The Importance of Competence.

The definition of competence is not just to get things done but the ability to do your work successfully and efficiently.  Over the last week, I’ve thought a lot about how important competence is for high-ranking Government officials.  While there are many political differences between Parties, no one disputes the importance of having capable Ministers guiding the WA Government, regardless of their Party affiliation.

For this reason, it’s sad to observe that the WA Labor Party has appointed Ministers who seem incapable of carrying out their basic duties.  I’ve long said that the “West is the Best”, and that future enticed me to become a Liberal MP.  Among many other factors, it’s the best because our Government has functioned as it should and allowed each of us to live our lives comfortably. Unfortunately, the current government is becoming increasingly dysfunctional, and that is in no small part due to the incompetence of Labor Ministers.

Take Public Hospitals and our healthcare system, for example.  Before WA Labor took power in 2017, even 1,000 hours of ambulance ramping in one month was considered unacceptably high.  Fast forward to today, and we see ambulance ramping figures that haven’t fallen under 2,000 hours a month since July of 2020 and recently have been as high as 6,528 hours of ramping per month. 

Housing is another shocking example of the McGowan-Cook government’s current dysfunction. Just in the last years, we’ve tragically had over 110 homeless deaths on the streets of Perth and spikes of over 70% in waiting lists for public housing.

My concern about this level of incompetence is not about politics, it’s about the importance to each of us of these matters.

All governments have their problems, and Western Australia’s government has never been an exception, but the current state of dysfunction is entirely unprecedented.  The West would not be the Best today had our State been governed this poorly in years past.  

That brings us back to the importance of competence because I know that WA Labor Ministers love our State, despite our political, ideological, and policy differences.  By this reason, we know that if a Minister is overseeing such turmoil coming out of their Department, it’s not due to malice but to incompetence.

I often think of the irony that the very same WA Labor Party that slammed our previous Liberal Government for the cost of building OPTUS Stadium is today defending the largest budget blowout in our State’s history.  The current costing for Metronet is a staggering $4.5 billion higher than initially anticipated or 2.55 x the original budget and we are yet to see a single commuter able to catch a metronet train or use a new metronet station.  I bring this up only to point out that the WA Labor government fails by its own standard.

There’s a long road ahead of us heading into the next election. Still, if there is one thing that I plan and look forward to, it is the genuine prospect that the Government of Western Australia will be handed to a more competent Party – one that has the technical expertise to properly manage our Departments and institutions, providing our State with the leadership to make the West the Best again.

I hope you will help me with your thoughts and input about a future Liberal State Government for the West.

Thank you for reading.

Dr David Honey MLA

WA Liberal Leader & Member for Cottesloe