Media Release

Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Treasurer

Thursday 18th February 2010

Giddings $50 million black hole

If Labor strategists thought Michael Aird was so bad he had to be hidden they must be wondering if they made the right decision after they once again wheeled out the manifestly inept Lara Giddings to talk about financial matters.

Not only has Ms Giddings falsely claimed that the purchase of the North West Regional Hospital is factored into the forward estimates, Ms Gidding’s so-called “list” of Labor spending has them building a new car park for the that same hospital TWICE.

Today, Lara Giddings managed to torpedo her own strategy, showing that she had no idea what was in the Mid Year Financial Report. When asked if the proposed purchase of the Burnie Hospital was an election commitment she said:

“That is a purchase that was being done outside of election commitments and is part of the Mid-Year Financial Report.”

If Lara Giddings had bothered to even read the Mid-Year Financial Report, she would see that it quite clearly says:

The General Government Income Statement does not reflect the financial impact of the announced purchase of the North West Regional Hospital (Burnie Campus). This purchase is currently under negotiation. (p.14)

Clearly, the purchase of the Burnie Hospital is not counted in the Mid-Year Financial Report. Clearly, it is an election commitment that needs to be included on Labor’s list of promises, it’s not and that means that Lara Giddings now has a $50 million black hole on her hands.

Whilst Michael Aird wouldn’t have understood the Mid Year Financial Report, at least he would have read it, which is more than Lara Giddings has done.

Lara Giddings must now admit she got it wrong and explain how she will deal with the $50 million black hole that has just emerged in her costings.

I am also interested to see that Lara Giddings making financial announcements. Could it be that Ms Giddings sees herself as the next Treasurer? She is already on the record as saying if Labor wins the next election she doesn’t want to be Health Minister. Perhaps she wants the Treasurer’s job. After today’s performance it’s clear that she’s not up to the job. If Lara Giddings can’t even get such a simple thing as explaining how she would fund a Burnie Hospital buy-back right, or how to count, imagine how bad she would be as Treasurer?