Opposition Leader Shane Love MLA has welcomed confirmation from WA Treasury that The Nationals WA’s pre-election costings are responsible and reliable, totalling $3.5 billion.
Last week, The Nationals WA submitted 43 key election commitments for independent costing by WA Treasury.
The assessment has now verified The Nationals’ policies – including abolishing stamp duty for first home buyers and delivering payroll tax relief for thousands of WA businesses – are fully deliverable while maintaining strong financial management.
“The Nationals WA costings have been tested by Treasury and passed with flying colours,” Mr Love said.
“Treasury has confirmed that our policies are accurate, reliable, and financially responsible.
“While WA Labor tries to mislead voters, the truth is that our commitments will deliver real relief for families, businesses, and regional communities, without jeopardising the State’s financial stability.”
Mr Love also called our WA Labor’s desperate and misleading claims about the costings, despite them being independently verified by Treasury.
“The most numerically incapable Treasurer in Australia has repeatedly tried to claim The Nationals’ commitments exceed $4 billion, but Treasury has proven them wrong,” Mr Love said.
“In fact, Treasury’s calculations came in $75 million lower than our own estimates, because they have access to more up-to-date information the Opposition.
“This further demonstrates our costings are robust, thorough, and beyond reproach, despite WA Labor’s scare tactics.”
While The Nationals WA have had their costings verified by Treasury, Mr Love exposed more than $2 billion in missing funding from Labor’s own costings compared to their public commitments.
“Labor has completely failed to account for key election promises, including their rail freight network buyback, their Metronet on Swan ferry terminal, and hundreds of millions of dollars in missing road funding,” Mr Love said.
“They’ve also failed to match The Nationals’ $25 million Regional Racing Package, despite claiming to back the industry.
“This is the same Treasurer who has overseen the biggest cost blowout on a single project in WA history, Metronet, which is now $10 billion over budget on her watch.
“She has zero credibility when it comes to responsible financial management and can’t be trusted to analyse The Nationals’ costings when her own numbers don’t add up.”
Mr Love reaffirmed several Nationals WA commitments, some of which were announced after the Treasury costings deadline – including the increase to the Regional Pensioner Travel Card, relocating DPIRD Headquarters to Northam and $40 million for Pringle Village in Kalgoorlie – would be solely funded through Royalties for Regions.
“Royalties for Regions, which was created and delivered by The Nationals WA, has an existing budget of $1 billion per year. Our commitments funded solely through Royalties for Regions will have no net impact on the broader State Budget,” Mr Love said.
“There is more than $300 million in unallocated Royalties for Regions funding across the forward estimates which will ensure these projects are fully funded by The Nationals in Government.”
“The Nationals WA have done the work, submitted the costings, and proved our plan is responsible. Meanwhile, WA Labor’s numbers don’t add up, and they can’t be trusted to tell the truth about their own costings, let alone ours.”
