❓ Question regarding criticism of the state budget figures' integrity. The Treasurer defends the figures and the Treasury staff, criticising the newspaper's reporting and highlighting the state's forecasting accuracy compared to other states.
AnsweredQoN 83Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
STATE BUDGET — INTEGRITY OF FIGURES
Can the Treasurer comment on a recent media article criticising the integrity of the state’s budget figures? Mr E.S. RIPPER
Can the Treasurer comment on a recent media article criticising the integrity of the state’s budget figures? Mr E.S. RIPPER
AnswerView source ↗
Once again it is necessary for a member of this house to correct the public record, and once again it appears that the state’s daily newspaper is the source of the problem. I do not mind if the state’s daily newspaper seeks to attack someone in public life such as me. If a person is in public life, he is fair game. However, I object when the newspaper attacks the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. That is what Mark Drummond did when he published a piece headed “Ripper must do more to give honest Budget figures”. In their haste to attack the government, what The West Australian actually did was attack and ridicule Treasury staff. At one point in the article the reporter instructed Treasury to “get real” and tell the punters how much they genuinely expect to raise and spend in 2008-09. I want to set the record straight. The Department of Treasury and Finance completed a major review of its revenue forecasting procedures in 2006. That review is on the website. It has now implemented — Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I have a big interest in the reform and deregulation of shopping hours. I watched the state Liberal conference reports with great interest to see whether Deidre Willmott would prevail in her reform attempts or whether the shell-backed troglodytes that appear to dominate the Leader of the Opposition’s party would once again frustrate the reform. It appears to me that the shell-backed troglodytes did win! The only thing that seemed to come out of the state Liberal conference was a proposal to form a committee and go on a trip. Let us consider what that trip would be like. We have got the leader, we have his defeated leadership opponent, and we have the only person that observers on the other side think has the potential to lead the Liberal Party in the future, the member for Murdoch. That will be a very interesting trip. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that car or that minibus listening to their conversations. Who is driving? That would be a very good question! To come back to the Department of Treasury and Finance’s revenue forecasting procedures, in implementing most of the recommendations of that review, the department has reduced the revenue forecasting error from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 5.7 per cent in 2006-07. The weighted average of all states is 6.9 per cent, so our state’s forecasting error is lower than the weighted average of all states. Queensland, which is a similar state, had a revenue forecasting error in that financial year of 10 per cent. On the spending side, general government expenses were $87 million lower than the original budget estimate, which is a variance of just 0.6 per cent. It needs to be acknowledged that a large part of our state’s source revenue comes from mining and petroleum royalties and stamp duty, which are volatile duty bases. Our forecasts for mining royalties, for example, are based on a survey of private companies, so if they get it wrong, that will contribute to the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance getting it wrong. Despite all those complexities, Access Economics has consistently rated Western Australia as the benchmark for other states’ and territories’ fiscal transparency. That does not seem to count with The West Australian . It is so keen to attack the government that it has traduced the highly professional reputation of those independent people in the Department of Treasury and Finance who provide us with this advice. Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: Once again it is necessary for a member of this house to correct the public record, and once again it appears that the state’s daily newspaper is the source of the problem. I do not mind if the state’s daily newspaper seeks to attack someone in public life such as me. If a person is in public life, he is fair game. However, I object when the newspaper attacks the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. That is what Mark Drummond did when he published a piece headed “Ripper must do more to give honest Budget figures”. In their haste to attack the government, what The West Australian actually did was attack and ridicule Treasury staff. At one point in the article the reporter instructed Treasury to “get real” and tell the punters how much they genuinely expect to raise and spend in 2008-09. I want to set the record straight. The Department of Treasury and Finance completed a major review of its revenue forecasting procedures in 2006. That review is on the website. It has now implemented — Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I have a big interest in the reform and deregulation of shopping hours. I watched the state Liberal conference reports with great interest to see whether Deidre Willmott would prevail in her reform attempts or whether the shell-backed troglodytes that appear to dominate the Leader of the Opposition’s party would once again frustrate the reform. It appears to me that the shell-backed troglodytes did win! The only thing that seemed to come out of the state Liberal conference was a proposal to form a committee and go on a trip. Let us consider what that trip would be like. We have got the leader, we have his defeated leadership opponent, and we have the only person that observers on the other side think has the potential to lead the Liberal Party in the future, the member for Murdoch. That will be a very interesting trip. