Jessica Page: Pet projects is risky business for Labor who are treating taxpayers like morons

Sport and recreation are not all fun and games. It is serious business that generates jobs, tourism and encourages good health. And you have to spend money to make money.

But it’s risky business for politicians. Who should be spending that money, and how much, warrants plenty of scrutiny.

The $12.9 million being spent to “future-proof” the WACA and provide a “riverside welcome” for the Perth Bears will hardly break the bank of WA.

But it has rubbed salt into the wounds of other worthy causes left waiting for spare change.

Marra Worra Worra Aboriginal Corporation is waiting to find out if it can buy 20 transportable units to set up a school hostel in Halls Creek to combat youth crime.

$5.5m for free summer VacSwim lessons was a one-off, scrapped in this year’s State Budget.

$10m to replace ageing Cardiac Labs at Fiona Stanley Hospital? Doctors who called it urgent in 2023 are still waiting.

$8m for free meningococcal B vaccines? That was a no.

Roger Cook didn’t like that last comparison when the question was asked, way back in December as east coast reports suggested an NRL team could cost $200m.

“You don’t know how much we’re spending on an NRL team,” he snapped.

“You don’t even know if we’ve actually got an NRL team, so I’m not quite sure what the point of your question is.”

Apples and oranges, maybe. But, now we know.

A $65m deal was signed in May, plus $20m for a Malaga training centre that won’t be ready in time for 2027. Hence, millions more are needed to supply a training ground that was part of the deal.

The problem is West Australians didn’t know any of the potential costs when they voted on March 8.

“Not a single dollar of taxpayer dollars will go to the NRL,” the Premier told me that week, on stage at The West Australian’s Leadership Matters election event.

On a technicality, he argues that promise has been kept.

The new cheque is going towards WA Cricket, not the NRL, though the new Waterbank pitch and Lillee Marsh stand will be tailored to rugby league.

On principle, the Opposition argues otherwise.

“At worst, he has lied to the WA public. At best, he has misled them,” Basil Zempilas said.

Does it matter? Perhaps not, if the Bears win. But it should.

It was Roger Cook who accused the Barnett government of “a constant slippery, sliding sort of approach” that “absolves itself of any level of accountability or transparency”.

He was talking about health spending but only 15 minutes later, during the same parliamentary session in June 2016, Mark McGowan raised the secret cost of the Socceroos playing in WA.

“Every single day the Government has these commercial-in-confidence arrangements,” the then-Labor leader railed.

“That has to change. If we are elected, we will reveal the cost of these deals, because taxpayers have a right to know. Transparency and accountability mean something. Taxpayers will find out if Labor is elected.”

Same day at 8.23pm, Rita Saffioti accused the Liberals of hiding the true cost of the stadium that was under construction in Burswood.

“The government has to inform the public of the total costs,” she said. “Soft media stunts that refer to the width of the chairs or the fact that people will have drink holders are not enough,” she said.

It appears the Cook Government has now also decided it is easier to beg forgiveness, than ask permission.

Another rugby deal, different code, was blasted as part of Labor’s autopsy of the Barnett government.

John Langoulant’s “special” inquiry into Government programs and projects raised alarm over the “haste” of the Road Safety Commission’s $1.5m sponsorship of the Western Force in January 2017.

Months later, the Force was axed from Super Rugby.

Labor promised to reflect on lessons learned and strengthen accountability.

Instead, Roger Cook has committed WA taxpayers to under-writing a rugby league expansion based on North Sydney Bears membership figures of 200,000 that the NRL has been unable to prove.

Another $12.9m for the Perth Bears won’t break the camel’s back. But future price hikes might be the last straw for voters.

Labor backbenchers fear another “pet project” is the bigger risk to their credibility.

The Burswood racetrack (and amphitheatre!) was priced in at $217.5m on election day and won’t be allowed any wriggle room.

Jessica Page is the political editor