Treasurer Troy Buswell’s budget-management credibility has been shattered again by revelations that he has allowed the cost of his review into the State’s industrial relations system to blow out by more than 60 per cent.
Documents obtained by UnionsWA under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws reveal that Mr Buswell failed to put a contract in place to manage the cost of the review, which was performed by Melbourne based lawyer Stephen Amendola.  Without a contract in place, the cost of the review blew out from the $500,000 verbally quoted by Mr Amendola to more than $850,000.
UnionsWA Secretary Simone McGurk said that Mr Buswell’s scant regard for taxpayers’ money would be deeply offensive to workers providing health, education, child protection and other essential public services, who Mr Buswell has savaged through his arbitrary 3 per cent budget cuts.