Colin Barnett and Reality

Red Letter Day; 9th March 2013

The Western Australian Electorate gets to vote on the behaviour of the Barnett/Buswell/Bear Grylls over the past four years.

One of the things we are being asked to do is “Trust the good economic management” shown by the Buswell/Porter/Buswell Treasureships under the Barnett Government.

Should we look closely at that?

Probably not!

We may accidentally see the Perth Arena.

“From what started off as an estimated $150 million dollar project, ended up costing $550 million. Plans have changed, time was extended, making it 3 years behind schedule. “

We may accidentally discover that, in the midst of the State’s greatest ever boom, our deficit is the highest in history. This must be of some embarrassment to the Liberal Party Australia-wide given the Tony Abbott hatred of anything less than a surplus. The West Australian Barnett government has flagged the boom state’s first deficit in 13 years, sparking calls for a complete review of capital expenditure programs.

Then we may, again accidentally because it won’t be drawn to our notice, discover that our State debt is a little bit bigger than under the last Government.

Troy wos here

Off again, on again treasurer Troy Buswell appears to be using Hockeynomics to unbalance our State books.

“The annual interest bill on WA Government debt is poised to top $1 billion – enough money to buy a new sports stadium every year. And the total amount of debt is set to balloon further after Treasurer Christian Porter junked Premier Colin Barnett’s pledge to keep total debt below $20 billion.

The growing debt is causing friction between Treasury officials and politicians, with bureaucrats worried that the Barnett Government is focusing on projects which are politically popular but yield a questionable return for the State.

State debt was $9.9 billion on June 30 last year. It is expected to rise to $14 billion within four months and hit $19.9 billion in 2014. A few weeks before Mr Barnett became Premier, it was $3.6 billion. The corresponding interest bill will blow out from $682 million in mid-2010 to $1.01 billion in 2014 – equal to $735 a year from every adult in WA.“

Even the classic pork barrel Royalties for Regions demanded by Bear Brendon Grylls has not soaked up a half of the 20 Billion dollar debt which the Buswell/Porter/Buswell-run Treasury has ticked up.

Don’t be caught thinking “Of course, we have a billion for the Stadium, we have a couple of billion for the railway and we have 2.6 billion for Elizabeth Quay.” That money has not yet been spent. That will only increase our debt levels to the point where we will lose our AAA credit rating! And with the Perth Arena example, how can we trust these numbers?

Listening to the leader’s debate on the ABC last night I was left with the impression that Colin Barnett belives it is the job of his Government to spend up big at the moment because the state will get a lot of revenue “over the next few years.”

Mark McGowan was the leader who sounded prudent and careful about our finances.

So we have a choice on the 9th.

The good economic management” shown by the Buswell/Porter/Buswell Treasureships under the Barnett Government and go into so much debt our grandchildren will still be paying it off.

Or we can be prudent, elect an ALP Government and wait till the cash is in our hands before we spend it!

PUT THE LIBERALS LAST!