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that car or that minibus listening to their conversations. Who is driving? That would be a very good question! To come back to the Department of Treasury and Finance’s revenue forecasting procedures, in implementing most of the recommendations of that review, the department has reduced the revenue forecasting error from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 5.7 per cent in 2006-07. The weighted average of all states is 6.9 per cent, so our state’s forecasting error is lower than the weighted average of all states. Queensland, which is a similar state, had a revenue forecasting error in that financial year of 10 per cent. On the spending side, general government expenses were $87 million lower than the original budget estimate, which is a variance of just 0.6 per cent. It needs to be acknowledged that a large part of our state’s source revenue comes from mining and petroleum royalties and stamp duty, which are volatile duty bases. Our forecasts for mining royalties, for example, are based on a survey of private companies, so if they get it wrong, that will contribute to the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance getting it wrong. Despite all those complexities, Access Economics has consistently rated Western Australia as the benchmark for other states’ and territories’ fiscal transparency. That does not seem to count with The West Australian . It is so keen to attack the government that it has traduced the highly professional reputation of those independent people in the Department of Treasury and Finance who provide us with this advice. Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Once again it is necessary for a member of this house to correct the public record, and once again it appears that the state’s daily newspaper is the source of the problem. I do not mind if the state’s daily newspaper seeks to attack someone in public life such as me. If a person is in public life, he is fair game. However, I object when the newspaper attacks the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. That is what Mark Drummond did when he published a piece headed “Ripper must do more to give honest Budget figures”. In their haste to attack the government, what The West Australian actually did was attack and ridicule Treasury staff. At one point in the article the reporter instructed Treasury to “get real” and tell the punters how much they genuinely expect to raise and spend in 2008-09. I want to set the record straight. The Department of Treasury and Finance completed a major review of its revenue forecasting procedures in 2006. That review is on the website. It has now implemented — Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I have a big interest in the reform and deregulation of shopping hours. I watched the state Liberal conference reports with great interest to see whether Deidre Willmott would prevail in her reform attempts or whether the shell-backed troglodytes that appear to dominate the Leader of the Opposition’s party would once again frustrate the reform. It appears to me that the shell-backed troglodytes did win! The only thing that seemed to come out of the state Liberal conference was a proposal to form a committee and go on a trip. Let us consider what that trip would be like. We have got the leader, we have his defeated leadership opponent, and we have the only person that observers on the other side think has the potential to lead the Liberal Party in the future, the member for Murdoch. That will be a very interesting trip. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that car or that minibus listening to their conversations. Who is driving? That would be a very good question! To come back to the Department of Treasury and Finance’s revenue forecasting procedures, in implementing most of the recommendations of that review, the department has reduced the revenue forecasting error from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 5.7 per cent in 2006-07. The weighted average of all states is 6.9 per cent, so our state’s forecasting error is lower than the weighted average of all states. Queensland, which is a similar state, had a revenue forecasting error in that financial year of 10 per cent. On the spending side, general government expenses were $87 million lower than the original budget estimate, which is a variance of just 0.6 per cent. It needs to be acknowledged that a large part of our state’s source revenue comes from mining and petroleum royalties and stamp duty, which are volatile duty bases. Our forecasts for mining royalties, for example, are based on a survey of private companies, so if they get it wrong, that will contribute to the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance getting it wrong. Despite all those complexities, Access Economics has consistently rated Western Australia as the benchmark for other states’ and territories’ fiscal transparency. That does not seem to count with The West Australian . It is so keen to attack the government that it has traduced the highly professional reputation of those independent people in the Department of Treasury and Finance who provide us with this advice. Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I have a big interest in the reform and deregulation of shopping hours. I watched the state Liberal conference reports with great interest to see whether Deidre Willmott would prevail in her reform attempts or whether the shell-backed troglodytes that appear to dominate the Leader of the Opposition’s party would once again frustrate the reform. It appears to me that the shell-backed troglodytes did win! The only thing that seemed to come out of the state Liberal conference was a proposal to form a committee and go on a trip. Let us consider what that trip would be like. We have got the leader, we have his defeated leadership opponent, and we have the only person that observers on the other side think has the potential to lead the Liberal Party in the future, the member for Murdoch. That will be a very interesting trip. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that car or that minibus listening to their conversations. Who is driving? That would be a very good question! To come back to the Department of Treasury and Finance’s revenue forecasting procedures, in implementing most of the recommendations of that review, the department has reduced the revenue forecasting error from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 5.7 per cent in 2006-07. The weighted average of all states is 6.9 per cent, so our state’s forecasting error is lower than the weighted average of all states. Queensland, which is a similar state, had a revenue forecasting error in that financial year of 10 per cent. On the spending side, general government expenses were $87 million lower than the original budget estimate, which is a variance of just 0.6 per cent. It needs to be acknowledged that a large part of our state’s source revenue comes from mining and petroleum royalties and stamp duty, which are volatile duty bases. Our forecasts for mining royalties, for example, are based on a survey of private companies, so if they get it wrong, that will contribute to the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance getting it wrong. Despite all those complexities, Access Economics has consistently rated Western Australia as the benchmark for other states’ and territories’ fiscal transparency. That does not seem to count with The West Australian . It is so keen to attack the government that it has traduced the highly professional reputation of those independent people in the Department of Treasury and Finance who provide us with this advice. Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : I have a big interest in the reform and deregulation of shopping hours. I watched the state Liberal conference reports with great interest to see whether Deidre Willmott would prevail in her reform attempts or whether the shell-backed troglodytes that appear to dominate the Leader of the Opposition’s party would once again frustrate the reform. It appears to me that the shell-backed troglodytes did win! The only thing that seemed to come out of the state Liberal conference was a proposal to form a committee and go on a trip. Let us consider what that trip would be like. We have got the leader, we have his defeated leadership opponent, and we have the only person that observers on the other side think has the potential to lead the Liberal Party in the future, the member for Murdoch. That will be a very interesting trip. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that car or that minibus listening to their conversations. Who is driving? That would be a very good question! To come back to the Department of Treasury and Finance’s revenue forecasting procedures, in implementing most of the recommendations of that review, the department has reduced the revenue forecasting error from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 5.7 per cent in 2006-07. The weighted average of all states is 6.9 per cent, so our state’s forecasting error is lower than the weighted average of all states. Queensland, which is a similar state, had a revenue forecasting error in that financial year of 10 per cent. On the spending side, general government expenses were $87 million lower than the original budget estimate, which is a variance of just 0.6 per cent. It needs to be acknowledged that a large part of our state’s source revenue comes from mining and petroleum royalties and stamp duty, which are volatile duty bases. Our forecasts for mining royalties, for example, are based on a survey of private companies, so if they get it wrong, that will contribute to the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance getting it wrong. Despite all those complexities, Access Economics has consistently rated Western Australia as the benchmark for other states’ and territories’ fiscal transparency. That does not seem to count with The West Australian . It is so keen to attack the government that it has traduced the highly professional reputation of those independent people in the Department of Treasury and Finance who provide us with this advice. Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
To come back to the Department of Treasury and Finance’s revenue forecasting procedures, in implementing most of the recommendations of that review, the department has reduced the revenue forecasting error from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 5.7 per cent in 2006-07. The weighted average of all states is 6.9 per cent, so our state’s forecasting error is lower than the weighted average of all states. Queensland, which is a similar state, had a revenue forecasting error in that financial year of 10 per cent. On the spending side, general government expenses were $87 million lower than the original budget estimate, which is a variance of just 0.6 per cent. It needs to be acknowledged that a large part of our state’s source revenue comes from mining and petroleum royalties and stamp duty, which are volatile duty bases. Our forecasts for mining royalties, for example, are based on a survey of private companies, so if they get it wrong, that will contribute to the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance getting it wrong. Despite all those complexities, Access Economics has consistently rated Western Australia as the benchmark for other states’ and territories’ fiscal transparency. That does not seem to count with The West Australian . It is so keen to attack the government that it has traduced the highly professional reputation of those independent people in the Department of Treasury and Finance who provide us with this advice. Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: Once again it is necessary for a member of this house to correct the public record, and once again it appears that the state’s daily newspaper is the source of the problem. I do not mind if the state’s daily newspaper seeks to attack someone in public life such as me. If a person is in public life, he is fair game. However, I object when the newspaper attacks the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. That is what Mark Drummond did when he published a piece headed “Ripper must do more to give honest Budget figures”. In their haste to attack the government, what The West Australian actually did was attack and ridicule Treasury staff. At one point in the article the reporter instructed Treasury to “get real” and tell the punters how much they genuinely expect to raise and spend in 2008-09. I want to set the record straight. The Department of Treasury and Finance completed a major review of its revenue forecasting procedures in 2006. That review is on the website. It has now implemented — Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I have a big interest in the reform and deregulation of shopping hours. I watched the state Liberal conference reports with great interest to see whether Deidre Willmott would prevail in her reform attempts or whether the shell-backed troglodytes that appear to dominate the Leader of the Opposition’s party would once again frustrate the reform. It appears to me that the shell-backed troglodytes did win! The only thing that seemed to come out of the state Liberal conference was a proposal to form a committee and go on a trip. Let us consider what that trip would be like. We have got the leader, we have his defeated leadership opponent, and we have the only person that observers on the other side think has the potential to lead the Liberal Party in the future, the member for Murdoch. That will be a very interesting trip. