No costings from Liberals and Nationals three days out from early voting

• Liberals and Nationals blatantly misleading Western Australian public by refusing to release cost of their election commitments
• Still haven’t announced which ‘savings’ or cuts to services will be made to pay for their uncosted election promises
• WA Labor has now had two tranches of election commitments independently verified by WA Treasury

With three days to go until early voting opens, Western Australians still have no idea how much debt the Liberals and Nationals will put the State in if they’re elected to government.

Yesterday, WA Labor challenged the Liberals and Nationals to again release their costings and in another show of blatant disregard and disrespect, they’re refusing.

They have still also not confirmed which cuts to services will be made to fund their uncosted election commitments, despite making declarations about ‘savings’ at the start of the election year.

While the Liberals and Nationals refuse to release any details about the true cost of their unsustainable election commitments, an assessment of their announced commitments made to date shows a cost of more than $9.4 billion over the forward estimates.

In contrast, WA Labor’s commitments have been independently verified by WA Treasury, costing $2.4 billion over the same time period.

An independent and transparent costing process provides the community with confidence the commitments being made by political parties during the campaign are sustainable and deliverable.

Comments attributed to Treasurer Rita Saffioti:

“The Liberals and Nationals cannot continue to hide behind the excuse they will release their costings in the ‘normal way’ when there is nothing normal about keeping costings hidden, particularly at this time in an election cycle.

“The truth is they’re embarrassed about the true cost of all their election commitments because it again reinforces what WA Labor has been saying for years now – their out-of-control spending and inability to budget is a risk to our State and they cannot be trusted.

"At the last election, over 50 per cent of Western Australians voted early. How can they make an educated choice when they don’t know what any of the Liberals and Nationals’ promises will cost them as taxpayers or which services and programs they will cut to fund them?

“How can the Liberals and Nationals honestly expect Western Australians to trust them to govern when they can’t even tell us how much their policies will cost?

“It is utterly inexcusable and defies belief that three days before early voting opens and after eight years in Opposition, the Liberals and Nationals can’t come up with a single total figure for their long list of promises.

“In complete contrast to the chaos and dysfunction of the Liberals and Nationals, WA Labor has now had two tranches of election commitments independently costed at $2.4 billion by WA Treasury.

“This comes off the back of WA Labor’s strong economic and financial management again being highlighted by credit rating agency Moody’s in a report comparing states and territories this week.

“Only WA Labor has the experience and financial management capabilities to continue propelling this State forward, creating local jobs and keeping our economy strong.”