplus envy. We will demonstrate in the budget next week the lowest growth in government spending since 1994-95. We are happy, in terms of financial management, to be judged on our record, because we have demonstrated financial discipline, unlike the mob opposite.
Mr RIPPER: Spending will not keep pace with inflation. I note the strange comments by the Leader of the Opposition. No wonder he could never deliver a surplus; no wonder there were five deficits in eight budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has surplus envy. We will demonstrate in the budget next week the lowest growth in government spending since 1994-95. We are happy, in terms of financial management, to be judged on our record, because we have demonstrated financial discipline, unlike the mob opposite.
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