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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 474 asked in the Legislative Council on 19 May 2022 by Hon Dr Steve Thomas

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

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.