8/22/2019 A Dozen Ways to Game the Treasurer

1/2

A Dozen Ways to Game the Treasurer

As Treasurer Troy Buswell prepares to sell a difficult State budget he may well reflect onbattles won and lost. He will have striven for a surplus without further tax increases. Not all

his colleagues will have been helpful. Public servants and other Ministers will also havebeen working overtime -- but in their case to protect their resources and secure additional

funds for cherished projects. How do they try to defeat the Treasurer's efforts to restrictspending growth in their area of responsibility?

Here are twelve strategies I have seen but Ministers and Departments are inventive and

there will be more.

1. Note that word "growth." The Treasurer will already have given up as hopeless the goalof an overall reduction in spending. He is merely trying to limit the increase.

Nevertheless strategy one is to characterise any limits to spending growth as cuts.2. The most serious threat to specific spending limits is the Premier- any Premier- whose

role is in part to maintain the Governments political standing and unity and managedifficult Ministers and MP's. Co-opt the Premier to your cause and you have won thedebate. If you can't get the Premier as your ally get their staff on side. Build

relationships with them. Take them to the corporate boxes at the football or have them

inspect your most disgraceful facility.3. Brief your portfolio stakeholders including relevant unions thoroughly on your future

aspirations and current problems as they have the freedom to campaign publicly aheadof the budget with the threat of worse to come post budget if their demands are not

met.4. Make sure that any funding difficulties in your agency are not just talked about or

heaven forbid resolved but fully documented in leak-able emails between staff.5. Reach an agreement with your counterpart Federal Minister or department for extra

Federal funding which will almost always require a matching state contribution. Be sureto have the agreement announced.

6. Give a key speech with statements that can later be characterised as promises --promises which will cause political pain to the Government if undelivered. Better still

arrange if you can for such statements to be made by the Premier at some keynote

event or included in a letter signed by the Premier.7. Underestimate the cost of your proposals at least until the Government is in too deep to

back out. Then gold plate your project with additional or improved facilities. Do your

costings in today's dollars not the dollars that will actually be spent when the project isfinally constructed.

8. Seek funds for new and exciting projects in the budget while allowing crises to build upin less sexy existing services. When the crisis later erupts the Government will have to

find the extra money anyway or face the political damage.9. Talk to marginal seat MP's about potential projects in their electorates and be sure to

tell them about the resistance you are encountering from Treasury. Encourage them totalk to the Premier or his staff.

10.Commission a public inquiry into an aspect of your portfolio. Its a rare inquiry thatrecommends that less money be spent on the issue under scrutiny.

11. Turn your proposals into election promises. The processes for making, vetting, costingand funding election promises are much less rigorous than those applying to Cabinet

decisions.

8/22/2019 A Dozen Ways to Game the Treasurer

2/2

12. Finally you can simply overspend your official budget until it is too late for anything but

unacceptably painful corrective action. Usually your budget then has to "rebased"

increasing your official budget for future years. Then repeat the overspending. This iscommon in hospital and education budgets.

People often assume that State treasurers have to be economists or accountants. It is

actually much more important for treasurers to be good political managers than it is forthem to be some sort of super accountant. And the price of spending control is eternal

vigilance.

Working in a government in which big spenders are prominent, Troy Buswell must try todefeat each of these twelve spending strategies in every budget this term. If he fails to win

enough of these battles ultimate State debt will be well above the peak of $23.6 billionforecast during the election campaign.