LABOR'S BUDGET: WRONG PRIORITIES, NO TRANSPARENCY

Last week, the Opposition had our first opportunity to interrogate the Cook Labor Government’s 2025-26 State Budget through the Estimates Committees process in Parliament. Estimates are an important accountability mechanism, giving the Opposition the ability to scrutinise the Government’s proposed spending in detail and hold Ministers to account for their performance.

What has become clear through Estimates is that this Budget represents missed opportunities, misplaced priorities and more pain for those already struggling to make ends meet. It does little to tackle the deepening crisis in housing, health and education and only reinforces the Cook Labor Government’s focus on the wrong priorities.

Over the course of more than 100 hearings involving all Lower House MPs, the Opposition uncovered a series of concerning revelations, including:

• The so-called $217.5 million price tag for the Burswood Racetrack is only an estimate, not a confirmed final figure, raising serious questions about how much more this Government’s pet project could ultimately cost Western Australian taxpayers;

• Despite the Government’s constant promotion of its “Made in WA” policy, the Premier was forced to embarrassingly admit that the “Walking on a Dream” global tourism campaign will, in fact, be produced by an eastern state company;

• Ongoing questions about transparency and Ministerial responsibility for the $65 million Perth Bears rugby team deal, including whether a full cost-benefit analysis was conducted before signing off, with responsibility awkwardly handballed between Tourism Minister Reece Whitby and Sports Minister and Treasurer Rita Saffioti;

• The Premier confirmed he was aware of Chevron’s plans to offer redundancies to hundreds of Western Australian workers, with no evidence of action from him to protect local jobs; and

• Excessive staffing in the Premier’s own office, with 33 full-time equivalent employees, including  14 staff earning the equivalent of or more than the base salary of a Member of Parliament.

These revelations reinforce what Western Australians already suspect - that under this Labor Government, priorities are misplaced, transparency is lacking and the Western Australian community continues to pay the price.

Should you wish to read the transcripts of view the broadcast of the Estimates sessions, you can do so at Parliament of WA Web - Assembly Estimates 2025