Buswell in hot water over annual reports

Former Treasurer Troy Buswell has been accused of giving misleading information to a Parliamentary Committee about the tabling of several government agency annual reports.

Opposition treasury spokesman Ben Wyatt said a report tabled in the Legislative Assembly today called into question the competence and credibility of the Member for Vasse.

Mr Wyatt said the Committee found Mr Buswell failed to submit 10 Annual Reports for Government agencies for the 2008/09 financial year as required by the Financial Management Act.

"When Mr Buswell was asked by the Parliamentary Committee as to why he had failed to comply with the law, he said the Annual Reports were late due to 'final amendments' being made by the Departments," said Mr Wyatt.

Mr Wyatt said the Estimates and Financial Operations Committee then wrote to each Department to confirm whether Mr Buswell was correct and was advised that the Annual Reports had all been provided to the Treasurer's office in time to be tabled.

"A failure by the Treasurer of the State to table an Annual Report in the time required by the Financial Management Act is embarrassing, but to then apparently misrepresent the facts to a Parliamentary Committee is simply unacceptable," said Mr Wyatt.