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that car or that minibus listening to their conversations. Who is driving? That would be a very good question! To come back to the Department of Treasury and Finance’s revenue forecasting procedures, in implementing most of the recommendations of that review, the department has reduced the revenue forecasting error from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 5.7 per cent in 2006-07. The weighted average of all states is 6.9 per cent, so our state’s forecasting error is lower than the weighted average of all states. Queensland, which is a similar state, had a revenue forecasting error in that financial year of 10 per cent. On the spending side, general government expenses were $87 million lower than the original budget estimate, which is a variance of just 0.6 per cent. It needs to be acknowledged that a large part of our state’s source revenue comes from mining and petroleum royalties and stamp duty, which are volatile duty bases. Our forecasts for mining royalties, for example, are based on a survey of private companies, so if they get it wrong, that will contribute to the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance getting it wrong. Despite all those complexities, Access Economics has consistently rated Western Australia as the benchmark for other states’ and territories’ fiscal transparency. That does not seem to count with The West Australian . It is so keen to attack the government that it has traduced the highly professional reputation of those independent people in the Department of Treasury and Finance who provide us with this advice. Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Once again it is necessary for a member of this house to correct the public record, and once again it appears that the state’s daily newspaper is the source of the problem. I do not mind if the state’s daily newspaper seeks to attack someone in public life such as me. If a person is in public life, he is fair game. However, I object when the newspaper attacks the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. That is what Mark Drummond did when he published a piece headed “Ripper must do more to give honest Budget figures”. In their haste to attack the government, what The West Australian actually did was attack and ridicule Treasury staff. At one point in the article the reporter instructed Treasury to “get real” and tell the punters how much they genuinely expect to raise and spend in 2008-09. I want to set the record straight. The Department of Treasury and Finance completed a major review of its revenue forecasting procedures in 2006. That review is on the website. It has now implemented — Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I have a big interest in the reform and deregulation of shopping hours. I watched the state Liberal conference reports with great interest to see whether Deidre Willmott would prevail in her reform attempts or whether the shell-backed troglodytes that appear to dominate the Leader of the Opposition’s party would once again frustrate the reform. It appears to me that the shell-backed troglodytes did win! The only thing that seemed to come out of the state Liberal conference was a proposal to form a committee and go on a trip. Let us consider what that trip would be like. We have got the leader, we have his defeated leadership opponent, and we have the only person that observers on the other side think has the potential to lead the Liberal Party in the future, the member for Murdoch. That will be a very interesting trip. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that car or that minibus listening to their conversations. Who is driving? That would be a very good question! To come back to the Department of Treasury and Finance’s revenue forecasting procedures, in implementing most of the recommendations of that review, the department has reduced the revenue forecasting error from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 5.7 per cent in 2006-07. The weighted average of all states is 6.9 per cent, so our state’s forecasting error is lower than the weighted average of all states. Queensland, which is a similar state, had a revenue forecasting error in that financial year of 10 per cent. On the spending side, general government expenses were $87 million lower than the original budget estimate, which is a variance of just 0.6 per cent. It needs to be acknowledged that a large part of our state’s source revenue comes from mining and petroleum royalties and stamp duty, which are volatile duty bases. Our forecasts for mining royalties, for example, are based on a survey of private companies, so if they get it wrong, that will contribute to the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance getting it wrong. Despite all those complexities, Access Economics has consistently rated Western Australia as the benchmark for other states’ and territories’ fiscal transparency. That does not seem to count with The West Australian . It is so keen to attack the government that it has traduced the highly professional reputation of those independent people in the Department of Treasury and Finance who provide us with this advice. Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I have a big interest in the reform and deregulation of shopping hours. I watched the state Liberal conference reports with great interest to see whether Deidre Willmott would prevail in her reform attempts or whether the shell-backed troglodytes that appear to dominate the Leader of the Opposition’s party would once again frustrate the reform. It appears to me that the shell-backed troglodytes did win! The only thing that seemed to come out of the state Liberal conference was a proposal to form a committee and go on a trip. Let us consider what that trip would be like. We have got the leader, we have his defeated leadership opponent, and we have the only person that observers on the other side think has the potential to lead the Liberal Party in the future, the member for Murdoch. That will be a very interesting trip. