❓ Dr. Honey questions the Minister for Planning regarding transparency concerning Landgate offices sale details. The Minister deflects by highlighting the previous government's lack of transparency in providing business cases for the Perth Freight Link and Forrestfield-Airport Link projects.
AnsweredQoN 412Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
LANDGATE
OFFICES — SALE
412. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Planning:
I have a supplementary
question. Is the minister's refusal to release details just another
example of lack of transparency by this government?
OFFICES — SALE
412. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Planning:
I have a supplementary
question. Is the minister's refusal to release details just another
example of lack of transparency by this government?
AnswerView source ↗
Let us go to the issue of
transparency. Members may recall that when we won government, we inherited two
projects— the Perth Freight
Link, which we soon made sure did not happen, and the contract for the
Forrestfield–Airport Link . We sought copies of those two
business cases, in particular for the FAL because we were building it! We
wanted to know the assumptions underpinning
it. We wrote to the opposition for two business cases. I have lost count of how many opposition leaders there were, but we kept writing to opposition leaders
asking, ''Can we have access to your business
cases? You are no longer in government. They are proprietary of the previous
cabinet and I am not allowed to
access them; can we have copies of the business cases?'' What did the
opposition say? No. The Liberal and National Parties were no longer in government
and we were delivering one of the projects and they refused to provide access
to them. Why would they do that, given they were no longer in government and we
were delivering one project? The opposition may have assisted us with those
projects, but it refused to do that.
If members look at our
website and the summary of project definition plans that we display, they will
see we go through Infrastructure
Australia and Infrastructure Western Australia. We have been operating under
Infrastructure Australia for our entire term, because for most of our
projects we have sought and received commonwealth funding—again, something the former Liberal–National
government never did—and we had to submit significant business cases to get that funding through the commonwealth. We go through that process. We work
through all the processes and we make good decisions on behalf of the taxpayers
of WA.
transparency. Members may recall that when we won government, we inherited two
projects— the Perth Freight
Link, which we soon made sure did not happen, and the contract for the
Forrestfield–Airport Link . We sought copies of those two
business cases, in particular for the FAL because we were building it! We
wanted to know the assumptions underpinning
it. We wrote to the opposition for two business cases. I have lost count of how many opposition leaders there were, but we kept writing to opposition leaders
asking, ''Can we have access to your business
cases? You are no longer in government. They are proprietary of the previous
cabinet and I am not allowed to
access them; can we have copies of the business cases?'' What did the
opposition say? No. The Liberal and National Parties were no longer in government
and we were delivering one of the projects and they refused to provide access
to them. Why would they do that, given they were no longer in government and we
were delivering one project? The opposition may have assisted us with those
projects, but it refused to do that.
If members look at our
website and the summary of project definition plans that we display, they will
see we go through Infrastructure
Australia and Infrastructure Western Australia. We have been operating under
Infrastructure Australia for our entire term, because for most of our
projects we have sought and received commonwealth funding—again, something the former Liberal–National
government never did—and we had to submit significant business cases to get that funding through the commonwealth. We go through that process. We work
through all the processes and we make good decisions on behalf of the taxpayers
of WA.
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