❓ Question regarding a potentially misleading submission to the Economic and Expenditure Reform Committee (EERC) concerning the residential feed-in tariff scheme. Premier Barnett denies the submission was misleading and promises to investigate the overspending on the scheme.
AnsweredQoN 870Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ENERGY — RESIDENTIAL FEED-IN TARIFF SCHEME
I have a supplementary question. Was the misleading and inaccurate Economic and Expenditure Reform Committee submission in which the Premier realised something was wrong signed by Minister Collier? Mr C.J. BARNETT
I have a supplementary question. Was the misleading and inaccurate Economic and Expenditure Reform Committee submission in which the Premier realised something was wrong signed by Minister Collier? Mr C.J. BARNETT
AnswerView source ↗
I find it extraordinary that the member for Rockingham will get up and ask who signed Economic and Expenditure Reform Committee minutes. I do not know who signed the documentation that went to the EERC, but it also came to the cabinet for discussion. Mr M. McGowan : It is a minister! Mr C.J. BARNETT : What is the member saying? Did the minister sign the EERC minute? Mr M. McGowan : No. I asked you who put in a misleading submission. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: I find it extraordinary that the member for Rockingham will get up and ask who signed Economic and Expenditure Reform Committee minutes. I do not know who signed the documentation that went to the EERC, but it also came to the cabinet for discussion. Mr M. McGowan : It is a minister! Mr C.J. BARNETT : What is the member saying? Did the minister sign the EERC minute? Mr M. McGowan : No. I asked you who put in a misleading submission. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
I find it extraordinary that the member for Rockingham will get up and ask who signed Economic and Expenditure Reform Committee minutes. I do not know who signed the documentation that went to the EERC, but it also came to the cabinet for discussion. Mr M. McGowan : It is a minister! Mr C.J. BARNETT : What is the member saying? Did the minister sign the EERC minute? Mr M. McGowan : No. I asked you who put in a misleading submission. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr M. McGowan : It is a minister! Mr C.J. BARNETT : What is the member saying? Did the minister sign the EERC minute? Mr M. McGowan : No. I asked you who put in a misleading submission. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : What is the member saying? Did the minister sign the EERC minute? Mr M. McGowan : No. I asked you who put in a misleading submission. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr M. McGowan : No. I asked you who put in a misleading submission. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: I find it extraordinary that the member for Rockingham will get up and ask who signed Economic and Expenditure Reform Committee minutes. I do not know who signed the documentation that went to the EERC, but it also came to the cabinet for discussion. Mr M. McGowan : It is a minister! Mr C.J. BARNETT : What is the member saying? Did the minister sign the EERC minute? Mr M. McGowan : No. I asked you who put in a misleading submission. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
I find it extraordinary that the member for Rockingham will get up and ask who signed Economic and Expenditure Reform Committee minutes. I do not know who signed the documentation that went to the EERC, but it also came to the cabinet for discussion. Mr M. McGowan : It is a minister! Mr C.J. BARNETT : What is the member saying? Did the minister sign the EERC minute? Mr M. McGowan : No. I asked you who put in a misleading submission. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr M. McGowan : It is a minister! Mr C.J. BARNETT : What is the member saying? Did the minister sign the EERC minute? Mr M. McGowan : No. I asked you who put in a misleading submission. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : What is the member saying? Did the minister sign the EERC minute? Mr M. McGowan : No. I asked you who put in a misleading submission. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr M. McGowan : No. I asked you who put in a misleading submission. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; the minister did not put in a misleading submission. Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr M. McGowan : Your Treasurer said he did. Your Treasurer said it was inaccurate. Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : No, not at all. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate! I have got it here. Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.C. Porter : Read it out: find that word “misleading”. Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr M. McGowan : You said it was inaccurate. You said, “ as likely being inaccurate ”. I said the word “inaccurate”! You define the difference! Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.C. Porter : You said the word “misleading” four times! Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mr Speaker, there is an interesting conversation going on! The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
The SPEAKER : I will give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question. I am not taking any more interjections from either side of the house. Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : We will get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The only thing that can be known for certain is that the scheme extended beyond the cap of 150 megawatts. How much? It is nothing like that suggested by the member for Rockingham, but certainly it was exceeded. We are also going back and looking at the contracts, and when people put in their application whether that was accepted or not or whether there was simply a queue of applications. There was certainly a rush, and I suspect a lot of people in the industry promoted the scheme and encouraged people to sign up and put in applications. We will have to go back and vet that and determine where the cut-off was. If people had correctly complied and been accepted, we will respect that. That is the work that is going on now. It is not simple; we are talking about thousands of applications. There will be expenditure well beyond what was intended, but nothing in the order of $500 million. When we have the answer to that, either the Minister for Energy, the Treasurer or I will make those details public. We simply have not yet got to the bottom of it. Again I stress that the consequence has been that this government has spent more on renewable energy than it intended. There is no misappropriation and no loss of public money.
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