❓ Opposition questions the Treasurer about a significant increase to the Treasurer's Advance, citing cost escalations and a 'slush fund'. The Treasurer defends the increase, attributing it to unforeseen events like Cyclone Ellie, wage negotiations, COVID relief, and global cost increases.
AnsweredQoN 84Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
TREASURER'S ADVANCE
84. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Treasurer:
I refer to legislation introduced
today to increase the Treasurer's advance by an unprecedented $2.1 billion.
How can the Treasurer claim good financial management when the government has
to increase the Treasurer's advance by 217 per cent to cover cost
escalations for Metronet, day-to-day expenditures such as the wages policy and
a $500 million slush fund for unforeseen issues?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please, members! Quite a few
people are chatting. The Premier in response.
84. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Treasurer:
I refer to legislation introduced
today to increase the Treasurer's advance by an unprecedented $2.1 billion.
How can the Treasurer claim good financial management when the government has
to increase the Treasurer's advance by 217 per cent to cover cost
escalations for Metronet, day-to-day expenditures such as the wages policy and
a $500 million slush fund for unforeseen issues?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please, members! Quite a few
people are chatting. The Premier in response.
AnswerView source ↗
I reject the premise of the
question. The Treasurer's advance is commonplace. It has occurred in, I
think, 12 of the last 22 budgets. It basically occurs every second year, and it
is to cover those cost increases that were not known at the time of the budget. Just so the Leader of the Opposition knows,
the $542 million for emerging issues is covering the cost of cyclone
Ellie. When he describes it as a slush fund, it is to cover the cost of
housing, roads and all those things that were
totally unable to be predicted at the time of the budget because the cyclone
had not occurred. One of the others was the wages policy. Obviously,
negotiating wages policies requires some flexibility and $463 million of that
is for wages. I note that either the Leader of the Opposition or the new Leader
of the Liberal Party advocated for a five per cent wages policy. He asks why
the government has spent $463 million, but the opposition members'
wages policy would add another $2 billion to the wages bill of the state.
In terms of the other components of
the Treasurer's advance, $273 million is for the small business
hardships grant program, which was a COVID relief program that has been brought
to book. Around $400 million to $500 million is additional spend for health and
education. Does the Leader of the Opposition oppose extra spend in health? Does he? A range of it is for Main Roads,
particularly in regional WA, because the cost of contracts has gone up. It has gone
up all over the world as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine—and
also COVID. We know that the cost of materials has escalated significantly all
over the world and that has impacted every business and government around the
world.
It is a bit rich for the Liberals
and Nationals to come in here and complain about budget management. When they were in office, they had debt tracking to $44 billion;
we have reduced it to $29 billion, and we are the only government in Australia running it down. Ordinarily, members
opposite come in here and say: why not spend more on this, that or the
other? I think they did that yesterday. We announced the program yesterday for
regional and city headworks for housing of $80 million, and the Leader of the
Nationals WA went out and said it should be $1 billion. That is what he said
yesterday. One day he says one thing; the next day he says another. That is
what he does and he thinks no-one ever notices.
question. The Treasurer's advance is commonplace. It has occurred in, I
think, 12 of the last 22 budgets. It basically occurs every second year, and it
is to cover those cost increases that were not known at the time of the budget. Just so the Leader of the Opposition knows,
the $542 million for emerging issues is covering the cost of cyclone
Ellie. When he describes it as a slush fund, it is to cover the cost of
housing, roads and all those things that were
totally unable to be predicted at the time of the budget because the cyclone
had not occurred. One of the others was the wages policy. Obviously,
negotiating wages policies requires some flexibility and $463 million of that
is for wages. I note that either the Leader of the Opposition or the new Leader
of the Liberal Party advocated for a five per cent wages policy. He asks why
the government has spent $463 million, but the opposition members'
wages policy would add another $2 billion to the wages bill of the state.
In terms of the other components of
the Treasurer's advance, $273 million is for the small business
hardships grant program, which was a COVID relief program that has been brought
to book. Around $400 million to $500 million is additional spend for health and
education. Does the Leader of the Opposition oppose extra spend in health? Does he? A range of it is for Main Roads,
particularly in regional WA, because the cost of contracts has gone up. It has gone
up all over the world as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine—and
also COVID. We know that the cost of materials has escalated significantly all
over the world and that has impacted every business and government around the
world.
It is a bit rich for the Liberals
and Nationals to come in here and complain about budget management. When they were in office, they had debt tracking to $44 billion;
we have reduced it to $29 billion, and we are the only government in Australia running it down. Ordinarily, members
opposite come in here and say: why not spend more on this, that or the
other? I think they did that yesterday. We announced the program yesterday for
regional and city headworks for housing of $80 million, and the Leader of the
Nationals WA went out and said it should be $1 billion. That is what he said
yesterday. One day he says one thing; the next day he says another. That is
what he does and he thinks no-one ever notices.
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