House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-03-19 Daily Xml

Contents

STATE BUDGET

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (15:14): Supplementary, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Yes.

Mr MARSHALL: Given that the Premier and Treasurer has made it clear that he is going to stand by the fiscal targets contained in the May budget last year, how is the Treasurer going to reduce general government debt by approximately $1 billion to ensure that the net debt to revenue ratio is below the 50 per cent mark set in those fiscal targets?

The SPEAKER: That is not a supplementary. The Treasurer.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (15:15): If that is the question that he is referring to, the 50 per cent debt to revenue ratio target, we already published in the Mid-Year Budget Review that in the final year of the forward estimates that would be exceeded for a period and then the year beyond the forward estimates we would return within that target range of below 50 per cent. So, it is certainly our intention to maintain that objective. Once again, we will address this question in the budget and you will see how we have treated those matters.