Former Howard public servant delivers WA Liberal costings as Metronet spending gets the axe

Peter Conran, the top public servant in WA during the Colin Barnett years and a former adviser to John Howard, has been revealed as the sole scrutineer of the Liberal Party’s election costings.

Shadow Treasurer Steve Martin released his costings on Thursday which showed the party’s commitments would increase the state’s debt by $3.4 billion to $41 billion over the forward estimates – $1 billion more than forecast by Labor.

Martin avoided the embarrassment of his party’s 2021 costings shambles but was grilled on the independence of Conran to assess the commitments given his history working for Liberal leaders.

“[He is] a man of vast experience, 30 years experience at the highest level of the public sector in Western Australia, Canberra and the Northern Territory,” he said.

“So he’s definitely qualified. We were actually pleased that he did this on our behalf, to have someone of that reputation, that experience was absolutely crucial.”

Unlike the 2021 costings, Martin said Conran delved into individual commitments, though he said he did not look at smaller costings like those individual candidate commitments for upgrades at sporting and community clubs.

The lion’s share of the funds would be devoted to health, with the suite of election commitments tipped to exceed $1 billion over the next three years.

Cost of living measures were pencilled in just shy of $800 million while law and order commitments were costed at $559 million.

The party would dedicate $515 million to local electorate commitments and other priorities – including transport.