WA- are you regretting voting the liberals in as govt?

[kero]

the past few weeks wasn't been smooth sailing for Emperor Barnett and his ministers after breaking election promises, backflips and now down graded by standard and poor.

With the down grade to only double A, the Emperor has threatened to sell govt assets first rather than cut spending e.g. New stadium or revise the waterfront project.

Anyway, I am wondering if there are voters regretting or disillusioned, be it first time liberal voters or the faithful?

 

[Ausprop]

the next few years could be tough guys - let's not shoot the messenger. the cupboard is bare and the wish list is long

 

[D.T.]

Definitely not.

I'd rather Barnett than the unlimited debt monster that labor is.

 

[sanj]

the next few years could be tough guys - let's not shoot the messenger. the cupboard is bare and the wish list is long

the cupboard is not bare but there is a definite need to cut down on spending.

the state raises nearly $30bn in revenue but it also spends 20% more per capita than other parts of australia

really dont understand these "cupboard is bare" comments, have a look at greece etc to get an accurate example of it

 

[catsteve]

no.

We only have to look east to see what corrupt union stooges and green extremists can get their grubby hands on.

 

[dan c]

Just goes to show that governments have limited powers when it comes to increasing revenues and generating increased economic growth.

Something that the Federal Liberals will find out soon enough.

 

[Aaron_C]

Just goes to show that governments have limited powers when it comes to increasing revenues and generating increased economic growth.

Something that the Federal Liberals will find out soon enough.

They just need to stop spending so much money.

 

[MTR]

the past few weeks wasn't been smooth sailing for Emperor Barnett and his ministers after breaking election promises, backflips and now down graded by standard and poor.

With the down grade to only double A, the Emperor has threatened to sell govt assets first rather than cut spending e.g. New stadium or revise the waterfront project.

Anyway, I am wondering if there are voters regretting or disillusioned, be it first time liberal voters or the faithful?

Not at all, though I think Barnett is going down the Howard route in his final term, a little too arrogant.

BTW, I am not opposed to, ie stadium, waterfront, Northbridge train link. Perth needs to continually improve and keep up with the times, bring people back to the city and attract tourism $, it is happening now. A few years ago I think Perth was an embarrassment, that has certainly changed.

You have to spend money to make money. Though it would have been smarter to have implemented some of these projects when we were in the middle of a mega boom when Labour was in power and we were in surplus, not sure what they did with all the money???



MTR

 

[D.T.]

when Labour was in power and we were in surplus, not sure what they did with all the money???



MTR

Seems a common theme

 

[lizzie]

The problem the eastern states governments found was that Labor had been lying through their teeth as to how much money there was in the safe ... so the LNP made promises of expenditure based on the figures they were given as to what was supposedly available in the kitty.

Problem is, once in power the LNP's found that not only the safe was empty of cash, but contained a very large IOU ... in NSW terms it was to the amount of $4.5bil

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/state-election-2011/labor-cooked-the-books-20110328-1cdjl.html

that's a rather lot of money to be suddenly ripped out from under.

 

[Ausprop]

really dont understand these "cupboard is bare" comments

if the cupboard is your keep of resources, what we put in is now less than what we want to take out. if it weren't we would have no problem keeping 600 teacher's aids, building a new football stadium for the bogans and having light rails and all this other stuff. but it is a problem, hence the rating downgrade.

federally the situation is dire as well. too many hand outs has left us where we are now

 

[Ausprop]

FWIW I think Elizabeth quay is worthwhile too - we do need infrastructure

 

[MTR]

if the cupboard is your keep of resources, what we put in is now less than what we want to take out. if it weren't we would have no problem keeping 600 teacher's aids, building a new football stadium for the bogans and having light rails and all this other stuff. but it is a problem, hence the rating downgrade.

federally the situation is dire as well. too many hand outs has left us where we are now

Them fighting words "football stadium for the bogans", sports/footy huge in Oz, and brings in $ not to mention its our game, home grown.

Subi is not suitable for our growing population, its an embarrassment, we need to be able to attract fan/visitors East, tourists etc. I am not a huge footy fan but come grand final we get into the spirit and have grand final parties

Its akin with saying "lets keep the entertainment centre it will do", no thanks.

Once again I think we need to keep improving and provide decent standards that we can enjoy and that will also attract visitors to our State.

MTR

 

[HiEquity]

FWIW I think Elizabeth quay is worthwhile too - we do need infrastructure

I agree we need infrastructure like hospitals, ports, railways and PT but why do we need more govt backed office developments? Why can't private industry do that development itself if it's such a winner? With Perth office vacancy rates heading well into double digits shortly it looks pretty obvious why...

I'm no fan of football stadiums either but if we all want to have our cake and eat it then we need to put some assets on the block to pay for it. Selling Western Power should be top of that list, which alone would yield billions. Plenty of States have privatised power assets, particularly network companies, perfectly successfully. I fail to see why we don't. If anyone thinks our Federal debt is a problem that's nothing compared to the debt of the WA govt, as evidenced by the credit downgrade.

As for Labor, there is no evidence they would do a better job at meeting our challenges. I prefer to focus on what the current govt could do to be better rather than ruminate over the past anyway.

