STIRLING MLA Terry Redman said the Budget would do very little to address the fundamental service needs of Western Australians living outside Perth’s coastal strip.
Mr Redman said driving past a truck carting water to Denmark as he travelled to last week’s Budget breakfast in Albany, simply highlighted the impact of the Government’s skewed funding focus.
“It’s a sad irony that on my way into Albany I passed a water truck carting water supplies into Denmark, only to spend the next hour hearing from the Government about the extensive infrastructure they will be funding in Perth,” he said.
“The people of this region are entitled to ask how the boom has benefitted them when they see key services either closing, deteriorating or being impacted by significant price imposts that would not be countenanced in Perth.
“Of the 24 major projects highlighted in the Budget papers, only four have any sort of regional benefit.”
Mr Redman said last week’s Budget should have incorporated a number of specific interventions to bolster regional services, including:
• significant rental incentives for public servants as an encouragement to live and work in the regions;
• allowance for a flatter state-wide pricing policy for utilities, to encourage business investment in the regions; and
• public service policy adjustments to allow preferential treatment for public servants who choose to work in hard-to-staff areas.
Albany Deputy Mayor Des Wolfe said there was nothing new in the Budget, with most announced previously by the Government.
He said more commitment was needed in capital expenditure on the second and third stages of the Albany Ring Road.
“There appears to be no forward thinking in this Budget,” he said.
“It is more a patch-up for infrastructure which is failing or lacking capacity.”
Albany Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Graham Harvey said there was nothing in the Budget for the region.
“There is no commitment beyond the current upgrade to the hospital,” he said.
“There is nothing specific for the region generally.”
He said one of the biggest problems facing businesses involved the increasing cost of petrol.
This would flow on to the community through growing costs of all goods.
Mr Harvey said one sector that could be hard hit is the tourism industry because of the reduced number of travellers.
Trade shortages also needed to be addressed, with better incentives for workers to cut escalation in home construction costs.