This Month
‘Unprecedented’ migration blamed for jump in WA spending
Treasurer says the state government had been forced to spend more on education, housing and healthcare after 95,000 people moved to WA last year.
- Tom Rabe
WA Budget Winners and Losers
Households and prospective home buyers are expected to benefit from new spending measures, while there is no additional funding for farmers, and still no changes to the state’s payroll tax system.
- Updated
- Tom Rabe and Brad Thompson
- Updated
- WA budget
WA infrastructure spending goes ‘up another gear’
Premier Roger Cook has vowed to shift infrastructure spending “up another gear” as the state splashed billions on cost-of-living and housing, to absorb the record 95,000 people who moved west last year.
- Tom Rabe
Outer Perth ‘pain seats’ at risk as Albanese cocks ear to west
Federal Labor is bleeding votes in Western Australia that could cost it several key seats, pollsters warn.
- Tom Rabe
Landlords offered $5000 lure for housing fix
Amid a surge in Perth property prices, the WA government will give owners of vacant homes $5000 if they make them available for long-term renters.
- Tom Rabe
Minister was warned about radicalised teen before police shooting
A 16-year-old school boy shot dead by police in Perth over the weekend after a stabbing incident was part of a state-run deradicalisation program.
- Tom Rabe
- Exclusive
- WA budget
Fast and unpopular: Why running WA economy’s like driving for Red Bull
Treasurer Rita Saffioti says Western Australia is the Red Bull Formula 1 team of the states, as she prepares to hand down her first budget.
- Tom Rabe
- Exclusive
- WA budget
WA to raise iron ore projections in budget
The WA government will increase its long-term price assumptions for iron ore at this week’s state budget.
- Tom Rabe
April
The apartment supply conundrum behind Perth’s housing price surge
There’s plenty of demand and many projects approved, but sky-high construction costs have left developers asking for more government money.
- Updated
- Tom Rabe
March
Fresh from GST windfall, WA hands out payments of $250 per child
The WA government will hand out $100 million to families of school-aged children as part of a cost-of-living package, with no rules on how the cash is spent.
- Updated
- Tom Rabe and Samantha Hutchinson
WA Liberals promise to lift uranium ban, but remain wary of nuclear
WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam has vowed to overturn the state’s uranium mining ban if elected, but said the state isn’t ready for nuclear power.
- Tom Rabe
Nickel miners’ pain is gas market’s gain, says Woodside
Gas giant Woodside says Alcoa’s move to shutter a major WA alumina refinery paired with the state’s struggling nickel sector could create allay domestic gas supply concerns.
- Tom Rabe
Chilean lithium giant flags ‘aggressive’ Australian expansion
The chief executive of Chilean lithium giant SQM has described Western Australia as the next global “lithium bowl”.
- Tom Rabe
February
‘I’ve worn his shoes’: Hanson introduces her latest recruit
The One Nation leader believes new West Australian firearms reforms and resentment over the COVID-19 response will spark her party’s west coast revival.
- Tom Rabe
WA says ‘all options on the table’ on gas reserve
Western Australia’s long-touted domestic gas reserve is no longer fit-for-purpose and will do little to prevent an imminent gas supply shortage, a parliamentary inquiry has warned.
- Tom Rabe
- Exclusive
- Gas
West Australians back lifting export ban for onshore gas
Almost twice as many Western Australians support opening up the state’s onshore gas fields for international export than those who oppose the plan, new polling shows.
- Tom Rabe
‘They’d lose every seat’: WA’s GST warning for Albanese
The WA treasurer has warned that any federal government that dared to renege on the state’s favourable GST deal would risk political annihilation in the west.
- Updated
- Tom Rabe
WA pushes on with Indonesia minerals partnership amid nickel job cuts
The West Australian government supports Indonesia’s ambition to become a global power in electric vehicle battery production, frustrating local miners,
- Tom Rabe and Brad Thompson
- Exclusive
- Gas
Strike chief lashes Wesfarmers as tensions build over WA gas
Strike Energy’s chief executive has criticised Wesfarmers for rallying against the WA government’s potential move to overturn an onshore gas export ban.
- Tom Rabe
- Exclusive
- Gas
Wesfarmers raises alarm as WA warms to onshore gas backflip
Wesfarmers warned the West Australian government against bowing to mounting pressure to overturn an onshore gas export ban.
- Tom Rabe and Brad Thompson