❓ Hon. Kate Doust questions Hon. Peter Collier's confidence in Western Power's management, specifically Mr. Doug Aberle, following public hearings. Hon. Peter Collier expresses confidence, citing improvements but acknowledging the need for further progress and a cultural shift towards service delivery.
AnsweredQoN 1017Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
WESTERN POWER — MANAGEMENT OF ASSETS
Due to matters raised during the public hearings held yesterday by the Standing Committee on Public Administration as part of its ongoing inquiry into the electricity transmission and distribution management of Western Power and Horizon Power, do you have confidence in the competence of Mr Doug Aberle and Western Power’s management of its assets? Hon PETER COLLIER
Due to matters raised during the public hearings held yesterday by the Standing Committee on Public Administration as part of its ongoing inquiry into the electricity transmission and distribution management of Western Power and Horizon Power, do you have confidence in the competence of Mr Doug Aberle and Western Power’s management of its assets? Hon PETER COLLIER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the honourable member for the question. Yes. I will obviously not comment on what went on in yesterday’s hearing. I will wait for the report of that committee before I make a comment. Certainly in terms of the management of Western Power, we have made some significant inroads over the past three years and over the past 18 months in particular. We have had a different board and a new chairman. We have seen pole maintenance come down from a backlog of around 100 000 in 2005–06 to around 80 000 in 2008 and down to a virtually negligible amount currently. There have been significant inroads there. There have been improvements in other areas. There still needs to be improvement. I have said this constantly to the management and board of Western Power over the last three years. I feel that there needs to be a cultural shift in Western Power, with much more emphasis on service delivery. That has improved. What needs to be remembered is that the Western Power network pretty much keeps the lights on 100 per cent of the time—it is around 99.96 per cent or 99.8 per cent of the time. They are doing something right, but there are issues that do need to be addressed. If issues arise from the findings of that committee, I will certainly address those issues at that time.
Hon PETER COLLIER replied: I thank the honourable member for the question. Yes. I will obviously not comment on what went on in yesterday’s hearing. I will wait for the report of that committee before I make a comment. Certainly in terms of the management of Western Power, we have made some significant inroads over the past three years and over the past 18 months in particular. We have had a different board and a new chairman. We have seen pole maintenance come down from a backlog of around 100 000 in 2005–06 to around 80 000 in 2008 and down to a virtually negligible amount currently. There have been significant inroads there. There have been improvements in other areas. There still needs to be improvement. I have said this constantly to the management and board of Western Power over the last three years. I feel that there needs to be a cultural shift in Western Power, with much more emphasis on service delivery. That has improved. What needs to be remembered is that the Western Power network pretty much keeps the lights on 100 per cent of the time—it is around 99.96 per cent or 99.8 per cent of the time. They are doing something right, but there are issues that do need to be addressed. If issues arise from the findings of that committee, I will certainly address those issues at that time.
I thank the honourable member for the question. Yes. I will obviously not comment on what went on in yesterday’s hearing. I will wait for the report of that committee before I make a comment. Certainly in terms of the management of Western Power, we have made some significant inroads over the past three years and over the past 18 months in particular. We have had a different board and a new chairman. We have seen pole maintenance come down from a backlog of around 100 000 in 2005–06 to around 80 000 in 2008 and down to a virtually negligible amount currently. There have been significant inroads there. There have been improvements in other areas. There still needs to be improvement. I have said this constantly to the management and board of Western Power over the last three years. I feel that there needs to be a cultural shift in Western Power, with much more emphasis on service delivery. That has improved. What needs to be remembered is that the Western Power network pretty much keeps the lights on 100 per cent of the time—it is around 99.96 per cent or 99.8 per cent of the time. They are doing something right, but there are issues that do need to be addressed. If issues arise from the findings of that committee, I will certainly address those issues at that time.
Hon PETER COLLIER replied: I thank the honourable member for the question. Yes. I will obviously not comment on what went on in yesterday’s hearing. I will wait for the report of that committee before I make a comment. Certainly in terms of the management of Western Power, we have made some significant inroads over the past three years and over the past 18 months in particular. We have had a different board and a new chairman. We have seen pole maintenance come down from a backlog of around 100 000 in 2005–06 to around 80 000 in 2008 and down to a virtually negligible amount currently. There have been significant inroads there. There have been improvements in other areas. There still needs to be improvement. I have said this constantly to the management and board of Western Power over the last three years. I feel that there needs to be a cultural shift in Western Power, with much more emphasis on service delivery. That has improved. What needs to be remembered is that the Western Power network pretty much keeps the lights on 100 per cent of the time—it is around 99.96 per cent or 99.8 per cent of the time. They are doing something right, but there are issues that do need to be addressed. If issues arise from the findings of that committee, I will certainly address those issues at that time.
I thank the honourable member for the question. Yes. I will obviously not comment on what went on in yesterday’s hearing. I will wait for the report of that committee before I make a comment. Certainly in terms of the management of Western Power, we have made some significant inroads over the past three years and over the past 18 months in particular. We have had a different board and a new chairman. We have seen pole maintenance come down from a backlog of around 100 000 in 2005–06 to around 80 000 in 2008 and down to a virtually negligible amount currently. There have been significant inroads there. There have been improvements in other areas. There still needs to be improvement. I have said this constantly to the management and board of Western Power over the last three years. I feel that there needs to be a cultural shift in Western Power, with much more emphasis on service delivery. That has improved. What needs to be remembered is that the Western Power network pretty much keeps the lights on 100 per cent of the time—it is around 99.96 per cent or 99.8 per cent of the time. They are doing something right, but there are issues that do need to be addressed. If issues arise from the findings of that committee, I will certainly address those issues at that time.
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.