❓ Opposition Leader Barnett questions Treasurer Ripper about tax increases, linking them to the Southern Rail Link cost overruns and alleged neglect of essential services. Ripper deflects blame, citing budget mismanagement by the previous Liberal government.
AnsweredQoN 1358Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer the Treasurer to his comment in the Sunday Times of 30 November 2003 - . . . taxes had been raised only to fund the Government’s priority areas of hospitals, schools and police. I will assist the Treasurer with some visual aids, as he is prone to use. (1) Is the Treasurer aware that an extra $300 million cost was incurred by the Labor Government’s decision to re-route the southern rail link? Here is a diagram of the Treasurer’s extra $300 million on the choo choo. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
. . . taxes had been raised only to fund the Government’s priority areas of hospitals, schools and police. I will assist the Treasurer with some visual aids, as he is prone to use. (1) Is the Treasurer aware that an extra $300 million cost was incurred by the Labor Government’s decision to re-route the southern rail link? Here is a diagram of the Treasurer’s extra $300 million on the choo choo. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
I will assist the Treasurer with some visual aids, as he is prone to use. (1) Is the Treasurer aware that an extra $300 million cost was incurred by the Labor Government’s decision to re-route the southern rail link? Here is a diagram of the Treasurer’s extra $300 million on the choo choo. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
(1) Is the Treasurer aware that an extra $300 million cost was incurred by the Labor Government’s decision to re-route the southern rail link? Here is a diagram of the Treasurer’s extra $300 million on the choo choo. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
The SPEAKER: Order! Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
(2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
(1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
. . . taxes had been raised only to fund the Government’s priority areas of hospitals, schools and police. I will assist the Treasurer with some visual aids, as he is prone to use. (1) Is the Treasurer aware that an extra $300 million cost was incurred by the Labor Government’s decision to re-route the southern rail link? Here is a diagram of the Treasurer’s extra $300 million on the choo choo. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
I will assist the Treasurer with some visual aids, as he is prone to use. (1) Is the Treasurer aware that an extra $300 million cost was incurred by the Labor Government’s decision to re-route the southern rail link? Here is a diagram of the Treasurer’s extra $300 million on the choo choo. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
(1) Is the Treasurer aware that an extra $300 million cost was incurred by the Labor Government’s decision to re-route the southern rail link? Here is a diagram of the Treasurer’s extra $300 million on the choo choo. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
The SPEAKER: Order! Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Mr C.J. BARNETT: No Christmas spirit! Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Mr C.J. BARNETT: I am trying to assist members opposite. The $300 million cost to re-route the southern rail link could have built 20 new high schools or 60 new primary schools - as this chart shows - or it could have built 86 new police stations or, in its priority area, the Government could have built six real hospitals. That figure represents only the railway’s cost blow-out as a result of the erratic minister. Does the Treasurer realise that? Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
The SPEAKER: Order! Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Mr N.R. Marlborough: I kept supporting you. I’ve wanted to prop you up, but I’m giving it away now. The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
The SPEAKER: I am glad the member for Peel is giving it away, because we need to move on with the question. Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Mr C.J. BARNETT: The children in the public gallery have grasped the concept; I am working on the front bench now. My question continues - (2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
(2) Will the Treasurer now concede that the massive cost of the southern rail link is the real reason the Labor Government has increased taxes and charges, cancelled health projects, failed to recruit adequate police officers and fallen dramatically behind in school maintenance? Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: (1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
(1)-(2) I do not know which is the more incredible proposition: the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has 15 votes in his party room or the proposition that the deputy leader has 13 votes. I find each of those unbelievable. Surely the Liberal Party has someone else with some credibility and some support. I can understand why the figure of $300 million sticks in the mind of the Leader of the Opposition. That is the amount by which he overspent the education budget over three years. No wonder that figure is fixed in his mind. Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Let me turn to the question of tax increases. Yes, there were tax increases in the last budget. It is forecast that they will raise $162 million. Every single cent of that money, and more, went into the health system. In that budget we put an additional $232 million into the health system. That is where that $162 million went - straight into the health system, with additional money found from savings elsewhere in government. Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Finally, I turn to the furphy on the railway. We will have more time to debate this during the matter of public interest. I appreciate the opportunity that the Opposition is giving us. Please give us a debate on the railway every week, because members of the public want the railway. They support the railway, so we will be more than happy to debate the railway with the Opposition every week. However, we will not accept a repetition of the Liberal Party’s misleading of the public on this matter. On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
On the Monday after the election, before I was sworn in as Treasurer, I went to the office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and sitting on my desk was a brief from Treasury outlining the priorities of government. In that brief was an analysis of all the issues that would confront an incoming Government. There was a brief on the railway. Do members know what that brief said? It said that there was a problem with the finances of the railway because no adjustment had been made for increases in costs since 1998. The brief indicated that the railway costings were wrong because the then coalition Government was expecting to build a railway in 2003, 2004 or 2005 for 1998 prices. Members opposite have persisted in describing as a cost blow-out our necessary adjustment of those figures to deal with that Treasury advice. It is a straight misrepresentation of the truth. It is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. It is not a question of our management of the railway; it is a question of their incompetence and duplicity in the information they presented to the community of Western Australia at the time of the election.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.