THE chickens came home to
roost last week with the latest five yearly report by Treasury into the state
government’s fiscal sustainability.
Premier Gutwein knew they
were heading his way and what they were bringing.
That’s probably one
reason he called the election when he did, to avoid pesky questions about how
under every likely scenario over the next 15 years spending will exceed income,
in most cases without narrowing the gap between what’s needed and what’s
delivered.
Mr Gutwein said “the
report confirms our finances are strong”. The report did not say that. The
adjective “strong” was not used to describe our position. That the report said
was “for all scenarios analysed, the results show projected fiscal outcomes
that are manageable in the short to medium-term. However, the size of
corrective action required to maintain fiscal sustainability increases over the
projection period”.
This is a polite way of saying if you don’t start organising a survival plan soon, you’ll be in more trouble than Burke and Wills.