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that car or that minibus listening to their conversations. Who is driving? That would be a very good question! To come back to the Department of Treasury and Finance’s revenue forecasting procedures, in implementing most of the recommendations of that review, the department has reduced the revenue forecasting error from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 5.7 per cent in 2006-07. The weighted average of all states is 6.9 per cent, so our state’s forecasting error is lower than the weighted average of all states. Queensland, which is a similar state, had a revenue forecasting error in that financial year of 10 per cent. On the spending side, general government expenses were $87 million lower than the original budget estimate, which is a variance of just 0.6 per cent. It needs to be acknowledged that a large part of our state’s source revenue comes from mining and petroleum royalties and stamp duty, which are volatile duty bases. Our forecasts for mining royalties, for example, are based on a survey of private companies, so if they get it wrong, that will contribute to the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance getting it wrong. Despite all those complexities, Access Economics has consistently rated Western Australia as the benchmark for other states’ and territories’ fiscal transparency. That does not seem to count with The West Australian . It is so keen to attack the government that it has traduced the highly professional reputation of those independent people in the Department of Treasury and Finance who provide us with this advice. Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : I have a big interest in the reform and deregulation of shopping hours. I watched the state Liberal conference reports with great interest to see whether Deidre Willmott would prevail in her reform attempts or whether the shell-backed troglodytes that appear to dominate the Leader of the Opposition’s party would once again frustrate the reform. It appears to me that the shell-backed troglodytes did win! The only thing that seemed to come out of the state Liberal conference was a proposal to form a committee and go on a trip. Let us consider what that trip would be like. We have got the leader, we have his defeated leadership opponent, and we have the only person that observers on the other side think has the potential to lead the Liberal Party in the future, the member for Murdoch. That will be a very interesting trip. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that car or that minibus listening to their conversations. Who is driving? That would be a very good question! To come back to the Department of Treasury and Finance’s revenue forecasting procedures, in implementing most of the recommendations of that review, the department has reduced the revenue forecasting error from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 5.7 per cent in 2006-07. The weighted average of all states is 6.9 per cent, so our state’s forecasting error is lower than the weighted average of all states. Queensland, which is a similar state, had a revenue forecasting error in that financial year of 10 per cent. On the spending side, general government expenses were $87 million lower than the original budget estimate, which is a variance of just 0.6 per cent. It needs to be acknowledged that a large part of our state’s source revenue comes from mining and petroleum royalties and stamp duty, which are volatile duty bases. Our forecasts for mining royalties, for example, are based on a survey of private companies, so if they get it wrong, that will contribute to the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance getting it wrong. Despite all those complexities, Access Economics has consistently rated Western Australia as the benchmark for other states’ and territories’ fiscal transparency. That does not seem to count with The West Australian . It is so keen to attack the government that it has traduced the highly professional reputation of those independent people in the Department of Treasury and Finance who provide us with this advice. Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
To come back to the Department of Treasury and Finance’s revenue forecasting procedures, in implementing most of the recommendations of that review, the department has reduced the revenue forecasting error from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 5.7 per cent in 2006-07. The weighted average of all states is 6.9 per cent, so our state’s forecasting error is lower than the weighted average of all states. Queensland, which is a similar state, had a revenue forecasting error in that financial year of 10 per cent. On the spending side, general government expenses were $87 million lower than the original budget estimate, which is a variance of just 0.6 per cent. It needs to be acknowledged that a large part of our state’s source revenue comes from mining and petroleum royalties and stamp duty, which are volatile duty bases. Our forecasts for mining royalties, for example, are based on a survey of private companies, so if they get it wrong, that will contribute to the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance getting it wrong. Despite all those complexities, Access Economics has consistently rated Western Australia as the benchmark for other states’ and territories’ fiscal transparency. That does not seem to count with The West Australian . It is so keen to attack the government that it has traduced the highly professional reputation of those independent people in the Department of Treasury and Finance who provide us with this advice. Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Mark Drummond also wrote a separate article about the Treasurer’s advance. He attacked the government’s use of it. It is worth noting that the previous government had to go back to Parliament to increase the limit on the Treasurer’s advance on five occasions in the context of it running five budget deficits out of eight budgets. We can go back to Parliament because we have the resources to deliver dividends to the community between budgets. We are not running the budget deficits that the other lot were running. We have gone back three times, but that is to be compared with the five times in the context of the deficit budget that the previous government sought parliamentary approval. Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
Let me come back to The West Australian . It dares to attack the forecasting of the independent professionals in the Department of Treasury and Finance. I have here The West Australian ’s own record and its forecast of the alleged finding, seven months earlier than the actual finding, of HMAS Sydney . I regard this as a particularly low point in the history of Western Australian journalism. This article played with the emotions of all those relatives of those men who went down with the Sydney . We have seen some of those people on the television. We have seen widows in their 80s still suffering the hurt and pain of the loss of the Sydney . This forecasting error by Paul Murray and The West Australian , in a story that unfortunately went national, played with the emotions of those people. That is wrong and that is shameful.
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