PAUL WHYTE — WARMUN COMMUNITY PROJECT —
LANGOULANT INQUIRY
1535. Hon PETER COLLIER to the minister representing the
Treasurer:
I refer to the Special Inquiry into Government Programs and
Projects requested by the Treasurer and the Premier to look at projects entered
into by the state government between 2008 and 11 March 2017 with a focus on
governance arrangements and decision-making processes.
(1) Given the
concerns that the Treasurer raised in opposition about the Warmun community,
did he ask Mr John Langoulant, the special inquirer, to investigate the
project?
(2) If not,
why did he not ask Mr John Langoulant to investigate the issues given the
extensive powers he had under section 24 of the Public Sector Management Act?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON
replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the
question. The following answer has been provided to me by the Treasurer.
(1) Regarding
the concerns raised in the Public Accounts Committee by the current Treasurer
and former Liberal Party MP Glenys Godfrey, the former Liberal–National
government trusted Mr Whyte himself to provide the formal response. On that
basis, it can only be assumed that the former government examined the matters
raised and determined that Mr Whyte had no case to answer. There can be no
other reasonable explanation for why the previous government would have allowed
this to occur.
(2) Setting
aside the previous government's backing of Mr Whyte, the special
inquiry was focused on the waste of WA taxpayer funds in major projects and
special contracts, not the regular procurement practices of agencies.