Barnett declares rocky period behind him
The State Government has weathered a "rocky period" but is back on track and will not be "spooked" by the loss of WA's AAA credit rating, Colin Barnett says.
The Premier used his speech to the Liberal Party's State conference on Saturday to attempt to rule a line under his post-election troubles, acknowledging the Government had a tough time.
"We did have a difficult few months," Mr Barnett said. "It was a time when it seemed if something was going to go wrong, it went wrong."
He nominated losing the onshore Browse gas project, the Muja AB debacle and unpopular measures in the August Budget, including the aborted move to slash the solar feed-in subsidy to households with rooftop panels.
"And then, a blow - a political blow rather than an economic one - with the loss of the AAA credit rating," Mr Barnett said.
"Those times, those three or four months, difficult as they were, are now behind us.
"And for the past two months I think the Government is very much back on track, doing what it wants to do, doing what it should do in its second term."
He said the AAA loss was an "embarrassment" but there were "good reasons" for it, including a "mismatch" between volatile mining revenues and stable but growing spending demands in education and health.
The Government was determined to seize the opportunity to build the State in what would be a defining decade.
Mr Barnett foreshadowed that some projects would have to be axed and others delayed, though he did not offer specifics.
He claimed the Government's social agenda, including $600 million for the not-for-profit sector and early intervention in child health, was not appreciated as much as it should be.
Mr Barnett said the Government also did not get the credit it deserved on the environment, citing the creation of marine and national parks in the Kimberley as signature achievements.
He said he would persist with local government reforms because it was "the right thing" and he looked forward to an historic native title settlement over the South West.
