❓ Mr. Michael asks about the importance of the government's financial management and potential threats. The Treasurer defends the government's fiscal policy, contrasting it with the previous Liberal government's record debt and criticising the current opposition's spending proposals.
AnsweredQoN 476Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
STATE FINANCES —
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
476. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Treasurer:
I refer to the strong fiscal resolve
of the McGowan Labor government in repairing the state's finances and
ensuring there is continued investment in creating jobs and delivering
essential services.
(1) Can the
Treasurer outline to the house why it is important that the government's
responsible financial management is maintained?
(2) Can the
Treasurer advise the house whether he is aware of any risks or threats to this
responsible financial management?
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
476. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Treasurer:
I refer to the strong fiscal resolve
of the McGowan Labor government in repairing the state's finances and
ensuring there is continued investment in creating jobs and delivering
essential services.
(1) Can the
Treasurer outline to the house why it is important that the government's
responsible financial management is maintained?
(2) Can the
Treasurer advise the house whether he is aware of any risks or threats to this
responsible financial management?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for Balcatta for his very good question. To a certain extent,
the Minister for Transport covered this ground a little bit in the answer that
she gave a minute ago.
One of the benefits of running
surplus positions, as I said in my budget speech and as I have maintained in
many speeches since, is that it is not just about running the surplus; it is
what it protects us from. As we know, we inherited very high debt from the
former government.
Mr D.J. Kelly : How much?
Mr B.S. WYATT : We inherited
$40 billion worth of debt. I thank the Minister for Water for that
interjection. I did not quite realise that that was not just a forecast; it was
actually a KPI of the Liberal Party. It saw that as something that it
definitely wanted to achieve. The comments made by the Leader of the Opposition
in her short tenure thus far would have added about $850 million to recurrent
spending if we were just to accept the demands of unions around pay requests
thus far, and about another $1.8 billion with respect to Roe 8 and Roe 9 in
state contributions. I suspect that after the comments she made about both
Western Power and retail trading hours, she will ultimately get rolled on
those, but we will find that out in due course when the two follically
challenged gentlemen next to her get their way around that.
The reason we want to run surpluses
is so that we can protect the state from the vagaries of the global economy.
This state is vulnerable to changes in the exchange rate, iron ore prices and
oil prices. I say to the Leader of the Opposition, who grew up politically
under the wing of Mr Barnett, that we saw what he did. John Langoulant and
Richard Court, a former Premier, knew what Colin Barnett was and he delivered
exactly what they viewed him to be—a guy who was not interested in the
finances who ran up spending at rates, which members opposite all silently
watched over, of 10 per cent annual expense growth during his first term. That
is why we have record debt and why we are just coming out of the largest
operating deficits in the history of the state.
I say to the Leader of the
Opposition: do not do what Mr Barnett did. The easy response is always to say
yes to a spending request. It is very difficult to say no. The reality is that
we are in an environment with emerging global headwinds. We need a balance
sheet that is improving, not declining, as the Leader of the Opposition will
have us believe. The Liberal Party has walked away from that traditional area
of political strength, fiscal management, for the last 20 years. The last 20 years
confirmed that it has always been state Labor that takes managing the finances
seriously. The easy response is to spend but the response that we need in this
state at the moment is what we are seeing now—what the McGowan Labor
government is acknowledged as doing through the credit rating agencies and
media statements from any think tank we care to mention—which is our
strong fiscal resolve. We are delivering for Western Australians and, importantly,
we will continue to do so.
thank the member for Balcatta for his very good question. To a certain extent,
the Minister for Transport covered this ground a little bit in the answer that
she gave a minute ago.
One of the benefits of running
surplus positions, as I said in my budget speech and as I have maintained in
many speeches since, is that it is not just about running the surplus; it is
what it protects us from. As we know, we inherited very high debt from the
former government.
Mr D.J. Kelly : How much?
Mr B.S. WYATT : We inherited
$40 billion worth of debt. I thank the Minister for Water for that
interjection. I did not quite realise that that was not just a forecast; it was
actually a KPI of the Liberal Party. It saw that as something that it
definitely wanted to achieve. The comments made by the Leader of the Opposition
in her short tenure thus far would have added about $850 million to recurrent
spending if we were just to accept the demands of unions around pay requests
thus far, and about another $1.8 billion with respect to Roe 8 and Roe 9 in
state contributions. I suspect that after the comments she made about both
Western Power and retail trading hours, she will ultimately get rolled on
those, but we will find that out in due course when the two follically
challenged gentlemen next to her get their way around that.
The reason we want to run surpluses
is so that we can protect the state from the vagaries of the global economy.
This state is vulnerable to changes in the exchange rate, iron ore prices and
oil prices. I say to the Leader of the Opposition, who grew up politically
under the wing of Mr Barnett, that we saw what he did. John Langoulant and
Richard Court, a former Premier, knew what Colin Barnett was and he delivered
exactly what they viewed him to be—a guy who was not interested in the
finances who ran up spending at rates, which members opposite all silently
watched over, of 10 per cent annual expense growth during his first term. That
is why we have record debt and why we are just coming out of the largest
operating deficits in the history of the state.
I say to the Leader of the
Opposition: do not do what Mr Barnett did. The easy response is always to say
yes to a spending request. It is very difficult to say no. The reality is that
we are in an environment with emerging global headwinds. We need a balance
sheet that is improving, not declining, as the Leader of the Opposition will
have us believe. The Liberal Party has walked away from that traditional area
of political strength, fiscal management, for the last 20 years. The last 20 years
confirmed that it has always been state Labor that takes managing the finances
seriously. The easy response is to spend but the response that we need in this
state at the moment is what we are seeing now—what the McGowan Labor
government is acknowledged as doing through the credit rating agencies and
media statements from any think tank we care to mention—which is our
strong fiscal resolve. We are delivering for Western Australians and, importantly,
we will continue to do so.
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