WA’s $7 billion revenue boost, but no cost-of-living relief

This week, the WA Labor Government released its mid-year Budget update.

The headline number was striking.

Thanks mainly to higher-than-expected iron ore and gold prices, State revenue has been upgraded by around $7 billion over the next four years, delivering an eighth consecutive budget surplus of $2.5 billion. By any reasonable measure, Western Australia’s finances are strong.

However, what’s missing from this mid-year update is just as notable.

Despite that windfall, the Government announced no new, broad-based cost-of-living relief for households, even as many families continue to struggle with higher rents, groceries, insurance premiums and interest rates.

That decision deserves scrutiny.

Budgets are not just accounting exercises. They are statements of priority. And this one makes clear that easing pressure on households is no longer at the top of the list.

To understand why that matters, it’s worth being clear about what has changed and what hasn’t.

The revenue upgrade is real. Treasury has revised its forecasts upward after commodity prices again outperformed expectations. The surplus is not marginal or fragile; it is substantial, sustained, and well beyond what was predicted earlier in the financial year.

At the same time, several existing cost-of-living measures have been scaled back or tightened. Power bill credits have been wound down. Student assistance has been reduced. Capped regional airfares have increased. In other words, support has not only stalled, in some areas, it has gone backwards.

This makes sense. The 2025 election is now well and truly behind us, and Labor no longer needs to buy votes.

Now, the Treasurer’s response to the lack of cost-of-living support is that the surplus is already being spoken for, primarily to fund infrastructure and major asset investment, and that the Government must continue to budget conservatively.

On the surface, that sounds responsible. Yet, in typical Labor fashion, it avoids the real question and fails to withstand scrutiny.

Infrastructure spending is essential; no Western Australian would dispute this. But let’s be clear, infrastructure is not cost-of-living relief. A future hospital upgrade does not help a family facing a rent increase today. Long-term capital works do not make groceries cheaper this week.

These are different problems and, as such, they require different responses, which is a level of nuance lost on Treasurer Saffioti.

The Government also argues that Western Australia has already delivered more cost-of-living relief than other states and cites indicators suggesting that discretionary spending has increased.

That argument completely misses the point and, frankly, is insulting to the intelligence of those bored enough to listen to the Treasurer’s press conference.

Cost-of-living pressure is not judged against other jurisdictions or past announcements. It is judged at the kitchen table. Right now. And for many households, the situation is worse, not better.

What makes this Budget update particularly hard to defend is the broader context.

Government expenditure growth has increased from 4.3% to 6.2%. Net debt is still rising. And despite acknowledging that a future iron ore price crash is the most significant fiscal risk, the Government has ruled out using additional revenue to pay down debt faster.

So we have a Government that is spending more, saving less, and still insisting there is no room to help households further.

Worse still, the Government clearly acknowledges the unique risk to our state economy posed by fluctuating mineral prices but provides no credible measures to mitigate it.

That is not responsible economic management. That’s gambling with our state’s future.

Fiscal discipline matters. But so does proportionality. When a government benefits from an extraordinary revenue windfall, it must decide who shares in that benefit, and when.

This Budget update answers that question all too clearly.

The money is there.The pressure on families is real.But relief is not a priority for Labor.

That is what Western Australians will take away from this Budget update, regardless of how strong the headline numbers look.