 

[MTR]

I agree we need infrastructure like hospitals, ports, railways and PT but why do we need more govt backed office developments? Why can't private industry do that development itself if it's such a winner? With Perth office vacancy rates heading well into double digits shortly it looks pretty obvious why...

I'm no fan of football stadiums either but if we all want to have our cake and eat it then we need to put some assets on the block to pay for it. Selling Western Power should be top of that list, which alone would yield billions. Plenty of States have privatised power assets, particularly network companies, perfectly successfully. I fail to see why we don't. If anyone thinks our Federal debt is a problem that's nothing compared to the debt of the WA govt, as evidenced by the credit downgrade.

As for Labor, there is no evidence they would do a better job at meeting our challenges. I prefer to focus on what the current govt could do to be better rather than ruminate over the past anyway.

Western Power - I thought there was a review by government some years ago now regarding selling this asset, consultants employed to review/provide recommendations??

I think this would be at least one good option.

 

[dan c]

Now Mr Barnett wants to raise the GST.

Increasing taxes to fund over spending? Which party does he belong to again?

 

[Ausprop]

Them fighting words "football stadium for the bogans", sports/footy huge in Oz, and brings in $ not to mention its our game, home grown.

not enough $s evidently! they pay uneconomic salaries to players to ponce around and then expect the public to foot the bill for their stadiums. if it is so lucrative and so popular let the grounds charge the true cost of entry so that the bums on seats for the couple of hours a week for a dozen weeks a year pays the true cost - suddenly I don't think the fans would love it so much. I would dread to think what the true cost of a footy ticket is, probably about $400 (edited, after doing some rough calcs).

footy was about sitting on the car bonnet at the local oval and watching them have a go

 

[Crabnet]

the past few weeks wasn't been smooth sailing for Emperor Barnett and his ministers after breaking election promises, backflips and now down graded by standard and poor.

With the down grade to only double A, the Emperor has threatened to sell govt assets first rather than cut spending e.g. New stadium or revise the waterfront project.

Anyway, I am wondering if there are voters regretting or disillusioned, be it first time liberal voters or the faithful?

Why would a voter be disillusioned about a broken pre-election promise?
Pollies do it all the time, it's expected.

As far as the budget situation goes it's no secret that they have chosen to go into deficit. It was flagged ages ago. If people didn't know that they haven't been paying attention.
In recent history Government income growth jumped to a high rate.
The Government chose to increase spending to a growth rate just below the rate of income growth rather than save the excess or decrease State taxes.

Now income growth has declined a little but spending growth hasn't. They made a conscious decision not to reduce spending growth some time ago probably to respond to the increasing population.

Per Capita they still rake in more income than the Eastern States.

WA Income.
Direct state royalties plus Commonwealth royalties reimbursed to the state for the oil and gas collections contributes $2400 per resident.
Add in $2000 per resident of Commonwealth tied funding for health and schools.
Add in normal state taxes like payroll tax, motor vehicle taxes and stamp duty which were raised in the last budget..
Result when added up is $10,300 per resident of revenue raised, which is $2,000 more than the Eastern states of New South Wales and Victoria and about $1,000 more than Queensland which received extra funding for the remediation work required after the floods.

 

[sanj]

I agree we need infrastructure like hospitals, ports, railways and PT but why do we need more govt backed office developments? Why can't private industry do that development itself if it's such a winner? With Perth office vacancy rates heading well into double digits shortly it looks pretty obvious why...

Come on HE, it isnt a govt backed office development. The reason it is going to end up costing govt $240m or so net is due to the civil works.

Private industry will in fact be doing the office, resi and hotel developments, it is the civil works that the $240m will be going into. The rerouting of riverside dve, the creating of the lake, all the siteworks etc. There is a lot to do to "reconnect the CBD to the river" which is what govts have been trying to do in perth for decades.

The land is being sold at market rates so the indivual developments are not "govt backed".



Very few similar govt projects are cash neutral, what youre effectively advocating is that say in victoria the state govt should have got the private sector to pay for all the work in southbank, ie the promenade, the roads etc instead of just paying for the land that they developed.

 

[HiEquity]

The land is being sold at market rates so the indivual developments are not "govt backed".

Yes they are! Govt is taking development risk - they are acting as a land developer in direct competition with the private sector. How is it any different to any subdivision where a developer has to put in some lakes, roads, etc etc? Just the scale? Private industry isn't up to the civil works? I don't think so...

Very few similar govt projects are cash neutral, what youre effectively advocating is that say in victoria the state govt should have got the private sector to pay for all the work in southbank, ie the promenade, the roads etc instead of just paying for the land that they developed.

Yes - exactly. By all means govt can plan this stuff but if there's not enough development margin in the whole idea for private industry to take it on then why should govt do it? Just wait until there is enough development margin by itself to make it work on its own two feet and then let Lend Lease or whoever go for their lives. In the meantime the only thing govt is doing here is using our money to artificially bring forward the supply of office land in the CBD and create a pretty inlet.

I'm happy for someone else's $240m estimate be put on the line for the purpose of "linking the City to the river". I'd rather our kids get a better education myself...