DECLARED
PEST CONTROL ACTIVITIES
474. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the
Treasurer:
Thank you, President. Welcome to
Thursday.
I refer to my question without
notice 448 asked and answered yesterday, 18 May 2022, in which the government
admitted to the Legislative Council that the 2022–23 budget papers
contained errors on pages 111 and 118 of budget paper No 3, relating to the
forecasting errors for declared pest control activities.
(1) Is this the
only error that has been identified in the budget papers to date?
(2) If no to (1) what other errors
have been found?
(3) Given there
were also errors in the explanatory memorandum of the Treasurer's first
bill passed when he was Treasurer in this place—the Supply Bill 2021—that
attributed $15 billion to the wrong financial year, how can the people have
faith in the Treasurer's ability to manage the budget process?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the Leader of the Opposition
for some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided on
behalf of the Treasurer.
(1) Yes, apart
from a printing error in volume 2 of budget paper No 2, which was corrected in
a corrigendum released with the budget papers on budget day.
(2) Not applicable.
(3) Errors in
tabled documents are regrettable, but they occur from time to time, and did so
under the previous Liberal–National government. People can and do have
confidence in this government's management of the state's finances. It is this McGowan Labor government that
has turned around the deficits and escalating debt left by the previous
Liberal–National government, with Western Australia now having the
strongest budget position in the country and one of the strongest budget
positions in the world.